THE SICK CHILD. [BY THE HONORABLE WILHELMINA SKEGGS.] PUNCH. A WEAKNESS seizes on my mind-I would more pudding take; I gaze upon the cake with tears, and wildly I deplore It may be so I can not tell—I yet may do without; I long-I long to eat some more, but have not strength to try. I gasp for breath, and now I know I've eaten far too much; THE IMAGINATIVE CRISIS. OH, solitude thou wonder-working fay, PUNCH. The spell is wrought: imagination swells My sleeping-room to hills, and woods, and dells! LINES TO BESSY. [BY A STUDENT AT LAW.] My head is like a title-deed, Or abstract of the same: Wherein, my Bessy, thou may'st read Against thee I my suit have brought, And for the heart that thou hast caught, An action lies-of trover, Alas, upon me every day The heaviest costs you levy: Oh, give me back my heart-but nay! I feel I can't replevy. I'll love thee with my latest breath, Till the hard hand of sheriff death Say, BESSY dearest, if you will The secret to discover? Is it my income's small amount Refer the question of account PUNCH. Alas! wild echo, with a moan, In vain the robing-room I seek; "He's lost his only client now." E'en the mild usher, who, of yore, Ne'er shall I, rising up in court, Ne'er shall the judges cut me short No more with a consenting brief Imagination's magic power Brings back, as clear, as clear as can be, The spot, the day, the very hour, When first I sign'd my maiden plea. In the Exchequer's hindmost row I sat, and some one touched my head, He tendered ten-and-six, but oh! That only client now is dead. PUNCH. In vain I try to sing-I'm hoarse: I try to read,--but all in vain; I think I hear a double knock : What's this they thrust into my hand? I'm mad! my only client's dead. LOVE ON THE OCEAN. PUNCH. THEY met, 't was in a storm On the deck of a steamer; She spoke in language warm, Like a sentimental dreamer. He spoke at least he tried; His position he altered; Then turned his face aside, And his deep-ton'd voice falter'd. She gazed upon the wave, Sublime she declared it; But no reply he gave— He could not have dared it. A breeze came from the south, Across the billows sweeping; His heart was in his mouth, And out he thought 't was leaping. "O, then, Steward!" he cried, With the deepest emotion; Then totter'd to the side, And leant o'er the ocean. The world may think him cold, But they'll pardon him with quickness, That he suffer'd from sea-sickness. "OH! WILT THOU SEW MY BUTTONS ON?"* AND "YES, I WILL SEW THY BUTTONS ON!" PUNCH. Just at present no lyrics have so éclatant a succès de société as the charming companion ballads which, under the above pathetic titles, have made a fureur in the fashionable circles, to which the fair composer, to whom they are attributed in the causeries of May Fair and Belgravia (The HoN. MRS. N-T-N), belongs. The touching event to which they refer, is the romantic union of the HON. MISS BL-CHE DE F-TZ-FL-M to C-PT-N DE B-TS, of the C-DS-M G-DS, which took the beau monde by surprise last season. Previous to the éclaircissement, the gifted and lovely composer, at a ball given by the distinguished D-CH-SS of S-TH-D, accidentally overheard the searching question of the gallant but penniless Captain, and the passionate and self-devoted answer of his lovely and universally admired fiancée. She instantly rushed home and produced these pathetic and powerful ballads.] "On! wilt thou sew my buttons on, When gayer scenes recall That fairy face, that stately grace, To reign amid the ball? When Fulham's bowers their sweetest flowers For fête-champêtres shall don, Oh! say, wilt thou, of queenly brow, Still sew my buttons on? "The noble, sweet, are at thy feet, To meet a freezing eye; The gay, the great, in camp and state, In vain around thee sigh. "Wilt thou love me then as now?" and "I will love thee then as now,' two popular songs in 1849. |