He felt assured he should himself contemn;
“Oh! they were all so eloquent, so free,
No! he was nothing - nothing could he be:
They dress so smartly, and so boldly look,
And talk as if they read it from a book;
But I,” said Stephen, “will forbear to speak,
And they will think me prudent and not weak.
They talk, the instant they have dropp’d the pen,
Of singing-women and of acting-men:
Of plays and places where at night they walk