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EPISTLE TO SIR ROBERT WALPOLE (2) by HENRY FIELDING

First Line: GREAT SIR, AS ON EACH LEVEE DAY
Last Line: OR LEND YOUR PORTER TO DENY ME.
Subject(s): WALPOLE, ROBERT (1676-1745);

GREAT Sir, as on each levee day
I still attend you--still you say--
I'm busy now, to-morrow come;
To-morrow, sir, you're not at home;
So says your porter, and dare I
Give such a man as him the lie?

In imitation, sir, of you,
I keep a mighty levee too:
Where my attendants, to their sorrow,
Are bid to come again to-morrow.
To-morrow they return, no doubt,
But then, like you, sir, I'm gone out.

So says my maid; but they less civil
Give maid and master to the devil;
And then with menaces depart,
Which could you hear would pierce your heart,
Good sir, do make my levee fly me,
Or lend your porter to deny me.



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