THE NOTORIOUS UNKNOWN.
"Oh, no! we never mention HER, HER name is never heard;"
And how the deuce to find it out, I knew not, on my word.
But tho' I could not tell HER name, HER face I'd often seen,
"She stood among the glitt'ring throng," with Jacky in the green.
A ladle in one hand she bore, a salt-box in the other;
And of the Sooty Cupids near, she seemed the teeming mother.
"I met HER at the Fancy Fair," with Fancy lads around her,
And with a blow she laid one low, as flat as any flounder.
"I saw HER at the Beulah Spa," along with Gipsey Joe,
A-riding on a donkey rough, vitch, somehow, vouldn't go.
I saw HER ply her sybil art, and pick up cash like fun,
For heads and tails she gave them hearts, and pleasur'd every one.
"I saw HER at the Masquerade," along with Nimming Ned,
Achieve those feats, where fingers light work nimbler than the head.
I saw HER too at All-Max once (not Almack's in the west),
"'Twas in a crowd,"—her voice was loud: I mustn't tell the rest.
I saw HER at the "Central Court," (it gave me quite a shock,)
Surrounded by her body guard, she stood within the dock.
And then I heard a little man with solemn voice proclaim,
('Twas rue to me, and wormwood too), that Alias was her name!