The Poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed :: :: University of Virginia Library

Julio, while Fancy's tints adorn
The first bright beam of manhood's morn,
The cares of boyhood fleet away
Like clouds before the face of day;
And see, before your ravished eyes
New hopes appear, new duties rise,
Restraint has left his iron throne,
And Freedom smiles on twenty-one.

Count o'er the friends whom erst you knew
When careless boyhood deemed them true,
With whom you wiled the lazy hours
Round fond Etona's classic towers,
Or strayed beside the learned mud
Of ancient Cam's meandering flood;
The follies that in them you view
Shall be a source of good to you.

With mincing gait and foreign air
Sir Philip strays through park and square,

Or yawns in Grange's sweet recess,
In all the studied ease of dress;
Aptly the man-ling's tongue, I deem,
Can argue on a lofty theme,—
Which damsel hath the merrier eye,
Which fop the better-fancied tie,
Which perfume hath the sweetest savour,
Which soup the more inviting flavour;
And Fashion, at Sir Philip's call,
Ordains the collar's rise and fall
And shifts the Brummel's varying hue
From blue to brown, from brown to blue.
And hence the motley crowd, whoe'er
Bear Fashion's badge—or wish to bear
From Hockley-hole to Rotten-row,
Unite to dub Sir Philip—beau.

And, such is Fashion's empty fame,
Squire Robert loathes the very name.—
The rockets hiss, the bonfires blaze,
The peasants gape in still amaze;
The field unploughed, the ox unyoked,
The farmer's mouth with pudding choked,
The sexton's vest of decent brown,
The village maiden's Sunday gown,
In joyful union seem to say—
“Squire Robert is of age to-day.”

The bumpkins hurry to the Bell,
And clam'rous tongues in riot swell;
Anger is hot—and so is liquor;
They drink confusion to the vicar;
And shout and song from lad and lass.
And broken heads, and broken glass,
In concert horrible, declare
Their loyal rev'rence for the heir.

Right justly may the youthful squire
These transports in his slaves inspire;
At every fireside through the place
He's welcome as the curate's grace;
He tells his story, cracks his joke,
And drinks his ale “like other folk;”
Fearless he risks that cranium thick
At cudgelling and singlestick;
And then his stud!—Why, far and wide,
It is the country's chiefest pride!
Ah! had his steed no firmer brains
Than the mere thing that holds the reins,
Grief soon would bid the beer to run,
Because the squire's mad race was done,
Not less than now it froths away,
Because “the squire's of age to-day.”

Far different pomp inspired of old
The youthful Roman's bosom bold.

Soon as a father's honoured hand
Gave to his grasp the casque and brand,
And off the light prætexta threw,
And from his neck the bulla drew,
Bade him the toga's foldings scan,
And glory in the name of Man;
Far different pomp lit ardour high
In the young German's eager eye,
When, bending o'er his offspring's head,
An aged sire, half weeping, said—
“Thy duty to thy father done,
Go forth, and be thy country's son!”
Heav'ns! how his bosom burned to dare
The grim delight of manhood's war,
And brandish in no mimic field
His beaming lance and osier shield!
How his young bosom longed to claim,
In war's wide tumult, manhood's name
And write it, 'midst the battle's foam,
In the best blood of trembling Rome!

Such was the hope, the barbarous joy,
That nerved to arms the German boy;
A flame as ardent, more refined,
Shall brightly glow in Julio's mind;
But yet I'd rather see thee smile
Grimly on war's embattled file,—

I'd rather see thee wield in strife
The German butcher's reckless knife,
Thinking thy claims to manhood grow
From each pale corse that bleeds below,—
I'd rather view thee thus, than see
A modern blockhead rise in thee.

Is it a study for a peer
To breathe soft vows in lady's ear?
To choose a coat—or leap a gate?
To win an heiress—or a plate?

Far nobler studies shall be thine,—
So friendship and the Muse divine:
It shall be thine, in danger's hour,
To guide the helm of British power;
And 'midst thy country's laurelled crown
To mix a garland all thine own.

Julio, from this auspicious day,
New honours gild thine onward way;
In thee posterity shall view
A heart to faith and feeling true,
And Fame her choicest wreaths shall blend
For virtue's and the poor man's friend!