Читать книгу The English Spy: An Original Work Characteristic, Satirical, And Humorous - C. M. Westmacott - Страница 15

THE FIVE PRINCIPAL ORDERS OF ETON, DOCTOR, DAME, COLLEGER, OPPIDAN, AND CAD. A SKETCH TAKEN OPPOSITE THE LONG WALK.

ETON DAMES*; AN ODE, NEITHER AMATORY,

ILL-NATURED, NOR PATHETIC.

Let Oxford beaux, to am'rous belles,

Love's warm epistles write;

Or Cambridge youths, in classic dells,

Invoke the shadowy night.

* The above jeu-d'esprit made its appearance on one of those joyous occasions, when the sons of old Etona return from Oxford and Cambridge, filled with filial regard for early scenes and school-boy friendships, to commemorate a college election. It was, at the time, purposely attributed to some of these waggish visitors, a sort of privileged race, who never fail of indulging in numerous good-humoured freaks with the inhabitants of Eton, to show off to the rising generation the pleasantries, whims, and improvements of a college life. The subject is one of great delicacy, but it will, I hope, be admitted by the merry dames themselves, that my friend Bernard has in this, as in every other instance, endeavoured to preserve the strongest traits of truth and character, without indulging in offensive satire, or departing from propriety and decorum.—Horatio Heartly. Let Cockney poets boast their flames, Of ' Vicked Cupit' patter: Be mine a verse on Eton Dames— A more substantial matter. I care not if the Graces three Have here withheld perfection: Brown, black, or fair, the same to me— E'en age is no objection. A pleasing squint, or but one eye, Will do as well as any; A mouth between a laugh and cry, Or wrinkled, as my granny. A hobbling gait, or a wooden leg, Or locks of silvery gray; Or name her Madge, or Poll, or Peg, She still shall have my lay. Perfection centres in the mind, The gen'rous must acknowledge: Then, Muse, be candid, just, and kind, To Dames of Eton College.* * The independent students, commonly called Oppidans, are very numerous: they are boarded at private houses in the environs of the college; the presiding masters and mistresses of which have from time immemorial enjoyed the title of Domine and Dame: the average number of Oppidans is from three hundred to three hundred and fifty.