My Topper! so serenely sleek,
So beautifully tall,
Wherein I decked me once a week
Whene'er I went to call,—
No more shall now th' admiring maid,
While handing me my tea,
View her reflected charms displayed
(Narcissus-like) in thee!
Yet oh! though different forms of hat
May wreathe my manly brow,
No Straw shall e'er (be sure of that)
Be half so dear as thou.
Hang then upon thy native rack
As varying modes compel,
Till next year's fashions bring thee back,
My Chimneypot, farewell!
THE 1713 AGAINST NEWNHAM
[This Fragment will be found to contain, in a concentrated form, all the constituent parts of Greek Tragedy. It has an Anagnorisis, because its subject is the Recognition of Women. It also contains at least one Peripeteia: and the action has been strictly confined, chiefly by the Editor of the Magazine, within one revolution of the sun.]
SCENE: Interior of a Ladies' College
LEADER OF THE CHORUS OF LADIES
Sisters, from far upon my senses steals
A sound of crackers and of Catherine wheels,
By which I know the Senate in debate
Decides our future and the country's fate:
And lo! a herald from the city's stir
I see arrive—the usual Messenger.
Enter a Messenger
M. O maiden guardians of this sacred shrine—
Ch. Observe the rules: you've had your single line.