Lord L. looked on and quite approved of it.

The afternoons, in sense of duty done,

Went by more idly than the rest had gone.

If in the country, which Lord L. preferred,

She had her horse, her dogs, her favourite bird,

Her own rose-garden, which she loved to rake,

Her fish to feed with bread crumbs in the lake,

Her schools, old women, poor and almshouses,

Her sick to visit, or her church to dress.

17

Lord L. was pleased to see her bountiful:

They hardly found the time to find it dull.

In London, where they spent their second year,

Came occupations suited to the sphere

In which they lived; and to the just pretence

Of our Griselda's high-born consequence,

New duties to the world which no excuse

Admitted. She was mistress of L. House

And heir to its traditions. These must be

Observed by her in due solemnity.

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