Now charms the lofty Poet's tuneful lay,
Where Music fraught with fair Instruction flows;
Now Delia's converse makes the moments gay,
The nymph for love and innocence I chose:
O Friend! the man who joys like these can taste
On Vice and Folly needs no hour to waste.”
“I believe it sounds like you, Papa.” she looked at Jane. “Do you have a favourite, Miss Jane?”
“ReadThe Drumnext,” advised Jane.
“I hate that drum’s discordant sound,
Parading round, and round, and round:
To thoughtless youth it pleasure yields,
And lures from cities and from fields,
To sell their liberty for charms
Of tawdry lace, and glittering arms;
And when ambition’s voice commands,
To march, and fight, and fall, in foreign lands.
I hate that drum’s discordant sound,
Parading round, and round, and round:
To me it talks of ravag’d plains,
And burning towns, and ruin’d swains,
And mangled limbs, and dying groans,
And widow’s tears, and orphan’s moans;
And all that misery’s hand bestows,
To fill the catalogue of human woes.
“That makes me quite sad,” Lydia said when she finished. “To think of all the young men being lured away by the drum to die.”
“I always think of it when my brother Charles is sent away.” Jane worked on embroidering the white wrap for Mrs Bingley as she spoke.
“So one of your brothers is named Charles,and is an officer?” Mr Bennet noted. “We must remember to record that when we return. Sent away where?”
Jane made a show of looking up in the air in thought. “I do not know. The memories escape me just as quickly as they arrive. But I think, knowing that I have a great number of brothers–at least as many as there are Bennet sisters–that it would be astonishing if at least one were not named Charles, and that one or more must be in the army. It would be as likely that I also have a brother named George, and even one called Edward.”
“If only you could recall their surname,” Bennet drawled, returning to his book.
“I am certain it must come eventually,” answered Jane good-naturedly. “Mr Jones is so certain of it; and the megrims improve daily. Mrs Nicholls was very good to ensure we had headache powders with us today, and a spot of laudanum if that fails.”
