BOOK SECOND

INTIMACIES

I

_Take cedar, take the creamy card,
With regal head at angle dight;
And though to snatch the time be hard,
To all our loves at home we'll write_.

II

_Strange group! in Bowness' street we stand--
Nine swains enamoured of our wives,
Each quaintly writing on his hand,
In haste, as 'twere to save our lives_.

III

_O wondrous messenger, to fly
All through the night from post to post!
Thou bearest home a kiss, a sigh--
And but a halfpenny the cost_!

IV

_To-morrow when they crack their eggs,
They'll say beside each matin urn--