Suffice it to say,
In a summary way,
That a chain, round her neck which she wore,
By a stern new policeman,
Accustomed to seize men,
Was carried a justice before:
That she knew not the theft;
That the chain was a gift
From her supposititious mamma;
And this damsel so nice,
(With a very sweet voice)
In the magistrate found her papa!
We have then, a third act;
A most curious fact;
Which none understood, till they knew
The author had thought,
That in justice he ought
A moral to add to the two.
So a lesson he gave
(This poet so grave,)
To singers and men; and the fall
Of Miss Betts, at the end,
By the hand of a friend,
Was felt as the moral by all.
Punch, 1844.
“TURNED OUT”
