Locker-Lampson, himself a discerning and severe critic, instructs us that the rhymes should be short, graceful, refined and fanciful, not seldom distinguished by chastened sentiment, and often playful.
But, really, playfulness and light, bright humor are more a distinctive quality of Vers de Société than that dictum stipulates.
Wit is the keynote, fun the undercurrent of the best of the material so often collected under this name; and Locker-Lampson made the first and perhaps the best collection, under the title of Lyra Elegantiarum.
Typical of all that goes to make up the best form of Vers de Société is his poem,
MY MISTRESS’S BOOTS
They nearly strike me dumb,
And I tremble when they come
Pit-a-pat;
This palpitation means
These boots are Geraldine’s—