Insult me thus because I'm stout! I vow I'll go and call him out! [Illustration] ATALANTA IN CAMDEN-TOWN. Ay, 'twas here, on this spot, In that summer of yore, Atalanta did not Vote my presence a bore, Nor reply to my tenderest talk "She had heard all that nonsense before." She'd the brooch I had bought And the necklace and sash on, And her heart, as I thought, Was alive to my passion; And she'd done up her hair in the style that the Empress had brought into fashion. [Illustration] I had been to the play With my pearl of a Peri-- But, for all I could say, She declared she was weary, That "the place was so crowded and hot, and she couldn't abide that Dundreary." Then I thought "'Tis for me That she whines and she whimpers!" And it soothed me to see Those sensational simpers, And I said "This is scrumptious!"--a phrase I had learned from the Devonshire shrimpers. And I vowed "'Twill be said I'm a fortunate fellow, When the breakfast is spread, When the topers are mellow, When the foam of the bride-cake is white, and the fierce orange-blossoms are yellow!" O that languishing yawn! O those eloquent eyes! I was drunk with the dawn Of a splendid surmise-- I was stung by a look, I was slain by a tear, by a tempest of sighs. And I whispered "'Tis time! Is not Love at its deepest? Shall we squander Life's prime, While thou waitest and weepest? Let us settle it, License or Banns?--though undoubtedly Banns are the cheapest." "Ah, my Hero," said I, "Let me be thy Leander!" But I lost her reply-- Something ending with "gander"-- For the omnibus rattled so loud that no mortal could quite understand her. THE LANG COORTIN'. The ladye she stood at her lattice high, Wi' her doggie at her feet; Thorough the lattice she can spy The passers in the street. "There's one that standeth at the door, And tirleth at the pin: Now speak and say, my popinjay, If I sall let him in." Then up and spake the popinjay That flew abune her head: "Gae let him in that tirls the pin: He cometh thee to wed." O when he cam' the parlour in, A woeful man was he! "And dinna ye ken your lover agen, Sae well that loveth thee?" [Illustration] "And how wad I ken ye loved me, Sir, That have been sae lang away? And how wad I ken ye loved me, Sir? Ye never telled me sae." Said--"Ladye dear," and the salt, salt tear Cam' rinnin' doon his cheek, "I have sent thee tokens of my love This many and many a week.