Volume 25 — A MIDDLESEX BALLAD.
Reading edition
Air.—"And shall Trelawney die?"
A baize board and a crafty 'and, And a racing print or two; Didn't we once just understand, The sporting gents to do? And 'ave they fixed the where and when, And shall the system die? Then 'alf a thousand betting men Will know the reason why. And shall they scorn Meg, Math, and "Ben," And shall the system die? There's 'alf a thousand in our trade Who'll know the reason why.
Out spake Flash Billy, blithe and bold. A horse-shoe pin wore he: "Deposits on a race to 'old Shall we no more be free? When we could grasp them in our 'and, The system used to pay; For when rum tidings reached the Strand, 'Twas—'Shutters up—away!'" And shall they scorn Meg, Math, and "Ben," &c.
A plague upon St. Stephen's wall, Where not one cove stood true; We'll make that Palmerston look small. For working this 'ere screw: The Turf you 'ave betrayed, as 'ow You swear 'er lists shall die; But 'alf a thousand betting men Will know the reason why. And shall they scorn Meg, Math, and "Ben," &c.
Great Politeness to Nicholas.
Our own ships have waited, whilst the Russian frigate Aurora has occupied a Portsmouth dock. We have supplied Nicholas with the work of shipwrights and the stores of our Dockyard. This is Christianlike, and according to the Aberdeen policy expressed by the Premier at the Mansion House. It is said the Noble Earl, in the excess of his benevolence, would—if he might—even go further: not only furnishing the Emperor's frigate with English stores, but with English sailors.
The City Corporation.—If this Corporation is compared to Plato's Republic, it can only be as "a Knife, Fork, and Plat(e)o" one.