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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A NOVEL OF HIGH LIFE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Lord harry has written a novel
Last Line: The leaders of elegant life.
Alternate Author Name(s): Bayly, Nathaniel Thomas Haynes
Variant Title(s): A Fashionable Novel
Subject(s): Novels & Novelists; Social Classes; Caste


LORD HARRY has written a novel,
A story of elegant life:
No stuff about love in a hovel,
No sketch of a commoner's wife:
No trash, such as pathos and passion,
Fire feelings, expression and wit:
But all about people of fashion.
Come look at his caps--how they fit!
O Radcliffe! thou once wert the charmer
Of girls who sat reading all night;
Thy heroes were striplings in armour,
Thy heroines damsels in white.
But past are thy terrible touches,
Our lips in derision we curl,
Unless we are told how a Duchess
Conversed with her cousin the Earl.

We now have each dialogue quite full
Of titles--'I give you my word,
My lady, you're looking delightful.'
'O dear, do you think so, my lord!'
'You've heard of the marquis's marriage,
The bride with her jewels new set,
Four horses, new travelling carriage,
And dejeuner a la fourchette.'

Haut Ton finds her privacy broken,
We trace all her ins and her outs;
The very small talk that is spoken
By very great people at routs.
At Tenby Miss Jinks asks the loan of
The book from the innkeeper's wife,
And reads till she dreams she is one of
The leaders of elegant life.





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