Sweet she look’d in gipsy bonnets blushing, like a damask rose,
Little did I think that angels wanted such a lot of clothes;
Wives, of course, are very charming, but be careful if you can,
And when you chose one take a warning by a henpeck’d married man.
Mother, dear, &c.
——:o:——
Sir William Harcourt, at Glasgow, in quoting from The Three Jovial Huntsmen, referred to it as “a delightful illustrated story-book,” which he advised all his hearers to buy. Quite so, Mr. Caldecott’s pictures are simply delicious, and the verses themselves are quaint and pithy. But the “bearings of ’em lie in their application.” And here’s their application—much at your service, Sir William.
It’s of Three Jovial Statesmen, and a-stumping they did go;
And they spouted and they flouted, and they blew their horns also.
Look ye there!