ODOHERTY. That was a poker in the last New Monthly. By jingo! he's getting it right and left now, however. MACRABIN. The press will soon put an end to this impostor. He has great conceit, but he has also great cowardice, and he will either die or go out. TICKLER. Just think of what his existence must have been all through last Sessionlying at the mere mercy of every man and mother's son? I own, I can't conceive how Sadler allowed the Swanney to escape. ODOHERTY. Sadler's a Christian-and charitable. But what think ye of Brougham? THEODORE. The Rolls in his eye.-Some sop, however, sir. TICKLER. And what for no? as Meg Dods says. I think Brougham the worst used of men; if he doesn't get some good thing, some very very good thing soon, very very soon ODOHERTY. It is clear that Copley is on the move ;-whether the story of his going to India be true or not, I can't tell. To India! as what? TICKLER. ODOHERTY. As Governor-General, to be sure. You know, if he wanted any law he would have Lord Dalhousie at his elbow.-But the story was not generally credited when I left town. THEODORE. No, no. But there is some move on the tapis-that all agree about. TICKLER. More Whigs, I suppose-well, well ODOHERTY. The common belief is, that whenever Copley moves, which must be before winter, either Leach or Wetherell is to have the seals. Wetherell is the King's candidate-and I should not wonder though the Duke were to gratify his Majesty about such a trivial matter as this. But the Whigs are strenuous for Leach; and there can be no doubt he is the man the Chancery Bar would be most pleased with. In fact, no other man in England has much pretension to fill that place now-and, alas! what will even he be after Old Bags? MACRABIN. That opens the Rolls to Brougham-very well indeed, Mr Patriot. THEODORE. The Schoolmaster would then be at home. SHEPHERD. Weel done, dominie Hairy! Ye did wisely to keep your taws aff Peel yon time! ODOHERTY. Speaking of the taws, as you call them, have you seen Beranger's song on Monsieur Judas, Tickler? TICKLER. Not I-I've seen nothing of his these two years. Can you repeat it? I can chant it, which is better. and tip me an accompaniment. ODOHERTY. Here, Macrabin, take the poker and tongs, MACRABIN. We've all heard a deal of your improvising. Pray, overset this off hand, as the Deutchers say-do now, that's a good fellow. THEODORE. Let us sky a dragon, Sir Morgan, and be the chant with the loser. ODOHERTY. Done-(Skys a sovereign)-Unfortunate Signifer Dohertiades-Well, here goes-Macrabin, resume the instrument. ODOHERTY SINGS-(accompanied as before.) Or honour ne'er was known to be, That he ne'er ratted-no-not he. He'll hear, he'll hear ; Iscariot's near-Iscariot's near! The moral Surface swears to-day His brother churchmen to the rope. All character that knave has lost:- Soon may he reach his final home, Now from his mouth polluted flows- Judas! till then the public fleece, For kin and cousins scheme and job, At last, another crowd before, Thou shalt speak once-and speak no more! But hush! he'll hear, He'll hear, he'll hear ; Iscariot's near-Iscariot's near. TICKLER. Your imitation, Baronet, is much fiercer than the original warrants. ODOHERTY. It is not the worse for that. We are of a sterner cast. Though, indeed, Beranger is not a bad hand at polishing a fellow off, when he pleases. The ordinary conclusion of a gallows speech in Ireland,—“ I die an unworthy' member of the church of Rome." VOL. XXVI, NO. CLIV. I THEODORE. For my part, I like his gay and sprightly songs better than his political ones-for instance, Roger Bontemps, Le petit homme gris, and others of that kind. I do not know where we should look in English for songs of that particular species. There is a quiet humour about them, rather insinuated than expressed, which is quite charming. SHEPHERD. Vera like my ain style. Ye a' mind my "It is a fac". ODOHERTY. - One of these very songs is, however, political-I mean the "Roi d' Yvetot." THEODORE. Which made Bonaparte very angry ;-the picture of the quiet king, who "Se levait tard, se couchait tôt," was a contrast with himself that was not commendable. THEODORE. I wish some of you, gentlemen, would write an Essay, full of translations, on French songs-they are of much more importance in that country than here. TICKLER. And yet here, too, we have known songs to produce no small effect; we do not forget the " Hunting the hare" "Maidens of Marybone, tricked out in articles"&c. &c. ODOHERTY. An excellent song! What a capital verse that, beginning with, "Next came the Dowager Countess of Tankerville" Or better still "Then the procession, I fear, it will never end, SHEPHERD. Oh! oh! that's capital-That Grey has, I'm told noo, some graun fat kirk in Lunnan. TICKLER. Aye! To have been the personal enemy of the King, is now a passport to preferment. He has succeeded Charles Blomfield in the rich living of Bishopsgate. Uno avulso non deficit alter, Et simili frondescit Virga Metalli. Without pretending to know who wrote that verse about Grey, I guess, by its odium theologicum, it was a brother parson, Macrabin-the Dean, probably. -But to return. The old French government, it used to be said, was a despotism, moderée par chansons; and there is no style in which our neighbours have not succeeded. MACRABIN. Even in slang?-Could a Frenchman, think you, ever write- Or my ain SHEPHERD. Come like a tailor, Donald Macgillivray, ODOHERTY. I do not know; the French are not a boxing people, a circumstance which sufficiently accounts for their cruel propensities; but they have slang songscapital ones, too—for instance, look at my friend Vidocq's Memoirs. THEODORE. You allude, I suppose, to that excellent song, beginning with Yes. En roulant de vergne en vergne ? ODOHERTY. TICKLER. Here is the volume among old Kit's books here-he has marked that very song. I wish you would translate it, Sir Morgan. ODOHERTY. To hear is to obey.-Fill all round.-Sheep-feeder, you are remiss in supplying. SHEPHERD. Na, na, my laddie, ye shall no play Sergeant Kite wi' me, and drink tway glasses for my ane. ODOHERTY (sings.) * As from ken1 to ken I was going, Who should I meet, but a jolly blowen, I pattered in flash,6 like a covey,7 knowing, "Ay, bub or grubby, I say." I pattered in flash, like a covey, knowing, Tol lol, &c. Lend me a lift in the family way.10 "Lots of gatter," quo' she, 66 are flowing, Lend me a lift in the family way. You may have a cribll to stow in, Tol lol, &c. Welcome, my pal,12 as the flowers in May. 1 Ken-shop, house. 2 Prigging lay-thieving business. 3 Blowen-girl, strumpet, sweetheart. 4 Fly, [contraction of flash] awake -up to, practised in. 5 Time o' day-knowledge of business, thieving, &c. |