"To seek it with thimbles, to seek it with care: To pursue it with forks and hope; To threaten its life with a railway share; To charm it with smiles and soap!
For the Snark"s a peculiar creature, that won"t Be caught in a commonplace way; Do all that you know, and try all that you don"t: Not a chance must be wasted to-day!"
The verses which follow are from the "Comic Latin Grammar," and if they are not nonsense they show at least how thin the part.i.tion line is between true nonsense verse and many of those pieces which were wont to be known by the name of Alb.u.m Verses:
LINES BY A FOND LOVER.
"Lovely maid, with rapture swelling, Should these pages meet thine eye, Clouds of absence soft dispelling;-- Vacant memory heaves a sigh.
As the rose, with fragrance weeping, Trembles to the tuneful wave, So my heart shall twine unsleeping, Till it canopies the grave.
Though another"s smile"s requited, Envious fate my doom should be; Joy for ever disunited, Think, ah! think, at times on me!
Oft, amid the spicy gloaming, Where the brakes their songs instil, Fond affection silent roaming, Loves to linger by the rill--
There, when echo"s voice consoling, Hears the nightingale complain, Gentle sighs my lips controlling, Bind my soul in beauty"s chain.
Oft in slumber"s deep recesses, I thy mirror"d image see; Fancy mocks the vain caresses I would lavish like a bee!
But how vain is glittering sadness!
Hark, I hear distraction"s knell!
Torture gilds my heart with madness!
Now for ever fare thee well!"
_LIPOGRAMS._
The reading of Lope de Vega"s five novels, in each of which a different vowel is omitted, led to Lord Holland writing the following curious production, in which no vowel is used but _e_:
EVE"S LEGEND.
"Men were never perfect; yet the three brethren Veres were ever esteemed, respected, revered, even when the rest, whether the select few, whether the mere herd, were left neglected.
"The eldest"s vessels seek the deep, stem the element, get pence; the keen Peter when free, wedded Hester Green,--the slender, stern, severe, erect Hester Green. The next, clever Ned, less dependent, wedded sweet Ellen Heber. Stephen, ere he met the gentle Eve, never felt tenderness: he kept kennels, bred steeds, rested where the deer fed, went where green trees, where fresh breezes greeted sleep. There he met the meek, the gentle Eve; she tended her sheep, she ever neglected self; she never heeded pelf, yet she heeded the shepherds even less. Nevertheless, her cheek reddened when she met Stephen; yet decent reserve, meek respect, tempered her speech, even when she showed tenderness. Stephen felt the sweet effect: he felt he erred when he fled the s.e.x, yet felt he defenceless when Eve seemed tender.
She, he reflects, never deserved neglect; she never vented spleen; he esteems her gentleness, her endless deserts; he reverences her steps; he greets her:
"Tell me whence these meek, these gentle sheep,--whence the yet meeker, the gentler shepherdess?"
""Well bred, we were eke better fed, ere we went where reckless men seek fleeces. There we were fleeced. Need then rendered me shepherdess, need renders me sempstress. See me tend the sheep, see me sew the wretched shreds. Eve"s need preserves the steers, preserves the sheep; Eve"s needle mends her dresses, hems her sheets; Eve feeds the geese; Eve preserves the cheese."
"Her speech melted Stephen, yet he nevertheless esteems, reveres her.
He bent the knee where her feet pressed the green; he blessed, he begged, he pressed her.
""Sweet, sweet Eve, let me wed thee; be led where Hester Green, where Ellen Heber, where the brethren Vere dwell. Free cheer greets thee there; Ellen"s glees sweeten the refreshments; there severer Hester"s decent reserve checks heedless jests. Be led there, sweet Eve."
""Never! we well remember the Seer. We went where he dwells--we entered the cell--we begged the decree,--
""Where, whenever, when, "twere well Eve be wedded? Eld Seer, tell!
""He rendered the decree; see here the sentence decreed!" Then she presented Stephen the Seer"s decree. The verses were these:
""_Ere the green be red, Sweet Eve, be never wed; Ere be green the red cheek, Never wed thee, Eve meek._"
"The terms perplexed Stephen, yet he jeered them. He resented the senseless credence, "Seers never err." Then he repented, knelt, wheedled, wept. Eve sees Stephen kneel, she relents, yet frets when she remembers the Seer"s decree. Her dress redeems her. These were the events:
"Her well-kempt tresses fell: sedges, reeds beckoned them. The reeds fell, the edges met her cheeks; her cheeks bled. She presses the green sedge where her cheek bleeds. Red then bedewed the green reed, the green reed then speckled her red cheek. The red cheek seems green, the green reed seems red. These were the terms the Eld Seer decreed Stephen Vere.
HERE ENDETH THE LEGEND."
The following curious lines run in quite an opposite way to the preceding, for each verse has been written so as to include every letter in the alphabet but the vowel _e_:
THE FATE OF Na.s.sAN.
"Bold Na.s.san quits his caravan, A hazy mountain grot to scan; Climbs jaggy rocks to spy his way, Doth tax his sight, but far doth stray.
Not work of man, nor sport of child, Finds Na.s.san in that mazy wild; Lax grows his joints, limbs toil in vain-- Poor wight! why didst thou quit that plain
Vainly for succour Na.s.san calls, Know, Zillah, that thy Na.s.san falls; But prowling wolf and fox may joy, To quarry on thy Arab boy."
Here follows a fugitive verse, written with _ease_ without _e"s_:
"A jovial swain may rack his brain, And tax his fancy"s might, To quiz in vain, for "tis most plain, That what I say is right."
_CENTONES OR MOSAICS._
Of this formerly favourite amus.e.m.e.nt of the learned we give several examples, only noting here that the word "Cento" primarily signified a cloak made of patches.
1. I only knew she came and went, 2. Like troutlets in a pool; 3. She was a phantom of delight, 4. And I was like a fool.
5. One kiss, dear maid, I said, and sighed, 6. Out of those lips unshorn, 7. She shook her ringlets round her head 8. And laughed in merry scorn.
9. Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, 10. You heard them, O my heart; 11. "Tis twelve at night by the castle clock, 12. Beloved, we must part.
13. "Come back, come back!" she cried in grief, 14. My eyes are dim with tears-- 15. How shall I live through all the days?
16. All through a hundred years?
17. "Twas in the prime of summer time, 18. She blessed me with her hand; 19. We strayed together, deeply blest, 20. Into the dreaming land.
21. The laughing bridal roses blow, 22. To dress her dark-brown hair; 23. My heart is breaking with my woe, 24. Most beautiful! most rare!
25. I clasped it on her sweet, cold hand, 26. The precious golden link!
27. I calmed her fears, and she was calm, 28. "Drink, pretty creature, drink!"