7.
MY LORD,--Probably your cellars will be full of choke-damp when the door is
opened, from long disuse and confined air. I have men, accustomed to
descend dangerous wells and shafts, who will undertake the job at a
moderate price. Should you labour under any temporary pecuniary
embarrassment in paying me, I shall be happy to take it out in your wine,
which I should think had been some years in bottle. Your Lordship's most
humble servant,
RICHARD ROSE,
Dealer in Marine Stores.
Gray's-inn-lane.
* * * * *
LAYS OF THE LAZY.
I've wander'd on the distant shore,
I've braved the dangers of the deep,
I've very often pass'd the Nore--
At Greenwich climb'd the well-known steep;
I've sometimes dined at Conduit House,
I've taken at Chalk Farm my tea,
I've at the Eagle talk'd with Rouse--
But I have NOT _forgotten thee_!
"I've stood amid the glittering throng"
Of mountebanks at Greenwich fair,
Where I have heard the Chinese gong
Filling, with brazen voice, the air.
I've join'd wild revellers at night--
I've crouch'd beneath the old oak tree,
Wet through, and in a pretty plight,
But, oh! I've NOT _forgotten thee_!
I've earn'd, at times, a pound a week--
Alas! I'm earning nothing now;
Chalk scarcely shames my whiten'd cheek,
Grief has plough'd furrows in my brow.
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