BOGEY OR BENEFACTOR?
Timid Ratepayer loquitur:—
O lor! O dear! What have we here? What a nondescript, huge Nid-Noddy!
None know, I'm sure, what I have to endure. It's enough to frighten a body!
They are always up to some queer new game, and a giving me some fresh master;
But this one is a crux from the sole of his foot to the crown of his comical castor.
He looks as big as all out-of-doors, and e'en Bumble was hardly as bumptious.
He'd make my London a Paradise, which is a prospect that's perfectly scrumptious.
But oh! he is big, with the funniest rig; a Titan who, if he should tumble,
Might squelch me as flat as an opera-hat, and make me regret old Bumble.
Noodledom ruled me for many long years; this means, I am told, a new Era;
But bad as a Booby may be as a Boss, what about a colossal Chimæra?
I don't say he's that, but with body of goat, dragon's tail, and the head of a lion,
A creature were hardly more "mixed" than this monster, whose rule for the time I must try on.
A complex, conglomerate, Jack-of-all-Trades! Well, I trust he'll be master of some of them!
Largo al factotum! He's game for all tasks, and—I wish I was sure what would come of them.
Most representative? Palpable that! And his plans most sublime (so he says) are;
But he looks just as motley a nondescript as the image of Nebuchadnezzar.
The elephant who can root up a huge oak, or handle a needle or pin, is
Less marvellous much, and it may be, of course, that the folks who distrust him are ninnies.
I hope so, I'm sure. There are evils to cure, and of room for improvement there's plenty;
And all must admit that, whatever his faults, he cannot be called far niente.
He does look a bit of a Bogey, but then he may prove just a big Benefactor,
And if he should work on the cheap, kill Corruption, and kick out the knavish Contractor,
Without piling Pelion on Ossa (of rates) on my back, till my legs with the "tottle" limp,
I shall "learn to love him" as Giant Beneficent, not a big, blundering Bottle-Imp!
Opera-goer's Diary.—Otello (the Grand Otello Company, Limited) was the feature last week. Gianini a stout Otello, much and Moor. Melba a charming Desdemona, but not a great part for her. Dufriche as Iago, good, but not good enough for him. Sir Druriolanus gives Carmen at Windsor Castle, before the Queen! Aha! Where now is Lago Factotum and His Special Patronaged Royal Box at the Olympic? Druriolanus Victor, with all the honours.