[ 430 ] [APRIL, 



ALL FOOLS* DAY. 



Fool ! fool ! fool I Othello. 



On ! ye ancients, 1 maintain 



'Tis a pity you had birth, 



For you've left us not a grain 



Of pure wisdom upon earth ! 



Its seeds have all perished in the schools ! 



I pronounce the LL.D.'s, 



F.R.S.'s and K.G.'s, 



And the unreformed M.P.'s 



April fools ! 



What are Wellingtons that shine 

 In predictions of a storm ? 

 AVhat are Wynlbrds when they whine 

 O'er the Chancery reform ? 

 What are Ellenboroughs amiable as mules ? 

 What are Crokers when they speak, 

 Or contribute a critique, 

 Just a column, once a week? 



April fools ! 



All ye Wetherells that sigh 

 O'er the constitution's bier, 

 And lament that it should die 

 About twenty times a year, 

 Though jocose as a comedy of Poole's ; 

 When you see how boroughs rot, 

 And yet cannot find a blot 

 In the system are you not 

 April fools ? 



Oh ! Freeman ties, ye who shine 

 In inventing honest grounds 

 Why a king should not decline 

 Five-and-twenty thousand pounds 

 Who would force him to adhere to the rules ; 

 And ye Twisses though they cheer 

 Oh ! what are you, when you sneer 

 At the people whom you fear ? 

 April fools ! 



And ye pensioners, that owe 

 To the rabble ye despise, 

 All that lifts ye from the low, 

 What will you be, when your eyes 

 Look in vain for your sinecures and stools ? 

 Or you, ye titled dames, 

 When you cannot find your names 

 On the list of secret claims ? 

 April fools ! 



But far more stupid still 

 Are those who tell the House 

 That the mammoth, called the Bill, 

 Will be vanquished by a mouse ! 

 Shall ministers believe and be their tools ? 

 Shall Grey become afraid, 

 Or Russell retrograde ? 

 Then the people have been made 

 April fools ! 



