But in the country ladies seek their bower
A little earlier than the waning moon.
Peace to the slumbers of each folded flower—
May the rose call back its true colour soon!
Good hours of fair cheeks are the fairest tinters,
And lower the price of rouge—at least some winters.[702]
FOOTNOTES:
[653] Fy. 12th 1823.
[654] {482}[The allusion is to the refrain of Canning's verses on Pitt, "The Pilot that weathered the storm." Compare, too, "The daring pilot in extremity" (i.e. the Earl of Shaftesbury), who "sought the storms" (Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel, lines 159-161).]
[655] [Johnson loved "dear, dear Bathurst," because he was "a very good hater."—See Boswell's Johnson, 1876, p. 78 (Croker's footnote).]