ow;
Who bids her polish'd accent wear
The British diction's harsher air;
Shall read her praise in every clime
Where types can speak or poets rhyme.

FOR MADAME DUSSON.

Feign not an ignorance of what I speak;
You could not miss my meaning were it Greek:
'Tis the same language Belgium utter'd first,
The same which from admiring Gallia burst.
True sentiment a like expression pours;
Each country says the same to eyes like yours.

[Footnote 1: Boswell records Mr. Beauclerk's account of his introduction
of this lady to Johnson: "When Mme. de Boufflers was first in England
she was desirous to see Johnson. I accordingly went with her to his
chambers in the Temple, where she was entertained with his conversation
for some time. When our visit was over, she and I left him, and were got
into Inner Temple Lane, when, all at once, I heard a noise like thunder.
This was occasioned by Johnson, who, it seems, upon a little
recollection, had taken it into his head that he ought to have done the
honours of his literary residence to a foreign lady of quality, and,
eager to show himself a man of gallantry, was hurrying down the
staircase in evident agitation. He overtook us before we reached the
Temple Gate, and brushing in between me and Mme. de Boufflers, seized
her hand and conducted her to her coach. His dress was a rusty brown
morning suit, a pair of old shoes by way of slippers, a little
shrivelled wig sticking on the top of his head, and the sleeves of his
shirt and the knees of his breeches hanging loose. A considerable crowd
of people gathered round, and were not a little struck by this singular
appearance" (vol. ii., ann. 1775.)]

[Footnote 2: This gentleman was at this time secretary to the Duc de
Nivernois. For many years he dressed in woman's clothes, and the
question of his sex was made the subject of many wagers and trials both
in England and France.]

[Footnote 3: M. Duclos was an author of good repute as a novelist, and
one of the contributors to the "Dictionnaire de l'Academie."]

You will comprehend that the first speaks English, and that the second
does not; that the second is handsome, and the first not; and that the
second was born in Holland. This little gentilesse pleased, and atoned
for the popery of my house, which was not serious enough for Madame de
Boufflers, who is Montmorency, _et du sang du premier Chretien_; and too
serious for Madame Dusson, who is a Dutch