SONG. (First chuse a pretty melody)

First chuse a pretty melody, To take in all the flats: Then change your drift, And suddenly Prepare to shift The key; Then growl Like dogs, and miowl Like cats: Then chatter like monkies—now low, and now high Then whine, and then sigh, And all through the nose, And then swim and die, And then come to a close.

Among the flats and sharps now a tedious journey travel, Then lose yourself in knots of chords, And then those knots unravel: Then sigh, and die, And faint in bliss extatic, And then the half tones, try, For a touch of the chromatic. Then where you set out come again, And now—you're welcome home again.

Then once more the melody, To take in all the flats: Then change your drift, And suddenly Prepare to shift The key; Then growl Like dogs, and miowl Like cats: Then chatter like monkeys—now low, and now high, And all through the nose; And then swim and die, And then come to a close. Yet not shabbily, But with a fine contabile, In which go high and low boy, Still followed by the hautboy, And all through the nose, And then swim and die, And then come to a close.