The omnipotent straw, that had been the world's law, Was soon only cinder and ember:

Such a blaze was ne'er seen round Guy Faux on a green,

66

On the night of the fifth of November.

See-saw, pile up the straw,

There's a brave bonfire," said Margery Daw.

Down fell, as beneath mighty Juggernaut's car,
The small fry of straw-money makers,
The tumult of ruin, from near and from far,
Once more made the mighty men Quakers:
"See-saw, Margery Daw,

Off with the gold again: give us more straw."

The Jews made a project for Margery Daw,
She thought it too ticklish for trying ;
But they sent her a Scotchman exceedingly braw,
To prove 'twas as easy as lying:

"See-saw, Margery Daw,

A wee bit o' gold and a mickle of straw."

Margery heard the Mac Puzzlehead preach,

And she was no whit a logician,

She knew little more than the eight parts of speech,
Though she wrote with amazing precision

"Margery Daw," "Margery Daw,"

The prettiest writing the world ever saw.

Margery scattered her treasures abroad,

And who was so glorious as she then? He who was backward in Margery's laud, Mac Puzzlehead proved, was a Heathen. See-saw, gold in the straw,

Who was so glorious as Margery Daw?

Up started the small fry of straw money men,
Who seemed to have fallen for ever;

They scattered their straw o'er the nation again,
And chorused as yet they had never:

"See-saw, plenty of straw,

Will make us all glorious as Margery Daw."

Margery's glory was darkened afresh,

The great men again stood a-kimbo;

She feared she was caught in Mac Puzzlehead's mesh,
Who had argued her gold out of limbo.
"See-saw, pile up the straw,

Bring me a flambeau," said Margery Daw.

Again in her anger she darkened the air
With the smoke of a vast conflagration,
And again to the earth in dismay and despair,
Fell the heroes of straw circulation.

See-saw, Margery Daw

Owes you no courtesy : burn

your own straw."

Around and about came a glad rabble rout,

The flames from a distance discerning;

And shouting they saw, in the midst of the straw,
Mac Puzzlehead's effigy burning.

See-saw, pile up the straw,

Roast the Mac Puzzlehead, Margery Daw."

But then to the sky rose a terrible cry,

A long and a loud lamentation;

Aud Margery's halls rang with wailings and calls

That filled her with deep consternation:

'Straw, straw, give us some straw;

Straw, or we perish, sweet Margery Daw."

And what happened then? Oh, what happened then?
Oh! where is the rest of the story?

And what was devised by the land's mighty men,
To renovate Margery's glory?

Oh, there is a flaw in the volume of straw,
That tells the true story of Margery Daw.

But we find if we pore ancient manuscripts o'er
With deep antiquarian endeavour,

That Margery's straw became metal once more,*
And she was as glorious as ever.

See-saw, plenty of straw

Will make us all glorious as Margery Daw.

"If it be not now, yet it will come: THE READINESS IS ALL." -Hamlet.

This is a correct copy of a little poem which has been often printed, and not quite accurately. It first appeared, many years ago, in the "Globe" and "Traveller," and was suggested by a speech in which Mr. Wilberforce, replying to an observation of Dr. Lushington, that "the Society for the Suppresion of Vice meddled with the poor alone," said that "the offences of the poor came more under observation than those of the rich."-T. L. P.

THI

HE poor man's sins are glaring;
In the face of ghostly warning
He is caught in the fact

Of an overt act—

Buying greens on Sunday morning.

The rich man's sins are hidden
In the pomp of wealth and station;
And escape the sight

Of the children of light,

Who are wise in their generation.

The rich man is invisible
In the crowd of his gay society;
But the poor man's delight
Is a sore in the sight,

And a stench in the nose of piety.

The rich man has a carriage

Where no rude eye can flout him ;
The poor man's bane

Is a third class train,

With the day-light all about him.

The rich man goes out yachting.
Where sanctity can't pursue him;
The poor goes afloat

In a fourpenny boat,

Where the bishop groans to view him.

THE FATE OF A BROOM.

AN ANTICIPATION.

These lines were published in the "Examiner" of August, 1831. They were then called an anticipation. They may now be fairly en titled a prophecy fulfilled.-T. L. P., 1837.

L

O! in Corruption's lumber-room,

The remnants of a wondrous broom,
That walking, talking, oft was seen,
Making stout promise to sweep clean,
But evermore, at every push,
Proved but a stump without a brush.
Upon its-handle-top, a sconce,

Like Brahma's looked four ways at once:
Pouring on king, lords, church, and rabble,
Long floods of favour-currying gabble;
From four-fold mouth-piece always spinning
Projects of plausible beginning,

Whereof said sconce did ne'er intend
That any one should have an end;
Yet still, by shifts and quaint inventions,
Got credit for its good intentions,
Adding no trifle to the store

Wherewith the Devil paves his floor.
Found out at last, worn bare and scrubbish,
And thrown aside with other rubbish,
We'll e'en hand o'er the enchanted stick,
As a choice present for Old Nick,
To sweep, beyond the Stygian lake,
The pavement it has helped to make.

BYP AND NOP.

Promotion BY PURCHASE and by NO PURCHASE; or a Dialogue between Captain A. and Colonel Q.

Q

UOTH Byp to Nop, "I made my hop
By paying for promotion :"-

Quoth Nop to Byp, "I made my skip
By aid of petticoatian."

Quoth Nop to Byp, "You'll never trip
Ascending steps of Gold by "—
Quoth Byp to Nop, "You'll never drop

With such a tail to hold by.”

[N.B. Byp, for by purchase, and Nop, for no purchase, are the common official abbreviations in all returns of promotions, and ring the changes through long columns of Parliamentary papers.]

VOL. III.

17