She had espoused the amiable Lord L.,

A worthy nobleman, in high repute

For wealth and virtue, and her kin to boot;

A silent man, well mannered and well dressed,

Courteous, deliberate, kind, sublimely blessed

With fortune's favours, but without pretence,

Whom manners almost made a man of sense.

In early life he had aspired to fame

In the world of letters by the stratagem

Of a new issue, from his private press,

Of classic bards in senatorial dress,

12

"In usum Marchionis." He had spent

Much of his youth upon the Continent,

Purchasing marbles, bronzes, pictures, gems,

In every town from Tiber unto Thames,

And gaining store of curious knowledge too

On divers subjects that the world least knew:

Knowledge uncatalogued, and overlaid

With dust and lumber somewhere in his head.

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