e at all.
But when by help of spectacles the Crone
Discern'd a Nose so different from her own,
What peals of laughter shook her aged sides!
While with sharp jests the Prince she thus derides.

FAIRY

"Welcome, great Prince of Noses, to my cell;
'Tis a poor place,--but thus we Fairies dwell.
Pray, let me ask you, if from far you come--
And don't you sometimes find it cumbersome?"

PRINCE

"Find what?"

FAIRY

"Your Nose--."

PRINCE

"My Nose, Ma'am!"

FAIRY

"No offence.--
The King your Father was a man of sense,
A handsome man (but lived not to be old)
And had a Nose cast in the common mould.
Ev'n I myself, that now with age am grey,
Was thought to have some beauty in my day,
And am the Daughter of a King. Your sire
In this poor face saw something to admire--
And I to shew my gratitude made shift--
Have stood his friend--and help'd him at a lift--
'Twas I that, when his hopes began to fail,
Shew'd him the spell that lurk'd in Minon's tail--
Perhaps you have heard--but come, Sir, you don't eat--
That Nose of yours requires both wine and meat--
Fall to, and welcome, without more ado--
You see your fare--what shall I help you to?
This dish the tongues of nightingales contains;
This, eyes of peacocks; and that, linnets' brains;
That next you is a Bird of Paradise--
We fairies in our food are somewhat nice.--
And pray, Sir, while your hunger is supplied,
Do lean your Nose a little on one side;
The shadow, which it casts upon the meat,
Darkens my plate, I see not what I eat "--

The Prince on dainty after dainty feeding,
Felt inly shock'd at the old Fairy's breeding;
And held it want of manners in the Dame,
And did her country education blame.
One thing he only wonder'd at,--what she
So very comic in his nose could see.
Hers, it must be confest, was somewhat short,
And time and shrinking age accounted for't;
But for his own, thank heaven, he could not tell
That it was ever thought remarkable;
A decent nose, of reasonable size,
And handsome thought, rather than otherwise.
But that which most of all his wonder paid,
Was to observe the Fairy's waiting Maid;
How at each word the aged Dame let fall
She courtsied low, and smil'd assent to all;
But chiefly when the rev'rend Grannam told
Of conquests, which her beauty made of old.--
He smiled