Miscellaneous writings of the late Dr. Maginn :: :: University of Virginia Library

I never saw a more delightful spot!—
One might have lain there, when the days were hot,
Hours and hours—hark'ning to the sweet singers
Up in the leaves—twiddling one's thumbs and fingers—
Watching the sun-beams in that quiet scenery,
Spangling about the jaunty greenery,
And the small flies and gnats—that sort called midges,
Bite one confoundedly, raising long ridges
Upon one's skin.—Oh! it were sweet, most sweet,
As I before said, in the summer heat,
To lie there sprawling flat upon one's back,
Dozing and dreaming of one's—Zounds! what's that?—
Pshaw! a cockchafers—what was I saying?—
Oh; that would be delicious, thus a laying,
To dream of ------

[They were not married by a mutt'ring priest]

They were not married by a mutt'ring priest,
With superstitious rites, and senseless words,
Out-snuffled from an old worm-eaten book
In a dark corner (railed off like a sheep-pen,)
Of an old house, that fools do call a Church!

289

Their altar was the flowery lap of earth—
The starry empyreum their vast temple—
Their book, each other's eyes—and Love himself,
Parson, and Clerk, and Father to the bride!—
Holy espousals! whereat wept with joy
The spirit of the Universe.—In sooth
There was a sort of drizzling rain that day,
For I remember (having left at home
My parapluie, a name than umbrella
Far more expressive,) that I stood for shelter
Under an entry not twelve paces off,
(It might be ten,) from sheriff Waithman's shop,
For half an hour or more, and there I mused,
(Mine eyes upon the running kennel fixed,
That hurried on a het'rogenous mass
To th' common-sewer, its dark reservoir,)
I mused upon the running stream of life.

But that's not much to th' purpose—I was telling
Of those most pure espousals.—Innocent pair!
Ye were not shackled by the vulgar chains
About the yielding mind of credulous youth,
Wound by the nurse and priest,—your energies,
Your unsophisticated impulses,
Taught ye to soar above their “settled rules
Of Vice and Virtue.”—Fairest creature! He
Whom the world called thy husband, was in truth
Unworthy of thee.—A dull plodding wretch!
With whose ignoble nature, thy free spirit
Held no communion.—'Twas well done, fair creature!
T' assert the independence of a mind
Created—generated I would say—
Free as “that chartered libertine, the air.”
Joy to thy chosen partner!—blest exchange!
Work of mysterious sympathy! that drew
Your kindred souls by ------

[Come, and you'll find the muffins hot]

Come, and you'll find the muffins hot,
And fragrant tea in the tea-pot,
And she, you know, with the taper fingers,
Shall pour it out for you—Wherefore lingers
My friend so long? where can he be?
Didn't he promise he'd come to tea?
Ah! there's his knock—the very cat knows 'tis—
Now we'll be snug and toast our noses,
Now we ------

290

[There fled the noblest spirit—the most pure]

There fled the noblest spirit—the most pure,
Most sublimated essence that e'er dwelt
In earthly tabernacle. Gone thou art,
Exhaled, dissolved, diffused, commingled now
Into and with the all-absorbing frame
Of Nature the great mother. Ev'n in life,
While still pent up in flesh and skin, and bones,
My thoughts and feelings like electric flame
Shot through the solid mass, towards their source,
And blended with the general elements,
When thy young star o'er life's horizon hung
Far from its zenith yet, low lagging clouds
(Vapours of earth) obscured its heav'n-born rays—
Dull fogs of prejudice and superstition,
And vulgar decencies begirt thee round;
And thou didst wear awhile th' unholy bonds
Of “holy matrimony!”—and didst vail
Awhile thy lofty spirit to the cheat.—
But reason came—and firm philosophy,
And mild philanthropy, and pointed out
The shame it was—the crying, crushing shame,
To curb within a little paltry pale
The love that over all created things
Should be diffusive as the atmosphere.
Then did thy boundless tenderness expand
Over all space—all animated things,
And things inanimate. Thou hadst a heart,
A ready tear for all—The dying whale,
Stranded and gasping—ripped up for his blubber,
By Man, the tyrant—The small sucking pig
Slain for his riot—The down-trampled flower,
Crushed by his cruel foot—All, each and all
Shared in thy boundless sympathies, and then—
(Sublime perfection of perfected love)
Then didst thou spurn the whimp'ring wailing thing
That dared to call thee “husband,” and to claim,
As her just right, support and love from thee,—
Then didst thou ------

[Pretty little playful Patty]

Pretty little playful Patty
Daddy's darling! fubsy fatty!
Come and kiss me, come and sip,
Little bee upon my lip—
Come, and bring the pretty ship,
Little brother Johnny made ye,
Come, ye little cunning jade ye,
Come and see what I've got here,
In my pocket, pretty dear!
What! and won't ye come no higher?

291

Want to go to aunt Marier?
Want to go to ------

[Oh! lay me when I die]

Oh! lay me when I die
Hard by
That little babbling brook, where you and I
Have sat, and sauntered many a summer's day,
Scenting the sweet soft hay;
There let me lay,
For there young mincing May
Comes first with mouth so meek,
And pale peach-coloured cheek,
And little naked feet,
That go pit pat,
And all that,
Tripping among the sweet
Daisies and violets,
And pale primroses;
And there she comes and sits
A tying up of posies
Fit for immortal noses
To sniff unto, and there
With silky swaling pair,
And iv'ry hands that wring it,
And to the zephyrs fling it,
Up from that babbling brook
The little Naiad's look,

Heaving up round white shoulders,
That dazzle all beholders,
And then so graceful glide they,
Some crablike (sidling) sideway;
Then on the bank I mention,
Like turtles at Ascension,
In heaps they're all a laying,
And then with pretty playing,
One, like a frightened otter,
Flopps down into the water;
The rest they flounce in a'ter—
Then some, with pea-green blushes,
Hide in amongst the rushes,
And one lies shamming sleep,
And one squeaks out “bo peep!”
And one raised head doth peer
Out with a laughing leer;
And then pops up another;
Another and another;
Then they pretend to smother,
A titt'ring talk conquettish,
Then with affected wonder,
And feigned frowns so pettish,
Like ducks they dive down under,
Then through the gurgling water,
To look and see ------