  September, 1837. THE DOUBLE BARREL.BY FATHER PROUT. Duo quisque Alpina coruscat GÆsa manu.—Æneid. lib. 8. ?a? p?a?a d?a? e?e? ?aa?.—Epictetus. September the first on the moorland hath burst, And already with jocund carol Each Nimrod of nouse hurries off to the grouse, And has shouldered his double barrel; For well doth he ken, as he hies through the glen, That scanty will be his laurel Who hath not On the spot (Should he miss a first shot) Some resource in a double barrel. 'Twas the Goddess of Sport, in her woodland court, Diana, first taught this moral, Which the Goddess of Love soon adopted, and strove To improve on the "double barrel." Hence her Cupid, we know, put two strings to his bow; And she laughs, when two lovers quarrel, At the lot Of the sot Who, to soothe him, han't got The resource of a double barrel. Nay, the hint was too good to lie hid in the wood, Or to lurk in two lips of coral; Hence the God of the Grape (who his betters would ape) Knows the use of a double barrel. His escutcheon he decks with a double XX, And his blithe October carol Follows up With the sup Of a flowing ale-cup September's double barrel. |
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