Part 26 (1/2)
”To seek it with thimbles, to seek it with care: To pursue it with forks and hope; To threaten its life with a railway share; To charm it with smiles and soap!
For the Snark's a peculiar creature, that won't Be caught in a commonplace way; Do all that you know, and try all that you don't: Not a chance must be wasted to-day!”
The verses which follow are from the ”Comic Latin Grammar,” and if they are not nonsense they show at least how thin the part.i.tion line is between true nonsense verse and many of those pieces which were wont to be known by the name of Alb.u.m Verses:
LINES BY A FOND LOVER.
”Lovely maid, with rapture swelling, Should these pages meet thine eye, Clouds of absence soft dispelling;-- Vacant memory heaves a sigh.
As the rose, with fragrance weeping, Trembles to the tuneful wave, So my heart shall twine unsleeping, Till it canopies the grave.
Though another's smile's requited, Envious fate my doom should be; Joy for ever disunited, Think, ah! think, at times on me!
Oft, amid the spicy gloaming, Where the brakes their songs instil, Fond affection silent roaming, Loves to linger by the rill--
There, when echo's voice consoling, Hears the nightingale complain, Gentle sighs my lips controlling, Bind my soul in beauty's chain.
Oft in slumber's deep recesses, I thy mirror'd image see; Fancy mocks the vain caresses I would lavish like a bee!
But how vain is glittering sadness!
Hark, I hear distraction's knell!
Torture gilds my heart with madness!
Now for ever fare thee well!”
_LIPOGRAMS._
The reading of Lope de Vega's five novels, in each of which a different vowel is omitted, led to Lord Holland writing the following curious production, in which no vowel is used but _e_:
EVE'S LEGEND.
”Men were never perfect; yet the three brethren Veres were ever esteemed, respected, revered, even when the rest, whether the select few, whether the mere herd, were left neglected.
”The eldest's vessels seek the deep, stem the element, get pence; the keen Peter when free, wedded Hester Green,--the slender, stern, severe, erect Hester Green. The next, clever Ned, less dependent, wedded sweet Ellen Heber. Stephen, ere he met the gentle Eve, never felt tenderness: he kept kennels, bred steeds, rested where the deer fed, went where green trees, where fresh breezes greeted sleep. There he met the meek, the gentle Eve; she tended her sheep, she ever neglected self; she never heeded pelf, yet she heeded the shepherds even less. Nevertheless, her cheek reddened when she met Stephen; yet decent reserve, meek respect, tempered her speech, even when she showed tenderness. Stephen felt the sweet effect: he felt he erred when he fled the s.e.x, yet felt he defenceless when Eve seemed tender.
She, he reflects, never deserved neglect; she never vented spleen; he esteems her gentleness, her endless deserts; he reverences her steps; he greets her:
”Tell me whence these meek, these gentle sheep,--whence the yet meeker, the gentler shepherdess?”
”'Well bred, we were eke better fed, ere we went where reckless men seek fleeces. There we were fleeced. Need then rendered me shepherdess, need renders me sempstress. See me tend the sheep, see me sew the wretched shreds. Eve's need preserves the steers, preserves the sheep; Eve's needle mends her dresses, hems her sheets; Eve feeds the geese; Eve preserves the cheese.'
”Her speech melted Stephen, yet he nevertheless esteems, reveres her.
He bent the knee where her feet pressed the green; he blessed, he begged, he pressed her.
”'Sweet, sweet Eve, let me wed thee; be led where Hester Green, where Ellen Heber, where the brethren Vere dwell. Free cheer greets thee there; Ellen's glees sweeten the refreshments; there severer Hester's decent reserve checks heedless jests. Be led there, sweet Eve.'
”'Never! we well remember the Seer. We went where he dwells--we entered the cell--we begged the decree,--