more!
Between ourselves--I can't afford it!

II.

"You tell me that my light guitar
Is now as silent as the grave;
That on it now I play no bar,
Though _once_ it thrill'd with many a stave
Alas! to strike it once again,
More power than I possess requires;
The effort would be worse than vain--
My light guitar has lost its wires!

III.

"My heart, my lute, my light guitar,
All broken as they be,
As like unto each other are,
As little pea to pea.
Come, heart; come, lute, guitar, and all,
In one lament ye all are blended!
Hang on your nails against the wall--
I can't afford to get you mended!"

Just fancy this touching song sung by a "nice young man," with all the
modern "shakes" and _affetuoso_ accompaniments, and you will "realize" a
fair hit at what was not long since a fashionable species of English
ballad music.

-------------------------------------

"Speaking of music," by-the-by, we are reminded of rather a sharp reply
made by a celebrated nobleman in England to an enterprising musical
gentleman, who was a good deal of an enthusiast in the art. "I have waited
upon you, my lord, to ask for your subscription of twenty guineas to the
series of six Italian concerts, to be given at ----'s Rooms. Knowing your
lordship to be an admirer of the sweet--"

"You've been misinformed, sir. I am _not_ much of an admirer of the school
of 'difficult music:' on the contrary, I often wish, with Dr. Johnson,
that 'it was not only _difficult_, but _impossible_.' "

"But as a nobleman, as a public man, your lordship can not be insensible
to the value of your honored name upon the subscription-list. Your eminent
brother, the greatest of London's prelates, the most gifted, your
honorable brother subscribed fifty guineas. Here, sir, is his signature
upon this very paper which I hold in my hand."

"Well," replied "his lordship," "I have no hesitation to state, that if I
were as _deaf_ as he is, I wouldn't mind subscribing myself! He's as deaf
as a post, or as a dumb adder; and can not hear the sounds of your Italian
charmers, charm they never so loudly. I have no such good luck."

Thinking, doubtless, that trying to secure "his lordship's" patronage
under such circumstances, and with such opinions, involved the pursuit of
musical subscriptions "under difficulties," the importunate solicitor,
with a succession