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Satires Of Circumstances In Fifteen Glimpses - VIII In The Study

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He enters, and mute on the edge of a chair     Sits a thin-faced lady, a stranger there,     A type of decayed gentility;     And by some small signs he well can guess     That she comes to him almost breakfastless.     "I have called I hope I do not err -     I am looking for a purchaser     Of some score volumes of the works     Of eminent divines I own, -     Left by my father though it irks     My patience to offer them." And she smiles     As if necessity were unknown;     "But the truth of it is that oftenwhiles     I have wished, as I am fond of art,     To make my rooms a little smart."     And lightly still she laughs to him,     As if to sell were a mere gay whim,     And that, to be frank, Life were indeed     To her not vinegar and gall,     But fresh and honey-like; and Need     No household skeleton at all.

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"He enters, and mute on the edge of a chair..."

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