Jane heard a “tap-tap” at the parlour door;

So, suddenly uprising on her feet,

Prepared herself the visitor to meet,—

“The Reverend Alexander Gordon Jay,”[214]

(Most popular grammar-master of the day,—

Within a circle of near thirty miles,—

A man belov’d by most fair juveniles;

Of stature small, but of capacious tact;

And of his person wondrously exact.)—

Who with obeisance and with dexter hand