Comic Tales and Lyrical Fancies including The Chessiad, a Mock-Heroic, in Five Cantos; and The Wreath of Love, in Four Cantos. By C. Dibdin, the Younger |
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CHINA AND CROCKERY WARE;
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 | Comic Tales and Lyrical Fancies |  |
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CHINA AND CROCKERY WARE;
OR, POTTERY AND POINT.
Pride, thou'rt a very devil—nasty puss!
To see thee mortified I dearly love,
Thou'rt so contemptible; thy type's a goose,
Strutting and stretching out its giblet neck;
Hissing at all who in its path may move,
Silly as saucy; while all laugh to see
Its emptiness; so, pride, who at thy beck
Conceivest all should be,
All laugh at thee.
Thou art inferior to a goose, thou Hun;
For geese have souls, and thou, mean thing, hast none.
Thou art a very fool, and that wise elf,
Hight Solomon, whose golden rules
Are sterling, says, concerning fools,
“A fool he swalloweth up himself.”
“Pride was not made for man”—the saw is common;
But once a lady, badly taught,
Reading this pithy proverb, thought,
Though not for man, it haply might for woman.
This wise conclusion on her habits stealing,
Her manners were its moral; once
Her feelings wounded were—pshaw! I'm a dunce:
Pride and presumption have no feeling.
To see thee mortified I dearly love,
Thou'rt so contemptible; thy type's a goose,
Strutting and stretching out its giblet neck;
Hissing at all who in its path may move,
Silly as saucy; while all laugh to see
Its emptiness; so, pride, who at thy beck
Conceivest all should be,
All laugh at thee.
Thou art inferior to a goose, thou Hun;
For geese have souls, and thou, mean thing, hast none.
Thou art a very fool, and that wise elf,
Hight Solomon, whose golden rules
Are sterling, says, concerning fools,
“A fool he swalloweth up himself.”
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But once a lady, badly taught,
Reading this pithy proverb, thought,
Though not for man, it haply might for woman.
This wise conclusion on her habits stealing,
Her manners were its moral; once
Her feelings wounded were—pshaw! I'm a dunce:
Pride and presumption have no feeling.
This lady, then, who both possess'd,
With “happy ignorance,” contempt express'd
For poverty, and always spoke with scorn
Of those who by their lot were born
To labour;
Forgetting, poor misguided soul,
That, rich or poor, from pole to pole,
Each human being was her neighbour;
And that command came from above
Her neighbour as herself to love.
With “happy ignorance,” contempt express'd
For poverty, and always spoke with scorn
Of those who by their lot were born
To labour;
Forgetting, poor misguided soul,
That, rich or poor, from pole to pole,
Each human being was her neighbour;
And that command came from above
Her neighbour as herself to love.
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When she the human race survey'd,
Marking 'tween rich and poor the difference,
She reason'd somewhat in this way,—
“When Heaven created men from clay,
From divers sorts sure different ranks were made;
The best to mould the rich from having preference.”
Concluding thus:—“The common train,”
She said, with pride's sarcastic mockery,
Received their birth
From common earth,
Like delft or crockery;
While rich and great
Were made, for state,
From purest, richest, porcelain.”
Marking 'tween rich and poor the difference,
She reason'd somewhat in this way,—
“When Heaven created men from clay,
From divers sorts sure different ranks were made;
The best to mould the rich from having preference.”
Concluding thus:—“The common train,”
She said, with pride's sarcastic mockery,
Received their birth
From common earth,
Like delft or crockery;
While rich and great
Were made, for state,
From purest, richest, porcelain.”
Once, in a circle of her friends
She so discoursed; the footman hearing,
While waiting on the china ware,
Flush'd indignation, while appearing
To pass it off
By studied cough;
But mortally, like vulgar delft, he sware
To make his mistress full amends;
And John, believe me, was no zany.
My lady said, in tone not mild,
“John, call the maid down with my child.”
John jarr'd the door, and scorning fear,
Bawl'd to the nursery maid, that all might hear,
“Here, Crockery, bring down young Chaney.”
She so discoursed; the footman hearing,
While waiting on the china ware,
Flush'd indignation, while appearing
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By studied cough;
But mortally, like vulgar delft, he sware
To make his mistress full amends;
And John, believe me, was no zany.
My lady said, in tone not mild,
“John, call the maid down with my child.”
John jarr'd the door, and scorning fear,
Bawl'd to the nursery maid, that all might hear,
“Here, Crockery, bring down young Chaney.”
| Comic Tales and Lyrical Fancies | |