(Dedicated to Miss E. Farren, late of the Olympic Theatre.)
ALL hail, my Best and Bellingham,
Olympic brother-bards!
I am sorry that the critics have
been down upon ye lately.
Permit me to present ye both my very
best regards,
And to tell ye that I count myself
indebted to ye greatly.
I will enter to your credit all the talent ye may claim;
For the sake, my Best and Bellingham, of Little What 's-her-
name.
I have yielded, I confess it, quite a dozen times before
To the fatal fascinations of the darlings of the Drama.
I have idolised my Wilton, I have loved my Nelly Moore;
And I see a host of others in a sort of panorama,
Reaching downwards to Miss Thingamy—an evanescent flame,
Whom I sacrificed a month ago for Little What 's-her-name.
The man who takes the money for my shillingsworth of pit
Has an aggravating habit of alluding to the weather;
And I never fail to notice, from the corner where I sit,
That the feminine attendants take to whispering together.
The fiddlers in the orchestra do very much the same;
For they know that I m the worshipper of Little What's-her-
name.
I met her, quite promiscuous, a week or two ago;
To see her was to recognise—young Love's a pretty tutor—
She was affably conversing with a man I didn't know;
But I fancied, in my jealousy, I was probably her suitor.
It might have been a relative; but was it not a shame
That I couldn't breathe my sentiments to Little What's-her-
name?
I should like to make a tender of my heart and of my hand,
(For it strikes me that at present I have nothing else to proffer;)
But since I 've neither intellect nor money at command,
She would probably insult me by declining such an offer.
It's not so much the intellect—if Fortune, fickle dame,
Would grant me only opulence and Little What 's-her-name.
Will she read this emanation of a long-endured despair
With a particle of pity or an atom of emotion?
Will she linger for a moment o'er the verses that declare
All the fondness and the fulness of a Nobody's devotion?
I should seek no other honour—I should ask no higher fame
Than a corner in the memory of Little What 's-her-name.