AFTER-DINNER SPEECHES

"When the wine is in, the wit is out;"

Only to dolts the adage reaches.

No wise man could for a moment doubt

The value of after-dinner speeches.

Punch can remember the time when Peel,

Whose wisdom still the country teaches,

After steak and port, his nine o'clock meal,

Made the best of after-dinner speeches.

When the Ministers come to the Mansion House,