A FAREWELL.
After sleeping in the Argyle Hotel, Dunoon.
Bite on, thou pertinacious flea,
And draw the tiny river;
No more for thee my blood shall be,
For ever and for ever.
Bite, fiercely bite, and take with glee
From each unwilling giver;
No food for thee my blood shall be,
For ever and for ever.
And here will toss some wretched he,
And here he'll tear and shiver;
Bed-making she will hunt the flea
For ever and for ever.
A thousand limbs may smart for thee,
A thousand skins may quiver;
But not for thee my blood shall be,
For ever and for ever.
A still closer imitation of the versification of the original is contained in The Shotover Papers, published in Oxford in 1874.
Rise up, cold reverend, to a see,
Confound the unbeliever!
Yet ne'er 'neath thee my seat will be
For ever and for ever.
Preach, softly preach, in lawn and be
A comely model liver,
But ne'er 'neath thee my seat shall be
For ever and for ever.
And here shall sleep thine alderman,
And here thy pauper shiver,
And here by thee shall buzz the "she,"
For ever and for ever.
A thousand men shall sneer at thee,
A thousand women quiver,
But ne'er 'neath thee my seat shall be
For ever and for ever.