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O/ 1 , the Feast of the Violets.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Cantoiii.—The Supper
First exalter of animal passion with mind _. Him follow _ed , still modestly keeping behind , With book under arm , and in scholarly gown , ( Oh ! ill have the gross understood his renown !) Boccaccio , with faces a martyr might bless ,
Griselda s among them , the patient excess . Her look was the sweetest that never knew laughter : And backward she turn'd tow _a rds the shape that came after _. Great Chaucer . As humbly as maiden went he . Young queens held their diadems of him in fee ; Young mothers and beauties , clear angels of earth ; I know not which grac'd them most , sorrow or mirth .
Great Cervantes was next , fine romance-loving soul ( For his very jest lov'd it ) with whom came a shoal Of such blithe and sweet beauties , some courtly , some nurst In Arcadia , I thought they were Shakspeare ' s at first ; But when he came , good lord ! what a heaven upon earth Of young beauty was there ! what sweet sorrow and mirth !
What most womanly women ! What passion all beauteous With patience ! What love irrepressibly duteous ! What players at boyhood , as sweet as in gown ! What bosoms , where care might for ever lie down ! Did heav ' n keep a boarding-school , these were its blushers ;—But Shakspeares would never have done for the ushers .
The women at table , I thought , at this sight , For pure , tongue-tied bliss would have fainted outright ; But Apollo , in pity , dismiss'd it ; and brought Richard Steele on the carpet , the heart of light thought ; _ed
Who pass , with his wit and his wig , midst a bevy Of hoops and bright eyes , as if bound for a levee ; Some cheeks were among them , more sweet for a sprinkle Of tears ; and the dupe of that horrid beast , Inkle . Steele led by the hand his own wife in the crowd , And as if re-assuring her , kiss'd it , and bow'd _.
In discourse of this kind , and such rapturous expressions As perfectly scorn'd all the old self-possessions , ( For really I can ' t say which rattled most gaily , Dear frank Lady Morgan , or quiet Miss Bailey ; Though somebody said * , that tow'rds three , Mrs Hall
Was , beyond any question , the merriest of all ; And I ' m told that Miss Edge worth became so vivacious , The damsels from boarding-school whispered , * ' My gracious In talk of this kind , and a world of sweet will , Which turn'd all our heads (' tis in mine dancing still )
O/ 1 , The Feast Of The Violets.
O / 1 , the Feast of the Violets .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 1, 1837, page 53, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_01071837/page/51/
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