Broad Grins / Comprising, With New Additional Tales in Verse, Those / Formerly Publish'd Under the Title "My Night-Gown and / Slippers."

by George Colman

Round the dark stair-case, like a tortur’d eel,—

Twisting, and twining;

The jemmy handle Twizzle’s door-post grace’d,

And, just beneath, a brazen plate was place’d,

Lacquer’d and shining;—

Graven whereon, in characters full clear,

And legible, did “Mr. Shove” appear;

And, furthermore, which you might read right well,

Was—“Please to ring the bell.”

At half-past ten, precisely to a second,—