Poetical Letter to an Exquisite

• Posted by mgr on April 28th, 2008 filed in Zeitdokumente
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I HAVE just come to town, what a horrible place! —
Surely Regent Street’s got the blue devils;
And in Waterloo-place you may challenge a race,
Once the scene of our pastime and revels.
‘Tis a positive bore to be seen in the streets:
An idea I have quite emphatic,
That at this time of year every dandy one meets
Must have made his descent from an attic.

There are nothing but bills in the Royal Exchange;
Clerks with bags full of writs and indentures;
Or a prince or a lord come to town for a change,
No doubt for a day of adventures;
To-morrow I’ll shut myself up till ’tis dark:
They tell me, though nothing surprising,
It’s a libel on fashion to ride in the park
When the rest of the world’s ruralizing.

I called on some friends who I knew were in town,
I met with an answer repelling: —
“They are gone on a tour,” — so the blinds are drawn down,
And they live in the back of their dwelling.
Oh, spirit of Adam! say, when will this cease?
In nothing like us but in feature,
Didst think thy poor children would e’er be such geese,
When thou first till’dst the garden of nature?

Like the robin they’ll fly from their nests in the grove,
When Boreas first rudely shall bellow;
And I care not how soon, for I feel like a glove,
Gone wandering in search of a fellow:
But a friend has dropp’d in, — in the words of Paul Pry
And far livelier thoughts must enroll us:
So farewell till the season commences; — then fly
To your friend and companion —

SAM SOLUS.

London, 25th September.

Quoted from: Henrietta F. Vallé: Autumnal leaves; or, Tints of memory and imagination. London: Smith, Elder and Col, 1837: 178-179.

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