The Talented Man Past and forgotten, beaux and fair, Yet as I turn these odd, old plays, And watch her at her binding. 1807 Walter Learned [1847-1915) THE TALENTED MAN A LETTER FROM A LADY IN LONDON TO A LADY AT LAUSANNE DEAR Alice! you'll laugh when you know it, Last week, at the Duchess's ball, I danced with the clever new poet, You've heard of him,-Tully St. Paul. Miss Jonquil was perfectly frantic; I wish you had seen Lady Anne! It really was very romantic, He is such a talented man! He came up from Brazen Nose College,! Just caught, as they call it, this spring; Of science and logic he chatters, As fine and as fast as he can; Though I am no judge of such matters, His stories and jests are delightful;- The jests are exceedingly spiteful, The stories not always quite true. Perhaps to be kind and veracious May do pretty well at Lausanne; But it never would answer,--good gracious!7/ .. He sneers,how my Alice would scold him!- He laughed only think!-when I told him I vow I was quite in a passion; I broke all the sticks of my fan; But sentiment's quite out of fashion, It seems, in a talented man. Lady Bab, who is terribly moral, And fond-which is sad-of champagne. I listened, and doubted, dear Alice, He's hideous, I own it. But fame, love, He's lame, but Lord Byron was lame, love, Then his voice,—such a voice! my sweet creature, But oh! what's a tone or a feature, My mother, you know, all the season, And truly, to do the fool reason, He has been less horrid of late. But to-day, when we drive in the carriage, If ever I venture on marriage, It must be a talented man! P. S.-I have found, on reflection, One fault in my friend,-entre nous; Without it, he'd just be perfection;Poor fellow, he has not a sou! A Letter of Advice And so, when he comes in September 1809 Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802-1839] A LETTER OF ADVICE FROM MISS MEDORA TREVILIAN, AT PADUA, TO MISS ARAMINTA VAVASOUR, IN LONDON "Enfin, Monsieur, un homme aimable; Voila pourquoi je ne saurais l'aimer."-SCRIBE You tell me you're promised a lover, Why cannot my fancy discover The hue of his coat, and his cheek? Alas! if he look like another, A vicar, a banker, a beau, Miss Lane, at her Temple of Fashion, Taught us both how to sing and to speak, And we loved one another with passion, Before we had been there a week: I gave you a chain,-it is broken? O think of our favorite cottage, And think of our dear Lalla Rookh! 1 How we shared with the milkmaids their pottage, How fondly our loving lips faltered, "What further can grandeur bestow?" My heart is the same;-is yours altered? Remember the thrilling romances We read on the bank in the glen; Would picture for both of us then; They had vanquished and pardoned their foeSweet friend, are you wiser or colder? My own Araminta, say "No!" You know, when Lord Rigmarole's carriage, And whispered "How base she has been!" When I heard I was going abroad, love, We walked arm in arm to the road, love, We parted! but sympathy's fetters And feel that your heart is mine still; The richest of treasures below,→ If he's not what Orlando should be, love, If he wears a top-boot in his wooing, A Letter of Advice If he ever drinks port after dinner, If he studies the news in the papers If he ever sets foot in the city If he don't stand six feet in his shoes, If his hands are not whiter than snow, If he speaks of a tax or a duty. If he does not look grand on his knees, If he likes not to hear the blast blow, He must walk like a god of old story Like music his soft speech must flow!- 1811 |