 | Valentine Verses |  |
149
THE CRITIC.
Is the critic in Love? well, I think if he's blind,
I shall chance to escape in the dark;
If he's not, woe betide me! I'll warrant he'll find,
Enough for his sombre remark:—
I shall chance to escape in the dark;
If he's not, woe betide me! I'll warrant he'll find,
Enough for his sombre remark:—
But my line is before him! Methinks I espy,
The significant glance of his critical eye!
“These Cobboldian Verses, what pride and what stuff;
“Sure the man must be mad! I have read quite enough!
“Neither metre nor wit, neither wisdom nor rhyme!
“To pursue the perusal is losing my time!
“All the drawing's are bad! the designs for their parts,
“Prove the Poet no Artist, if Master of Arts!”
The significant glance of his critical eye!
“These Cobboldian Verses, what pride and what stuff;
“Sure the man must be mad! I have read quite enough!
“Neither metre nor wit, neither wisdom nor rhyme!
“To pursue the perusal is losing my time!
“All the drawing's are bad! the designs for their parts,
“Prove the Poet no Artist, if Master of Arts!”
150
But methinks I espy now a creature of grace,
With a word on her lips, and a smile on her face:—
“Come, Sir, come you're severity's self my dear Crit!
You must own there's some point, if you call it not wit;
The designs you remember, pray don't be demure,
Are not done by an Artist, a mere Amatuer;
Now I'm positive too, if in love you should be,
With yourself or another, perhaps with poor me,
You will find in the moral a lesson worth keeping;
I see now a glance from your features are peeping,
Which declares I speak truth! Now your smile is enough,
And you will not, you cannot, pronounce it such stuff.”
With a word on her lips, and a smile on her face:—
“Come, Sir, come you're severity's self my dear Crit!
You must own there's some point, if you call it not wit;
The designs you remember, pray don't be demure,
Are not done by an Artist, a mere Amatuer;
Now I'm positive too, if in love you should be,
With yourself or another, perhaps with poor me,
You will find in the moral a lesson worth keeping;
I see now a glance from your features are peeping,
Which declares I speak truth! Now your smile is enough,
And you will not, you cannot, pronounce it such stuff.”
The Critic smiles when Woman pleads a cause,
Drops his harsh pen, and joins the just applause:
When Ladies smile on Virtue, Love, and Truth,
They have the Poet's thanks!—The zest of Youth.
Drops his harsh pen, and joins the just applause:
When Ladies smile on Virtue, Love, and Truth,
They have the Poet's thanks!—The zest of Youth.
| Valentine Verses | |