Ho! partisans of Lumley, don habiliments of woe!
Weep, rend your hair, to hear the truth: your Norma was “no go.”
Ho! Verdi, bring for charity thy opera to their aid,
That Jenny Lind may sing and no comparison be made.
Ho! bold Bond-street librarians find the public still is true
Unto their long-tried favourite, to whom all praise be due.
For Grisi still hath proved herself the best of all the bunch,
Hath mocked the critic of the Post, and box-bought praise of Punch.
Then glory to La Diva who yet reigns the Queen of Song,
And glory, too, to Costa—may he wield the baton long!