Or if Lord X. eschewed his daily speeches

And took to canning Californian peaches;

Or if egregious LYNCH could but abstain

From "ruining along the illimitable inane"

At Question-time, and try to render PLATO'S

Republic into Erse, or grow potatoes;

Or if our novelists wrote cheerful books,

Instead of joining those superfluous cooks

Who spoil our daily journalistic broth

By lashing it into a fiery froth.