But what is this? No Union Jack
Floats on the Stables at the back!
No Toffs escorting Ladies fair
Perambulate the Gay Parterre.
A 'Scutcheon hanging lozenge-wise
And draped in crape appals his eyes
Upon the mansion's ample door,
To which he wades through
heaps of Straw,[A]
And which a Butler
[A] This is the first and only time That I have used this sort of Rhyme.
drowned in tears,
On opening but confirms his fears:
"Oh! Sir!—Prepare to hear the worst!...
Last night my kind old master burst.
And what is more, I doubt if he
Has left enough to pay your fee.
The Budget——"
With a dreadful oath,
The Specialist,
denouncing both
The Budget and the House of Lords,
Buzzed angrily Bayswaterwards.