Collected Poems

AUSTIN DOBSON

IN TWO VOLUMES

Vol. II.

Majores majora sonent

NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
Publishers

Copyright, 1895,

By Dodd, Mead and Company

University Press:

John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A.

"For old sake's sake!" 'Twere hard to choose
Words fitter for an old-world Muse
Than these, that in their cadence bring
Faint fragrance of the posy-ring,
And charms that rustic lovers use.

The long day lengthens, and we lose
The first pale flush, the morning hues,—
Ah! but the back-look, lingering,
For old sake's sake!

That we retain. Though Time refuse
To lift the veil on forward views,
Despot in most, he is not King
Of those kind memories that cling
Around his travelled avenues
For old sake's sake!

"Qui n'a pas l'esprit de son âge
De son âge a tout le malheur."
Voltaire.

CONTENTS.

Page
[At the Sign of the Lyre]:—
The Ladies of St. James's [3]
The Old Sedan Chair [6]
To an Intrusive Butterfly [9]
The Curé's Progress [11]
The Masque of the Months [13]
Two Sermons [17]
"Au Revoir" [19]
The Carver and the Caliph [26]
To an Unknown Bust in the British Museum [29]
Molly Trefusis [32]
At the Convent Gate [36]
The Milkmaid [38]
An Old Fish-Pond [40]
An Eastern Apologue [43]
To a Missal of the Thirteenth Century [45]
A Revolutionary Relic [48]
A Madrigal [54]
A Song to the Lute [56]
A Garden Song [58]
A Chapter of Froissart [60]
To the Mammoth Tortoise [64]
A Roman "Round-Robin" [66]
Verses to Order [68]
A Legacy [70]
"Little Blue Ribbons" [72]
Lines to a Stupid Picture [74]
A Fairy Tale [76]
To a Child [78]
Household Art [80]
The Distressed Poet [81]
Jocosa Lyra [83]
My Books [85]
The Book-Plate's Petition [87]
Palomydes [89]
André le Chapelain [91]
The Water of Gold [95]
A Fancy from Fontenelle [97]
Don Quixote [98]
A Broken Sword [99]
The Poet's Seat [101]
The Lost Elixir [104]

[Memorial Verses]:—
A Dialogue (Alexander Pope) [107]
A Familiar Epistle (William Hogarth) [112]
Henry Fielding [115]
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [119]
Charles George Gordon [120]
Victor Hugo [121]
Alfred, Lord Tennyson [122]

[Fables of Literature and Art]:—
The Poet and the Critics [127]
The Toyman [130]
The Successful Author [133]
The Dilettant [136]
The Two Painters [138]
The Claims of the Muse [140]
The 'Squire at Vauxhall [144]
The Climacteric [149]

[Tales in Rhyme]:—
The Virgin with the Bells [155]
A Tale of Polypheme [159]
A Story from a Dictionary [170]
The Water Cure [178]
The Noble Patron [184]

[Vers de Société]:—
Incognita [193]
Dora versus Rose [197]
Ad Rosam [200]
Outward Bound [205]
In the Royal Academy [208]
The Last Despatch [213]
"Premiers Amours" [216]
The Screen in the Lumber Room [219]
Daisy's Valentines [221]
In Town [224]
A Sonnet in Dialogue [227]
Growing Gray [229]

[Varia]:—
The Maltworm's Madrigal [233]
An April Pastoral [236]
A New Song of the Spring Gardens [237]
A Love Song, 1700 [239]
Of his Mistress [240]
The Nameless Charm [242]
To Phidyle [243]
To his Book [244]
For a Copy of Herrick [246]
With a Volume of Verse [247]
For the Avery "Knickerbocker" [248]
To a Pastoral Poet [250]
"Sat est Scripsisse" [251]

[Prologues and Epilogues]:—
Prologue and Envoi to Abbey's Edition of "She Stoops to Conquer" [257]
Prologue and Epilogue to Abbey's "Quiet Life" [264]
[Notes] [271]

AT THE SIGN OF THE LYRE.

"At the Sign of the Lyre,"
Good Folk, we present you
With the pick of our quire,
And we hope to content you!

Here be Ballad and Song,
The fruits of our leisure,
Some short and some long—
May they all give you pleasure!

But if, when you read,
They should fail to restore you,
Farewell, and God-speed—
The world is before you!