MORNINGTON'S CHALLENGE.
(Which was an Attempt to stir up a Noble Lord with a Long Pole.)
Hail, Mornington—what! venerable Peer,
Dost thou again before the Public show?
Gone to the deuce we thought thee, many a year,
As Byron has it, "diddled," long ago.
Thus reascending on our modern stage,
As through a "trap," thou mak'st us boys again;
The ardent spirit of thy reverend age,
Of George the Fourth revives the splendid reign.
For well do we remember how thy fame
Accustomed was our fathers to amuse:
And what a by-word was thy complex name,
Then daily ventilated in the news.
Then ventilated:—was not that enough
That name's purification to complete?
Think'st thou that it required the sulph'rous puff
Of gunpowder, to make it wholly sweet?
Would'st thou eat fire—the fire of other days?
And Shaftesbury to that repast invite?
Knowing thou might'st as well propose to blaze
At any bishop, or at Mr. Bright.
Pah! there's a tune which, in the festive hop,
Will cause me evermore to think of thee;
"Pop goes the Weasel"—thou would'st, too, go pop;
Pop goes the Wellesley, let it henceforth be.