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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| 5. | CANTO FIFTH. |
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 | Comic Tales and Lyrical Fancies |  |
168
CANTO FIFTH.
ARGUMENT.
The truce concluded and the royal sorrow assuaged, the battle recommences—The gods and goddesses interested play games, and use technicalities—The vice of punning in modest request—Rivalship of the she-pawns for the vacant situations of queen—Employment for Echo—Put taunted by Loo, in consequence of Niger's desperate situation—How to pique and repique—Chessic loyalty—Affecting death of a maiden pawn, seduced by Ambition and All-fours—Similes and reflections interspersed—A radical pawn—Flying castles—More loyalty—Black king checked several times—White king checked in his turn—Reflection—The fiftieth round finished—General detail—All the gods, &c. except Loo, Put, and Joan, commanded to leave the field—Tricks of Put and Loo, and the introduction of Pam in person—The battle draws near a conclusion—Checkmate to Niger—Reflections— The Poem concludes in the rookery—Business done there, and the moral.
The truce concluded, and assuaged their grief,
The hope of triumph animates each chief;
Each female pawn the adverse camp survey'd,
While royal hopes inspir'd each beauteous maid;
Put, Loo, and Joan, were ready in the field,
Their foes to check, their friends assistance yield:
Yet Joan the pope care but of one man took,
Crosier, sole owner of the ivory crook;
Him she espied, now soften'd as the south,
Tears in his eyes, his finger in his mouth;
Rous'd him to action: south'ardly he ran
To meet the foe, and boldly face his man.
A pawn his way disputed, nor would cease,
He brain'd the pawn, then bade him rest in peace.
Put saw the act, and gave the sole black steed
A desp'rate goad; resentful of the deed,
It leapt to where the bishop stood, engross'd
By study brown, and lively as a post—
Absent though present—like a casting trump,
The horse, there jumping, made the bishop jump;
His death Put meant; but Joan to save him 'rose,
Chang'd to a furze bush 'neath the horse's nose:
The charger back'd— the bishop's pawn, by Loo
Prompted, went on one square; forbidden two;
One square, 'twas black; his bishop mov'd on white;
And chessic sage tacticians thus indite:
“Let pawns, with good security if done,
On different colours from their bishops run;
Then, when among the pawns gets rook or king,
Bishops for pawns can best redemption bring.”
The sable rook mov'd one square from his line,
Fronting the mitre, murder his design.
Cros'roi retreats; two squares towards Blanc he moves—
His monarch's safety each good bishop loves—
But Put, observing, Niger's right arm took,
And led the king before his own black rook:
Suspecting Crosier of some shrewd design,
Whom Loo two squares brought down the slanted line;
There with two lily pawns he stood, prepar'd
To check the black king when put off his guard.
Whist by them stood, manœuvering to teach,
And said, to help them, she'd a hand for each;
Herself the fourth: their aim she bade them cloak,
And by false movement never to revoke,
But follow suit and to the honours stick,
Trump boldly, and play Niger the odd trick.
Now Speculation mounted up with speed
Behind Sir Reginalde, and spurr'd his steed;
Nor'ward, to th' left, the fiery charger flew;
When the white horse, impell'd by anxious Loo,
Leapt, nearing Niger: Niger trembling saw
His foes around him thick and closer draw.
So unsuspecting Cæsar saw his friends,
Yet, unlike Niger, little guess'd their ends;
But, “Kill'd with kindness” by the friend best lov'd,
With “et tu Brute!” from the world remov'd;
That phrase, a heart had Brutus worn within,
A dagger's point retributive had been.
But one (though pedants may the point dispute)
Once render'd “et tu Brute!” O, you brute!
Put, in a fever, now provok'd the rook
That back'd the trembling Niger not to brook
His king insulted—“Mark the pallid king,”
He said, “one move both face to face will bring;
Put him at once, then.” Rextour at his beck
Mov'd on one side, and loudly halloo'd “Check!”
“Check!” cried the rook, while Niger frown'd disdain,
Though “check” re-echoed o'er the marbled plain.
The Bishop guards his king: the sable knight
Joins, at right angles, with the tower of white.
Whist to a white pawn cried, “your fortune's made,
Move, lurch old Niger,” and the pawn obey'd;
“Check!” said the pawn; th' indignant monarch cried,
“That man's a radical,” and stepp'd aside,
Front of his tower. A white pawn's form Loo took
And edg'd, of death indicative, the rook;
Then chang'd to Pam, an overwhelming evil,
And “Pam” he roar'd; the rook cried “Pam be civil,”
Then to his right once motion'd; when Piquette
(For Loo, his friend, concern'd) saw Niger fret,
Said to th' pale knight, “Check piqu'd the royal black,
Repique him,” and the horseman chang'd his track;
And “Check!” he cried: the worried king back drew;
While Put grew pettish from the taunts of Loo.
Down, upon Rextour's line, now Crosier mov'd,
Crosier, by Joan and three-legg'd Loo beloved;
His aim on Niger fix'd—kings' bishops bring
To th' field strong rancour 'gainst a rival king—
To his own line the black queen's rook return'd,
For Niger's danger from his scouts he learn'd;
Learn'd too, that watching near the camp were screen'd
Two maiden pawns, each longing to be queen'd.
Niger, hemm'd in, had ev'ry thing to dread
Should Blanc obtain a partner for his bed;
Niger a widower, his hope were done,
Such a long odds against him, two to one!
Soon after to his king the castle flew—
Castles have flown if fairy tales be true;
If true be visions of the love-sick fair,
Who often dream of castles in the air.
Blanche-pawn to wed her royal master tried,
And stuck a bodkin into Rextour's side;
The wound not fatal, though the blow was fierce;
His tough bull-hide no trifling awl could pierce;
The sting he felt, and, urged by pain and fear,
Roaring he fled, and thought some hornet near:
So goes a mastiff howling on his way
Stung by a wasp on some hot summer's day.
Gard'reine a check to Niger gave, for dash,
Not upon Coutts, for there he kept no cash:
For Rextour's square, check scorning, Niger made,
Sullen as Ajax stalk'd from Uly's shade.
The milk white amazon erst Crosier's seen,
A queen in thought—and who'd not be a queen?—
Sprang into Niger's lines, all hopes at stake—
“Ye Gods, what havoc does ambition make!”
At first she hesitated; all-fours begg'd
Loiter she'd not, but prove right nimble-legg'd;
Begg'd she'd play high, since great the stake on show:
“High!” cried the maid and leap'd; cried Rextour, “low!”
And then despatch'd her, though at stake his life;
For there, with Gardereine, stood a would-be-wife
For Blanc—he saw the white horse foam and champ;
He saw her watching to invade the camp;
But, as he knew a queen would ruin bring,
His life he gave as tribute to his king:
So one, whose name escapes me, when the foe
Aim'd at his sov'reign a decisive blow,
The monarch's breast with agile effort cross'd,
And sav'd his master, though himself he lost.
Reintoure had sav'd the pawn, but, all engross'd,
His iron duty chain'd him to his post:
To see her bleed he, staggering, scarcely stood—
“Many do faint when they do look on blood.”
On came sir Gardereine, shouting as he came,
“High and low play'd, I'm Jack, and there's the Game.”
Spearing the rook, who, dying, cried “For shame!”
The black knight, rous'd by Put (for fire he'd hung),
Grasshopper like, down Gardereine's limit sprung.
Roiforte, the rook, went close to Blanc's left ear,
And whisper'd what ordain'd were none to hear:
“He never told his love;” o' th' council he;
Such must be mum, and only hear and see;
The black knight, knowing whisp'ring mischief brings,
Nigher his king, like boy at leap-frog, springs.
Roiforte the whisper's import now disclos'd
By action, and came down the field, dispos'd
Lat'rally with sir Regi., him to take,
Or aid white Crosier fatal check to make:
Pale Blanc unguarded stood, not pale with fear;
Regintoure saw, and saw his roadway clear;
Pounc'd upon Blanc, and had him at his beck;
“Check!” bawl'd the rook; the hills resounded “Check!”
The rook defeating, Blanc, with ruffled air,
Mov'd down for safety to a priv'leg'd square:
Blanc, then first check'd, his rival's tremor shows;
But, “hapless he who ne'er misfortune knows.”
Niger in danger, Regintoure returns,
While at the queening pawn his fury burns;
Resolv'd no crown should grace her in the strife;
“Sooner my castle fall,” he cried, “and life.”
Check!” cried sir Gardereine, as he made his bound;
Niger just then was lost in thought profound;
Loo cried, in triumph, “Vict'ry's at his gates;”
And Put look'd daggers, sudden deaths, and fates;
By royal shoulders the slow king he took,
And shoved him down, right-angled with the rook.
Roiforte, protected by white pawn and horse,
Into the sable camp pursued his course;
Meaning by sudden effort to secure
The frowning castle of sir Regintoure—
“O, vain the man whom wealth superfluous glads;
Who field to field, to castle castle adds;
Who more still coveting for that stakes all;
His fields shall wither and his castles fall;
Himself be lost, like chaff dispers'd by wind;
In vain all seek him; none his place shall find!”
E'en now, to Roiforte's grasping fancy, shook
The threaten'd castle of dead Nigra's rook;
Who, from a loop-hole peeping, ey'd his foe,
And bade his men make all secure below;
When hardy Reginalde a bold leap tried,
And came down, thundering, close by Roiforte's side:
Down thundering and rebounding from the place;
He shook pale Roiforte's castle to the base.
Sir Gardereine then, to make the black knight scow'r,
(He, sole protector of the sable tow'r),
Sprang (on black king's fourth chequer to alight)
And left expos'd to Crosier the black knight,
Who sprang in turn; for had the chief not flown
Both horse and rider had been overthrown.
Now rag'd the battle with redoubled force,
Fury and death pursued their wonted course:
Full fifty rounds of hurly burly told,
Let general notices the rest unfold.
All hurry-skurry was th' ensanguin'd plain,
And oft the slayer toppled o'er the slain.
The knights both wounded, Put the black conceal'd,
Wrapt in a cloud, and whirl'd him from the field;
Mounted his charger, through the battle brawl'd,
With port and panoply like Reginald;
Loo saw the trick, abducted the white knight,
And back'd his charger by an armed sprite,
With Put who combated; both desp'rate, for
“When Greek meets Greek then comes the tug of war.”
Put met a lion when he sought a lamb;
Wonder'd, but knew not that he fought with Pam.
Now down look'd Hazard from the rookery's height,
To mark the various changes of the fight;
Despatched by Joan a message to the gods
To leave the field, save those who bet the odds;
But gave permission to th' intriguing fair
To make her own dear Crozy still her care.
He saw Blanche-pawn—a crown her bold design—
Caught her, unseen, and rais'd her o'er the line:
Her daring soul his admiration drew;
Her game was Hazard, Hazard help'd her through—
She stood a queen! Put aim'd to strike her dead,
Hazard the dice-box thunder'd o'er his head:
Put was confounded: for a trivial space
Each on the plain was fixture to his place.
Loo crown'd the royal maid with hand unseen,
The whites paid homage, and proclaim'd her queen!
No queen could Niger hope, for each black pawn,
Female or male, lay dead upon the lawn;
And of all Blanc's not one remain'd but she
Who claim'd by right the crown of sov'reignty.
Grateful to Blanc, determin'd to support
His fame as highly as she grac'd his court,
Niger she soon attack'd: he'd helpmates none,
Save Put and Regintoure, the rest were gone.
Blanc boasted only Roifort and the Priest,
With Pam (thought Gardereine) and, though last not least,
His new made queen; but these were quite an host
To Niger's force: he driv'n from post to post,
Check, like a pass-word, prophesied his wreck,
Whate'er was said 'twas echoed still by “Check!”
Vain all his hopes, though Put like fury fought,
But 'twas with Pam, who still the demon sought;
While Put was thunderstruck, vain all his puts;
'Twas Pam, and diamond always di'mond cuts.
The ground, like baited bull, now Niger spurn'd;
This way and that way, ev'ry way he turn'd,
Turning in vain, his loss beyond recall,
And, like a spinning top, but turn'd to fall.
The queen and Pam his agonies increase,
Nor would the bishop let him rest in peace;
Put at the bishop flew, Joan check'd his course,
Snatch'd Crozier's crook and quick, to Put's remorse,
Hook'd him behind and pull'd him from his horse.
“Check! check!” so scandal duns misfortune's ears,
New barbs her pangs, and doubles all her fears.
'Twas fate—when Hazard weigh'd the fight's extreme,
Niger's black type flew up and kick'd the beam:
On Put he lean'd, who wonder'd at the scrape,
Himself assisting in a chess knight's shape;
Threw up his vizor: Pam threw his up too,
And, archly nodding, cried “Put, how d'ye do?
You're loo'd, my boy.” Put, sullen, sneak'd away.
Niger, his sword to give and homage pay
To Blanc, mov'd on as moves a fresh caught bear,
Muzzled and chain'd, but longing all to tear;
Vex'd to the heart he'd listen'd to his wife;
He'd lost his kingdom, and she lost her life.
But keenly all are by repentance stung
Who act from counsel of a rancorous tongue.
White conquer'd black: not vice but virtues bless;
And many a moral crowns the Game of Chess.
Now to the rookery all the gods made way;
Put paid the odds, for Hazard made him pay:
Half Hazard took, with loud sepulchral laugh,
Threw dice with Loo and won the other half.
The hope of triumph animates each chief;
169
While royal hopes inspir'd each beauteous maid;
Put, Loo, and Joan, were ready in the field,
Their foes to check, their friends assistance yield:
Yet Joan the pope care but of one man took,
Crosier, sole owner of the ivory crook;
Him she espied, now soften'd as the south,
Tears in his eyes, his finger in his mouth;
Rous'd him to action: south'ardly he ran
To meet the foe, and boldly face his man.
A pawn his way disputed, nor would cease,
He brain'd the pawn, then bade him rest in peace.
Put saw the act, and gave the sole black steed
A desp'rate goad; resentful of the deed,
It leapt to where the bishop stood, engross'd
By study brown, and lively as a post—
170
The horse, there jumping, made the bishop jump;
His death Put meant; but Joan to save him 'rose,
Chang'd to a furze bush 'neath the horse's nose:
The charger back'd— the bishop's pawn, by Loo
Prompted, went on one square; forbidden two;
One square, 'twas black; his bishop mov'd on white;
And chessic sage tacticians thus indite:
“Let pawns, with good security if done,
On different colours from their bishops run;
Then, when among the pawns gets rook or king,
Bishops for pawns can best redemption bring.”
The sable rook mov'd one square from his line,
Fronting the mitre, murder his design.
Cros'roi retreats; two squares towards Blanc he moves—
His monarch's safety each good bishop loves—
171
And led the king before his own black rook:
Suspecting Crosier of some shrewd design,
Whom Loo two squares brought down the slanted line;
There with two lily pawns he stood, prepar'd
To check the black king when put off his guard.
Whist by them stood, manœuvering to teach,
And said, to help them, she'd a hand for each;
Herself the fourth: their aim she bade them cloak,
And by false movement never to revoke,
But follow suit and to the honours stick,
Trump boldly, and play Niger the odd trick.
Now Speculation mounted up with speed
Behind Sir Reginalde, and spurr'd his steed;
Nor'ward, to th' left, the fiery charger flew;
172
Leapt, nearing Niger: Niger trembling saw
His foes around him thick and closer draw.
So unsuspecting Cæsar saw his friends,
Yet, unlike Niger, little guess'd their ends;
But, “Kill'd with kindness” by the friend best lov'd,
With “et tu Brute!” from the world remov'd;
That phrase, a heart had Brutus worn within,
A dagger's point retributive had been.
But one (though pedants may the point dispute)
Once render'd “et tu Brute!” O, you brute!
Put, in a fever, now provok'd the rook
That back'd the trembling Niger not to brook
His king insulted—“Mark the pallid king,”
He said, “one move both face to face will bring;
Put him at once, then.” Rextour at his beck
Mov'd on one side, and loudly halloo'd “Check!”
173
Though “check” re-echoed o'er the marbled plain.
The Bishop guards his king: the sable knight
Joins, at right angles, with the tower of white.
Whist to a white pawn cried, “your fortune's made,
Move, lurch old Niger,” and the pawn obey'd;
“Check!” said the pawn; th' indignant monarch cried,
“That man's a radical,” and stepp'd aside,
Front of his tower. A white pawn's form Loo took
And edg'd, of death indicative, the rook;
174
And “Pam” he roar'd; the rook cried “Pam be civil,”
Then to his right once motion'd; when Piquette
(For Loo, his friend, concern'd) saw Niger fret,
Said to th' pale knight, “Check piqu'd the royal black,
Repique him,” and the horseman chang'd his track;
And “Check!” he cried: the worried king back drew;
While Put grew pettish from the taunts of Loo.
Down, upon Rextour's line, now Crosier mov'd,
Crosier, by Joan and three-legg'd Loo beloved;
His aim on Niger fix'd—kings' bishops bring
To th' field strong rancour 'gainst a rival king—
To his own line the black queen's rook return'd,
For Niger's danger from his scouts he learn'd;
175
Two maiden pawns, each longing to be queen'd.
Niger, hemm'd in, had ev'ry thing to dread
Should Blanc obtain a partner for his bed;
Niger a widower, his hope were done,
Such a long odds against him, two to one!
Soon after to his king the castle flew—
Castles have flown if fairy tales be true;
If true be visions of the love-sick fair,
Who often dream of castles in the air.
Blanche-pawn to wed her royal master tried,
And stuck a bodkin into Rextour's side;
The wound not fatal, though the blow was fierce;
His tough bull-hide no trifling awl could pierce;
The sting he felt, and, urged by pain and fear,
Roaring he fled, and thought some hornet near:
176
Stung by a wasp on some hot summer's day.
Gard'reine a check to Niger gave, for dash,
Not upon Coutts, for there he kept no cash:
For Rextour's square, check scorning, Niger made,
Sullen as Ajax stalk'd from Uly's shade.
The milk white amazon erst Crosier's seen,
A queen in thought—and who'd not be a queen?—
Sprang into Niger's lines, all hopes at stake—
“Ye Gods, what havoc does ambition make!”
At first she hesitated; all-fours begg'd
Loiter she'd not, but prove right nimble-legg'd;
Begg'd she'd play high, since great the stake on show:
“High!” cried the maid and leap'd; cried Rextour, “low!”
177
For there, with Gardereine, stood a would-be-wife
For Blanc—he saw the white horse foam and champ;
He saw her watching to invade the camp;
But, as he knew a queen would ruin bring,
His life he gave as tribute to his king:
So one, whose name escapes me, when the foe
Aim'd at his sov'reign a decisive blow,
The monarch's breast with agile effort cross'd,
And sav'd his master, though himself he lost.
Reintoure had sav'd the pawn, but, all engross'd,
His iron duty chain'd him to his post:
To see her bleed he, staggering, scarcely stood—
“Many do faint when they do look on blood.”
On came sir Gardereine, shouting as he came,
“High and low play'd, I'm Jack, and there's the Game.”
178
The black knight, rous'd by Put (for fire he'd hung),
Grasshopper like, down Gardereine's limit sprung.
Roiforte, the rook, went close to Blanc's left ear,
And whisper'd what ordain'd were none to hear:
“He never told his love;” o' th' council he;
Such must be mum, and only hear and see;
The black knight, knowing whisp'ring mischief brings,
Nigher his king, like boy at leap-frog, springs.
Roiforte the whisper's import now disclos'd
By action, and came down the field, dispos'd
Lat'rally with sir Regi., him to take,
Or aid white Crosier fatal check to make:
Pale Blanc unguarded stood, not pale with fear;
Regintoure saw, and saw his roadway clear;
179
“Check!” bawl'd the rook; the hills resounded “Check!”
The rook defeating, Blanc, with ruffled air,
Mov'd down for safety to a priv'leg'd square:
Blanc, then first check'd, his rival's tremor shows;
But, “hapless he who ne'er misfortune knows.”
Niger in danger, Regintoure returns,
While at the queening pawn his fury burns;
Resolv'd no crown should grace her in the strife;
“Sooner my castle fall,” he cried, “and life.”
Check!” cried sir Gardereine, as he made his bound;
Niger just then was lost in thought profound;
Loo cried, in triumph, “Vict'ry's at his gates;”
And Put look'd daggers, sudden deaths, and fates;
180
And shoved him down, right-angled with the rook.
Roiforte, protected by white pawn and horse,
Into the sable camp pursued his course;
Meaning by sudden effort to secure
The frowning castle of sir Regintoure—
“O, vain the man whom wealth superfluous glads;
Who field to field, to castle castle adds;
Who more still coveting for that stakes all;
His fields shall wither and his castles fall;
Himself be lost, like chaff dispers'd by wind;
In vain all seek him; none his place shall find!”
E'en now, to Roiforte's grasping fancy, shook
The threaten'd castle of dead Nigra's rook;
Who, from a loop-hole peeping, ey'd his foe,
And bade his men make all secure below;
When hardy Reginalde a bold leap tried,
And came down, thundering, close by Roiforte's side:
181
He shook pale Roiforte's castle to the base.
Sir Gardereine then, to make the black knight scow'r,
(He, sole protector of the sable tow'r),
Sprang (on black king's fourth chequer to alight)
And left expos'd to Crosier the black knight,
Who sprang in turn; for had the chief not flown
Both horse and rider had been overthrown.
Now rag'd the battle with redoubled force,
Fury and death pursued their wonted course:
Full fifty rounds of hurly burly told,
Let general notices the rest unfold.
All hurry-skurry was th' ensanguin'd plain,
And oft the slayer toppled o'er the slain.
The knights both wounded, Put the black conceal'd,
Wrapt in a cloud, and whirl'd him from the field;
182
With port and panoply like Reginald;
Loo saw the trick, abducted the white knight,
And back'd his charger by an armed sprite,
With Put who combated; both desp'rate, for
“When Greek meets Greek then comes the tug of war.”
Put met a lion when he sought a lamb;
Wonder'd, but knew not that he fought with Pam.
Now down look'd Hazard from the rookery's height,
To mark the various changes of the fight;
Despatched by Joan a message to the gods
To leave the field, save those who bet the odds;
But gave permission to th' intriguing fair
To make her own dear Crozy still her care.
He saw Blanche-pawn—a crown her bold design—
Caught her, unseen, and rais'd her o'er the line:
Her daring soul his admiration drew;
Her game was Hazard, Hazard help'd her through—
She stood a queen! Put aim'd to strike her dead,
Hazard the dice-box thunder'd o'er his head:
183
Each on the plain was fixture to his place.
Loo crown'd the royal maid with hand unseen,
The whites paid homage, and proclaim'd her queen!
No queen could Niger hope, for each black pawn,
Female or male, lay dead upon the lawn;
And of all Blanc's not one remain'd but she
Who claim'd by right the crown of sov'reignty.
Grateful to Blanc, determin'd to support
His fame as highly as she grac'd his court,
Niger she soon attack'd: he'd helpmates none,
Save Put and Regintoure, the rest were gone.
Blanc boasted only Roifort and the Priest,
With Pam (thought Gardereine) and, though last not least,
His new made queen; but these were quite an host
To Niger's force: he driv'n from post to post,
Check, like a pass-word, prophesied his wreck,
Whate'er was said 'twas echoed still by “Check!”
Vain all his hopes, though Put like fury fought,
But 'twas with Pam, who still the demon sought;
184
'Twas Pam, and diamond always di'mond cuts.
The ground, like baited bull, now Niger spurn'd;
This way and that way, ev'ry way he turn'd,
Turning in vain, his loss beyond recall,
And, like a spinning top, but turn'd to fall.
The queen and Pam his agonies increase,
Nor would the bishop let him rest in peace;
Put at the bishop flew, Joan check'd his course,
Snatch'd Crozier's crook and quick, to Put's remorse,
Hook'd him behind and pull'd him from his horse.
“Check! check!” so scandal duns misfortune's ears,
New barbs her pangs, and doubles all her fears.
'Twas fate—when Hazard weigh'd the fight's extreme,
Niger's black type flew up and kick'd the beam:
On Put he lean'd, who wonder'd at the scrape,
Himself assisting in a chess knight's shape;
Threw up his vizor: Pam threw his up too,
And, archly nodding, cried “Put, how d'ye do?
You're loo'd, my boy.” Put, sullen, sneak'd away.
Niger, his sword to give and homage pay
185
Muzzled and chain'd, but longing all to tear;
Vex'd to the heart he'd listen'd to his wife;
He'd lost his kingdom, and she lost her life.
But keenly all are by repentance stung
Who act from counsel of a rancorous tongue.
White conquer'd black: not vice but virtues bless;
And many a moral crowns the Game of Chess.
Now to the rookery all the gods made way;
Put paid the odds, for Hazard made him pay:
Half Hazard took, with loud sepulchral laugh,
Threw dice with Loo and won the other half.
In spite of proverbs, rogues each other cheat;
The bread of honesty alone is sweet:
From bad associates nought but ill proceeds;
And flowers best flourish when most clear'd of weeds.
The bread of honesty alone is sweet:
From bad associates nought but ill proceeds;
And flowers best flourish when most clear'd of weeds.
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