II
The public felt no great surprise
When Cicero Brick did advertise
A course of lectures—five or six,—
O, what a notion of Cicero Brick’s!
St. James’s Hall, in Regent Street,
For these orations he said was meet;
The first oration that he spoke
Two dozen heard it—what a joke!
The next time ten, the next time four,
And then the public came no more;
But Cicero Brick—this who shall blame?—
Spoke the oration all the same.
“Read my advertisement,” quoth he,
“And tell me what you in it see
About the oration’s being heard!
It says, ‘delivered.’ I keep my word!”