148 THE lover’s offering, 
And cards were dispersed with consent of the fair, 
To every great family through the parterre.* 
There was one city lady, indeed whom the bride 
Did not wish to attend, which was Miss London 
Pride: 
And his lordship declared he would rather not meet 
So doubtful a person as young Bitter-sweet. 
Sir Michaelmas Daisy was asked to appear, 
But was gone out of town for best part of the year; 
And though he was sent for, Narcissus declined 
Out of pique, and preferred to keep sulking behind; 
For, having beheld his fine form in the water, 
He thought himself equal to any flower’s daughter, 
And would not consent to increase a parade, 
The hero of which he, himself, should have made. 
Dr. Camomile was to have been of the party, 
But was summoned to town to old Alderman 
Hearty. 
Old Aloe, a worthy respectable don, 
Could not go in the clothes that just then he had 
on, 
And his tailor was such a slow fellow, he guessed 
That it might be a century before he was dressed.f 
Excuses were sent, too, from very near all 
The ladies residing at Great Green-house Hall, 
Who had been so confined, were so chilly and 
spare, 
*Parterre —a flower-garden, 
t In allusion to the vulgar error, that the aloe 
requires a hundred years to arrive at maturity. 
