This is all I now shall ask,
Hie thee, monarch, to thy task;
Finish Eldon's frills and borders,
Then return for further orders.
Oh what progress for our sake,
Kings in millinery make!
Ribands, garters, and such things,
Are supplied by other Kings—
Ferdinand his rank denotes
By providing petticoats.
HAT VERSUS WIG.
1827.
"At the interment of the Duke of York, Lord Eldon, in order to guard against the effects of the damp, stood upon his hat during the whole of the ceremony."
—metus omnes et inexorabile fatum
subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis
avari.
'Twixt Eldon's Hat and Eldon's Wig
There lately rose an altercation,—
Each with its own importance big,
Disputing which most serves the nation.
Quoth Wig, with consequential air,
"Pooh! pooh! you surely can't design,
"My worthy beaver, to compare
"Your station in the state with mine.
"Who meets the learned legal crew?
"Who fronts the lordly Senate's pride?
"The Wig, the Wig, my friend—while you
"Hang dangling on some peg outside.
"Oh! 'tis the Wig, that rules, like Love,
"Senate and Court, with like éclat—
"And wards below and lords above,
"For Law is Wig and Wig is Law!
"Who tried the long, Long WELLESLEY suit,
"Which tried one's patience, in return?
"Not thou, oh Hat!—tho' couldst thou do't,
"Of other brims[1] than thine thou'dst learn.