Here's a delightful incantation for conjuring the Spirit of Romance, from W. S. Gilbert's A Sensation Novel. All that's required is a large saucepan and the following:
Take of best quill pens a score,
Take of ink a pint or more,
Take of foolscap half-a-ream,
Take, oh take, a convict’s dream,
Lynch pin, fallen from a carriage,
Forged certificate of marriage,
Money wrongly won at whist,
Finger of a bigamist,
Cobweb from mysterious vaults,
Arsenic sold as Epsom salts,
Pocket-knife with blood-stained blade,
Telegram, some weeks delayed,
Parliamentary committee,
Joint stock panic in the city,
Trial at Old Bailey bar,
Take a Newgate Calendar,
Take a common jury's finding,
Take a most attractive binding,
Hold the saucepan by the handle,
Boil it on a penny candle.
[Thanks, Jonathan!]
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