There are mincing women, mewing,
(Like cats, who amant miserè,*)
Of their own virtue, and pursu ng
Their gentler sisters to that ruin,

Without which-what were chastity.+

* One of the attributes in Linnæus's description of the Cat. To a similar cause the caterwauling of more than one species of this genus is to be referred;-except, indeed, that the poor quadruped is compelled to quarrel with its own pleasures, whilst the biped is supposed only to quarrel with those of others.

↑ What would this nusk and excuse for a virtue be

Lawyers-judges-old hobnobbers
Are there bailiffs-chancellors-
Bishops-great and little robbers—
Rhymesters-pamphleteers-stock-jobbers--
Men of glory in the wars,—

Things whose trade is, over ladies

To lean, and flirt, and stare, and simper, Till all that is divine in woman

Grows cruel, courteous, smooth, inhuman, Crucified 'twixt a smile and whimper.

Thrusting, toiling, wailing, moiling,
Frowning, preaching—such a riot!
Each with never-ceasing labour,
Whilst he thinks he cheats his neighbour,
Cheating his own heart of quiet.

And all these meet at levees ;—

Dinners convivial and political ;— Suppers of epic poets ;-teas, Where small talk dies in agonies ;— Breakfasts professional and critical;

Lunches and snacks so aldermanic

That one would furnish forth ten dinners, Where reigns a Cretan-tongued panic, Lest news Russ, Dutch, or Alemannic Should make some losers, and some winners

At conversazioni-balls

Conventicles and drawing-roomsCourts of law-committees-calls Of a morning-clubs-book-stalls— Churches-masquerades-and tombs.

And this is Hell-and in this smother
All are damnable and damned;
Each one damning, damns the other;
They are damned by one another,
By none other are they damned.

"Tis a lie to say, " God damns!"*
Where was Heaven's Attorney General
When they first gave out such flams?
Let there be an end of shams,

They are mines of poisonous mineral.

without its kernel prostitution, or the kernel prostitution without this husk of a virtue? I wonder the women of the town do not form an association, like the Society for the Suppression of Vice, for the support of what may be called the King, Church, and Constitution" of their order. But this subject is almost too horrible for a joke. *This libel on our national oath, and this accusation of

She laughed the while, with an arch smile,
And kissed him with a sister's kiss,
And said "My best Diogenes,
I love you well-but, if you please,
Tempt not again my deepest bliss.

""Tis you are cold-for I, not coy,

Yield love for love, frank, warm and true; And Burns, a Scottish peasant boyHis errors prove it-knew my joy

More, learned friend, than you.

"Bocca bacciata non perde ventura

Anzi rinnuova come fa la luna :—

So thought Boccaccio, whose sweet words might

cure a

Male prude, like you, from what you now endure, a

Low-tide in soul, like a staguant laguna."

Then Peter rubbed his eyes severe,

And smoothed his spacious forehead down, With his broad palm;-'twixt love and fear, He looked, as he no doubt felt, queer, And in his dream sate down.

The Devil was no uncommon creature ;
A leaden-witted thief-just huddled
Out of the dross and scum of nature;
A toad-like lump of limb and feature,

With mind, and heart, and fancy muddled.

He was that heavy, dull, cold thing,
The spirit of evil well may be :
A drone too base to have a sting;
Who gluts, and grimes his lazy wing,
And calls lust, luxury.

Now he was quite the kind of wight

Round whom collect, at a fixed æra, Venison, turtle, hock, and claret,Good cheer-and those who come to share it And best East Indian madeira!

It was his fancy to invite

Men of science, wit, and learning,
Who came to lend each other light;
He proudly thought that his gold's might
Had set those spirits burning.

And men of learning, science, wit,
Considered him as you and I
Think of some rotten tree, and sit
Lounging and dining under it,
Exposed to the wide sky.

And all the while, with loose fat smile,

The willing wretch sat winking there, Believing 'twas his power that made That jovial scene-and that all paid Homage to his unnoticed chair.

Though to be sure this place was Hell; He was the Devil-and all theyWhat though the claret circled well, And wit, like ocean, rose and fell?— Were damned eternally.