GREAT sir, as on each levée day
I still attend you - still you say
I'm busy now, to-morrow come;
To-morrow, sir, you're not at home,
So says your porter, and dare I
Give such a man as him the lie?
In imitation, sir, of you,
I keep a mighty levée too;
Where my attendants, to their sorrow,
Are bid to come again to-morrow.
To-morrow they return, no doubt,
And then like you, sir, I'm gone out.
So says my maid - but they, less civil,
Give maid and master to the devil;
And then with menaces depart,
Which could you hear would pierce your heart.
Good sir, or make my levée fly me,
Or lend your porter to deny me.