THE BURIAL OF THE BILLS.
(A Parody apropos to present circumstances, August, 1884.)
NOT a joke was heard, not a troublesome vote,
As the bills into limbo they hurried;
Not e'en INGLIS discharged a farewell shot,
O'er the grave where the Jew-Bill was buried.
They buried them darkly at dead of night,
For bed all the members yearning;
With the aid of the Speaker to keep them right,
And GREEN'S parliamentary learning.
No vain discussion their life supprest,
Nor did truth nor talk confound them;
They passed a few, and as for the rest,
They burked them just as they found them.
For most of the Session's task was done,
The supplies marked the hour for retiring;
And as August drew near, each son of a gun,
At the grouse, in his dreams, was a-firing.
* * * *
So they settled the Bills—other folks' and their own—
Never destined to figure in story;
They shed not a tear, and they heaved not a groan,
But they burked them alike, Whig and Tory!
Punch, 1850.