The Portland Gazette

POETRY.

FURTHER EXTRACTS FROM FANNY.

The age of chivalry, you know, is gone,
And although, as I once before have said
I love a pretty face to adoration,
Yet still, I must preserve my reputation;
As a true Dandy of the modern schools.
One hates to be old fashioned : it would be
A violation of the latest rules,
To treat the sex with too much courtesy.
Tis not to worship beauty, as she glows
In all her diamond lustre, that the beaux
Of these enlightened days, at evening, crowd
Where fashion sparkles in her rooms of light.
That "dignified obedience; that proud
Submission." which, in times of yore, the knight
Gave to his "Ladye-love," is now a scandal,
And practised only by your Goth or Vandal.
To lounge in graceful attitudes—be star'd
Upon, the while, by ev'ry fair one's eye,
And stare one's self, in turn: to be prepar'd
To dart upon the trays, as swiftly by
The dextrous Manuel bears, and take
One's share at least, of coffee, cream and cake,
Is now the ton. The pouting of the lip,
And sad, upbraiding eye of the poor girl,
Who hardly of her tea one drop can sip,
Ere in the wild confusion, and the whirl,
And tumult of the hour, the good things vanish,
Must now be disregarded. One must banish
Those antiquated feelings, that belong
To feudal manners, and a barbarous age.
Time was—when woman pour'd her soul in song,
That all was hushed around. 'Tis now the rage
To deem a song, like bugle notes in battle
Signal to bid each tongue's artillery rattle.