And then the wretch exclaims, Boo-hoo,
In works of labour or of skill
I wish I’d busied too,
For Satan’s found much mischief still
For my two hands to do.
There! Would a Poet get much reputation for these Variations, which are much better in their way than most of those built upon tunes. Would the poetical critics come out, as the musical critics do, with “Upon Watts’s marble foundation Buggins has raised a sparkling alabaster palace;” or, “The old-fashioned Watts has been brought into new honour by the étincellant Buggins;” or “We love the old tune, but we have room in our hearts for the fairy-like fountains of birdsong which Buggins has bid start from it.” Mr. Punch has an idea that Buggins would have no such luck; the moral to be deduced from which fact is, that a Musical Prig is luckier than a Poetical Prig.
Punch, February 2, 1861.
——:o:——
Against Quarrelling and Fighting.
Let dogs delight to bark and bite,