Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

Safer sport than making war;
Trimming is a better thing,
Than the being trimm'd, oh King!
Grasp the needle bright with which
Thou didst for the Virgin stitch
Garment, such as ne'er before
Monarch stitch'd or Virgin wore.
Not for her, oh semster nimble !
Do I now invoke thy thimble;
Not for her thy wanted aid is,
But for certain grave old ladies,
Who now sit in England's cabinet,
Waiting to be clothed in tabinet,
Or whatever choice étoffe is
Fit for Dowagers in office.
First, thy care, oh King, devote
To Dame Eld-n's petticoat.
Make it of that silk, whose dye
Shifts forever to the eye,
Just as if it hardly knew
Whether to be pink or blue.
Or-material fitter yet-
If thou couldst a remnant get
Of that stuff, with which, of old,
Sage Penelope, we're told,
Still by doing and undoing,
Kept her suitors always wooing-
That's the stuff which I pronounce, is
Fittest for Dame Eld-n's flounces.

After this, we'll try thy hand, Mantua-making Ferdinand,

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

"To Panurge was assigned the Lairdship of Salmagundi, which was yearly worth 6,789,106,789 ryals, besides the revenue of the Locusts and Periwinkles, amounting one year with another to the value of 2,435,768," &c. &c.RABELAIS.

"HURRA! hurra!" I heard them say,
And they cheer'd and shouted all the way,
As the Laird of Salmagundi went,
To open in state his Parliament.

The Salmagundians once were rich,
Or thought they were-no matter which-
For, every year, the Revenue

From their Periwinkles larger grew;
And their rulers, skill'd in all the trick
And legerdemain of arithmetic,
Knew how to place 1, 2, 3, 4,

5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 and 10,
Such various ways, behind, before,
That they made a unit seem a score,

And proved themselves most wealthy men! So, on they went, a prosperous crew,

The people wise, the rulers cleverAnd God help those, like me and you, Who dared to doubt (as some now do) That the Periwinkle Revenue

Would thus go flourishing on forever.

[blocks in formation]

His Lordship's demand for fresh affidavits was incessant.

• Accented as in Swift's line

"Not so a nation's revenues are paid."

"Hurra! hurra!" I heard them say,
And they cheer'd and shouted all the way,
As the Great Panurge in glory went
To open his own dear Parliament.

But folks at length began to doubt
What all this conjuring was about;
For, every day, more deep in debt
They saw their wealthy rulers get :-
"Let's look (said they) the items through,
"And see if what we're told be true
"Of our Periwinkle Revenue."
But, Lord! they found there wasn't a tittle
Of truth in aught they heard before;
For, they gain'd by Periwinkles little,

And lost by Locusts ten times more!
These Locusts are a lordly breed
Some Salmagundians love to feed.

Of all the beasts that ever were born,
Your Locust most delights in corn;
And, though his body be but small,
To fatten him takes the devil and all!
"Oh fie! oh fie!" was now the cry,
As they saw the gaudy show go by,
And the Laird of Salmagundi went
To open his Locust Parliament!

NEW CREATION OF PEERS.

BATCH THE FIRST.

"His 'prentice han'

He tried on man,

And then he made the lasses."

1827.

[blocks in formation]

"AND now," quoth the Minister, (cased of his "No-ask it not, ask it not, dear Doctor H-+

panics,

And ripe for each pastime the summer affords,) "Having had our full swing at destroying me

chanics,

"By way of set-off, let us make a few Lords.

""Tis pleasant—while nothing but mercantile fractures,

"Some simple, some compound, is dinn'd in our

ears

"To think that, though robb'd of all coarse manu

factures,

"We still have our fine manufacture of Peers;

f-rd

"If naught but a Peerage can gladden thy life, "And young Master H-lf-rd as yet is too small

for't,

"Sweet Doctor, we'll make a she Peer of thy

wife.

"Next to bearing a coronet on our own brows, "Is to bask in its light from the brows of an

other;

1 Created Lord F-rnb-gh.

1

« ForrigeFortsæt »