University of Virginia Library

CHOICE OF PAINTINGS.

WILLIAM.
I choose the racked Ixion,
With his fierce and burning pain;
I love to see the pencil's touch
Such awful mastery gain.

LADY.
Yet let the thrilling punishment,
Its moral truth inspire,
And keep your spirit pure, my son,
Untouched by base desire.

LITTLE ELIZA.
I'll take the watermelon,
With seeds so black and nice,
And give my little playmates,
All round, a famous slice.
But oh! 'tis but a picture,
And on a summer's day,
If they would not let me eat it,
I would wish it far away.

HENRY.
Give me the brave Napoleon,
With his war steed thundering by,
Where the snowy Alps majestical,
Look upward to the sky.

LADY.
Oh! boy, that conqueror leaped o'er hearts,
With reckless cravings too,
While his own was cold and tempest stirred,
As the mountain scene you view.

LITTLE JOHN.
I choose the views of Lilliput,
Where the tiny people play,
Looking with great astonishment,
At birds more large than they;
While two of them with all their might,
Attempt an egg to roll;
And some are diving, quite alarmed,
Within a little bowl.

GEORGE.
Oh! give me Ariadne,
With her soft and dewy eye,
Her lip of glowing coral,
And her forehead fair and high.
I feel th' Ægean breezes,
As they fan her braided hair,
And cool her chastened beauties,
Nor leave a dark tinge there.

MARIA.
I love the finished manliness,
That dwells on Bacchus' brow—
Where Earth and Inspiration,
Seem boldly mingling now.
The sunny hue of India
Glows burning on his cheek,
And lights those lips so eloquent,
That ask not words to speak.

LADY.