OF A BAD SINGER Swans sing before they die; 'twere no bad thing Did certain persons die before they sing. Samuel Taylor Coleridge EPIGRAM After such years of dissension and strife, Thomas Hood SORROWS OF WERTHER Werther had a love for Charlotte Such as words could never utter; Charlotte was a married lady, So he sighed and pined and ogled, Charlotte, having seen his body William Makepeace Thackeray REFLECTIONS ON CLEOPATHERA'S NEEDLE So that's Cleopathera's Needle, bedad, An' a quare lookin' needle it is, I'll be bound; Imagine her sittin' there stitchin' like mad Wid a needle like that in her hand! I declare The taste of her, ordherin' a needle of granite! I wondher can these be the thracks of her thumb! I once was astonished to hear of the faste It's aisy to see why bould Cæsar should quail But, Lord, what poor pigmies the women are now, Just think how a chap that goes courtin' would start That the needle in front of me there takes the pins! O, sweet Cleopathera! I'm sorry you're dead; |