Page:Halleck.djvu/336

Oh, Simon! how we envy thee,
When belles that long have frowned on all,
Greet thee with smiles, and bend the knee,
To beg you’ll help them “give a ball!”

Though it is ungenteel to think,
For thought affects the nerves and brain!
Yet oft we think of thee, and drink
Thy health in Lynch’s best champagne.
’Tis pity that thy signal merit
Should slumber in so low a station;
Act, Simon, like a lad of spirit,
And thou, in time, mayst rule the nation!

Break up your Saturdays “at home,”
Cut Guinea and your sable clan,
Buy a new eye-glass and become
A dandy and a gentleman.
You must speak French, and make a bow,
Ten lessons are enough for that;
And Leavenworth⁴⁴ will teach you how
To wear your corsets and cravat.

Knock all your chambers into one,
Hire fiddlers, glasses, Barons too,
And then invite the whole haut-ton;
Ask Hosack, he can tell you who.
The great that are, and—wish to be,
Within your brilliant rooms will meet,