DOI issue:
July to December, 1851
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16608#0263
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252
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
THE BOA AND THE BLANKET. AN APOLOGUE OF THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.
It is talked of Now! Was talked of Yesterday !
May be muttered to-morrow ! What ?—
The Boa that Bolted the Blanket.
Speckled Enthusiast!
It was full moon's full moonlight! The Shilling
I had paid down at the Gate,
Oh, the balm of Paradise that came and went!
The silver gleams of Eden shooting down the
trembling strings
Of my melodious heart,
Down—down to its coral roots !
I dashed aside the human tear; and—yes—
prepared myself
With will, drunk from the eyes of Hope, to
gaze upon the Snake !
The Boa!!
The Python! ! !
The Anaconda !!! !
A Boa was there ! A Boa 'neath Crystal Roof!
And rabbits, taking the very moonlight in their
paws,
Washed their meek faces. Washed, then
liopp'd !
"And so, (L couldn't help it) so," I groaned—
" the ancient Snake—
That milk-white thing—and innocent—trustful!
And then, Death—Death—
And lo ! there, typical, it is—it is—
Th e Blanket ! !
Dead shred of living thing that cropped the
flower;
And, thoughtless, bleated forth its little
baa-a! "
v-v^ Away ! I will not tarry! Let the Boa sleep,
And Rabbits, that have given bills to destiny,
Meet his demand at three and six months'
date !
(We know such boas and rabbits
Did she think of him a bit the less ?
Thoughts crowd upon me—cry move on;
And now I am here ; and whether I will or no,
I feel I'm jolly!
The cameleons are asleep, and, like the Cabinet.
(Of course I mean the Whigs,)
Know not, when they rise to-morrow,
What colour they will wake!—
The baby elephant seems prematurely old:
It3 infant hide all corrugate with thoughts
Of cakes and oranges given it by boys ;
Alas ! in Chancery now, and paralytic !
This is very sad. No more of it!
Ha ! ha! here sits the Ape—the many-coloured
wight!
Thou hast marked him, with nose of scarlet
sealing-wax,
And so be-coloured with prismatic hues,
As though he had come from sky to earth—
Sliding and wiping a fresh-painted rainbow!
Hush! I have made a perfect circle!
And at the Snake-House once again I stand!
Such is life!
Eh! Oh! Help! Murder! Dreadful Acci-
dent!
To be conceived—Oh, perhaps!
Described—Oh, never!
Keepers are up, and crowd about the box—
The Boa's box—with unconcerned rabbits !
Not so the Boa! Look ! Behold!
And where the Blanket ?
I Ml-^ I 4 And here'tis cool; nay, even cold
Know we not ?) ' i ^n Boa's inside place ! The Monster mark !
Let me pass on ! How he writhes and wrestles with the wool, as
Without the Snake-House !
Seemed hung in Heaven. To Newton's Eye
(As Master of the Mint,)
A Splendid, yea Celestial Shilling !
1 was alone, with Nothing to Speak of
But Creation !
Yes! Gigantic Noah's Ark of twenty times her
tonnage,
Lay crouched, and purring, and velvety, and
fanged
About me !
Cane-coloured tygers—rug-spotted Leopards—
Snakes (ah, Cupid !) knit and interknit—to true
love knots
Semblable!
Striped Zebra—Onager Calcitrant—Common
Ass,
And I—and all were there !
The bushy Squirrel with his half-cracked Nut,
Slept. The Boar of Allemagne snored.
The Lion's Cage was hot with heat of blood:
And Peace in Curtain Ring linked two Ring
Doves!
In Gardens Zoological and Regent,
I, meditating, stood!
The Moon still glistens, and again I think
Of Multitudes who've paid and stared, and
yawned and wandered here !
The city muckworm, who
From peacock orient, scarce could tell a cock
Of hay!
Though be ye sure, a guinea from a guinea-pig
He knows, and (as for money)
Ever has his squeak for't!
Here, too, paused the wise, sagacious man,
Master of probabilities !
He sees the tusk of elephant—the two tusks—
And, with a thought, cuts 'em into cubes— Differently.
And with another thought — another — and Sh? blanket is England:-the Boa the Pope,
another—
though
He had within him rolls and rolls
Of choking, suffocating influenza,
That lift his eyes from out their sockets!—Of
fleecy phlegm
That will neither in nor out, but mid-way
Seem to strangle!
Silence and wonder settle on the crowd;
From whom instinctively, and breathlessly,
Ascend two pregnant questions !
" Will the boa bolt the blanket?
Will the blanket choke the boa? "—
Such the problem!
And then men mark and deduce
Tells (to himself) how oft, in twenty years
Those spotted squares shall come up sixes
And this in living elephant!
And Hek Majesty has trod these Walks,
Accompanied
By
Prince Albert,
The Pbjnce op Wales,
The Princess Royal,
And
The Rest of the Royal Children !-
And still the Moon looked wondrous
Shilling !
Impartial Moon, that showed me all 1
She saw the Tyger !
Did she think of Tippoo Saib's Tyger's Head ?
She saw the Lion!
Thought she of one of her own Arms ?
My heart fluttered as tho' winged from Mercury! She did not see the Unicorn; but
If Snakes will rush upon their end, why not ? "
, " My friend," said I, " The Blanket and Mm
moved—approached the Snake-House ! ' (With her gracious habits of'condescension) i Boa—
Will the Pope disgorge his Bull ?'
"The Blanket's Free Trade: the Corn-gorged
Folk
Is the Boa with plenty stifled."
" The Blanket's Reform to gag the mod,
And nought to satisfy ! "
But I, a lofty and an abstract man,
A creature of a higher element
Than ever nourished the wood
Ordained for ballot-boxes—I
Say nothing; until a Keeper comes to me, and,
Hooking his fore-finger in his forehead's lock,
Says—" What's your opinion, Sir?
If Boas will bolt Blankets, Boas must-
252
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
THE BOA AND THE BLANKET. AN APOLOGUE OF THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.
It is talked of Now! Was talked of Yesterday !
May be muttered to-morrow ! What ?—
The Boa that Bolted the Blanket.
Speckled Enthusiast!
It was full moon's full moonlight! The Shilling
I had paid down at the Gate,
Oh, the balm of Paradise that came and went!
The silver gleams of Eden shooting down the
trembling strings
Of my melodious heart,
Down—down to its coral roots !
I dashed aside the human tear; and—yes—
prepared myself
With will, drunk from the eyes of Hope, to
gaze upon the Snake !
The Boa!!
The Python! ! !
The Anaconda !!! !
A Boa was there ! A Boa 'neath Crystal Roof!
And rabbits, taking the very moonlight in their
paws,
Washed their meek faces. Washed, then
liopp'd !
"And so, (L couldn't help it) so," I groaned—
" the ancient Snake—
That milk-white thing—and innocent—trustful!
And then, Death—Death—
And lo ! there, typical, it is—it is—
Th e Blanket ! !
Dead shred of living thing that cropped the
flower;
And, thoughtless, bleated forth its little
baa-a! "
v-v^ Away ! I will not tarry! Let the Boa sleep,
And Rabbits, that have given bills to destiny,
Meet his demand at three and six months'
date !
(We know such boas and rabbits
Did she think of him a bit the less ?
Thoughts crowd upon me—cry move on;
And now I am here ; and whether I will or no,
I feel I'm jolly!
The cameleons are asleep, and, like the Cabinet.
(Of course I mean the Whigs,)
Know not, when they rise to-morrow,
What colour they will wake!—
The baby elephant seems prematurely old:
It3 infant hide all corrugate with thoughts
Of cakes and oranges given it by boys ;
Alas ! in Chancery now, and paralytic !
This is very sad. No more of it!
Ha ! ha! here sits the Ape—the many-coloured
wight!
Thou hast marked him, with nose of scarlet
sealing-wax,
And so be-coloured with prismatic hues,
As though he had come from sky to earth—
Sliding and wiping a fresh-painted rainbow!
Hush! I have made a perfect circle!
And at the Snake-House once again I stand!
Such is life!
Eh! Oh! Help! Murder! Dreadful Acci-
dent!
To be conceived—Oh, perhaps!
Described—Oh, never!
Keepers are up, and crowd about the box—
The Boa's box—with unconcerned rabbits !
Not so the Boa! Look ! Behold!
And where the Blanket ?
I Ml-^ I 4 And here'tis cool; nay, even cold
Know we not ?) ' i ^n Boa's inside place ! The Monster mark !
Let me pass on ! How he writhes and wrestles with the wool, as
Without the Snake-House !
Seemed hung in Heaven. To Newton's Eye
(As Master of the Mint,)
A Splendid, yea Celestial Shilling !
1 was alone, with Nothing to Speak of
But Creation !
Yes! Gigantic Noah's Ark of twenty times her
tonnage,
Lay crouched, and purring, and velvety, and
fanged
About me !
Cane-coloured tygers—rug-spotted Leopards—
Snakes (ah, Cupid !) knit and interknit—to true
love knots
Semblable!
Striped Zebra—Onager Calcitrant—Common
Ass,
And I—and all were there !
The bushy Squirrel with his half-cracked Nut,
Slept. The Boar of Allemagne snored.
The Lion's Cage was hot with heat of blood:
And Peace in Curtain Ring linked two Ring
Doves!
In Gardens Zoological and Regent,
I, meditating, stood!
The Moon still glistens, and again I think
Of Multitudes who've paid and stared, and
yawned and wandered here !
The city muckworm, who
From peacock orient, scarce could tell a cock
Of hay!
Though be ye sure, a guinea from a guinea-pig
He knows, and (as for money)
Ever has his squeak for't!
Here, too, paused the wise, sagacious man,
Master of probabilities !
He sees the tusk of elephant—the two tusks—
And, with a thought, cuts 'em into cubes— Differently.
And with another thought — another — and Sh? blanket is England:-the Boa the Pope,
another—
though
He had within him rolls and rolls
Of choking, suffocating influenza,
That lift his eyes from out their sockets!—Of
fleecy phlegm
That will neither in nor out, but mid-way
Seem to strangle!
Silence and wonder settle on the crowd;
From whom instinctively, and breathlessly,
Ascend two pregnant questions !
" Will the boa bolt the blanket?
Will the blanket choke the boa? "—
Such the problem!
And then men mark and deduce
Tells (to himself) how oft, in twenty years
Those spotted squares shall come up sixes
And this in living elephant!
And Hek Majesty has trod these Walks,
Accompanied
By
Prince Albert,
The Pbjnce op Wales,
The Princess Royal,
And
The Rest of the Royal Children !-
And still the Moon looked wondrous
Shilling !
Impartial Moon, that showed me all 1
She saw the Tyger !
Did she think of Tippoo Saib's Tyger's Head ?
She saw the Lion!
Thought she of one of her own Arms ?
My heart fluttered as tho' winged from Mercury! She did not see the Unicorn; but
If Snakes will rush upon their end, why not ? "
, " My friend," said I, " The Blanket and Mm
moved—approached the Snake-House ! ' (With her gracious habits of'condescension) i Boa—
Will the Pope disgorge his Bull ?'
"The Blanket's Free Trade: the Corn-gorged
Folk
Is the Boa with plenty stifled."
" The Blanket's Reform to gag the mod,
And nought to satisfy ! "
But I, a lofty and an abstract man,
A creature of a higher element
Than ever nourished the wood
Ordained for ballot-boxes—I
Say nothing; until a Keeper comes to me, and,
Hooking his fore-finger in his forehead's lock,
Says—" What's your opinion, Sir?
If Boas will bolt Blankets, Boas must-