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    Or9 the Feast of the Violets.

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    Cantoiii.—The Supper

    The Genius that stood behind each lady ' s chair , From her dish took the cover ; when forth , in glad air , Leap'd a couple of small merry Loves , who display'd What d'ye think ?—a new girdle ? a busk ? a new braid ? No ;—the sweetest blue stockings that ever were made . The blue was a violet , fresh as first love ; And the garters were blush-colour , mingled with dove .

    To describe the " sensation" produced by this sight , The dismays , pretty doubtings , the laughs , the delight , Were a task I should never have done , if I told ye , And haste does not let me ; for lo and behold ye ! As doves round a house top , in summer-time blue , Take a sudden stoop earthwards , and sweep from the view

    So the Loves , one and all , rising first with a clapping Of pinions , _pass'd by us , tempestuously flapping ; Then _stoop'd , quick as lightning , and gliding right under The _^ table , all _vanished!—A shriek of sweet wonder Rose sudden and brief , as of fear come and gone ; And ' twas felt thro' the room , that the stockings were on !

    Mute , curious , respectful ( for all were inspir _ed With the feelings so nice an occasion requir'd ) We sat for some moments , as still as Apollo ' s Own table ; till sweet , as when breath fills the hollows Of organs , mild waking , —he utter'd what follows : —

    ' _* Dear souls with fine eyes ( may they never be kiss'd By a fool !) fear no more the mistakes that exist With regard to these footings of yours , and their blue ; Fear no more the confusion of false and of true ; Strange confusion at any time , seeing its grounds ! For who , in his taste , sweet and bitter confounds ?

    And whence rose it ? An authoress , once on a time , Could discover , it seems , no such wonderful crime In the legs of an honest old soul at her party , Who came in his blue stockings , ancient and hearty , —

    ( 43 ) The appellation of " Blue-Stocking" is understood to have originated , as here described , in the dress of the excellent old Benjamin StillingHeet ( grandson of the Bishop ) as he used to appear at the parties of Mrs Montagu , in Portmansquare . H © was jilted by a mistress to whose remembrance he remained faithful ; and in spite of a disappointment which he then deeply felt , remained , to the last , one of the most amiable of men , and entertaining of companions . See his * Literary Life and Select Works / published by Longman , in the year 1811 . " Mr Stilling _, fleet , " ( says a passage quoted in it from Bisset ' s Life of Burke ) < 4 almost always wore blue worsted stockings , and whenever he was absent from Mrs Montagu _' s evening parties , as his conversation was very entertaining , the company used to say , * can do nothing without the blue stockings * and by degrees the assemblies were called Blue-Stocking Clubs , and learned bodies Bl _% * Stockings . "—Vol . i . p . 237 .

    Or9 The Feast Of The Violets.

    Or the Feast of the Violets .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 1, 1837, page 55, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_01071837/page/53/