"CHILDERS, SPARE THAT COIN." [The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed to abolish the old half-sovereign and issue a new one, which should be worth only nine shillings in gold.] CHILDERS, spare that coin, Thou wouldst its tenth purloin, A pure ten-shilling joy. Nor mix it with alloy. Whose glory and renown 'Gainst which we all protest; Oh, say that when you spoke, You only spoke in jest. Oft, when a careless lad, The golden chink I heard, For I an uncle had Who tipped me "like a bird." On sweetstuff, apt to smear One's clothes, the coin was spent ; I ask thee with a tear, Oh, drop thy ten per cent. My heartstrings round thee cling To borrow or to lend. And, Childers, of thy grace, Think well and hesitate, Ere thou our coin debase. Funny Folks. May 10, 1884. :0: THE IVY GREEN. OH! a dainty plant is the Ivy green, Of right choice food are his meals, I ween, The walls must be crumbled, the stones decayed, And the mouldering dust that years have made, Is a merry meal for him. Creeping where no life is seen, A rare old plant is the Ivy green. Fast he stealeth on, though he wears no wings, Whole ages have fled, and their works decayed, But the stout old Ivy shall never fade, The brave old plant in its lonely days, Creeping on, where time has been, CHARLES DICKENS. This song first appeared in Chapter VI. of The Pickwick Papers, which were originally published in monthly parts, commencing in April, 1836. Ten years later Dickens started The Daily News, the first number of which was published in London on January 21, 1846. For many years the paper had but a struggling existence. Although Dickens only edited it for a few months, it was well known that he was interested in its success, so that the author of the following poem, whilst sneering at The Daily News, had a motive in choosing Dickens's poem as the model for his parody. THE DAILY NEWS. OH! a dreary print is The Daily News, It puts in advertisements others refuse, Its leaders are heavy, confused its page, In club, or in coffee-house, nothing but rage Sent for nothing to all who choose, A losing game is The Daily News. Oh! The Daily News began with a bang, And was going to shut up The Times. And twaddled that murderers never should hang, And still did "The People" refuse, To trust to the rhymes that their friends deployed, What large sums they have learnt to lose, Oh! The Daily News never publishes "wants" And soon shall we, when it ceases to be, There's nobody minds The Daily News. GREEN PEA SOUP. OH! a splendid soup is the true Pea Green, I for it often call; And up it comes in a smart tureen, When I dine in my banquet hall. When a leg of mutton at ho.ne is boiled, And in that liquor (before 'tis spoil'd) When boil'd till tender they have been, And having returned them to the stock, Thrown in a little time before, The soup from the fire I move, Then seldom a better soup is seen, But the Green Pea triumphs over them all, Smoking hot in a smart tureen, A rare old soup is the true Pea Green! Punch. 1852. "OFFICIAL ROUTINE." (A New Song to an oll Tune, as sung in the War Office.) With red-tape tendrils clasping keen, What stores have rotted, what ships decayed, How he fettereth hand, and blindeth head, For knaves and fools a sheltering screen, And the weaker his root, the tighter he clings You may see him trailing along the ground, Or barring their way that stand around To save wrecked stores from waves. A flourishing growth is Official Routine! Let men and ministers have their day, And be as they had not been, Official routine still holdeth sway, In its mingled gray and green. The brave old creeper, in these our days, And the noblest host a nation could raise, Creeping still where life has been- Punch. February 10, 1855. THE CABBAGE GREEN. OH, a dainty plant is the cabbage green Wot grows in a garden bold; With a gammon of bacon, half fat and lean, His heart must be tender and not decay'd, And the chap as loves cabbage, I'll tell the blade Sprouting out of the ground is seen. How close he sticks and how tight he clings In a waggon he's jolted along the town, For he's pack'd like a conwict. and quite done brown, Sprouting out, &c. Full wages have fled, hard work's ill paid, From Sharp's Vauxhall Comic Song Book. THE YARD OF CLAY. A FINE old thing is the yard of clay, The zest of a social throng, J. LABERN. It driveth the clouds of grief away, But a lofty hope, for the spirit's wear, Puffing all our cares away, A fine old thing is the yard of clay. God Bacchus hath many a trophy won, It heeds not the frowns of the rich or poor, And where is a friend in the world so sure Puffing, &c. ("I. V." is short for John Villiam.) OH, a rare old toper was I. V. GREEN, With his nose so fiery and bold; Drunk, when he should not have been, Though I. V. GREEN he pull'd so hard, Sober never was he seen : A rare old toper was I. V. GREEN! He needed no bier to carry his bones, And instead of a winding-sheet, he was found Dead? dead drunk is what I mean: Judy. April 19, 1876. MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. THEY told him gently he was made That man no lengthened part had played 'Twas all in vain; he heeded not, They asked him whether he could bear To all those brutal forms which were Whether he thought the apes and us He said, "Homo and Pithecus Come from one common germ." They called him " atheistical," They swore his doctrines without fail But he with proofs in no way lame, That as for the Noàchian flood, 'Twas long ago disproved, That as for man being made of mud, All by whom truth is loved, Accept as fact what, malgré strife, Research tends to confirmThat man, and everything with life, Came from one common germ. Tinsley's Magazine. 1868. Contrast this refined jeu d'esprit with the following specimen of the kind of literature that is sold by street ballad singers. It was printed at Taylor's Song Mart, Brick Lane, Bethnal Green, and sold for one half-penny : FAITHLESS NELLY. THEY told him gently she was gone To the station house, and smil'd; They led him to a dark back cell, Where laid his squalling child. For gin she had sold everything, And spent all she could borrow; "In the station house she sleeps," says he, "She'll be out again to-morrow." Six policemen bore her to the cell, And for blacking a big policeman's eye You will be here again to morrow. They took her straight to Tothill Fields, But she scream'd aloud for a drop of g L, Six days after the old man saw Her through the bars with sorrow; Says she, "Old boy, I'm lock'd in now, Í shall be out again to-morrow." :0: WINGS. (Composed by DOLORES.) Mountain and vale away; Wings! like youth's fleet moments Wings! to lift me upward, And back in realms of light. Where faith and love are bless'd. From the German by PERCY BOYD. CURLS. (A Parody by a Flirt.) For my own lover true; Curls, reaching to iny knee; Curls, that men might press them To hearts that beat for me. Solo resumed It came with the joyful June, love, I was not such a witless loon, love; So I vowed that the men of reason Though I thought they were steeped in treason. It came with the joyful June, love. My love for the National League. And morning and noon and night, love, I revelled in dark intrigue. The worth of their vote had risen, So I felt my affection glow For the men I'd have clapt in prison Only a year ago. It came with the joyful June, love, – And the persons who light the moon, love, Bnt the voters were rude and cruel- Though they deemed me a priceless jewel Only a year ago. St. Stephen's Review. June 12 & 19, 1886. :0: "MY MOTHER BIDS ME BIND MY HAIR." THE MOMENTOUS QUESTION (Answered with great wisdom by a Black-haired Beauty.) My mother bids me dye my hair The fashionable hue, Which women now so often wear, And Nature never grew. She bids me at their chignons peep, I see girls in the gay saloon, But will dyed hair its colour keep? In potash if my head I steep, But will died hair its colour keep? And won't it soon turn grey. And then, who knows? "Revenge!" may be Soon outraged Nature's call, And, haply, on fair heads you'll see The blight of baldness fall! While such dread thoughts upon me creep, O ne'er say Dye; Ma, pray! 'Twere best my own black hair to keep, Punch. January 6, 1866, THE GIRL (NOT) OF THE period. (4fter the jolly HAYDN.) [LITTLE SECRETS.-Mouches pour bal. Eaux Noirs, Brun, et Chatain, Dyes the Hair any shade in one minute. Kohhl, for the Eyelids. Blanc de Perle, pâte et liquide. Rouge de Lubin, does not wash off. Eau de Violette, pour la bouche. Powder Bloom, pour blonde et brunette. Persian Antimony and Egyptian Henna. Bleu pour les veines. Rouge of Eight Shades. Sympathetic Blush, poudre pour polir les Ongles. Pistachio Nut Toilet Powder. Florimel of Palm. Opoponax Oil. All these, and many other little Secrets. Se Advertisement.] My mother bids me dye my hair The fashionable hue; And change my chataigne locks with care To red—through green, or blue! "You can't," she cries, " my dear, do less-- But, ah! I only wish that PIESSE [An interval of two years is supposed to elapse. 'Tis sad to think the colour's gone. I leave unturned, I'm sure, no stone, And folks will laugh aloud when PIESSE And LUBIN are away. Fun. May 30, 1868. THE LANCET" BIDS ME BE A PEER. [The Lancet urges, on medical grounds, that Mr. Gladstone should accept a peerage, and thus avoid the continued fatigue which leadership of the Commons necessarily involves.] THE Lancet bids me be a Peer, And act, and act on Beaky's cue. For why, it hints, sit still and bear And long, and long to get away. 'Tis sad to think how Randies clown, I gulp this horrid cough-drop down, And while the gargle I apply, "The counsel's good," I almost cry Funny Folks. April 5, 1884. Song.-CINDERELLA. My mother bids me pinch my waist For, though already tightly laced, And, oh! she says that I must wear My cheeks will flame with honest shame She says I must expose my charms, And cause the roughs rare sport. Truth. Christmas Number, 1884. SMOKE not! smoke not your weeds nor pipes of clay, Things that are doomed no duty e'er to pay, Smoke not! smoke not! the weed you smoke may change, Things to the eye grow queer, and passing strange, Smoke not! the tradesman whose weeds you smoke may die, The sordid dun may to your chamber hie |