"Well—well!" quoth I,
As I heaved a sigh,
And a tear-drop fell from my twinkling eye,
"My vastly good man, as I scarcely doubt
That some day or other you'll find it out,
Should he come in your way,
Or ride in your 'shay'
(As perhaps he may),
Be so good as to say
That a Visitor whom you drove over one day,
Was exceedingly angry, and very much scandalized,
Finding these beautiful ruins so Vandalized,
And thus of their owner to speak began,
As he ordered you home in haste,
No DOUBT HE'S A VERY RESPECTABLE MAN,
But—'I CAN'T SAY MUCH FOR HIS TASTE!'"
FAMILY POETRY. R. HARRIS BARHAM
Zooks! I must woo the Muse to-day,
Though line before I never wrote!
"On what occasion?" do you say?
Our Dick has got a long-tail'd coat!!
Not a coatee, which soldiers wear
Button'd up high about the throat,
But easy, flowing, debonair,
In short a CIVIL long-tail'd coat.
A smarter you'll not find in town,
Cut by Nugee, that snip of note;
A very quiet olive brown
's the color of Dick's long-tail'd coat.
Gay jackets clothe the stately Pole,
The proud Hungarian, and the Croat,
Yet Esterhazy, on the whole
Looks best when in a long-tail'd coat
Lord Byron most admired, we know,
The Albanian dress, or Suliote,
But then he died some years ago,
And never saw Dick's long-tail'd coat;
Or past all doubt the poet's theme
Had never been the "White Capote,"
Had he once view'd in Fancy's dream,
The glories of Dick's long-tail'd coat!
We also know on Highland kilt
Poor dear Glengarry used to dote,
And had esteem'd it actual guilt
I' "the Gael" to wear a long-tail'd coat!
No wonder 'twould his eyes annoy,
Monkbarns himself would never quote
"Sir Robert Sibbald," "Gordon," "Ray,"
Or "Stukely" for a long-tail'd coat.