Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray
page 38 of 409 (09%)
page 38 of 409 (09%)
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Her name is Nora, and the goddess Flora
Presents her with this blooming rose. 'O Lady Nora,' says the goddess Flora, 'I've many a rich and bright parterre; In Brady's towers there's seven more flowers, But you're the fairest lady there: Not all the county, nor Ireland's bounty, Can projuice a treasure that's half so fair! What cheek is redder? sure roses fed her! Her hair is maregolds, and her eye of blew Beneath her eyelid is like the vi'let, That darkly glistens with gentle jew? The lily's nature is not surely whiter Than Nora's neck is,--and her arrums too. 'Come, gentle Nora,' says the goddess Flora, 'My dearest creature, take my advice, There is a poet, full well you know it, Who spends his lifetime in heavy sighs,-- Young Redmond Barry, 'tis him you'll marry, If rhyme and raisin you'd choose likewise.' On Sunday, no sooner was my mother gone to church, than I summoned Phil the valet, and insisted upon his producing my best suit, in which I arrayed myself (although I found that I had shot up so in my illness that the old dress was wofully too small for me), and, with my notable copy of verses in my hand, ran down towards Castle Brady, bent upon beholding my beauty. The air was so fresh and bright, and |
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