A HYMN OF WELCOME AFTER THE RECESS.
Reading edition
"animas sapientiores fieri quiescendo."
And now-cross-buns and pancakes o'er— Hail, Lords and Gentlemen, once more! Thrice hail and welcome, Houses Twain! The short eclipse of April-Day Having (God grant it!) past away, Collective Wisdom, shine again!
Come, Ayes and Noes, thro' thick and thin,— With Paddy Holmes for whipper-in,— Whate'er the job, prepared to back it; Come, voters of Supplies—bestowers Of jackets upon trumpet-blowers, At eighty mortal pounds the jacket![1]
Come—free, at length, from Joint-Stock cares— Ye Senators of many Shares, Whose dreams of premium knew no boundary; So fond of aught like Company, That you would even have taken tea (Had you been askt) with Mr. Goundry.[2]
Come, matchless country-gentlemen; Come, wise Sir Thomas—wisest then When creeds and corn-lords are debated; Come, rival even the Harlot Red, And show how wholly into bread A 'Squire is transubstantiated,
Come, Lauderdale, and tell the world, That—surely as thy scratch is curled As never scratch was curled before— Cheap eating does more harm than good, And working-people spoiled by food, The less they eat, will work the more.
Come, Goulburn, with thy glib defence (Which thou'dst have made for Peter's Pence) Of Church-rates, worthy of a halter; Two pipes of port (old port, 'twas said By honest _New_port)[3] bought and paid By Papists for the Orange Altar![4]
Come, Horton, with thy plan so merry For peopling Canada from Kerry— Not so much rendering Ireland quiet, As grafting on the dull Canadians That liveliest of earth's contagions, The bull-pock of Hibernian riot!
Come all, in short, ye wondrous men Of wit and wisdom, come again; Tho' short your absence, all deplore it— Oh, come and show, whate'er men say, That you can after April-Day, Be just as—sapient as before it.
[1] An item of expense which Mr. Hume in vain endeavored tog et rid of:— trumpeters, it appears like the men of All-Souls, must be "bene vestiti."
[2] The gentleman, lately before the public, who kept his Joint-Stock Tea Company all to himself, singing "Te solo adoro."
[3] Sir John Newport.
[4] This charge of two pipes of port for the sacramental wine is a precious specimen of the sort of rates levied upon their Catholic fellow- parishioners by the Irish Protestants. "The thirst that from the soul doth rise Doth ask a drink divine."