Punch (60.1871)

ArML 29, 1871.]

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

167

ODE ON AN APRIL DAY.

Lawson, my Wilfrid, from the sky

Descend the vernal showers ;
0 welcome change from East winds dry !

To bring out leaves and flowers.
They take their drink; let you and 1
Tipple ours.

Their own is liquor good for them ;

For us of small avail.
They, that are fixed on stalk and stem,

Need none but Adam's ale,
Which, whilst you've Burton, to contemn
Never fail.

Tis Sunday morn; these copious rains,

So timely though a boon,
Will steamboats and excursion trains

Not fill this afternoon,
And Publicans will bar of gains
Stopped how soon!

Sweet is this moisture after drought;

Yet, Wilfrid, we must fear
That it Avill hinder many an " out "

Of folk in humble sphere;
And much enjoyment spoil of stout,
And strong beer.

Meanwhile, what happy souls are we !

What if the face of' Sol
With a wet blanket shrouded be ?

We have our Alcohol.
Sing " Toddy hey ho, perish tea,
Tol de rol! "

Sport on a Grand Scale.

a

A correspondent of the Indian Daily News at Cara-
j golah, in a description of some wild-beast shooting, says
! of the sportsmen who did it, that:—

BON VOYAGE!" " Besides the four tigers, they had a good bag of bufl'al»es, deer,

Bus-Conductor {to Portly Female, who was indignant at having been carried a little j an P1^'
leyond her destination). " Well, there y'are, Mum, Fust to tee Left. Y'ain't Y/hat a very large bag it must have been! Apparently
<;ot so very Far to Go, and the Wind 's at yer Back 1! " ! there are giants on the earth again in these days.

A GOOD SPEED TO A GOOD SPEECH.

"Recent events in Europe should teach us to rely—not on treaties, for they
were often scattered to the winds ; not on alliances, for they were occasionally
ta.thless in times of trouble; not on the word of statesmen, for secret treaties
were produced which shook the confidence of every honest politician, but
upon ourselves. "We should take measure of ourselves, we should know what
we could do, and that we would do it if we were called on, and hold every man
to the duty of maintaining the honour and glory of England at the same height
it which it had been held through many generations."—Mr. Goschen's
Easier-Monday Discourse at the Mansion Mouse Dinner.

Now, bravo, my Goschen ! Upon your promotion,

From rating our paupers to ruling our navy,
I told you, when once you were used to the notion—
Found your sea-legs—you'd show, though not bred to the ocean,

Your right to bear arms which the heralds call " wavy."

. Though some said " The fact is, his Gwydir House practice

Will mislead at the naval shop over the way."
Seeing one works by Union, the other distract is
All through with cfe-union ; yet temper and tact is

The best chart to sail by, and these you obey.

You handled with vigour the massed fact and figure—
Green-hand as you were—of your nautical budget;

Poured oil, 'tother night, on Gladstonian rigour;

Touched the Robinson row without making it bigger;
And so asked for excuse that the House didn't grudge it.

You don't take for lee-board a high or low- free-board ;

A Reed care no rush for ; have no call to lean on one ;
You don't raise a storm in each cup on the tea-board,
Find, or put, out of tune every note on the key-board,

In fact, have ne'er split up a Board since you've been on one.

And better and better, in spirit, not letter,
You've roared that old roar of the old British Lion's,

Whose sound in old times could cow wrong's arm'd abettor,
And nerve the slave's heart 'neath the weight of his fetter,
In defence of the right, and ill-doers' defiance.

For all that inherit Old England's old spirit,
As Nelson and Wellington felt you h ave spoken;

Bade us bear the old heart, and, if need be, so stir it,—

As behind oaken topsides, inside iron turret,—
That its shot shall be feared, and its bulwarks unbroken.

There's "buncombe," there's boasting,—stale butter with toasting,—

But this, by Lord Hatherley's leave, we hold neither ;
Not all England yet is on Mammon's road posting,
Some still think her prestige no fit subject for roasting
Of hucksters, small wits, or Lord Chancellors* either.

The word may be French-bred, the thing ship and trench-bred,

Spring of esprit de corps in the soldier and sailor ;
But not less in the mart, in the shop, on the bench, bred,
Of the pride to dishonour that never would blench bred,
It may keep the judge straight, hold from cabbage the tailor.

Yes—spite of Lord Hatherley, and all his fatherly

Pteminiscence, and rev'rence, and all it has taught him—
England has a prestige, and to steer by't is weatherly,
With a hand that's not hasty, a head that's not featherly,
Though John Bull knows of old to what such steering brought him;

To debt—not a doubt on't;—he '11 never be out on't—

But to strength and respect that no money can measure :
The Manchester school he will face, stand the flout on't,—
The first blast in a good cause well-blown, is the rout on't—
And prove he obtained treasure's worth for his treasure.

* See Lord Hatherley's rather egotistical reminiscences of his father,
the Alderman, and his own one-sided tirade againstprestiye, and confusion
of it with "buncombe," at the Fishmongers' dinner.