THE FIRST FORKS
In the days of good Queen Bess
How sad it is we must confess
That the English ate their food
In a fashion very rude.
Great William Shakespeare like the rest
And Walter Raleigh richly dressed
Both ate their meat just with a knife—
The same they used to settle strife.
'Twas the Italians who first made
The useful fork which surely paid
Its wise inventors who could eat
Of sauces and most juicy meat
And never have to wash their hands
As straight knife eating oft demands.