PARODY ON "THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE."
"Not a laugh was heard, not a joyous note,
As our friend to the bridal we hurried;
Not a wit discharged his farewell shot,
As the bachelor went to be married.
"We married him quietly to save his fright,
Our heads from the sad sight turning;
And we sighed as we stood by the lamp's dim light,
To think he was not more discerning.
"To think that a bachelor free and bright,
And shy of the sex as we found him,
Should there at the altar, at dead of night,
Be caught in the snares that bound him.
"Few and short were the words that we said,
Though of wine and cake partaking;
We escorted him home from the scene of dread,
While his knees were awfully shaking.
"Slowly and sadly we marched him down,
From the first to the lowermost storey;
And we never have heard or seen the poor man
Whom we left alone in his glory."
These lines appeared in Notes and Queries June 27, 1868, and are said to have been written by Thomas Hood.