No More Learning

A bran-new piece, the very last of seven;
To have so much, the fashion here thinks fit.
By Dilettantes it is given;
'Twas by a Dilettante writ.
Excuse me, sirs, I go to greet you;
I am the curtain-raising Dilettant.

_Mephistopheles_. When I upon the Blocksberg meet you,
That I approve; for there's your place, I grant.




WALPURGIS-NIGHT'S DREAM, OR OBERON AND TITANIA'S GOLDEN NUPTIALS.

_Intermezzo_.


_Theatre manager_. Here, for once, we rest, to-day,
Heirs of Mieding's[41] glory.
All the scenery we display--
Damp vale and mountain hoary!

_Herald_. To make the wedding a golden one,
Must fifty years expire;
But when once the strife is done,
I prize the _gold_ the higher.

_Oberon_. Spirits, if my good ye mean,
Now let all wrongs be righted;
For to-day your king and queen
Are once again united.

_Puck_.
Once let Puck coming whirling round,
And set his foot to whisking,
Hundreds with him throng the ground,
Frolicking and frisking.

_Ariel_. Ariel awakes the song
With many a heavenly measure;
Fools not few he draws along,
But fair ones hear with pleasure.

_Oberon_. Spouses who your feuds would smother,
Take from us a moral!
Two who wish to love each other,
Need only first to quarrel.

_Titania_. If she pouts and he looks grim,
Take them both together,
To the north pole carry him,
And off with her to t'other.

_Orchestra Tutti_.

_Fortissimo_. Fly-snouts and gnats'-noses, these,
And kin in all conditions,
Grass-hid crickets, frogs in trees,
We take for our musicians!

_Solo_. See, the Bagpipe comes! fall back!
Soap-bubble's name he owneth.
How the _Schnecke-schnicke-schnack_
Through his snub-nose droneth!