You have made too a plot in the night,

To run off from the school that you rear at !
Come, your other hand, now, Sir,- the right,
There! — “ Palmam qui meruit ferat!"

I'll teach you to draw, you young dog!
Such pictures as I'm looking here at!
"Old Mounseer making soup of a frog,”
There!" Palmam qui meruit ferat!"

-

You have run up a bill at a shop,
That in paying you'll be a whole year at
You've but twopence a week, Sir, to stop!
There! "Palmam qui meruit ferat!"

Then at dinner you 're quite cock-a-hoop,
And the soup you are certain to sneer at
I have sipped it—it's very good soup-
"Palmam qui meruit ferat!"

There!

T'other day when I fell o'er the form,
Was my tumble a thing, Sir, to cheer at?
Well for you that my temper 's not warm
There! "Palmam qui meruit ferat!"

Why, you rascal! you insolent brat!
All my talking you don't shed a tear at,

There

There!

- take that, Sir! and that! that! and that!

"Palmam qui meruit ferat!"

THE SUPPER SUPERSTITION.

A PATHETIC BALLAD.

"Oh flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified!".

MERCUTIO.

I.

'Twas twelve o'clock by Chelsea chimes,

When all in hungry trim,

Good Mister Jupp sat down to sup

With wife, and Kate, and Jim.

II.

Said he, "Upon this dainty cod
How bravely I shall sup,”-
When, whiter than the tablecloth,
A GHOST came rising up!

III.

"O, father dear, O, mother dear,

Dear Kate, and brother Jim,

You know when some one went to sea,—
Don't cry-but I am him!

IV.

"You hope some day with fond embrace

To greet your absent Jack, But oh, I am come here to say I'm never coming back!

V.

"From Alexandria we set sail,
With corn, and oil, and figs,
But steering 'too much Sow,' we struck
Upon the Sow and Pigs!

VI.

"The Ship we pumped till we could see Old England from the tops;

When down she went with all our hands, Right in the Channel's Chops.

VII.

"Just give a look in Norey's chart,
The very place it tells ;

I think it says twelve fathom deep,
Clay bottom, mixed with shells.

VIII.

"Well there we are till 'hands aloft,'

We have at last a call;

The pug I had for brother Jim,

Kate's parrot too, and all.

IX.

"But oh, my spirit cannot rest,

In Davy Jones's sod,

Till I've appeared to you and said,-
Don't sup on that 'ere Cod!

X.

"You live on land, and little think

What passes in the sea;

Last Sunday week, at 2 P. M.

That Cod was picking me!

XI.

"Those oysters too, that look so plump,
And seem so nicely done,

They put my corpse in many shells,
Instead of only one.

XII.

"O, do not eat those oysters then,

And do not touch the shrimps;

When I was in my briny grave,
They sucked my blood like imps!

XIII.

"Don't eat what brutes would never eat, The brutes I used to pat,

They'll know the smell they used to smell, Just try the dog and cat!"

XIV.

The Spirit fled-they wept his fate,

And cried, Alack, alack!

At last up started brother Jim,

"Let's try if Jack was Jack!"

XV.

They called the Dog, they called the Cat, And little Kitten too,

And down they put the Cod and sauce, To see what brutes would do.

XVI.

Old Tray licked all the oysters up,
Puss never stood at crimps,
But munched the Cod,― and little Kit
Quite feasted on the shrimps!

XVII.

The thing was odd, and minus Cod

And sauce, they stood like posts; O, prudent folks, for fear of hoax, Put no belief in Ghosts!