But when it came to fitting the stump With a proxy limb--then flatly and plump She spoke, in the spirit olden; She couldn't--she shouldn't--she wouldn't have wood!

Nor a leg of cork, if she never stood, And she swore an oath, or something as good, The proxy limb should be golden!

CX.

A wooden leg! what, a sort of peg, For your common Jockeys and Jennies!

No, no, her mother might worry and plague-- Weep, go down on her knees, and beg, But nothing would move Miss Kilmansegg!

She could--she would have a Golden Leg, If it cost ten thousand guineas!

CXI.

Wood indeed, in Forest or Park, With its sylvan honors and feudal bark, Is an aristocratic article: But split and sawn, and hack'd about town, Serving all needs of pauper or clown, Trod on! stagger'd on! Wood cut down Is vulgar--fibre and particle!

CXII.

And Cork!--when the noble Cork Tree shades A lovely group of Castilian maids, 'Tis a thing for a song or sonnet!-- But cork, as it stops the bottle of gin, Or bungs the beer--the _small_ beer--in, It pierced her heart like a corking-pin, To think of standing upon it!

CXIII.

A Leg of Gold--solid gold throughout, Nothing else, whether slim or stout, Should ever support her, God willing!

She must--she could--she would have her whim, Her father, she turn'd a deaf ear to him-- He might kill her--she didn't mind killing!

He was welcome to cut off her other limb-- He might cut her all off with a shilling!

CXIV.

All other promised gifts were in vain.

Golden Girdle, or Golden Chain, She writhed with impatience more than pain, And utter'd "pshaws!" and "pishes!"

But a Leg of Gold as she lay in bed, It danced before her--it ran in her head!

It jump'd with her dearest wishes!

CXV.

"Gold--gold--gold! Oh, let it be gold!"

Asleep or awake that tale she told, And when she grew delirious: Till her parents resolved to grant her wish, If they melted down plate, and goblet, and dish, The case was getting so serious.

CXVI.

So a Leg was made in a comely mould, Of gold, fine virgin glittering gold, As solid as man could make it-- Solid in foot, and calf, and shank, A prodigious sum of money it sank; In fact 'twas a Branch of the family Bank, And no easy matter to break it.

CXVII.

All sterling metal--not half-and-half, The Goldsmith's mark was stamp'd on the calf-- 'Twas pure as from Mexican barter!

And to make it more costly, just over the knee, Where another ligature used to be, Was a circle of jewels, worth shillings to see, A new-fangled Badge of the Garter!

CXVIII.

'Twas a splendid, brilliant, beautiful Leg, Fit for the Court of Scander-Beg, That Precious Leg of Miss Kilmansegg!

For, thanks to parental bounty, Secure from Mortification's touch, She stood on a Member that cost as much As a Member for all the County!

HER FAME.

CXIX.

To gratify stern ambition's whims, What hundreds and thousands of precious limbs On a field of battle we scatter!

Sever'd by sword, or bullet, or saw, Off they go, all bleeding and raw,-- But the public seems to get the lock-jaw, So little is said on the matter!

CXX.

Legs, the tightest that ever were seen, The tightest, the lightest, that danced on the green, Cutting capers to sweet Kitty Clover; Shatter'd, scatter'd, cut, and bowl'd down, Off they go, worse off for renown, A line in the _Times_, or a talk about town, Than the leg that a fly runs over!

CXXI.

But the Precious Leg of Miss Kilmansegg, That gowden, goolden, golden leg, Was the theme of all conversation!

Had it been a Pillar of Church and State, Or a prop to support the whole Dead Weight, It could not have furnished more debate To the heads and tails of the nation!

CXXII.

East and west, and north and south, Though useless for either hunger or drouth,-- The Leg was in everybody's mouth, To use a poetical figure, Rumor, in taking her ravenous swim, Saw, and seized on the tempting limb, Like a shark on the leg of a nigger.

CXXIII.

Wilful murder fell very dead; Debates in the House were hardly read; In vain the Police Reports were fed With Irish riots and _rumpuses_-- The Leg! the Leg! was the great event, Through every circle in life it went, Like the leg of a pair of compasses.

CXXIV.

The last new Novel seem'd tame and flat, The Leg, a novelty newer than that, Had tripp'd up the heels of Fiction!

It Burked the very essays of Burke, And, alas! how Wealth over Wit plays the Turk!

As a regular piece of goldsmith's work, Got the better of Goldsmith's diction.

CXXV.