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48
LOST FRIENDS
Dear comrades! though ye figure not in Lowndes,
(Thy costlier brethren long have left their home),
How are ye ravished from me, tome by tome,
For fewer shillings than ye cost me pounds!
Shades of unthrifty authors! Hark, it sounds!
My portal tells (a tedious metronome)
Of sullen duns who onewhile forced to roam
Kit Marlowe, Savage, Johnson, Goldsmith: Zounds!
(Thy costlier brethren long have left their home),
How are ye ravished from me, tome by tome,
For fewer shillings than ye cost me pounds!
Shades of unthrifty authors! Hark, it sounds!
My portal tells (a tedious metronome)
Of sullen duns who onewhile forced to roam
Kit Marlowe, Savage, Johnson, Goldsmith: Zounds!
Dim days of quiet pleasure that are fled!
Once, snugly harboured, dallying by turns
With new and old, in such pure peace I read
As one who (want unknowing) idly learns.
Now in yon gaping casement widely spread
Stand Shakespeare only, Landor, Lamb and Burns.
Once, snugly harboured, dallying by turns
With new and old, in such pure peace I read
As one who (want unknowing) idly learns.
Now in yon gaping casement widely spread
Stand Shakespeare only, Landor, Lamb and Burns.
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