(1811-1863.)
LXVIII. PISCATOR AND PISCATRIX.
Published among Thackeray's "Ballads" under the sub-heading "Lines
written to an Album Print".
As on this pictured page I look,
This pretty tale of line and hook,
As though it were a novel-book,
Amuses and engages:
I know them both, the boy and girl;
She is the daughter of the Earl,
The lad (that has his hair in curl)
My lord the County's page is.
A pleasant place for such a pair!
The fields lie basking in the glare;
No breath of wind the heavy air
Of lazy summer quickens.
Hard by you see the castle tall;
The village nestles round the wall,
As round about the hen its small
Young progeny of chickens.
It is too hot to pace the keep;
To climb the turret is too steep;
My lord the Earl is dozing deep,
His noonday dinner over:
The postern warder is asleep
(Perhaps they've bribed him not to peep):
And so from out the gate they creep;
And cross the fields of clover.
Their lines into the brook they launch;
He lays his cloak upon a branch,
To guarantee his Lady Blanche
's delicate complexion:
He takes his rapier from his haunch,
That beardless, doughty champion staunch;
He'd drill it through the rival's paunch
That question'd his affection!
O heedless pair of sportsmen slack!
You never mark, though trout or jack,
Or little foolish stickleback,
Your baited snares may capture.
What care has _she_ for line and hook?
She turns her back upon the brook,
Upon her lover's eyes to look
In sentimental rapture.
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