Volume 25 — EXPOSTULATION WITH PALMERSTON.
Reading edition
Oh Palmerston! why hast thou fled Precisely when wanted the most? What could put it into thy head Just now to abandon thy post? Why run from the vessel away That needs thee to weather the storm? I cannot believe, what they say, 'Tis because thou dislikest Reform.
Resigning, too, suddenly, when Thou wast doing thy business so well! In the language of certain young men, It seems like a regular sell. Thine office in thus flinging down At this most particular nick Of Time, thou resemblest the Clown In a mischievous Pantomime trick.
But play out the part of buffoon, And show thyself only in jest; Return to help old Pantaloon, And Harlequin John, and the rest. Return, or the Grand Christmas Piece Will prove an unlucky affair; And Columbine help to release, Now clutched in the grip of the Bear.
Alas! by that Bear hangs a tail, I fear me, for all we are told, Which, lifting obscurity's veil, A very short time will unfold. Meantime let the Ministers weep, Of such a supporter bereft, Until they their handkerchiefs steep, Crying, "Palmerston's taken and left!"
A Brush Wanted.
A spirited young lady, in service in a very genteel family, remarks, "I should be sorry to reduce English sailors to a menial situation, but I own I should like to hear that our gallant fellows in the Black Sea had been scouring the Steppes."
The Footprints of Time.—Crow's-feet.