THE BEAR CLUB.

Good dinners to our noble Queen, And many may she see, sir, And much I wish she could have seen The Bear-club Committee, sir: Her cooks, no doubt, with skill refin'd, Have cater'd long with care, sir, But much, I doubt, they ever din'd Her Majesty of Bears, sir. 'Tis said the Kings of India Can eat some pretty things, sir; You need not go so far away To see the Indian Kings, sir: The landlord there can at his call Serve up some pleasant fare, sir— Mac now has clean eclipsed them all, And made us eat a Bear, sir. Some talk about the Esquimaux, And tell of Cherokees, sir, Hottentots and Marathas, And folks in the South Seas, sir; 'Tis said they sometimes cut a swell In dishes odd and rare, sir, But we from them will bear the bell, For we have eat a Bear, sir. All times have had their men of taste, Each passing age adorning, Who, rather than good stuff should waste, Would eat from night till morning: To us they must knock under now— We've given them a scare, sir; They all could eat a sheep or so, But we can eat a Bear, sir. Now as you chance to walk the street, How every dog will run, sir, Lest you should roast him for a treat, And eat him up in fun, sir; The Quayside horses, loaded well, Will scamper off like hares, sir, To see, not Bears all eating men, But men all eating Bears, sir. The next time, sir, you eat a Bear, Grant this my supplication— Invite to dine our canny Mayor, And hungry Corporation; In seeking for a friend like you, They're looking lean and spare, sir, So in compassion send them now The fragments of the Bear, sir.