University of Virginia Library

QUATRAINS AND EPIGRAMS.

A POET-CRITIC.

He writes anonymous reviews;
The reason is well known:
To see in print some sure abuse
Of every rival poet's muse,
And praises of his own.

THE REASON WHY.

Your thronged bright parlors are a paradise
I too would enter; but before my eyes
The doubting angel waves his two-edged sword—
The dread of boring and of being bored.

AN INDISCREET FRIEND.

Lucius defends me from my foes,
But wins no thanks from me:
Better a whole brigade of those
Than one such friend as he!

ALCOTT.

(Inviting a Friend to one of the early “Conversations.”)

Do you care to meet Alcott? His mind is a mirror,
Reflecting the unspoken thought of his hearer:
To the great he is great, to the fool he's a fool:
In the world's dreary desert a crystalline pool.
Where a lion looks in and a lion appears:
But an ass will see only his own ass's ears.