To Mr. Murray

From the French.

Ægle, beauty and poet, has two little crimes;
She makes her own face, and does not make her rhymes.

Aug. 2, 1821.
[First published, The Liberal, 1823, No. II. p. 396.]

1.

For Orford and for Waldegrave
You give much more than me you gave;
Which is not fairly to behave,
My Murray!

2.

Because if a live dog, 't is said,
Be worth a lion fairly sped,
A live lord must be worth two dead,
My Murray!

3.

And if, as the opinion goes,
Verse hath a better sale than prose,—
Certes, I should have more than those,
My Murray!

4.

But now this sheet is nearly crammed,
So, if you will, I shan't be shammed,
And if you won't,—you may be damned,
My Murray!

August 23, 1821.
[First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 517.]