Yet ne'er the slippery coin could see;
So clever in my whole was she.
My first begins with a B,
My second begins with a B;
My whole does not begin with a B,
And it is what you would not wish to B.
Alas, for that forgotten day
When chivalry was nourished,
When none but friars learned to pray,
And beef and beauty flourished;
And fraud in kings was held accursed,
And falsehood sin was reckoned,
And mighty chargers bore my first,
And fat monks wore my second!
Ah, then I carried sword and shield
And casque with flaunting feather,
And earned my spurs in battle field
In winter and rough weather;
And polished many a sonnet up
To ladies' eyes and tresses;
And learned to drain my father's
And loose my falcon's jesses!
But dim is now my grandeur's gleam,
The mongrel mob grows prouder ;
And everything is done by steam,
And men are killed by powder;
And now I feel my swift decay,
And give unheeded orders;
And rot in paltry state away
With sheriffs and recorders.
40. On a shady bench John Gilpin sat,
To cool his brows he had doffed his hat;
A boy came by,-a merry young grig,
And snatched from his head John Gilpin's wig.
"You're my first," cried John, "you wicked young dog!"
"You're my second," replied the chuckling rogue; But he sprang away like a lively bird,
And, alas, poor Johnny was not my third!
O'er the hedge at last the urchin flew,
And his prize on the topmost thorn he threw;
And loud did he laugh, the mischievous droll,
For that hedge to Gilpin was my whole.
41. My first is everything you can devise,
I'm rich and poor, I'm good and bad;
My second is composed for purpose wise,
Of the mere refuse of the things you've had.
My whole's the public rage; for scarce a house
But anxiously expects my coming in;
And though I'm mute and still as any mouse,
I claim a share in war's loud-clashing din.
My second on Iberia's plain
Stood foremost in the fight,
He showered his blows like wintry rain,
The Paynim hosts they fled amain
Before that stalwart knight.
My first from Lapland to Cathay
A nobler army led,
And wheresoe'er they took their way,
Fell ignorance resigned the day,
And hid his minished head.
Seek ye my whole? Survey whate'er
Of sweetest earth can show;
My whole lurks unsuspected there:
'Twill writhe your cheek, however fair,
Wrinkle the smoothest brow.
43. I graced Don Pedro's revelry All dressed in fire and feather, When loveliness and chivalry
Were met to feast together:
He flung the slave who moved the lid
A purse of maravedis,
And this that gallant Spaniard did
For me and for the ladies.
He vowed a vow, that noble knight,
Before he went to table,
To make his only sport the fight,
His only couch the stable,
Till he had dragged, as he was bid,
Five score of Turks to Cadiz ;-
And this that gallant Spaniard did
For me and for the ladies.
To ride through mountains where my first
A banquet would be reckoned,-
Through deserts where to quench their thirst
Men vainly turn my second ;—
To leave the gates of fair Madrid,
To dare the gates of Hades,—
And this that gallant Spaniard did
For me and for the ladies!
44. Lo, the young mother, whom no wish to roam Tempts from the quiet duties of her home,
Watches my first with unremitting care,
And centres all her best affections there!
See now yon flaunting dame, through all her days
Whirled on and on in pleasure's giddy maze;
No heart's content, no home-sprungjoy she knows,
But on my next her every thought bestows;
My whole, whate'er the fashion of their life,
Robes the fair forms of maiden and of wife.
The Indian lover burst
From his lone cot by night;—
When love doth light my first
In hearts by passion nurst,
Oh! who shall quench the light?
The Indian left the shore,
He heard the night-wind sing,
And cursed the tardy oar,
And wished that he could soar
Upon my second's wing.
The blast came cold and damp,
But all the voyage through,
I lent my lingering lamp,
As o'er the marshy swamp
He paddled his canoe.
46. My first is irrational, my second rational, my third mechanical, my whole scientifical.
My first will answer if there's need,
My second is secure;
If this charade you deign to read,
You'll do my whole, I'm sure.
48. Phillis sat down on my first, which put Chloe into my second, and she went away with my whole on her head.
My first is company,
My second shuns company,
My third assembles company,
My whole amuses company.
50. My first is the whole, so is my second, and also my third.
51. My first leaves no record to tell of its lot
But this simple fact, that it was and is not;
Cold and hard is my second, till touch'd by a flame,
The result of which is that it changes its name:
Many shrink from my third, others labour to gain it,
And merit it least when they pant to obtain it.
52. My first to support even Selwyn would try,
And my second he surely would make it;
My whole I experience when you are nigh,
And I hope, as you give, you will take it.
My first avails in repartee,
My second lives within the sea;
Attempt my first and miss your aim,
My whole becomes your trivial name.
54. Sir Geoffrey lay in his cushioned chair Nursing a gouty knee,
The lady Dorothy, tall and spare,
Was mixing his colchicum tea ;
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