The Humourous Poetry of the English Language

460
PUNCH.
MR. MEADOWS . . . . A Country Gentleman.
PRIGWELL. . . . . With a heavy heart and light fingers.
BROWN . . . . . . . Friends of each other.
JONES . . . . . . . Friends of each other.
BLIND VOCALIST. . Who will attempt the song of "Hey
the Bonny Breast Knot."
The Scene represents Ludgate Hill in the middle of the day;
Passengers, Omnibuses, etc., etc., passing to and fro.
MEADOWS enters, musing.
MEADOWS. I stand at last on Ludgate's famous hill;
I've traversed Farringdon's frequented vale,
I've quitted Holborn's heights--the slopes of Snow,
Where Skinner's sinuous street, with tortuous track,
Trepans the traveler toward the field of Smith;
That field, whose scents burst on the offended nose
With foulest flavor, while the thrice shocked ear,
Thrice shocked with bellowing blasphemy and blows,
Making one compound of Satanic sound,
Is stunned, in physical and moral sense.
But this is Ludgate Hill--here commerce thrives;
Here, merchants carry trade to such a height
That competition, bursting builders' bonds,
Starts from the shop, and rushing through the roof,
Unites the basement with the floors above;
Till, like a giant, that outgrows his strength,
The whole concern, struck with abrupt collapse,
In one "tremendous failure" totters down!--
'Tis food on which philosophy may fatten.
[Turns round, musing, and looks into a shop window
Enter PRIGWELL, talking to himself.
PRIGWELL. I've made a sorry day of it thus far;
I've fathomed fifty pockets, all in vain;
I've spent in omnibuses half-a-crown;
I've ransacked forty female reticules--