| |
| DEAR wife, last midnight, whilst I read | |
| The tomes you so despise, | |
| A spectre rose beside the bed, | |
| And spake in this true wise: | |
| “From Canaan’s beatific coast | 5 |
| I ’ve come to visit thee, | |
| For I am Frognall Dibdin’s ghost,” | |
| Says Dibdin’s ghost to me. | |
| |
| I bade him welcome, and we twain | |
| Discussed with buoyant hearts | 10 |
| The various things that appertain | |
| To bibliomaniac arts. | |
| “Since you are fresh from t’other side, | |
| Pray tell me of that host | |
| That treasured books before they died,” | 15 |
| Says I to Dibdin’s ghost. | |
| |
| “They ’ve entered into perfect rest; | |
| For in the life they ’ve won | |
| There are no auctions to molest, | |
| No creditors to dun. | 20 |
| Their heavenly rapture has no bounds | |
| Beside that jasper sea; | |
| It is a joy unknown to Lowndes,” | |
| Says Dibdin’s ghost to me. | |
| |
| Much I rejoiced to hear him speak | 25 |
| Of biblio-bliss above, | |
| For I am one of those who seek | |
| What bibliomaniacs love. | |
| “But tell me, for I long to hear | |
| What doth concern me most, | 30 |
| Are wives admitted to that sphere?” | |
| Says I to Dibdin’s ghost. | |
| |
| “The women folk are few up there; | |
| For ’t were not fair, you know, | |
| That they our heavenly joy should share | 35 |
| Who vex us here below. | |
| The few are those who have been kind | |
| To husbands such as we; | |
| They knew our fads, and did n’t mind,” | |
| Says Dibdin’s ghost to me. | 40 |
| |
| “But what of those who scold at us | |
| When we would read in bed? | |
| Or, wanting victuals, make a fuss | |
| If we buy books instead? | |
| And what of those who ’ve dusted not | 45 |
| Our motley pride and boast,— | |
| Shall they profane that sacred spot?” | |
| Says I to Dibdin’s ghost. | |
| |
| “Oh, no! they tread that other path, | |
| Which leads where torments roll, | 50 |
| And worms, yes, bookworms, vent their wrath | |
| Upon the guilty soul. | |
| Untouched of bibliomaniac grace, | |
| That saveth such as we, | |
| They wallow in that dreadful place,” | 55 |
| Says Dibdin’s ghost to me. | |
| |
| “To my dear wife will I recite | |
| What things I ’ve heard you say; | |
| She ’ll let me read the books by night | |
| She ’s let me buy by day. | 60 |
| For we together by and by | |
| Would join that heavenly host; | |
| She ’s earned a rest as well as I,” | |
| Says I to Dibdin’s ghost. | |
| |
