384 The Lord Mayor s Journey to Or/ord. [ 



44 Beauty remember that change and decay, 



Will pursue in your path, as the night follows day. 



Pride bear in mind that your form is of clay, 



And will rot with the meanest that stands in your way. 



Wealth that you are like the rainbow's bright ray, 



Unsubstantial as clouds, and as fleeting as they. 



Rank let your name he as high as it may, 



That the mandate, " Be dust!" even you must obey. 



Power what things are your life and your sway ! 



Which a breath can destroy, and a murmur betray. 1 ' 



Alas ! alas ! why does a man eat his dinner to-day, but to be h'flngry 

 again to-morrow ! And what does a Lord Mayor of London go to Oxford 

 for but to come back again ! 



On THURSDAY, 



f While the morning was yet early (for the Lord Mayor had, the night before, 

 requested his friends not to devote too many hours to repose), the sound of foot- 

 steps, passing and repassing, was heard through the inn, accompanied by whisper- 

 ing consultations among the servants, who were collecting, at every chamber door, 

 the luggage of the party, in order that every thing might be in readiness for em- 

 barking as soon as the Lord Mayor had risen. 



Long before severi o'clock, the whole city was in motion ; and flocks of people 

 were seen sweeping along the streets, and hastening to the banks of Christ Church 

 meadow the point from which the embarkation would best be seen. 



The state barge on the sides of which the ten splendid scarlet silk banners were 

 brightened, as they waved gently in the rising sun, was attended by the shallop, of 

 the Thames Navigation Committee of the City of London. 



In another large boat, half-covered with an awning, was his Lordship's yeomen 

 of the household, who had charge of the provisions for the Lord Mayor's parly; 

 together with the cook, who was, at the time of embarkation, busily engaged in pre- 

 paring a fire in a grate, fixed in the bow of the boat. 



About seven o'clock, signals of the approach of his Lordship's party were de- 

 scried and heard ! The populace, thickly stationed on the road through which 

 the carriages were to pass, caught up the acclamation, and announced to all who 

 thronged the margin of the river, that the Lord Mayor was coming. His Lordship 

 and the Lady Mayoress alighted from the carriage at the bridge, and walked 

 through the respectful c rowel, which divided to give them passage ; and were at 

 once conveyed to the state barge, in the water bailiff's boat. 



The whole party now quickly followed; and at a quarter after seven, amidst 

 shouts of reiterated applause from the surrounding multitudes, the city barge, 

 manned by the, city watermen, in scarlet liveries, and all the other boats in atten- 

 dance on his Lordship, were simultaneously launched on the broad bosom of the' 

 princely Thames." 



The ingenious Tom Brown relates, that, being once much in love with 

 a poctes.s, there came on him such a morbid appetite to write verse, as he 

 could no way account for, and which he was only cured of by a very 

 peculiar and not always safe operation. In the same way, at the very 

 reading of Mr. Dillon's prose, we find the mania of poetry coming upon 

 ourselves. We must resist the influence; but, nevertheless, we admit its 

 power. If ever a laureate to " The Mayoralty" should be appointed, 

 ibr this description of the embarkation alone, we decidedly give our vote 

 that Mr. D. should be the man. 



The beauties of the country about Oxford, as seen from the river, 

 appear to have been something overlooked in the commencement of the 

 civic homeward voyage. For our author states, with some seeming regret, 

 that 



" About nine in the morning, the pirty were all so unitedly engaged in the 

 elegant cabin of the stale barge, in doing honour to the delicacies of the Lord 



