74 CONVERSATIONAL HINTS 



charades and private theatricals ; he has a kind of 

 foolish facility in turning out vapid little rhymes 

 for ladies' albums, tiny grains of Praed or Calverley 

 dissolved in a gallon of unsparkling water. His 

 lines ' To a Dresden Shepherdess ' still have a 

 certain vogue, and his ' Elegy on a Scent-bottle ' 

 has been much admired, though neither of these 

 masterpieces has submitted itself to the rough and 

 desecrating hand of the printer. 



I picked thee up, I see thee still ; 



Thy mistress was with grief demented, 

 While from thy wound a tiny rill 



Ban, which her kerchief should have scented. 



Happy in life thou wert, thy breath 

 My lady for fresh conquests arming, 



And happier in thine hour of death 

 To be so mourned by one so charming. 



These are the only two verses I can remember 

 out of the dozen or so of which this gay little 

 trifle was composed. I cite them as samples of 

 Little Chif 's poetic faculty at its best. Now, Chif 

 was a terrible fellow amongst the ladies. He 

 fetched and carried for them, he told them anec- 

 dotes of the glorious world in which he habitually 



