of a banquet is fired
Two thousand years after the guests have retired?
Our happier bard takes the season that suits,
At the spur of the moment he puts on his boots,
All hot for _Parnassus_, and cries in a hurry,
"Prepare me my _Pegasus_! '_Saddle white Surrey!_'"
It is clear that he feels what his numbers prolong,
That he warms with his subject, and soars in his song.
But whether his lot be unhonour'd and low,
Or the wreath of the _Laureat_ encircles his brow,
With the world to admire him, mysterious elf!
Is a secret of state that he keeps to himself.
But come! _Zoological_ wonders require
The strains of his genius, his force and his fire;
He burns with impatience the scene to display:
Hark away, to the _Gardens of Taste_! Hark away!

The sun, as he rose, was received with a cheer,
From the Herald at Arms, the renown'd _Chanticleer_,
Who proclaim'd, with a feeling of pride in his breast,
That the _Gardens of Surrey_ were fairest and best.
Then at once the shrill tidings were borne on the air,
That the dawn had arrived of the famed _Fancy Fair_,
And that all that was lovely, and beauteous, and bright,
Was summon'd to honour that day of delight.
The sunbeam was clear on that lovely retreat;
The breath of the morning was balmy and sweet;
Fair _flowrets_, that vied with the rainbow, were seen,
And _trees_ in their livery of liveliest green.
The voice of rejoicing, from children of earth,
Was so mingled with cheerfulness, music, and mirth,
That the mind, and the eye, and the ear, and the heart
Were saluted with pleasure from every part.
A thousand gay faces appear'd in the throng,
And crowds of fair creatures came trooping along.
Till the place, all enliven'd with joy and surprise,
Was lit up with sunbeams and Beauty's bright eyes.
The groups of all ages were gather'd so well,
That they threw o'er the poet and painter a spell,
And the flashes of fancy, wit, feeling, and fire,
Resistless compell'd them to pause and admire.

Much pains had been taken to add to the grace,
And preserve from disorder the pride of the place;
To keep the fair flowrets from wandering away,
As well as the things that were fairer than they,
For placards were posted near every spot,
You may stand to "_admire_" me, "_but gather me not_."

The _Beasts_ and the _Birds_ were so fresh and so fair,
That they call'd forth the wonder of all who cam