Tremulous to her new Master. 129 



Excuse my boldness, sir, for you're, we know, 

 Non magis Marti quam Mercurio.^' 



" When snow gives dull unwelcome rest 

 To hound and hare and scarlet vest. 

 And lake and brook, and hill and plain, 

 Are bound in Winter's icy chain. 

 Thou knowest, in thy well-stored mind, 

 Resource and comfort well to find. 

 Thy friends then, on the social night, 

 Hang on thy tongue with new delight : 

 When wit and learning take their turn. 

 They Hsten and or laugh or learn. 

 Full well by thee observed we see 

 The rite of hospitality ; 

 That sacred rite, whose gen'rous care 

 Angels ere now have deigned to share ;f 

 Perhaps, to bring thee nearer heaven. 

 It is to thee an angel given. 

 In whom th' admiring world may trace 

 An angel's mind, an angel's face. 

 And, oh ! would Fate the bliss but give, 

 A bliss for which 'twere blest to live. 

 When trembling limbs and many an ache, 

 That dogs and men in age will shake, 

 And my last sand is nearly run, 

 Tell me my occupation's gone, — 

 Would Fate allow me to attend - 

 That lady as a humble friend, 

 Sometimes to share the happiness 

 Of gentle word or kind caress, — 

 Then Tremulous indeed might say, 

 The dog has seen its happy day." 



* Horace. f Genesis xix. 20. 



