Three Orators spoke for many an hour,

And told ’em the blunders that Gladstone had made,

Which they only could right if returned into power:

And they gave ’em some pious “opinions” on trade.

For Placemen must live, and—though hardly the thing,

Yet even to Newcastle coals you must bring,

To set Tory tides a-rolling.

Three “Failures” came back, as we’ve all of us read,

Sad, if not wiser, to London town;

For e’en Tory organs were shaking a head,