7

THE MASQUERADE.

Πάρφασις, ἥτ' ἔκλεψε νόον πύκα περ φρονεόντων.
HOм. II. xiv. 217.

I.

'OUNT FELIX was a man of worth

COUN

By Fashion's strictest definition, For he had money, manners, birth, And that most slippery thing on earth Which social critics call position.

II.

And yet the Count was seldom gay;
The rich and noble have their crosses;

And he as he was wont to say

Had seen some trouble in his day,

And met with several serious losses.

III.

Among the rest, he lost his wife,
A very model of a woman,
With every needed virtue rife
To lead a spouse a happy life,

Such wives (in France) are not uncommon,

IV.

The lady died, and left him sad

And lone, to mourn the best of spouses ;

She left him also let me add

One child, and all the wealth she had,

The rent of half a dozen houses.

V.

I cannot tarry to discuss

The weeping husband's desolation; Upon her tomb he wrote it thus:

"FELIX infelicissimus !"

In very touching ostentation.

VI.

Indeed, the Count's behavior earned
The plaudits of his strict confessor;
His weeds of woe had fairly turned
From black to brown, ere he had learned
To think about his wife's successor.

VII.

And then, indeed, 't was but a thought;
A sort of sentimental dreaming,

That came at times, and came

to naught,

With all the plans so nicely wrought

By matrons skilled in marriage-scheming.

VIII.

At last when many years had fled,

And Father Time, the great physician, Had soothed his sorrow for the dead, Count Felix took it in his head

To change his wearisome condition.

IX.

You think, perhaps, 't was quickly done;
The Count was still a man of fashion;
Wealth, title, talents, all in one,
Were eloquence. to win a nun,

If nuns could feel a worldly passion.

X.

And yet the Count might well despond
Of tying soon the silken tether;
Wise, witty, handsome, faithful, fond,
not a year beyond

And twenty

Are charming, — when they come together!

XI.

But more than that, the man required

A wife to share his whims and fancies;
Admire alone what he admired;

Desire, of course, as he desired,
And show it in her very glances.

XII.

-

Long, long the would-be wooer tried
To find his precious ultimatum,-
All earthly charms in one fair bride;
But still in vain he sought and sighed;
He could n't manage to get at 'em.

XIII.

In sooth, the Count was one of those
Who, seeking something superhuman,
Find not the angel they would choose,
And what is more unlucky- lose

Their chance to wed a charming woman.

XIV.

The best-matched doves in Hymen's cage
Were paired in youth's romantic season;
Laugh as you will at passion's rage,
The most unreasonable age

Is what is called the age of reason.

XV.

In love-affairs, we all have seen,

The heart is oft the best adviser;

The gray might well consult the "green,"
Cool sixty learn of rash sixteen,

And go away a deal the wiser.

XVI.

The Count's high hopes began to fade;
His plans were not at all advancing;
When, lo! one day his valet made

Some mention of a masquerade,

"I'll go," said he, — " and see the dancing."

XVII.

"'T will serve my spirits to arouse ;
And, faith ! — I 'm getting melancholy.
'Tis not the place to seek a spouse,
Where people go to break their vows,
But then 't will be extremely jolly!"

XVIII.

Count Felix found the crowd immense,

And, had he been a censor morum, He might have said, without offence, "Got up regardless of expense,

And some— regardless of decorum.”

XIX.

"Faith! - all the world is here to-night! "Nay," said a merry friend demurely,

"Not quite the whole, —pardon! not quite; Le Demi-Monde were nearer right,

And no exaggeration, surely!"

XX.

The revelry ('t was just begun)

A stoic might have found diverting ;
That is, of course, if he was one
Who liked to see a bit of fun,

And fancied persiflage and flirting.

XXI.

But who can paint that giddy maze ?
Go find the lucky man who handles
A brush to catch, on gala-days,
The whirling, shooting, flashing rays

Of Catharine-wheels and Roman candles!

XXII.

All sorts of masks that e'er were seen;
Fantastic, comic, and satanic;

Dukes, dwarfs, and "Highnesses" (Serene),
And (that's of course) the Cyprian Queen,
In gauzes few and diaphanic.

XXIII.

Lean Carmelites, fat Capuchins,

Giants half human and half bestial; Kings, Queens, Magicians, Harlequins, Greeks, Tartars, Turks, and Mandarins More diabolic than " Celestial."

XXIV.

Fair Scripture dames, Naomi, Ruth,
And Hagar, looking quite demented;
The Virtues (all excepting Truth)
And Magdalens, who were in sooth

Just half of what they represented!