XI. Thrusting, toiling, wailing, moiling, XII. And all these meet at levees, Dinners convivial and political— Where small-talk dies in agonies- XIII. 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;— XIV. At conversazioni, balls, Conventicles, and drawing-rooms; Courts of law, committees, calls Of a morning, clubs, book-stalls, Churches, masquerades, and tombs. XV. And this is Hell: and in this smother XVI. '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. XVII. Statesmen damn themselves to be Cursed; and lawyers damn their souls To the auction of a fee; God's sweet love in burning coals: XVIII. The rich are damned, beyond all cure, Stripe on stripe with groan on groan:— XIX. Sometimes the poor are damned indeed To take-not means for being blessedBut Cobbett's snuff, revenge; that weed From which the worms that it doth feed Squeeze less than they before possessed: XX. And some few, like we know who, To believe their minds are given XXI. Thus,-as, in a town plague-stricken, Must indifferently sicken; As, when day begins to thicken, None knows a pigeon from a crow,— XXII. So good and bad, sane and mad; The oppressor and the oppressed; Those who weep to see what others Smile to inflict upon their brothers; Lovers, haters, worst and best; XXIII. All are damned-They breathe an air, Scoop palace-caverns vast, where Care In throned state is ever dwelling. PART IV.-SIN. I. Lo, Peter in Hell's Grosvenor Square, A footman in the Devil's service! And the misjudging world would swear That every man in service there To virtue would prefer vice. II. But Peter, though now damned, was not Which, ere it finds them, is not what III. All things that Peter saw and felt IV. And so, the outward world uniting Considerably uninviting To those who, meditation slighting, Were moulded in a different frame. V. And he scorned them, and they scorned him: And he scorned all they did; and they Did all that men of their own trim Are wont to do to please their whim, VI. Such were his fellow-servants; thus To bully out another's guilt. VII. He had a mind which was somehow At once circumference and centre Of all he might or feel or know; Nothing went ever out, although Something did ever enter. VIII. He had as much imagination As a pint-pot; he never could Fancy another situation, From which to dart his contemplation, Than that wherein he stood. IX. Yet his was individual mind, And new-created all he saw X. Thus although unimaginative— XI. But from the first 'twas Peter's drift Felt faint, and never dared uplift The closest all-concealing tunic. XII. - She laughed the while with an arch smile, XIII. "Tis you are cold; for I, not coy, Yield love for love, frank, warm, and true; And Burns, a Scottish peasant boy- XIV. "Bocca baciata 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 stagnant laguna." XV. Then Peter rubbed his eyes severe, And smoothed his spacious forehead down And in his dream sate down. XVI. The Devil was no uncommon creature; A toad-like lump of limb and feature, XVII. He was that heavy dull cold thing XVIII. Now he was quite the kind of wight Round whom collect, at a fixed era, Venison, turtle, hock, and claret Good cheer, and those who come to share it And best East Indian madeira. XIX. It was his fancy to invite Men of science, wit, and learning, |