Classic Poem

When Burt the voice acutely heard,
And Wisdom noted Folly's word,
Her pen, satirical and keen,
Lash'd with its ridicule the scene.
Her taste — a mistress of its art —
Oppress'd her kind and feeling heart.

Though at her wit the ideots bled,
She had their twinges in her head .
Apollo , for her health afraid,
Flew, as a Turton , to her aid;
He whisper'd something in her ear,
Which none but Mrs. Burt could hear.

That whisper had a potent spell,
The bane of gossips to repel;
No more she heard their idle prate,
It found a barrier at the gate: —
But at his Votary's desire
He left his trumpet, pens , and lyre .

The first enabled her to hear,
If Sense had claims upon her ear:
The second were to her a Muse,
Dipt in her own Castalian dews:
The lyre , though once at her command,
She gave to matchless Cumberland .