May 19, 1813.
Oh you, who in all names can tickle the town,
[Anacreon], Tom Little, Tom Moore, or Tom Brown[1],—
For hang me if I know of which you may most brag,
Your Quarto two-pounds, or your Twopenny Post Bag;
...
But now to my letter—to yours 'tis an answer—
To-morrow be with me, as soon as you can, sir,
All ready and dress'd for proceeding to spunge on
([According] to compact) the wit in the dungeon[2]—
Pray Phœbus at length our political malice
May not get us lodgings within the same palace!
I suppose that to-night you're engaged with some codgers,
[And] for Sotheby's[3] Blues have deserted Sam Rogers;
And I, though with cold I have nearly my death got,
Must put on my breeches, and wait on the Heathcote.
But to-morrow at four, we will both play the Scurra,
[And] you'll be Catullus, the Regent, Mamurra[4].
Dear M.,—having got thus far, I am interrupted by ——. 10 o'clock.
Half-past 11.——is gone. I must dress for Lady Heathcote's.—Addio.
Moore's
Intercepted Letters, or the Twopenny Post-bag. By Thomas Brown, the Younger
, was published in 1813.