The toast, the ale, the flip,
For many a nose, a Roman nose,
In many a jug will dip.
In The Book of Ballads edited by “Bon Gaultier,” there are six burlesque poems supposed to have been written by competitors for the post of Poet Laureate, when, owing to the death of Robert Southey, that office was vacant. These are in imitation of Macaulay, Tom Moore, Tennyson, Lytton, and Montgomery. The imitation of Macaulay is entitled The Laureate’s Tourney, it is by no means striking in its resemblance, whilst it is utterly destitute of humour, except for the introduction of one line of vulgar slang, in the midst of what would otherwise pass for a fairly mellifluous second-rate ballad. The comic element in nearly every ballad in that collection is obtained by the same trick in composition, which is laughable enough when it is novel and unexpected, but becomes tedious on frequent repetition.
The numerous parodies of Lord Macaulay’s prose writings will be given in a volume of this collection to be especially devoted to prose parodies, and imitations.
THE DEVIL’S PROGRESS ON EARTH.
Friar Bacon walks again,