Mr. Thackeray once designated a certain noisy tragedian "Macready and onions."
CCLXXVIII.—AN ARCHITECTURAL PUN.
On the Statue of George I. being placed on the top of Bloomsbury Church.
The King of Great Britain was reckoned before
The head of the Church by all Protestant people;
His Bloomsbury subjects have made him still more,
For with them he is now made the head of the steeple.
CCLXXIX.—THE MAJESTY OF MUD.
During the rage of republican principles in England, and whilst the Corresponding Society was in full vigor, Mr. Selwyn one May-day met a troop of chimney-sweepers, dressed out in all their gaudy trappings; and observed to Mr. Fox, who was walking with him, "I say, Charles, I have often heard you and others talk of the majesty of the people; but I never saw any of the young princes and princesses till now."
CCLXXX.—A PROVIDENT BOY.
An avaricious fenman, who kept a very scanty table, dining one Saturday with his son at an ordinary in Cambridge, whispered in his ear, "Tom, you must eat for to-day and to-morrow."—"O yes," retorted the half-starved lad, "but I han't eaten for yesterday and to-day yet, father."
CCLXXXI.—A QUERY ANSWERED.
"Why, pray, of late do Europe's kings
No jester to their courts admit?"
"They're grown such stately solemn things,
To bear a joke they think not fit.
But though each court a jester lacks,
To laugh at monarchs to their faces,
Yet all mankind, behind their backs,
Supply the honest jesters' places."