Publisher's Synopsis
Selected by Austin Dobson from Ballads and Lyrics of Old France, Ballades in Blue China, and from verses previously unprinted or not collected.Oh, where are the endless RomancesOur grandmothers used to adore?The Knights with their helms and their lances, Their shields and the favours they wore?And the Monks with their magical lore?They have passed to Oblivion and NoxThey have fled to the shadowy shore, -They are all in the Fourpenny Box!And where the poetical fanciesOur fathers were fond of, of yore?The lyric's melodious expanses, The Epics in cantos a score?They have been and are not: no moreShall the shepherds drive silvery flocks, Nor the ladies their long words deplore, -They are all in the Fourpenny Box!And the Music! The songs and the dances?The tunes that Time may not restore?And the tomes where Divinity prances?And the pamphlets where Heretics roar?They have ceased to be even a bore, -The Divine, and the Sceptic who mocks, -They are "cropped," they are "foxed" to core, -They are all in the Fourpe
