Lyrical and other poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Dear Neddy, at last as a thing long desired,
I've safely arrived at our famed Capitol,
And like other great men, I'm most heartily tired,
And almost regret that I ventured at all.
This life is a humming top, whose chords are so many,
There are few that exist do not join in the whip,
And tho' I once thought myself equal to any,
'I'm a cypher at last, as I find by this trip.

These talkers at Congress, you cannot concieve
How they hum the poor nation they offer to aid,
Who gull'd all along, are still made to believe,
Things cannot go wrong among men so well paid.
And faith 'tis too true, if their duty was humming,
So well they succeed in their parts I am sure,
That like the poor Chief, who was silenced by drumming,
The nation believes itself very secure.

146

But a truce to this talk while I step back a little,
Just to show the events that occur'd on the road,
No tourist of fame, can discard even a title,
However obscure, that he meets with abroad.
Having twigg'd

This and several other peculiarities of slang, may be perceptible throughout. I have not sought, but merely employed those in common use.

the old cock, and obtain'd a supply,
Of that, which we wits in this nick-naming time,
Have dubb'd very properly “needful,” I fly,
To prepare the old Dicky and tip the sublime.
Next, touching the hussey, whose notions—but mum—
These things to a third one we may not relate,
But like the old woman who chose to be dumb,
We'll be secret as mice until open'd by fate.

We presume he alludes to the oracles of all times, by the expression of “old woman,” and the Pythoness in particular.

However to comfort the wench ere my flight,
I concluded 'twere better to order the chaise
To stop on the Bay, whilst its master should light,
And pop into Broad, thro' some nigh and by ways:
A thing which to tell you the truth, I had rather
By far left undone, for putting aside
The risk of exposure to an old lynx-eyed father,
I assure you I have been most cursedly tried.
[OMITTED]

147

As lovely as usual, and truth far more tender,
Than I could have had any right to expect,
For have I not done all I could to offend her,
Without even noting my recent neglect?
And so gently she look'd, and so fixed was her eye,
As its glassy orb fell on my cheek, that I ne'er
Felt so cheap in my life—and I do not know why,
But I certainly brush'd from my eyelids a tear.
She spoke not of aught that might lead me to deem,
That her heart was more lonely than when I first knew it,
But if ever a look gave reproach her's did seem
By the tears that fell thickly enough to bedew it,
To reproach me for power unkindly abused,
For conquests too cheaply consider'd when won,
And its justice was felt, for I grew so confused
That in my own turn I was nearly undone.
She spoke not of aught that my folly had done,
She seem'd not to dread aught my madness could do;
But her eye show'd the wreck of the heart I had won,
As its wan shade surmounted its delicate blue.

148

For a moment, dear Neddy, my pride was thrown by,
And I barely escaped from my follies again,
When I tell you I caught myself wiping my eye,
The truest, and you will say, bluest of men.
But I stop'd myself just as a tender confession
Was beginning to glide o'er the lines of my throat,
And mutt'ring some, in-the-way, farewell expression,
I slid to the door and 'gan butt'ning my coat.
Some other “love passages,”

Without hazarding our reputation as a commentator, we may here suggest that the writer has referred to that passage in Walter Scott's, Kennilworth, where Varney informs Elizabeth, of some love passages, having taken place between himself and Amy Robsart.

according to Scott
Renewals of this, and repeatings of that,
Which like men of the ton, I should recollect not,
Preceded my bow, and assumption of hat.

And now without further adieu, you may glance
Your eye on the map and just follow my course,
Whilst I with the stride of a Jehu advance,
With company utile, my servant and horse,
And do in the survey but fancy some scene,
Romantic, diverting to fill up the space,
In which with the air of a hero, I've been
All gesture, all glory, all ton and grimace.
For in truth if you do not, you need not expect
A description of aught, in the class I relate;
Or, I fear that you may in perusing detect,

149

A hum, for like others, I exaggerate.
With this warning be guided, I mean not to say,
However, I have any habit of lying,
But like some who are prone very often to stray,
(To use an old adage) I often shoot flying.

Not many occurrences served to enliven
The tedium of travelling a dull road along,
Except a new lesson, I acquired in driving—
A thing, which at first, tho' I did not do wrong:
Tho' Sambo, the rascal affected to titter,
As I lodged the left wheel in a stump by the way,
And in accents that seem'd rather insolent, bitter,
Affected regret for the fate of the chay.
Some hours were spent in replacing a spoke,
And paying a blacksmith for iron work done,
The rascal pretending the axle was broke,
And that 'twould be well to procure a new one;
No other event, that would warrant my noting,
Occurr'd till I reach'd the proud station in view,
But a storm that above me had sometime been floating,
Fell at last and quite ruin'd a coat nearly new.
My lodgings at --- are all furnish'd in style,

150

As we, southern blood usually do things you know;
And no doubt will continue as handsome a while
'Till the Publican tells us the sum that we owe.
Next week I am told the great race will commence,
When the four noble steeds on the course will appear,

The Presidential election, we would presume this to mean, from the figurative style of the author in general, and the context.

And if the canaille should throng not too dense,
It is not unlikely that I shall be there,
In the mean time as Coachy now waits at the door,
With his long whip in hand, just prepared for a drive;
My sheet by my narrative cover'd all o'er,
And the crowds going by, the whole city alive;
I will but request that you'll wait upon dad,
With the sanctified sheet that I herewith enclose,
Which will prove all exparte that his son is a lad,
As prominent here as his own rudder nose.
And to you, my old chum, I afford one desire,
Ere I throw down the goose-quill to bid you adieu,
That if you should seek for advancement much higher,
A space may be left on the gallows for you.

University of Virginia Library

NO. 1. This embryo in its first outline, under the form of a series of epistles, was intended to have been an epitome of the proceedings at Congress, and to have conveyed some outline of the Dramatis Personæ. Richard---, at Washington, to his friend Edward --- in Charleston.

NO. 1.

This embryo in its first outline, under the form of a series of epistles, was intended to have been an epitome of the proceedings at Congress, and to have conveyed some outline of the Dramatis Personæ.

Richard---, at Washington, to his friend Edward --- in Charleston.