When lo! ah! disappointed paunches,
Instead of vast sirloins and haunches,
Bright dishes, shining knives and forks,
Gay bottles, sparkling glasses, smacking corks,
Up rose the mayor, with sage demeanour,
And read the letter—for a dinner!
He ended—and a broad prodigious grin
Screw'd every face, and tugg'd up ev'ry chin.
But yet mysterious silence hung
A padlock upon every tongue;