O Peace! oh come with me and dwell--
But stop, for there's the bell.
O peace! for thee I go and sit in churches,
On Wednesday, when there's very few
In loft or pew--
Another ring, the tarts are come from Birch's.
O Peace! for thee I have avoided marriage--
Hush! there's a carriage.
O Peace! thou art the best of earthly goods--
The five Miss Woods.
O Peace! thou art the goddess I adore--
There come some more.
O Peace! thou child of solitude and quiet--
That's Lord Drum's footman, for he loves a riot.
O Peace!--
Knocks will not cease.
O Peace! thou wert for human comfort planned--
That's Weippert's band.
O Peace! how glad I welcome thy approaches--
I hear the sound of coaches.
O Peace! O Peace!--another carriage stops--
It's early for the Blenkinsops.
O Peace! with thee I love to wander,
But wait till I have showed up Lady Squander;
And now I've seen her up the stair,
O Peace!--but here comes Captain Hare.
O Peace! thou art the slumber of the mind,
Untroubled, calm, and quiet, and unbroken--
If that is Alderman Guzzle from Portsoken,
Alderman Gobble won't be far behind.
O Peace! serene in worldly shyness--
Make way there for his Serene Highness!
O Peace! if you do not disdain
To dwell amongst the menial train,
I have a silent place, and lone,
That you and I may call our own,
Where tumult never makes an entry--
Susan, what business have you in my pantry?
O Peace!--but there is Major Monk,
At variance with his wife. O Peace!--
And that great German, Van der Trunk,
And that great talker, Miss Apreece.
O Peace! so dear to poets' quills--
They're just beginning their quadrilles.
O Peace! our greatest renovator--
I wonder where I put my waiter.
O Peace!--but here my ode I'll cease!
I have no peace to write of Peace.
LETTERS FROM THACKERAY
[Sidenote: _Thackeray_]
_Tuesday, November 1848_.