THE KING OF THE BEASTS.

[CHARLES JAMRACH, the celebrated naturalist and menagerie-keeper, of St. George's-in-the-East, died on September 6, at the age of 76.]

The news on the town like a thunderbolt burst,

The loss of the Season 'tis reckoned;

We mourned long ago for King JAMRACH THE FIRST,

Now we weep for King JAMRACH THE SECOND.

There's grief at the Zoo, all the Lions bohoo,

And the Elephants dolefully trumpet;

The Tiger's in tears, and the lonely Koodoo

With sorrow's as cold as a crumpet.

He was seventy-six; but to cross o'er the Styx

At that age—for a JAMRACH—was premature;

There are lots of young cubs who feel quite in a fix

At the thought that he will not see them mature.

They howl with wide gorges to think that St. George's

Will see him no more—ah! no, never!

He will not preside at their shin-of-beef orgies,

Or nurse them through phthisis or fever.

The travelling menagerie must wait an age 'ere he—

JAMRACH—will find any fellow.

BARNUM, 'tis well you are gone we can tell you!

Bison, old boy, do not bellow

There quite so tremendously! Sad? Oh, stupendously!

So is the Ornithorhynchus.

But don't howl the roof off, your anguish in proof of,

Or Regent's Park swells mad may think us.

Yes, Marsupial Mole, we are "left in the hole,"

But still we must think of our dignity.

Animal sorrow from bardlings must borrow

The true elegiac benignity.

That Japanese pug I could willingly hug,

He yaps out his grief so discreetly,

And dear Armadillo knows how to sing "Willow,"

Like poor Desdemona, most sweetly.

My dear Felis Leo, I do feel that we owe

A debt to the urban proprieties.

Don't shame yourself, Ursa, but quite vice versa,

You know how impressive caste's quiet is!

But, JAMRACH! O JAMRACH! Woe's stretched on no sham rack

Of metre that mourns you sincerely;

E'en that hard nut o' natur, the great Alligator,

Has eyes that look red, and blink queerly.

Mere "crocodile's tears," some may snigger; but jeers

Must disgust at a moment so doleful.

For JAMRACH the brave, who has gone to his grave,

All our sorrow's sincere as 'tis soulful!