WHEN I was still a youthful wight,So full of enjoyment and merry, The painters used to assert, in spite,That my features were small--yes, very;Yet then full many a beauteous child With true affection upon me smil'd.
Now as a greybeard I sit here in state,By street and by lane held in awe, sirs;And may be seen, like old Frederick the Great,On pipebowls, on cups, and on saucers.
Yet the beauteous maidens, they keep afar;Oh vision of youth! Oh golden star!
1826.
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