" KEMINISCENCES." 



ALBANY, October, 1878. 



A Whim / on my return from France. 

 To Citizen VICTOR HUGO. 



Veni, Vidi, Vici. 



Vent ! Oh ! yes 1 I have surely come to see you, 



But the Vidi has lied I did not see you,* 



And the most mortifying of my deception 



Is that, I shall never have such an occasion. 



As to the Vici 'tis a word too elastic, 



Which reminds me of a certain faith catholic, 



However, I have conquered, the deep conviction, 



That no matter what shines in any old nation, 



And any where, beyond the Atlantic, 



Is less fit to make a philosopher than a sceptic. 



I close, begging you to excuse a semi-Vandal, 



Who dares to address himself to the modern Juvenal. 



P. S. Always more and more Philemon less the faith in 

 Jupiter. 



L. M. 



* He had gone to Jersey not to return till November. 



