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Old Sedan Chair

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<h3>THE OLD SEDAN CHAIR.</h3> BY AUSTIN DOBSON <div class="poem"><div class="stanza_o"> "What's not destroyed by Time's devouring Hand? Where's Troy, and where's the May-Pole in the Strand?" Bramston's "Art of Politicks." </div> </div> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> It stands in the stable-yard, under the eaves, Propped up by a broom-stick and covered with leaves: It once was the pride of the gay and the fair, But now 'tis a ruin,—that old Sedan chair! </div> <div class="stanza"> It is battered and tattered,—it little avails That once it was lacquered, and glistened with nails; For its leather is cracked into lozenge and square, Like a canvas by Wilkie,—that old Sedan chair! </div> <div class="stanza"> See,—here came the bearing-straps; here were the holes For the poles of the bearers—when once there were poles; It was cushioned with silk, it was wadded with hair, As the birds have discovered,—that old Sedan chair![Pg 7] </div> <div class="stanza"> "Where's Troy?" says the poet! Look,—under the seat, Is a nest with four eggs,—'tis the favoured retreat Of the Muscovy hen, who has hatched, I dare swear, Quite an army of chicks in that old Sedan chair! </div> <div class="stanza"> And yet—Can't you fancy a face in the frame Of the window,—some high-headed damsel or dame, Be-patched and be-powdered, just set by the stair, While they raise up the lid of that old Sedan chair? </div> <div class="stanza"> Can't you fancy Sir Plume, as beside her he stands, With his ruffles a-droop on his delicate hands, With his cinnamon coat, with his laced solitaire, As he lifts her out light from that old Sedan chair? </div> <div class="stanza"> Then it swings away slowly. Ah, many a league It has trotted 'twixt sturdy-legged Terence and Teague; Stout fellows!—but prone, on a question of fare, To brandish the poles of that old Sedan chair![Pg 8] </div> <div class="stanza"> It has waited by portals where Garrick has played; It has waited by Heidegger's "Grand Masquerade;" For my Lady Codille, for my Lady Bellair, It has waited—and waited, that old Sedan chair! </div> <div class="stanza"> Oh, the scandals it knows! Oh, the tales it could tell Of Drum and Ridotto, of Rake and of Belle,— Of Cock-fight and Levee, and (scarcely more rare!) Of Fête-days at Tyburn, that old Sedan chair! </div> <div class="stanza"> "Heu! quantum mutata," I say as I go. It deserves better fate than a stable-yard, though! We must furbish it up, and dispatch it,—"With Care,"— To a Fine-Art Museum—that old Sedan chair! </div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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