"In the Annals of England let some," he said, "shine, But a place in her Annuals, Lady, be thine! Even now future Keepsakes seem brightly to rise, Through the vista of years, as I gaze on those eyes, All letter'd and press'd, and of large-paper size!" How unlike that Magan, who my genius would smother, And how we, true geniuses, find out each other! This, and much more he said, with that fine frenzied glance One so rarely now sees, as we slid through the dance; Till between us 'twas finally fixed that, next year, In this exquisite task I my pen should engage; And, at parting, he stoop'd down and lisped in my ear These mystical words, which I could but just hear, "Terms for rhyme, if it's prime,-ten and sixpence per page." Think, Kitty my dear, if I heard his words right, What a mint of half-guineas this small head contains; If for nothing to write is itself a delight, Ye Gods, what a bliss to be paid for one's strains! Having dropp'd the dear fellow a curtesy profound, Off at once, to inquire all about him, I ran ; And from what I could learn, do you know, dear, I've found That he's quite a new species of lit'rary man; One, whose task is, to what will not fashion accus tom us? To edite live authors, as if they were posthumous. My Aunt says, though scarce on such points one can credit her, He was Lady Jane Thingumbob's last novel's editor. Tis certain the fashion 's but newly invented; And, quick as the change of all things and all names is, Who knows but, as authors, like girls, are presented, We, girls, may be edited soon at St. James's? I must now close my letter-there's Aunt, in full screech, Wants to take me to hear some great Irvingite preach. That, so far from presenting young nymphs with a head, For their skill in the dance, as of Herod is said, There, again-coming, Ma'am ! - I'll write more, if I can, Before the post goes Your affectionate Fan. Four o'clock. Such a sermon!-though not about dancing, my dear; 'Twas only on th' end of the world being near. Eighteen Hundred and Forty's the year that some state As the time for that accident, - some Forty Eight :* * With regard to the exact time of this event, there appears to be a difference only of about two or three years among the respective calculators. M. Alphonse Nicole, Docteur en Droit, et Avocat, merely doubts whether it is to be in 1846, or 1847. "A cette époque,” he says, "les fidèles peuvent espérer de voir s'effectuer la purification du Sanctuaire." LETTER IV. FROM PATRICK MAGAN, ESQ., TO THE REV. RICHARD He comes from Erin's speechful shore, Like fervid kettle, bubbling o'er With hot effusions, hot and weak ; Sound, Humbug, all your hollowest drums, He comes, of Erin's martyrdoms To Britain's well-fed Church to speak. Puff him, ye Journals of the Lord,* Twin prosers, Watchman and Record! * "Our anxious desire is to be found on the side of the Lord."-Record Newspaper. |