Page 20 - Poetry-Books

The Country Squire

A country squire, of greater wealth than wit
(For fools are often blessed with fortune’s smile),
Had built a splendid house, and furnished it
In splendid style.

“One thing is wanting,” said a friend; “for, though
The rooms are fine, the furniture profuse,
You lack a library, dear sir, for show,
If not for use.”

“ ‘Tis true; but ‘zounds!” replied the squire with glee,
“The lumber-room in yonder northern wing
(I wonder I ne’er thought of it) will be
The very thing.

“I’ll have it fitted up without delay
With shelves and presses of the newest mode
And rarest wood, befitting every way
A squire’s abode.”

“And when the whole is ready, I’ll dispatch
My coachman—a most knowing fellow—down
To buy me, by admeasurement, a batch
Of books in town.”

But ere the library was half supplied
With all its pomps of cabinet and shelf,
The booby squire repented him, and cried
Unto himself :—

“This room is much more roomy than I thought;
Ten thousand volumes hardly would suffice
To fill it, and would cost, however bought,
A plaguy price.”

“Now as I only want them for their looks,
It might, on second thoughts, be just as good,
And cost me next to nothing, if the books
Were made of wood.”

~ 18 ~