THE OLD WAG.

I ACHIEVED my success, as a young diner-out,

Through my great conversational talents, no doubt;

For of humour and wit I was blest with a store,

And I kept the whole table, by Jove, in a roar

With my waggery, ah!

My waggery, oh!

How the company grinn'd at my waggery, oh!

You could never extort a remark out of me

Which was not overflowing with quaint repartee.

And, when people thought proper to cavil or carp

At a notion of mine—I was down on them sharp

With my waggery, ah!

My waggery, oh!

For I crush'd them at once with my waggery, oh!

Among persons of genius the tone that I took

Was a mixture of Jerrold and Theodore Hook.

And a great fund of anecdote, varied in style,

I employ'd among duffers to get up a smile

At my waggery, ah!

My waggery, oh!

There was often a yell at my waggery, oh!

But those days of delight are for ever gone by,

And I can't get a meal by my wit, if I try,

For care and old age, I am sorry to say,

Have destroy'd my high spirits, and bolted away

With my waggery, ah!

My waggery, oh!

I shall never see more of my waggery, oh!