We met—’twas in a mob—and I thought he had done me—
I felt—I could not feel—for no watch was upon me;
He ran—the night was cold—and his pace was unalter’d,
I too longed much to pelt—but my small-boned legs falter’d.
I wore my bran new boots—and unrivall’d their brightness,
They fit me to a hair—how I hated their tightness!
I call’d, but no one came, and my stride had a tether;
Oh thou hast been the cause of this anguish, my leather!
And once again we met—and an old pal was near him,
He swore a something low—but ’twas no use to fear him;
I seized upon his arm, he was mine and mine only,
And stept—as he deserv’d—to cells wretched and lonely;
And there he will be tried—but I shall ne’er receive her,
The watch that went too sure for an artful deceiver;
The world may think me gay,—heart and feet ache together,
Oh thou hast been the cause of this anguish, my leather.
TO FANNY.
“Gay being, born to flutter!”—Sale’s Glee.
S this your faith, then, Fanny!
What, to chat with every Dun?
I’m the one, then, but of many,
Not of many, but the One!
Last night you smil’d on all, Ma’am,
That appear’d in scarlet dress;
And your Regimental Ball, Ma’am,
Look’d a little like a Mess.
I thought that of the Sogers
(As the Scotch say) one might do;
And that I, slight Ensign Rogers,
Was the chosen man and true.
But ‘Sblood! your eye was busy
With that ragamuffin mob;—
Colonel Buddell—Colonel Dizzy—
And Lieutenant-Colonel Cobb.