THE RONDEAU.

(In a Rage.)

Pray tell me why we can’t agree

To bid the merry Muse run free?

Pray tell me why we should incline

To see her in a Rondeau pine,

Or sigh in shackled minstrelsy?

Why can’t she sing with lark-like glee,

And revel in bright jeux d’esprit?

Where form can’t fetter or confine—

Pray tell me why?

Pray tell me why that frisky gee,

Called Pegasus, should harnessed be?

Why bit and bridle should combine

To all his liveliness consign,—

To deck the Rondeau’s narrow line—

Pray tell me why?