The Emperor's Rout

Excerpt

As theEmperor Mothsat one evening in May,Fanned by numberless wings in the moon’s silver ray,[p6]
While around him the zephyrs breathed sweetest perfume,Thus he spoke to his dwarf with theRagged white plume:“That vain Butterfly’s Ball, I hear, was most splendid,And, as the world says, very fully attended,Though she never asked us, but assigned as a cause,We were all much too heavy to gallope and waltz.What impertinence this, want of grace to ascribeTo the Lord of the whole Lepidopterous tribe;I too’ll give a ball, and such folks to chastise,I’ll not be at home to these pert butterflies.[p7]
Bid theEmpresscome hither, and we’ll talk aboutWhat arrangements to make for a capital rout.”

[p6a]

The Empress obeyed her lord’s summons with speed,And proceeded her visiting tablets to read,That those of her subjects, whose homage was bookedIn that coveted record, might not be o’erlooked.Then theBufftipbegan to write each moth a card,Having one for herself just by way of reward.“First ask,” says the Emperor, “theGlory of Kent,On having much beauty my mind is quite bent;[p8]
TheBelle, too,of Brixton,theMarvel du Jour,And thePeach-blossommoth you’ll invite, I am sure;TheSphinxtoo, shall come, who makes riddles so well,And theGipseybe ready our fortunes to tell;[p9]
Mother Shiptonshall chap’rone the lovelyBlack I,And those awkward Greek girls,Lambda,Gamma,andChi;Hebrew Character,too, who for routs has a passion;And I’ll ask Mrs.Gothic,though she’s out of fashion,[p10]
For I love my old friends, and had rather that theyShould partake of our feast, than the idle and gay,Who flutter about without object or reason,Just live for an hour, and last but a season.”How little, alas! do great moths bear in mind,That their tenure of life is of just the same kind.“You’re right,” said the Empress, “and truly ’twere shabby,T’exclude from our party poor old Mrs.Tabby,[p11]
And theRusticsI’ll ask, though not one has a gownIn which to appear, save of black, grey, or brown;And some of them go, too, so feathered and flounced,That theCoxcombcalledProminent, on them pronouncedA sentence of censure, quite just, but so tart,That I felt, when I heard it, quite cut to the heart.[p12]
But now to proceed, Sire, theLeopardI vote,Be razed from our list, with that ugly oldGoat,Who in youth made such terrible use of his jaws,That I dread, I confess, e’en the sight of his claws;And as to his muscles, ’tis said that when counted,To four thousand and just forty-one they amounted;[p13]
Of Musk too, I’m told, he sheds such perfume,That wherever he goes, he fills the whole room.Exclude him we will, with the oldDromedary,TheElephantcunning, andFoxtoo, so wary,[p14]
That though I don’t know it for certain, I’m toldThey cheat at Ecarté, like Hermes of old.

[p14a]