The English Spy, page 169 by Bernard Blackmantle

<< Return to Title Details & Download

 < previous  next > 

170

l colours o' the shop, Fashion'd for the Easter hop, To grace the civic feast, Where the great Lord Mayor presides O'er tallow, ribands, rags, and hides, The sultan o' the east. The would-be poet, Ch-s L-h,{54} Comes saunt'ring with his graces three, The little gay coquettes. After, view the Cyprian corps Of well-known traders, many score, From Bang to Angel M-tz, A heedless, giddy, laughing crew, Who'd seem as if they never knew Of want or fell despair; Yet if unveil'd the heart might be, You'd find the demon, Misery, Had ta'en possession there. Think not that satire will excuse, Ye frail, though fair; or that the muse Will silent pass ye by: To you a chapter she'll devote, Where all of fashionable note

53 Lady Sarah Saville, afterwards Lady Monson, now Countess of Warwick, a most beautiful, amiable, and accomplished woman. By constant "Harry" is meant her present earl.

54 See Amatory Poems by Ch-os L-h. We could indulge our readers with a curious account of the demolition of the Paphian car at Covent Garden theatre, but the story is somewhat musty.

~194~~

Shall find their history. "Vice to be hated, needs but be seen;" And thus shall ev'ry Paphian queen Be held to public view; And though protected by a throne, The gallant and his Miss be shown In colours just and true. The countess of ten thousand see,{55} The dear delightful Savante B-, Who once was sold and bought: The magic-lantern well displays The scenes of long forgotten days, And gives new birth to thought. Nay, start not, here we'll not relate The break-neck story gossips prate Within the Em'rald Isle: No spirit gray, or black, or brown, We'll conjure up, with hideous frown, To chase the dimpled smile. In fleeting numbers, as we pass, We find these shadows in our glass, We move, and they're no more. But see where chief of folly's train,

55 The beautiful and accomplished countess is a lovely daughter of Hibernia; her maiden name was P-r, and her father an Irish magistrate of

 < previous  next >