So Partlet, in her own complacent musings;
And as for the outsiders,
Reckoning up their probable gains and losings,
Some fain would be deriders
Of her, her fortune, and the brood forthcoming,
Which she seems summing.
"Don't count your chickens ere they're hatched!" they snigger.
(Old saws are always dear to the censorious)
"We've seen small chickens out of eggs much bigger.
You Tory hens are always so vainglorious.