By heavens, how spruce the place appear’d! No mud in its streets was lying; Many handsome buildings there I saw, In massive splendour vying.[59]
I was mostly charm’d by a very large square, Surrounded by houses superior; There lives the king and his palace there stands, Of a really handsome exterior,--
(The palace I mean.) On each side of the door A sentry-box had its station; Redcoats with muskets there kept guard, Of threat’ning and wild reputation.
My cicerone said: “Here lives “King Ernest Augustus, a tory “Of the olden school, and a nobleman,-- “Very sharp, though his hairs are hoary.
“In safety idyllic here he dwells, “For he’s far more securely protected “By the scanty courage of our dear friends “Than his satellites ever effected.
“I see him sometimes, and then he complains “How very tedious his post is,-- “The regal post, of which he here “In Hanover now the boast is.
“Accustom’d to a British life, “And plagued by spleen, to cure it “He finds it not easy, and greatly fears “That he cannot much longer endure it.
“T’other day I found him at early morn “By the fireside mournfully bending; “For his dog, who was sick, with his own royal hands “A comforting draught he was blending.”
In an hour from Harburg to Hamburg I went; The shades of evening were thick’ning, The stars in the heavens their greetings sent, And the air was soft and quick’ning.
And when I reach’d my mother at last, She was wellnigh frighten’d with gladness; She cried “My darling child!” and clasp’d Her hands together with madness.
“My darling child, full thirteen years “Have pass’d since our last meeting; “You surely are hungry; tell me now “What you’ll take in the way of eating?
“I’ve here some fish, and goose-flesh too, “And handsome oranges also!”-- “Then give me some fish, and goose-flesh too, “And handsome oranges also!”
And whilst I ate with an appetite good, My mother was lively and merry; She ask’d me this, and she ask’d me that, And her questions were awkward, very.
“My darling child, in your foreign home “Do you get all the things you require? “Is your wife pretty skilful at keeping house? “Are your shirts and stockings darn’d by her?”
“The fish is good, my mother dear, “But in silence one ought to eat it; “’Tis easy to get a bone in one’s throat, “Pray leave me in peace to complete it.”