LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP.

WHEN Love was a boy, quite a tiny young elf,
He grew such a scamp and a dunce,

That the girls were all frighten'd, and each, for herself,
Said she cut his acquaintance at once.

They declared that his conduct was getting so bad,
That to let it pass over were stupid,

And they said a young lady must really be mad,
Who'd receive the attentions of Cupid.

So they cut him, whenever they went out to ride
On their pretty Jerusalem ponies!

And they sent no invites for quadrilling beside,
Or for conversaziones!

So Love, when his doleful disgrace he knew,

He

grew nervous and melancholy;

And began to repent, as most of us do,

The effects of his youthful folly!

LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP.

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"So," says he, "I'll see Friendship, for he's the man,

"Since this cutting work the trade is,

“And I'll get him at once to contrive me a plan,

"To have my revenge of the ladies.”

So he found out young Friendship, "My dear Sir," says he,

"I want to revenge an affront;

"The ladies have cut me, and so d'ye see,

"I'll shoot 'em,-be hanged if I don't."

"You are angry,” says Friendship, " pray, Cupid, be calm, "And laugh at 'em, there's a dear fellow !" But 'twas useless for Friendship to offer his balm, Little Love would do nothing but bellow.

"You have only to dress up," says Friendship," like me, "And round the girls' haunts you must hover; "For they'll still receive him as a friend, d'ye see, "Who's already refused as a lover."

So Friendship lends Cupid his best suit of clothes,
And his own faithful dog to attend him;
Gives him all the compassion he could for his woes,
And the best of advice to befriend him.

74

LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP.

Then he binds up Love's fluttering pinions, and flings

His bow and his shafts in the river;

Love cried when they tied up his beautiful wings,
And still more when they emptied his quiver.

So in Friendship's disguise, Love's received in all parts,
And where'er he's received is a victor;

And he makes such a havoc among the girls' hearts,
As is past my skill to picture.

MORAL.

So

young

ladies take heed of a sudden surprise,

For how tiresome 'twould be, to discover

That Love had deceived you, in Friendship's disguise,

And you'd welcomed a friend who had turn'd out a lover.

ELINOR.

A BALLAD.

SAY whose the form that, robed in white,
Glides on by the castle's western wall?

And whose the steps that fall as light

As flakes of snow on snow would fall?

O heaven that form, and that still small tread,
Can it be Lady Elinor? yes, 'tis she!

But these gloomy walls, and those dungeons dread,
Oh! what are these, sweet maid, to thee?

Or what canst thou hope, fair Lady, to find,
That thou leav'st thy chamber of home and bliss,

To brave the force of the winter's wind,

In a night of storms, a night like this?

On, on she advances, till chamber, and bower,
And portal, and drawbridge all are past;
And she stops at the foot of the dungeon tower,

And reaches her hope and her home at last!

And see at the portal the maiden stands,

And she plies the lock with its pond'rous key,
But ah! will it yield to such feeble hands ?
Yes, Heaven assists, and her lover is free!

For she has dared that dungeon's gloom,
Her young heart's plighted faith to prove ;
And sought, at midnight, this living tomb,
To save or to die with her warrior love.

"O come, love, come at thine Elinor's call, "Ere my Father awake and my kinsmen

pursue;

"And their steeds are fleet, and their swords are true."

"But how can I leave thee?" the warrior cried,

"To thy kinsmen indignant, thy father severe, "O come but with me and I'll make thee my bride, "Or stay and we'll perish together here!"

They haste, at once, from that dungeon dark,
And rush to the gate of the outward wall,
But the castle is roused in arms, and hark—
They hear the warder's waking call.