That their faith in the curried egg might go,
And a cayenne salad not serve them,
Nor champagne cheer when their "tone" was low,
Nor a fricassee'd oyster nerve them!
They felt that the power to attention gain
Would surely henceforth evade them,
And that public contempt would let them remain
In the grave where a "Blue Beard" had laid them.
And so, when Burnand his task had done,
And received a right warm ovation,