Punch (90.1886)

238

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[May 15, 1886.

"And in the deepest Depths a deeper still;" or, Morley the Mermaid and the Grand

Old Man in the Irish Sea of Troubles. {An Ulster-Marine Study after Burne-Jones,A.R.A.)

WHITHER ?

Morley the Lorely sings:—

Come, come with me!
Who would not be
(As the Laureate sings)
A Mermaid bold!
Come down ! I will show you most

wonderful things.
Don't shrink and shiver, as though

you were cold.
Don't gasp, and gurglo, and pant and

blow bubbles,
As if you thought this a sea of
troubles.
Come with me,1
And our home shall be
Fathom deep, fathom deep under the
sea,

In caves of coral that pave the abysm,
With blood-red columns that name

like a prism,
(Which pedants call—horrid things
ending in " ism").
Down! down! down!
Never fear, you won't drown!
Only sink, sink, sink,
(As the Tories think)
Never, never to rise again.
What! yet yearning for Chamber-
lain ? [vain.
Too late, my William, you yearn in
Didn't you choose with deliberation,
Lured by my pas de fascination f
You cannot escape me when once in

my clutches,
You might as well try to fly skyward
on crutches.
Oho! Oho!
Down, down we go!
There, do not wriggle, and don't look

so cheerless,
But pluck up a heart like Sir Rupert
the Fearless,
When down in the green
He dined with Lurline.
{Absit omen! the Tories would say—

that's their spleen)
At any rate show "sombre acquies-
cence."

You've wooed me, and you must put

up with my presence.
Half-measures won't suit me, I'm
not washywishy.
But don't be alarmed,
You shall not be harmed.
I'm not a bad sort, though my end
may be fishy.
So come with me,
In this Irish Sea;
You and I will be having no end of a
spree.

It has whelmed of the apes of Pan-
urge's crass sheep enough,
But that was their fault, for they

didn't dive deep enough.
We won't be splashing or paddling,
we '11 plumb it.
The deeper you sink
The higher, / think,
Your glory will rise toward Fame's
golden summit.
Oho! Oho!
Down, down we go I
You'll get used to it soon, and forget
faithless Joe.

A Temple of Tempeeance.—Com-
plaint is made that the erection of no
less than three public-houses is pro-
ceeding in Shaftesbury Avenue. But
the noble Earl, after whom that
thoroughfare is named, was pre-
eminently public-spirited.