THE FEMALE OPIUM-EATER.
I
There was a noble lady, as fair as fair could be,
And when she did whate'er she pleased, a gentle dame was she!
But when controll'd, her dark eye told of rage within restrain'd,
And she ceased to be a gentle dame, until her point was gain'd.
Her lover in the city dwelt, full three long leagues away;
Her uncle bade her spurn the youth—oh! how could she obey!
She nightly wept, she never slept; at length she thought she'd try
Anopium draught, which ev'ry morn her page went forth to buy.
II
“Why daily goes thy page to town?” her noble uncle cries;
“To seek the doctor's shop,” says she, “where opium draughts he buys.”
“What need hast thou of opium draughts?”—“I'd fain forget the past,
And all my foolishness is fading from me fast.”
The uncle smiled, well pleased at this, and walk'd away content;
And unmolested to the town the page was daily sent;
And daily from the town he brought a bottle of small size;
His lady snatch'd it from his hand and bore away the prize.
III
She bore it to her secret bower, and then she turn'd the key,
And there were none her words to hear, and none her acts to see;
She daily round the bottle found a short sweet sentence traced,
She broke the seal, and then began unfolding it in haste,
And then she read with throbbing heart, (love's ardour never stops!)
Till she devoured the contents (the writing, not the drops):
And daily from her casement high the opium draughts did flow,
Till on a shelf stood fifty empty bottles in a row!
IV
Upon that grim and ghastly row the lady's maid did gaze:
The footman to their hollowness a wondering glance did raise;
The page who saw them, simpering, said, “Alas! 'tis pretty clear,
If she takes so much doctor's stuff, she will not long be here!”
Her uncle saw the bottles, too, and saw them with affright;
He counted them—he scarcely could believe he counted right!
“The dose too strong—thoul't dose too long; at counsel do not scoff;
Some night, my dear, a drop too much may chance to take thee off!”
V
Next morn the page went early forth along the well-known track,
And soon with the composing draught composedly rode back;
A doctor, (it was rumour'd,) muffled up, was by his side,
But one beneath the doctor's cloak a soldier's garb espied!
That night (by medical advice) the dame tried change of air!
This bulletin her uncle read next morning in despair:
“The dear departed owns your warning words were true enough,
By bottle number fifty-one your niece was taken off!”
