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THE LAY OF THE DONDNEY BROTHERS
Coats at five-and-forty shillings! trousers ten-and-six a
pair!
Summer waistcoats, three a sov'reign, light and comfort-
able wear!
Taglionis, black or coloured, Chesterfield and velveteen!
The old English shooting-jacket—doeskins, such as ne'er
were seen!
Army cloaks and riding-habits, Alberts at a trifling cost!
Do you want an annual contract? Write to DOUDNEYS'
by the post.
DOUDNEY BROTHERS! DOUDNEY BROTHERS! Not the men
that drive the van,
Plastered o'er with advertisements, heralding some paltry
plan,
How, by base mechanic stinting, and by pinching of their
backs,
Slim attorneys' clerks may manage to retrieve their
Income-tax:
But the old established business—where the best of clothes
are given
At the very lowest prices—Fleet Street, Number Ninety-
seven.
Wouldst thou know the works of DOUDNEY? Hie thee
to the thronged Arcade,
To the Park upon a Sunday, to the terrible Parade.
There, amid the bayonets bristling, and the flashing of the
steel,
When the household troops in squadrons round the bold
field-marshals wheel,
Shouldst thou see an aged warrior in a plain blue morning
frock,
Peering at the proud battalions o'er the margin of his
stock,—
Should thy throbbing heart then tell thee, that the veteran
worn and grey
Curbed the course of Bonaparte, rolled the thunders of
Assaye—
Let it tell thee, stranger, likewise, that the goodly garb
he wears
Started into shape and being from the DOUDNEY BROTHERS'
shears!
Seek thou next the rooms of Willis—mark, where
D'Orsay's Count is bending,
See the trouser's undulation from his graceful hip
descending;
Hath the earth another trouser so compact and love-
compelling?
Thou canst find it, stranger, only, if thou seek'st the
DOUDNEYS' dwelling!
Hark, from Windsor's royal palace, what sweet voice
enchants the ear?
"Goodness, what a lovely waistcoat! Oh, who made it,
Albert dear?
'Tis the very prettiest pattern! You must get a dozen
others!"
And the Prince, in rapture, answers—"'Tis the work of
DOUDNEY BROTHERS!"