And they carefully conveyed him to a hospital hard by
Where a skilful surgeon managed to preserve his wounded eye.
It was from the self-same surgeon that I subsequently learned
The first remark of the victim when his consciousness returned:—
"The Georgians may shine at shying the crumpet and the scone,
But as poets they're just No Earthly compared with Tennyson."
He never got a medal for his exploit, or a star,
And his only decoration was an ugly frontal scar;
But still I hold him highest among heroic men,
This lone Victorian champion in the Georgian lions' den.