"Three Magpies"
(included in Ladies Valentines, 1817)
Three Magpies! bless us! what's the Matter?
Sure thus I hear the Gossips chatter.
“So Neighbour, where have you been gadding
“While all the World for news is madding?”
“O I’m so tir’d!_ I’ve really flown
Quite round the Village and the Town,
And heard such News!”
“I know it all;
That strange Flirtation at the Ball.”
“No, no, not that.
O! then you mean
The Joke about a Lady’s screen.”
“Indeed I don’t.”
Miss Fridget’s Fever?
Or do Miss Simper’s Lovers leave her?
“Perhaps some Folks apply the Lines
In Mrs. Cobbold’s Valentines,
And whisper Satire fram’d the Lay?”
No, that I’m sure they cannot say:
you'll never guess it.
“O I die
To hear the News.” ___ “and so do I.”
Well then they say a Lady fair,
Of Virtues and Endowments rare,
Has made a Conquest.
“Tell us, who?”
“Why of the very worthiest Beau:
Rich, graceful, blest with ev’ry merit,
A Man of Talents, Taste and Spirit.
all is agreed and soon ‘tis said,
They happy couple mean to wed.
“Their Names; their Names:”
“I may not tell;
But mark me and you’ll know them well. –
She to whom Fortune shall assign
Three Magpies for a Valentine,
The Lady is. –
I guess the rest, -
The Lover? –
“Hush! Whom she loves best.”