Julia and Casper

by MATTHEW GREGORY LEWIS (1775-1818)
a/k/a Monk Lewis

A wolf while Julia slept had made
Her favorite lamb his prize;
Young Casper flew to give his aid,
Who heard the trembler’s cries,
He drove the wolf from off the green,
But claim’d a kiss for pay,
Ah! Julia better ‘twould have been
Had Casper staid away.

While grateful feelings warm’d her breast,
She own’d she loved the swain;
The youth eternal love professed,
And kiss’d and kiss’d again,
A fonder pair was never seen;
They lov’d the live long day:
Ah! Julia better ‘twould have been
Had Casper staid away.

At length the sun his beams withdrew,
And night inviting sleep,
Fond Julia rose and bade adieu,
Then homeward drove her sheep,
Alas her thoughts were chang’d I ween,
For thus I heard her say;
Ah! Julia better ‘twould have been
Had Casper staid away.

Matthew Gregory Lewis Contemporaries
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Robert Southey
Clement Clarke Moore
Thomas Love Peacock