But we want them not here, though I think you might know them,
Since on earth they so often have bought and sold you.”
Thomas Love Peacock.
(From Paper Money Lyrics, written during the commercial
panic, in the winter 1825-26.)
——:o:——
Another imitation of Moore’s style is given in The Book of Ballads, edited by Bon Gaultier, and published by William Blackwood & Sons. These Ballads were written by Professor W. E. Aytoun, and Theodore Martin. A few of them may be considered amusing as parodies, but the greater number are really clever imitations of style, with a little burlesque introduced here and there. Thus, the following would pass very well for one of Moore’s lighter songs:
The Bard of Erin’s Lament.
Oh! weep for the hours when the little blind boy
Wove around me the spells of his Paphian bower;
When I dipped my light wings in the nectar of joy,