But alas, alas! while thus so gay,
These reverend dancers friskt away,
Nor Paul himself (not the saint, but he
Of the Opera-house) could brisker be,
There gathered a gloom around their
glee -

A shadow which came and went so fast, That ere one could say ""T is there," 't was past

And, lo! when the scene again was cleared,

Ten of the dancers had disappeared!
Ten able-bodied quadrillers swept
From the hallowed floor where late they
stept,

While twelve was all that footed it still, On the Irish side of that grand Quadrille!

A CORRECTED REPORT OF SOME LATE SPEECHES.

1834.

Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that saint.'

ST. SINCLAIR rose and declared in sooth,

That he would n't give sixpence to Maynooth.

He had hated priests the whole of his life,

For a priest was a man who had no wife,1

And, having no wife, the Church was his mother,

The Church was his father, sister and brother.

This being the case, he was sorry to say That a gulf 'twixt Papist and Protestant lay,2

So deep and wide, scarce possible was it To say even "how d' ye do?" across it:

1 "He objected to the maintenance and education of a clergy bound by the particular vows of celibacy, which as it were gave them the Church as their only family, making it fill the places of father and mother and brother.". · Debate on the Grant to Maynooth College, The Times, April 19.

2 "It had always appeared to him that between the Catholic and Protestant a great gulf intervened, which rendered it impossible," etc.

And tho' your Liberals, nimble as fleas, Could clear such gulfs with perfect ease, 'T was a jump that naught on earth could make

Your proper, heavy-built Christian take.
No, no,if a Dance of Sects must be,
He would set to the Baptist willingly,"
At the Independent deign to smirk,
And rigadoon with old Mother Kirk;
Nay even, for once, if needs must be,
He'd take hands round with all the
three;

But as to a jig with Popery, no,

To the Harlot ne'er would he point his

3 The Baptist might acceptably extend the offices of religion to the Presbyterian and the Independent, or the member of the Church of England to any of the other three; but the Catholic," etc.

4" Could he then, holding as he did spiritual office in the Church of Scotland, (cries of hear, and laughter,) with any consistency give his consent to a grant of money?" etc.

5 "I am a wise fellow, and which is more, an officer." Much Ado About Nothing.