"PROPRIA QUÆ MARIBUS."
Penthesilea straddling on the pigskin?
Surely a male biped need not dwell
In a prejudiced pedantic prig's skin,
Not to like that prospect passing well.
Carlyle, who scoffed at Man, had deemed it caddish
To picture Woman as "a mere forked radish."
Dear Diana after hounds a riding
Like—a clothes-peg on a clothes-line? Nay!
Rub out all unnatural laws dividing
Sex from sex,—'tis the World's drift to-day.
Let ladies mount the 'bus, or Hansom Cab it,
But let not custom new banish old Habit.
Paint, write poems, pose as prandial wit, Ma'am,
Perorate upon the public platform;
Even in the County Council sit, Ma'am,
If Law lets you, and your taste takes that form;
But take Punch's tip, and do not straddle;
Stick to common-sense and the side-saddle.
