Part 1

A VERS DE SOCIÉTÉ ANTHOLOGY

“_I’M a florist in verse, and what would people say If I came to a banquet without my bouquet?_” OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

A Vers de Société Anthology

Collected by Carolyn Wells

New York Charles Scribner’s Sons 1907

COPYRIGHT 1907 BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS

Published November, 1907

NOTE

ACKNOWLEDGMENT is hereby gratefully made to the publishers for permission to use poems by the following authors:

To Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin and Company for poems by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, John Greenleaf Whittier, Bret Harte, John G. Saxe, Norah Perry, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James T. Field, Edith Thomas, Edmund Clarence Stedman and Charles Henry Webb.

To Messrs. Dodd, Mead and Company for poems by Austin Dobson.

To the Macmillan Company for poems by Lewis Carroll.

To Messrs. D. Appleton and Company for “Song,” by William Cullen Bryant.

To The Century Company for poems by Robert Underwood Johnson and Mary Mapes Dodge.

To Messrs. Little, Brown and Company for “A Valentine,” by Mrs. Laura E. Richards, and “Shadows” and “Les Papillottes,” by Gertrude Hall.

To Messrs. G. P. Putnam’s Sons for “The Debutante,” by Guy Wetmore Carryl.

To The Frederick A. Stokes Company for poems by Frank Dempster Sherman and Samuel Minturn Peck.

To The Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Company for poems by Sam Walter Foss.

To Messrs. E. H. Bacon and Company for poems by James Jeffrey Roche.

CONTENTS

PAGE Introduction xix To Celia _Ben Jonson_ 3 Cupid _Ben Jonson_ 4 Rosalind’s Madrigal _Thomas Lodge_ 5 All Things Except Myself I Know _François Villon_ 6 Cupid and Campaspe _John Lilly_ 8 A Ditty _Sir Philip Sydney_ 8 Song from “Twelfth Night” _William Shakespeare_ 9 Sigh No More (from “Much Ado About Nothing”) _William Shakespeare_ 9 Phillida and Corydon _Nicholas Breton_ 10 Cherry-Ripe _Richard Allison_ 11 Send Back My Long-Stray’d Eyes to Me _John Donne_ 12 Pack Clouds Away _Thomas Heywood_ 13 Shall I, Wasting in Despair _George Wither_ 14 To the Virgins to Make Much of Time _Robert Herrick_ 15 The Bracelet _Robert Herrick_ 16 An Old Rhyme _Anonymous_ 17 Love Me Not for Comely Grace _Anonymous_ 17 On a Girdle _Edmund Waller_ 18 To My Love _Sir John Suckling_ 18 To Althea (From Prison) _Richard Lovelace_ 19 Song _Sir Charles Sedley_ 21 The Despairing Lover _William Walsh_ 22 Cupid Mistaken _Matthew Prior_ 23 The Contrast _Charles Morris_ 24 Oh, Tell Me How to Woo Thee _Robert Graham_ 27 Song from “The Duenna” _Richard Brinsley Sheridan_ 28 The Races _George Ellis_ 29 To Lady Anne Hamilton _Hon. William R. Spencer_ 32 To Mrs. Leigh Upon Her Wedding Day _George Canning_ 33 Names _Samuel T. Coleridge_ 34 The Exchange _Samuel T. Coleridge_ 34 Defiance _Walter Savage Landor_ 35 Her Lips _Walter Savage Landor_ 35 Commination _Walter Savage Landor_ 36 Margaret and Dora _Thomas Campbell_ 36 A Certain Young Lady _Washington Irving_ 37 Song _John Shaw_ 38 The Time I’ve Lost in Wooing _Thomas Moore_ 39 When I Loved You _Thomas Moore_ 40 Reason, Folly and Beauty _Thomas Moore_ 41 Tiresome Spring! _Béranger_ 42 Rosette _Béranger_ 43 She Is So Pretty _Béranger_ 44 Rondeau _Leigh Hunt_ 45 Stolen Fruit _Leigh Hunt_ 45 Love and Age _Thomas L. Peacock_ 46 Clubs _Theodore Hook_ 48 To Anne _William Maxwell_ 51 Song _William Cullen Bryant_ 51 What Is London’s Last New Lion? _Thomas Haynes Bayly_ 53 I’d Be a Butterfly _Thomas Haynes Bayly_ 54 I Must Come Out Next Spring _Thomas Haynes Bayly_ 55 Why Don’t the Men Propose? _Thomas Haynes Bayly_ 57 Ask and Have _Samuel Lover_ 59 Lines in a Young Lady’s Album _Thomas Hood_ 60 The Time of Roses _Thomas Hood_ 62 Love _Thomas Hood_ 63 To Helen _Winthrop Mackworth Praed_ 64 The Belle of the Ball-Room _Winthrop Mackworth Praed_ 64 Amy’s Cruelty _Elizabeth Barrett Browning_ 68 Beware! _Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_ 70 Love in a Cottage _Nathaniel Parker Willis_ 71 Because _Edward Fitzgerald_ 73 Lilian _Alfred Tennyson_ 75 The Henchman _John Greenleaf Whittier_ 76 Dorothy Q. A Family Portrait _Oliver Wendell Holmes_ 78 A Reminiscence _James Freeman Clarke_ 81 The Age of Wisdom _William Makepeace Thackeray_ 82 The Ballad of Bouillabaisse _William Makepeace Thackeray_ 83 An Invitation _Théophile Gautier_ 86 Fanny; or, The Beauty and the Bee _Charles Mackay_ 88 Garden Fancies The Flower’s Name _Robert Browning_ 89 A Poem of Every Day Life _Albert Riddle_ 91 Love Disposed Of _Robert Traill Spence Lowell_ 93 Mabel, in New Hampshire _James Thomas Fields_ 94 The Coquette A Portrait _John Godfrey Saxe_ 96 Justine, You Love Me Not! _John Godfrey Saxe_ 98 Sing Heigh-Ho! _Charles Kingsley_ 99 Snowdrop _William Wetmore Story_ 100 The Protest. _James Russell Lowell_ 101 Scherzo _James Russell Lowell_ 101 The Handsomest Man in the Room _William Macquorn Rankine_ 102 The Lawyer’s Invocation to Spring _Henry Howard Brownell_ 104 A Terrible Infant _Frederick Locker-Lampson_ 105 Loulou and Her Cat _Frederick Locker-Lampson_ 106 Piccadilly _Frederick Locker-Lampson_ 107 A Word that Makes Us Linger _Frederick Locker-Lampson_ 109 My Mistress’s Boots _Frederick Locker-Lampson_ 110 A Nice Correspondent! _Frederick Locker-Lampson_ 112 There’s a Time to Be Jolly _Charles Godfrey Leland_ 114 I Remember, I Remember _Phoebe Cary_ 115 The Flower of Love Lies Bleeding _Richard Henry Stoddard_ 116 The Gold Room. An Idyl _Bayard Taylor_ 118 Comfort _Mortimer Collins_ 119 A Summer Song _Mortimer Collins_ 120 My Aunt’s Spectre _Mortimer Collins_ 121 A Conceit _Mortimer Collins_ 122 Martial in London _Mortimer Collins_ 123 The Best of the Ball _William Sawyer_ 123 The Ballad of Dead Ladies (Translation from François Villon, 1450) _Dante Gabriel Rossetti_ 125 Feminine Arithmetic _Charles Graham Halpine_ 127 A Trifle _Henry Timrod_ 128 Flight _Charles S. Calverley_ 129 Love _Charles S. Calverley_ 132 Since We Parted _Owen Meredith_ 134 A Kiss—By Mistake _Joel Benton_ 134 A Game of Fives _Lewis Carroll_ 135 A Valentine _Lewis Carroll_ 137 The Wedding Day _Edmund Clarence Stedman_ 139 Edged Tools _Edmund Clarence Stedman_ 140 Witchcraft _Edmund Clarence Stedman_ 142 Toujours Amour _Edmund Clarence Stedman_ 143 Dictum Sapienti _Charles Henry Webb_ 144 Undowered _Harriet McEwen Kimball_ 145 The Love-Knot _Nora Perry_ 146 Vers de Société _H. D. Traill_ 147 A Letter of Advice _Thomas Hood, Jr._ 149 At the Lattice _Alfred Austin_ 151 French with a Master _Theodore Tilton_ 152 On an Intaglio Head of Minerva _Thomas Bailey Aldrich_ 154 The Lunch _Thomas Bailey Aldrich_ 155 The Witch in the Glass _Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt_ 156 To Phoebe _William Schwenck Gilbert_ 156 My Love and My Heart _Henry S. Leigh_ 157 To a Country Cousin _Henry S. Leigh_ 158 The Family Fool _William Schwenck Gilbert_ 160 An Interlude _Algernon Charles Swinburne_ 162 A Match _Algernon Charles Swinburne_ 165 Caprice _William Dean Howells_ 167 The Minuet _Mary Mapes Dodge_ 168 A Street Sketch _J. Ashby-Sterry_ 170 Saint May: A City Lyric _J. Ashby-Sterry_ 171 Pet’s Punishment _J. Ashby-Sterry_ 173 Her Letter _Francis Bret Harte_ 174 Avice _Austin Dobson_ 177 A Song of the Four Seasons _Austin Dobson_ 179 In Town _Austin Dobson_ 181 When I Saw You Last, Rose _Austin Dobson_ 183 To “Lydia Languish” _Austin Dobson_ 184 The Old Sedan Chair _Austin Dobson_ 186 “Le Roman de la Rose” _Austin Dobson_ 188 Ninety-nine in the Shade _Rossiter Johnson_ 190 Brighton Pier _Clement Scott_ 191 A Contradiction _Clement Scott_ 192 Rondel _John Payne_ 194 White, Pillared Neck _Richard Watson Gilder_ 194 Janet _Richard Watson Gilder_ 195 For a Fan _Richard Watson Gilder_ 196 Ballade of Summer _Andrew Lang_ 196 Colinette _Andrew Lang_ 198 Ballade of Dead Ladies (After Villon) _Andrew Lang_ 199 Il Bacio _Paul Verlaine_ 200 Sur l’Herbe _Paul Verlaine_ 201 The Romance of a Glove _H. Savile Clarke_ 202 If _James Jeffrey Roche_ 203 “Don’t” _James Jeffrey Roche_ 204 On Rereading Télémaque _James Jeffrey Roche_ 205 Valentine _James Jeffrey Roche_ 206 Biftek aux Champignons _Henry Augustin Beers_ 206 An Explanation _Walter Learned_ 209 Marjorie’s Kisses _Walter Learned_ 209 Miss Nancy’s Gown _Zitella Cocke_ 210 “Le Dernier Jour d’un Condamné” _George A. Baker_ 212 My Wooing _Edwin Hamilton_ 213 Wintry Paris _Anonymous_ 215 The Rose _Anonymous_ 216 Indecision _Anonymous_ 217 Logic _Anonymous_ 218 Conversational _Anonymous_ 219 If You Want a Kiss, Why, Take It _Anonymous_ 220 Educational Courtship _Anonymous_ 221 Kissing’s No Sin _Anonymous_ 223 The Best Thing in the World _Anonymous_ 223 Her Neighbours _Anonymous_ 224 To Celia _E. H. Lacon Watson_ 225 In For It _Somerville Gibney_ 225 Kirtle Red _W. H. Bellamy_ 227 A Bagatelle _James G. Burnett_ 228 A Love Test _Carl Herlozssohn_ 229 The Mistaken Moth _Translated from Wegener_ 229 My Pretty Neighbor _Translated from Wegener_ 230 If _H. C. Dodge_ 231 To Mistress Pyrrha _Eugene Field_ 232 The Tea-Gown _Eugene Field_ 232 A Paraphrase _Eugene Field_ 234 A Leap-Year Episode _Eugene Field_ 236 Ballade of Ladies’ Names _W. E. Henley_ 236 Ballade of June _W. E. Henley_ 237 Ballade Made in the Hot Weather _W. E. Henley_ 238 A Rose _Arlo Bates_ 240 To Minnie (With a Hand Glass) _Robert Louis Stevenson_ 241 An American Girl _Brander Matthews_ 241 Larks and Nightingales _Nathan Haskell Dole_ 242 Caeli _Francis William Bourdillon_ 244 Lady Mine _Herbert Edwin Clarke_ 244 The Ripest Peach _James Whitcomb Riley_ 245 “I Journeyed South to Meet the Spring” _Robert Underwood Johnson_ 246 Before the Blossom _Robert Underwood Johnson_ 246 Love in the Calendar _Robert Underwood Johnson_ 247 My Grandmother’s Turkey-Tail Fan _Samuel Minturn Peck_ 249 Valentine _Edith Matilda Thomas_ 250 A Valentine _Laura Elizabeth Richards_ 251 On a Hymn Book _W. J. Henderson_ 252 The Ballade of the Summer-Boarder _H. C. Bunner_ 254 Interesting _H. C. Bunner_ 256 The Way to Arcady _H. C. Bunner_ 257 Da Capo _H. C. Bunner_ 260 The Maid of Murray Hill _H. C. Bunner_ 262 Kitty’s Summering _H. C. Bunner_ 264 Forfeits _H. C. Bunner_ 265 When Will Love Come? _Pakenham Beatty_ 266 Heliotrope _Harry Thurston Peck_ 266 Borderland _Herman Knickerbocker Vielé_ 269 Epithalamium _E. S. Martin_ 270 Infirm _E. S. Martin_ 273 Words, Words, Words _Margaret Deland_ 273 The Bluebell _Margaret Deland_ 274 A Modern Martyrdom _Sam Walter Foss_ 275 A Corsage Bouquet _Charles Henry Lüders_ 277 The Ballad of Cassandra Brown _Helen Gray Cone_ 278 From Three Fly Leaves _J. K. Stephen_ 280 Question and Answer _J. K. Stephen_ 281 A Rhyme for Priscilla _Frank Dempster Sherman_ 283 The Old Collector _Beatrice Hanscom_ 285 The Last Ditch _E. Nesbit_ 288 Be Ye in Love with April-Tide _Clinton Scollard_ 289 Strawberries _Clinton Scollard_ 290 Applied Astronomy _Esther B. Tiffany_ 291 Courtship _Frederick Langbridge_ 292 Eyes of Black and Eyes of Blue (from the Viceroy) _Harry B. Smith_ 293 Her Faults (from The Mandarin) _Harry B. Smith_ 295 A Modern Dialogue _Oliver Herford_ 296 The Poet’s Proposal _Oliver Herford_ 299 Truth _Oliver Herford_ 299 The Bachelor Girl _Oliver Herford_ 300 The Sea _Eva L. Ogden_ 301 In Philistia _Bliss Carman_ 302 Between the Showers _Amy Levy_ 304 Grace’s Choice _Charles Battell Loomis_ 305 To Violet. With a Bunch of Namesakes _Robert Cameron Rogers_ 306 Her Bonnet _Mary E. Wilkins_ 307 A Song _Norman R. Gale_ 308 Les Papillottes _Gertrude Hall_ 309 Upon Graciosa, Walking and Talking _A. T. Quiller-Couch_ 311 Her Valentine _Richard Hovey_ 311 Story of the Gate _Harrison Robertson_ 314 Two Triolets _Harrison Robertson_ 316 A Ballade of Old Sweethearts _Richard Le Gallienne_ 317 Amour de Voyage _Rudyard Kipling_ 318 The Lover’s Litany _Rudyard Kipling_ 319 A Lenten Call _Hilda Johnson Wise_ 321 Helen’s Face a Book _Gelett Burgess_ 322 The Butterfly’s Madrigal _Gelett Burgess_ 323 Ballade of the Devil-May-Care _Gelett Burgess_ 323 Ballade of Dreams Transposed _Gelett Burgess_ 325 Villanelle of His Lady’s Treasures _Ernest Dowson_ 326 L’Envoi _E. B. Reed_ 327 A Merry, Blue-Eyed Laddie _Juliet Wilbur Tompkins_ 328 Dance Time _Josephine Preston Peabody Marks_ 329 How Like a Woman _Caroline and Alice Duer_ 330 A Vignette _Caroline Duer_ 331

INDEX OF TITLES 335

INDEX OF AUTHORS 347

INTRODUCTION

ALL collectors of _Vers de Société_ agree that there is no possibility of an English equivalent for the French term. None exists; and the attempts to coin one have invariably resulted in failure.

Society Verse, Familiar Verse and Occasional Verse are all wide of the mark in one direction or another; and perhaps, after all, the simple term Light Verse strikes nearest home.

One might suggest Gentle Verse, but it would be with the restricted meaning of the adjective that is applied to the courteous and well-bred; the innately fine, polished by the experience and sophistication of truly good society.

Gentlefolk are never excessive. Their enthusiasms are modified, their emotions are restrained, their humor is delicate. As a result of wise and intelligent culture, their tastes are refined, their fashions correct. They breathe the air of polite worldly wisdom, which endows them with a gracious ease, and removes all trace of self-consciousness.

D’Israeli says, “Genius is not always sufficient to impart that grace of amenity which seems peculiar to those who are accustomed to elegant society.”

Gentle Verse then, would imply lines written of the gentlefolk, for the gentlefolk, and by gentlefolk.

Society Verse is an inadequate term, because Society has come to include both the gentle folk and the others.

Familiar Verse, though staunchly defended by one of our foremost men of letters, allows a latitude of informality that is too liberal for a precise equivalent. Occasional Verse is ambiguous, and Easy Verse, absurd.

_Lyra Elegantiarum_ is an adequate translation, but not into English. And none of the graceful titles yet chosen by our modern poets from “Brightsome Balladry” to “_Lingerie de Poesie_” has as yet fulfilled all requirements.

* * * * *

Granting then that there is no perfect English translation of the French phrase, and accepting _Vers de Société_ as our field, we are again confronted by great difficulties and embarrassments in defining its boundaries.

One of the greatest masters of the art, Mr. Austin Dobson, gives us twelve definite rules for our guidance; but of these, only three refer to the matter of the poems, the others being advice as to manner.

Though manner is equally important, yet the choice of matter for _Vers de Société_ depends upon certain definite characteristics.

But to limit these characteristics is to ask the question, “who shall decide when doctors disagree?” The scholarly gentlemen who have devoted special attention to the matter, advance conflicting opinions.

Frederick Locker-Lampson, doubtless the greatest master of the art, both in a critical and creative way, allows wide latitude of discretion. But so infallible is his individual judgment and so unerring his taste, that it is with him, a case of “Know the Rules, and when to break them.”