“I am Cassandra come down from the sky,
To tell each bystander what none can deny,
That I am Cassandra come down from the sky.”
The pretty Italian verses, too, at the end of Baretti’s book called “Easy Phraseology,” he did all’ improviso, in the same manner:
“Viva! viva la padrona!
Tutta bella, e tutta buona,
La padrona e un angiolella
Tutta buona e tutta bella;
Tutta bella e tutta buona;
Viva! viva la padrona!”“Long may live my lovely Hetty!
Always young and always pretty,
Always pretty, always young,
Live my lovely Hetty long!
Always young and always pretty!
Long may live my lovely Hetty!”
The famous distich, too, of an Italian improvisatore, when the Duke of Modena ran away from the comet in the year 1742 or 1743:
“Se al venir vestro i principi sen’ vanno,
Deh venga ogni di --- durate un anno;”
“which,” said he, “would do just as well in our language thus:
“‘If at your coming princes disappear,
Comets! come every day—and stay a year.’”
When some one in company commended the verses of M. de Benserade a son Lit:
“Theatre des ris et des pleurs,
Lit! on je nais, et ou je meurs,
Tu nous fais voir comment voisins
Sont nos plaisirs et nos chagrins.”
To which he replied without hesitating—