DOI issue:
April 23, 1859
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16623#0171
April 23, 1859.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
163
PARISIAN GOSSIP
" There was immense trouble with Meyerbeer's new opera. To
the title, Le Pardon de Ploermel, there was the grand objection that it
might remind people of the late terrible fiasco known as Le Pardon de
Montalembert." This was the composer's difficulty. Then, when it
came to be known that Pardon did not mean a pardon, but a sort of
Congress, the Tuileries took fright, and visions of & frantic mob
I clamouring for a Parliament came upon " M. Duplicite." Next,_ it
became known that the interest of the plot turned upon the resolution
of somebody to clutch at gold by the most unhallowed means, and at
the price of destruction to the innocent; and then the Ante-chamber
got into a state of mind, and certain of the billiard-marking nobility
protested against scandals. Then the fact came out that a goat was an
important performer, and a certain Minister was despatched to super-
intend rehearsals, and watch lest the wicked wit of the manager might
trim the animal's beard, so as to bring the face into any resemblance to
that of an excessively exalted personage. Then, some of the priests
about the Court raised an objection to the profanity of thunder and
lightning, especially when brought into play by a Jew, and it was only
by a promise of a private box for the season to a certain Archbishop
that this was got over. Then, one of the dames d'honneur-
From our Paris Correspondent.
THE LORD MAYOR IN HIS GLORY.
Glory to the great Lord Mayor,
Honour to the grand Lord Mayor,
With his sides overgrown who presides on the throne
In the pomp of the Civic Chair!
Long live the grand Lord Mayor !
Success to the grand Lord Mayor !
He is the City King, and to his renown we '11 sing
Glory to the great Lord Mayor !
Chorus. Glory, fee.
When he holds his Court in state,
His consequence is how great!
Than the Pope or the Czar of a scope greater far,
So magnificent a potentate!
Hear him the law declare,
Contradict him if you dare;
Know that mum is the word, so be dumb, though absurd
. Seems the speech of the grand Lord Mayor.
Chorus. Glory, &c.
Gainsayers his Lordship charms
With a ho! to the Serjeant-at-Arms;
So adore his high place, bow before his dread mace,
For his thunders are no false alarms.
For the Tower let rebels prepare,
Of the block and the headsman beware !
He '11 commit himself too, it is fit he so should do.
To approve himself a true Lord Mayor.
Chorus. Glory, 'fee.
The Lord Mayor of London Town
Should a cap wear above his crown
That has got at the end a smart knot to depend,
In a curve hanging gracefully down
With a bauble for sceptre to bear,
Whilst all his beholders declare,
Reared in case so elate as his face to inflate,
There's no monarch to match the Lord Mayor.
Chorus. Glory, &c.
How good is the Lord Mayor's Show!
In triumph to see him go,
And his gay coach roll, with display so droll,
To the mirth of high and low.
What gorgeous flunkeys flare !
What vast buffoons are there !
And of Guys what a sight doth all eyes delight
In the train of the new Lord Mayor !
Chorus. Glory, &c.
Blow the fifes, beat a roll on the drums,
The Lord Mayor comes—he comes!
Let the grand trumpets play and the band of brass bray
To their noses while all raise their thumbs !
City Marshal and Swordbearer scare
All the boys in his way: rend the air
British crowd, with acclaim, and aloud extol the name
Of the proud and puissant Lord Mayor.
Chorus. Glory, &c.
He speaks in Wisdom's saws;
Receive them with applause.
In his head there is fat; being fed upon that
Of his intellect is the cause.
On the fat of the land doth he fare,
On the fat of the sea, oh rare!
If he talks like a fool he but walks by the rule
Of the time-honoured old Lord Mayor.
Chorus. Glory, &c.
Let us wish the Lord Mayor long sway,
May his mace never pass away!
Let him aye hold his own, and o'erweigh twenty stone,
Making fun for us every day!
He is an immense Lord Mayor,
High and Mighty Sublime Lord Mayor !
Trim his crown with gold bells while the town nis
grandeur tells,
Singing, Glory to the great Lord Mayor !
Chorus. Glory, &c.
A BLOW FOR THE BALLOT.
{See Speech of Lord John Russell, Times, April 13.)
" Sir, as touching the Ballot, I briefly would state
(For I've no wish to lengthen this tedious debate),
That with Sir R. Bethell I cannot agree,
When he says that the law says all votes should be free.
Ancient statutes he quotes for his proofs, but, Sir, I
Him to find the word ' Ballot' in old laws defy.
I've read all Pitt's speeches, and those too of Fox,
And in neither is any demand for the Box:
So I say, and I '11 stick to't with due resolution,
Secret voting's no part of the Br'ish Constitution:
As a Briton I therefore detest it, and go
With friend Pah when he calls it mean, sneaking, and low.
" Still I can't say I think, as I once did, I own,
That the Ballot-box now would endanger the throne;
My predictions on this point I therefore retract,
For I think no great damage would come from the act.
I've such faith in true Britons, be they small men or great,
That I think none desire to imperil the State:
And though granting the Box might not make the Funds go up,
Still I don't think 'twould end in a general blow up.
" At the same time, albeit I've so altered my views,
As to own in the Ballot there may be some use,
And to think that some good to effect it might chance
(Though I see but small benefit from it in France),
While I've shown 'twould result, Sir, in nothing unpleasant:
Still I cannot support it—at least, not at present!"
More Flunkeydom.
"It is proposed," says an Irish paper, "to erect a bronze statue to
the Marquis of Waterford, to be erected in the People's Park in
the town whence he took title.'' This is simple slavering adulation.
That of late years the Marquis was a kind neighbour and a good
landlord, is a fact on which his neighbours and tenants are to be
congratulated, but not a reason for erecting a statue to him. The
flunkeyish proposal compels Mr. Punch to remark, that if bronze be
wanted, it might probably be found in the stock of knockers wrenched
off by his Lordship in his " eccentric " days. Save even a deceased
Marquis from his friends !
163
PARISIAN GOSSIP
" There was immense trouble with Meyerbeer's new opera. To
the title, Le Pardon de Ploermel, there was the grand objection that it
might remind people of the late terrible fiasco known as Le Pardon de
Montalembert." This was the composer's difficulty. Then, when it
came to be known that Pardon did not mean a pardon, but a sort of
Congress, the Tuileries took fright, and visions of & frantic mob
I clamouring for a Parliament came upon " M. Duplicite." Next,_ it
became known that the interest of the plot turned upon the resolution
of somebody to clutch at gold by the most unhallowed means, and at
the price of destruction to the innocent; and then the Ante-chamber
got into a state of mind, and certain of the billiard-marking nobility
protested against scandals. Then the fact came out that a goat was an
important performer, and a certain Minister was despatched to super-
intend rehearsals, and watch lest the wicked wit of the manager might
trim the animal's beard, so as to bring the face into any resemblance to
that of an excessively exalted personage. Then, some of the priests
about the Court raised an objection to the profanity of thunder and
lightning, especially when brought into play by a Jew, and it was only
by a promise of a private box for the season to a certain Archbishop
that this was got over. Then, one of the dames d'honneur-
From our Paris Correspondent.
THE LORD MAYOR IN HIS GLORY.
Glory to the great Lord Mayor,
Honour to the grand Lord Mayor,
With his sides overgrown who presides on the throne
In the pomp of the Civic Chair!
Long live the grand Lord Mayor !
Success to the grand Lord Mayor !
He is the City King, and to his renown we '11 sing
Glory to the great Lord Mayor !
Chorus. Glory, fee.
When he holds his Court in state,
His consequence is how great!
Than the Pope or the Czar of a scope greater far,
So magnificent a potentate!
Hear him the law declare,
Contradict him if you dare;
Know that mum is the word, so be dumb, though absurd
. Seems the speech of the grand Lord Mayor.
Chorus. Glory, &c.
Gainsayers his Lordship charms
With a ho! to the Serjeant-at-Arms;
So adore his high place, bow before his dread mace,
For his thunders are no false alarms.
For the Tower let rebels prepare,
Of the block and the headsman beware !
He '11 commit himself too, it is fit he so should do.
To approve himself a true Lord Mayor.
Chorus. Glory, 'fee.
The Lord Mayor of London Town
Should a cap wear above his crown
That has got at the end a smart knot to depend,
In a curve hanging gracefully down
With a bauble for sceptre to bear,
Whilst all his beholders declare,
Reared in case so elate as his face to inflate,
There's no monarch to match the Lord Mayor.
Chorus. Glory, &c.
How good is the Lord Mayor's Show!
In triumph to see him go,
And his gay coach roll, with display so droll,
To the mirth of high and low.
What gorgeous flunkeys flare !
What vast buffoons are there !
And of Guys what a sight doth all eyes delight
In the train of the new Lord Mayor !
Chorus. Glory, &c.
Blow the fifes, beat a roll on the drums,
The Lord Mayor comes—he comes!
Let the grand trumpets play and the band of brass bray
To their noses while all raise their thumbs !
City Marshal and Swordbearer scare
All the boys in his way: rend the air
British crowd, with acclaim, and aloud extol the name
Of the proud and puissant Lord Mayor.
Chorus. Glory, &c.
He speaks in Wisdom's saws;
Receive them with applause.
In his head there is fat; being fed upon that
Of his intellect is the cause.
On the fat of the land doth he fare,
On the fat of the sea, oh rare!
If he talks like a fool he but walks by the rule
Of the time-honoured old Lord Mayor.
Chorus. Glory, &c.
Let us wish the Lord Mayor long sway,
May his mace never pass away!
Let him aye hold his own, and o'erweigh twenty stone,
Making fun for us every day!
He is an immense Lord Mayor,
High and Mighty Sublime Lord Mayor !
Trim his crown with gold bells while the town nis
grandeur tells,
Singing, Glory to the great Lord Mayor !
Chorus. Glory, &c.
A BLOW FOR THE BALLOT.
{See Speech of Lord John Russell, Times, April 13.)
" Sir, as touching the Ballot, I briefly would state
(For I've no wish to lengthen this tedious debate),
That with Sir R. Bethell I cannot agree,
When he says that the law says all votes should be free.
Ancient statutes he quotes for his proofs, but, Sir, I
Him to find the word ' Ballot' in old laws defy.
I've read all Pitt's speeches, and those too of Fox,
And in neither is any demand for the Box:
So I say, and I '11 stick to't with due resolution,
Secret voting's no part of the Br'ish Constitution:
As a Briton I therefore detest it, and go
With friend Pah when he calls it mean, sneaking, and low.
" Still I can't say I think, as I once did, I own,
That the Ballot-box now would endanger the throne;
My predictions on this point I therefore retract,
For I think no great damage would come from the act.
I've such faith in true Britons, be they small men or great,
That I think none desire to imperil the State:
And though granting the Box might not make the Funds go up,
Still I don't think 'twould end in a general blow up.
" At the same time, albeit I've so altered my views,
As to own in the Ballot there may be some use,
And to think that some good to effect it might chance
(Though I see but small benefit from it in France),
While I've shown 'twould result, Sir, in nothing unpleasant:
Still I cannot support it—at least, not at present!"
More Flunkeydom.
"It is proposed," says an Irish paper, "to erect a bronze statue to
the Marquis of Waterford, to be erected in the People's Park in
the town whence he took title.'' This is simple slavering adulation.
That of late years the Marquis was a kind neighbour and a good
landlord, is a fact on which his neighbours and tenants are to be
congratulated, but not a reason for erecting a statue to him. The
flunkeyish proposal compels Mr. Punch to remark, that if bronze be
wanted, it might probably be found in the stock of knockers wrenched
off by his Lordship in his " eccentric " days. Save even a deceased
Marquis from his friends !