Punch (44.1863)

106

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[March 14, 1863.

THE DRAWING ROOM.

(A STOPPAGE OF A FEW MINUTES IS SUPPOSED TO TAKE PLACE.)
Dreadful Boy {on Lamp Post). “ On ! My eye, Bill ! ’Ere’s a Rose Bud!”

A TALK WITH THAMES, OF LONDON,

ON MARCH THE 7th.

“ 0 Thames, that hold’st tby silent course from spring to sea adown,
By Windsor’s elm-girt meadows, through the heart of London town,
Could’st thou but tell the sights of strife, the pageants thou hast seen,
From the days of Celt and Roman to those of our good Queen,

“ Had but this day, with kindly ray, made summer time of spring,

As if the sunshine’s blessing* on this fair young bride to bring 1
Of all the sights and sounds have thrilled thy tide from shore to shore.
Say, knew’st thou ever sight and sound than this that stirred thee more.

“ This boom of cannon-salvos, these cheers that shake the air,

This joy of bells that clasheth from City steeples fair;

This bannered bridge, these arches, these myriads taking stand,
'Where’er is space for eye-shot and hold for foot or hand".

“ E°.r °hjecr, of this welcome, for centre of this joy,

A tair-haired Danish maiden, and a courteous English boy—

Our King and Queen that shall be, when She who rules us now
Is taken from the loyalty and love that round her bow.”

The an cient river answered : “ Much in my time I’ve seen ;

We rivers note rare changes, as we roll our banks between :

From a hamlet’s to a kingdom’s bulk I have seen London grow,
Bridged betwixt miles ot peopled shore, where the sedges used to blow.

“I have glassed the gleam of pageants ; blood has mingled with my tide ;
Celt and Roman, Sax and Horseman have fought along my side :

The bridge was new, and narrow, too, that spanned my marshy bed,
When against the Dane, King Anlaf ranged keels with Ethelred.T

* “Blessed is the bride that the Sun shines on."—Old Proverb.
t King Ohave or Anlaf, of Norway, aided Ethelred against the Danish holders
of London in 1008.

“What blows were struck, what death was dealt, from ships, from
either shore!

How hard the war-Danes held the bridge, how down on’t Anlae bore.
How darts and stones, and pitch and lead, from the causeway poured
that day,

Till Anlaf grappled ship to pile, and tore the bridge away !

“ ’Twas built again, ere o’er the main King Cnut the ravens bore,

But lie was wary of my bridge, that the Dane so rued before.

Erom Redriff fields to Southwark creek my banks he channelled
through,

Till o’er sallow-beds and alder-holts, inland, the raven flew.

“Little I ever looked to see a daughter of the Dane,

With blessing hailed by England, spite of old feud and bane,

To see the Danislv raven fly by the Saxon horse of Kent,

O’er London, loud in loyalty, and drunken with content.”

“ But braver pageant bast thou seen, old Eatbcr Thames than this ? ”
Thereat the river wrinkled all his face in scorn, I wis,

“ Have I seen braver pageant than this scant and shabby rout?

I that have seen all brain could plan, and liberal hand set out.

“ That saw i’ the second Richard’s time, a joust of arms played
through.

Within the barriers on my bridge, in Court and City’s view,

When Scottish Lindsay—better knight ne’er swung to saddle-tree,—
With the Lord Wells for England, brake spears in courses three.

“Have I seen braver pageant ? I, that saw King Richard ride,

From Windsor, all by Richmond, with good Queen Anne beside,
When at Southwark Gate the citizens, to earn the King’s good grace.
Gave two white steeds, that, trapped in gold, to silver bells kept pace.

“ I that saw Richard ride again, with Isabel of France,

Mid pomp of Lords, and press of Guilds, and masque and morris-dance,.