Dresden Poetry

At Dresden on the Elbe, that handsome city,
Where straw hats, verses, and cigars are made,
They’ve built (it well may make us feel afraid)
A music-club and music warehouse pretty.
There meet the gentlemen and ladies witty,
Herr Kuhn, Miss Nostitz[5a]--adepts at the trade,--
Spout verses, calling action to their aid.
How grand! Avaunt, ye critics!--more’s the pity!
Next day the paper tells us all the facts,
Bright’s brightness flies, Child’s[6a] childishness is childlike,
The critic’s supplement is mean yet wildlike.
Arnoldi[5b] takes the cash, as salesman acts;
Then Böttiger[5c] appears, with noise infernal--
’Tis a true oracle, that Evening Journal!