Now Spring bedecks with nascent green The meadows near and far, And Sabbath calm pervades the scene, And Sabbath punts the Cher.: While I, like trees new drest by June, Must bow to Fashion's law, And wear on Sunday afternoon A variegated Straw. My Topper! so serenely sleek, So beautifully tall, Wherein I decked me once a week Whene'er I went to call,-- No more shall now th' admiring maid, While handing me my tea, View her reflected charms displayed (Narcissus-like) in thee! Yet oh! though different forms of hat May wreathe my manly brow, No Straw shall e'er (be sure of that) Be half so dear as thou. Hang then upon thy native rack As varying modes compel, Till next year's fashions bring thee back, My Chimneypot, farewell! THE 1713 AGAINST NEWNHAM [This Fragment will be found to contain, in a concentrated form, all the constituent parts of Greek Tragedy. It has an Anagnorisis, because its subject is the Recognition of Women. It also contains _at least one_ Peripeteia: and the action has been strictly confined, chiefly by the Editor of the _Magazine_, within one revolution of the sun.] SCENE: _Interior of a Ladies' College_ LEADER OF THE CHORUS OF LADIES Sisters, from far upon my senses steals A sound of crackers and of Catherine wheels, By which I know the Senate in debate Decides our future and the country's fate: And lo! a herald from the city's stir I see arrive--the usual Messenger. _Enter a Messenger_ _M._ O maiden guardians of this sacred shrine-- _Ch._ Observe the rules: you've had your single line. _M._ Say, is the Lady Principal at home? _Ch._ Thou speak'st, as one for information come. _M._ I ask the question, for I wish to know. _Ch._ By shrewd conjecture one might guess 'twas so. _M._ Go, tell your Lady I would speak with her. _Ch._ About what thing? what quest dost thou prefer? _M._ I bear a tale I hardly dare to tell. _Ch._ Why vex her ears, when ours will do as well?