To Oxford with every hope he might become
A gentleman. Alas, he became only
A Roman Catholic. The girls never grew
Away from Isabella as I supposed-
She had a new kind of power, from her bed,
And seldom needed speak above a whisper.
But how they listened to her when she sighed:
"Servants talk about people, gentlefolk discuss
Things." A novelist was, she knew, beneath her.
I had not found what I wanted, nor wanted
What I found: the Grand Style for the few that meant
A SmaIl Style for the many.
Punch
will show you
The rest: I was taller than Carlyle, white-haired
At forty, fond of cheroots and good claret.
I died on a visit to the Duke of Devonshire:
"Show me the Bluebeard Closet where the dead wives
Hang, and the murdered secrets. 0 you must have
A Bluebeard Closet! Everybody does.
Just let me sit there-I'd like that best." Today
My Jubilee Edition is "very scarce."
Richard Howard
