By that young-old face,
with its large lucid speaking eyes that light it up, as does a rushlight
in a cavern--by that twisted figure with its emaciated legs--by the
large, sensible mouth, the pointed, marked, well-defined nose--by the
wig, or hair pushed off in masses from the broad forehead and falling
behind in tresses--by the dress, that loose, single-breasted black
coat--by the cambric band and plaited shirt, without a frill, but fine
and white, for the poor poet has taken infinite pains that day in
self-adornment--by the delicate ruffle on that large thin hand, and
still more by the clear, most musical voice which is heard welcoming his
royal and noble guests, as he stands bowing low to the Princess
Caroline, and bending to kiss hands--by that voice which gained him more
especially the name of the little nightingale--is Pope at once
recognized, and Pope in the perfection of his days, in the very zenith
of his fame.
One would gladly have been a sprite to listen from some twig of that
then stripling willow which the poet had planted with his own hand, to
talk of those who chatted for a while under its shade, before they went
in-doors to an elegant dinner at the usual hour of twelve.
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