Punch: Punch (82.1882)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHAPJVARL

[January 7, 1882.

OPENING OF THE NEW YEAR IN STATE BY MR. PUNCH, M.P. FOR COSMOPOLIS.

\V> • V L u

PUNCH TO THE PREMIER.

[Mr. Gladstone completed Ms seventy-second year on tM
29th December.]

SeyentY-two years old, friend Wilt.y, seventy-two
years old!_

But never a sign that your heart’s getting chilly,
a hint that your fancy grows cold.

You can smite in the fight like a younker,—can talk,
as of old, for three hours by the clock,

Though your voice may not be quite so silvery,
Wixly, your hair such a raven-hued shock.

They whom the Gods love die young, friend Willy ; so said your favourite
Greeks:

They whom the Gods love never grow old, is the moral your history
speaks.

Happier, later Tithonus, friend Willy,—a wiser Aukora ’s your
friend,

j Your Youth ’s warm and bright in her light, friend Willy—and so may it
be to the end!