Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.
Austin Dobson 18401921A Familiar Epistle
Dobson-AD
I should address you a Rondeau,
Or else announce what I ’ve to say
At least en Ballade fratriseé
But No: for once I leave Gymnasticks,
And take to simple Hudibrasticks,
Why should I choose another Way,
When this was good enough for G
That Age of Lustre and of Link;
Of Chelsea China and long “s”es,
Of Bag-wigs and of flowered Dresses;
That Age of Folly and of Cards,
Of Hackney Chairs and Hackney Bards;
—No H-
Dispensing Competence to Men;
The gentle Trade was left to Churls,
Your frowsy T
Mere Wolves in Ambush to attack
The A
Then S
In Porridge Island div’d for Dinners;
Or doz’d on Covent Garden Bulks,
And liken’d Letters to the Hulks;—
You know that by-gone Time, I say,
That aimless easy-moral’d Day,
When rosy Morn found M
Wrangling at Ombre or Quadrille,
When good S
From Pontack’s or the Shakespear’s Head;
When T
And took his Titles and his Oaths;
While B
Ogled M
When G
Or mouth’d Macbeth with Mrs. P
When F
When C
When the C
But there!
The further Catalogue I spare,
Having no Purpose to eclipse
That tedious Tale of H
This is the M
From Pannier Alley to the Mall,
Then turn’d and drew it once again
From Bird-Cage-Walk to Lewknor’s Lane;—
Its Rakes and Fools, its Rogues and Sots;
Its brawling Quacks, its starveling Scots;
Its Ups and Downs, its Rags and Garters,
Its H
Its Splendor, Squalor, Shame, Disease;
Its quicquid agunt Homines;—
Nor yet omitted to pourtray
Furens quid possit Foemina;—
In short, held up to ev’ry Class
N
And, from his Canvas, spoke to All
The Message of a J
His weak Point is—his Chronicler!