Volume 98 — A BABE O' GRACE.
Reading edition
[Mr. Chamberlain says that "Mr. Gladstone's Home Rule Policy was conceived in secresy, was born in deceit, and was nurtured on evasion."]
Poor Babe (whom kind Nurse C. so fain would throttle) Ill was thy fate, fed from the Gladstone bottle! Nurture less harsh had Romulus and Remus. Nurse C. would, oh! so gladly, "Nicodemus The bantling into Nothing." Yet it lives And kicks and crows, and lots of trouble gives, This happy Baby on the tree-top dangling Whilst friends and foes about thy fate are wrangling! When the wind blows—ah! then the world shall see What a prophetic soul has kind Nurse C. Its face, perchance, had been more bright and bland Could kind Nurse C. have "brought it up by hand," As Mrs. Gargery did the infant "Pip." Nay, there are some who on the hint let slip That kind Nurse C. had never wished it slain Had it but in another Chamber lain!
Look at Home!
Grandolph says that "Local Self-Government" should precede "Purchase." Probably he may find a little "Local Self-Government" (of tongue and temper) necessary to enable him to "purchase" the continued support of the Voters of South Paddington!