The first of April;
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- Pages
- 23
About this book
An April morning becomes the setting for a dreamlike festival where Folly presides over a crowd of fashionable admirers. William Combe's eighteenth-century poem leads its narrator into a hall crowded with gaudy decorations, distorted paintings and noisy celebrations. Figures from public life appear among the examples of wisdom weakened by ambition, while April himself enters as a flower-crowned boy riding a bull.
The dedication addresses a duchess with pointed advice about generosity and the responsibilities of wealth. In the verse, guests bring offerings to Folly's altar, surrendering good sense, family duties and dignity in return for her approval. Rhyming couplets turn this imagined ceremony into a satire of social display and misplaced priorities. Readers interested in older English humor can see how a festive occasion becomes a sustained argument about taste, vanity and public conduct.
Contents
About the author
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- L Lyra FrivolaLyra Frivola
- P Point Lace and DiamondsPoint Lace and Diamonds
- I The Inner SisterhoodThe Inner Sisterhood
- T The TitleThe Title
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Book facts
- Author
- William Combe
- Reading time
- About 30 minutes
- Pages
- 23
- Language
- English
- Genre
- Satire
- Formats
- PDF, EPUB, Read online