THOMAS MOORE (1779-1852)

Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron’s memoirs after his death

Oh! Ever Thus, From Childhood’s Hour

Oh! ever thus, from childhood’s hour,

I’ve seen my fondest hopes decay;

I never lov’d a tree or flower,

But ’twas the first to fade away.

I never nurs’d a dear gazelle,

To glad me with its soft black eye,

But when it came to know me well,

And love me, it was sure to die!

 

Lewis Carroll

Theme With Variations (1869)

The opening lines are:

I never loved a dear gazelle.

Or anything that cost me much:

High Prices Profit those who sell,

But why should I be fond of such?

 

Charles Dickens

‘I never nursed a dear Gazelle, to glad me with its soft black eye, but when it came to know me well, and love me, it was sure to marry a marketgardener.’   (Dick Swiveller in The Old Curiosity Shop)

 

Henry Leigh

My rich and aged Uncle John

Has known me long and loves me well

But still persists in living on –

I would he were a young gazelle.

 

James Payn (1830-1898)

I never had a piece of toast

Particularly long and wide,

But fell upon the sanded floor,

And always on the buttered side.