We’d news of late which said your health was very much amiss, John;
But, sick or well, we never thought that you would come to this, John!
Fie, John! fie, John! We wish you’d tell us why, John,
You’ve now become of selfish Whigs and Tories the ally, John?
It can’t, of course, be from mere spite, or any such mean end, John,
That you have, in an honoured age, thus turned upon your friend, John!
Yet, John! yet, John! we very much regret, John,
That better reason for your acts we’ve wholly failed to get, John.
You hint that Mr. Gladstone’s mad, which is not very kind, John;
But, come now, are you sure that you are in your own right mind, John?