8 Annus MiraUlis ; or, Farewell to the Year 1829. [JAN. 



Three club-rooms, where a twaddling group 

 Combine for nonsense and cheap soup ; 

 Three club-rooms, solely made to fill 

 The architect's unending bill ! 

 Temple of Folly ! Athenaeum ! 

 Round thee the hod-men sing Te Deum ; 

 Te Deum all the Burtons sing, 

 Thou body, without head or wing ! 

 The plasterers triumph in thy frieze, 

 Worthy the " race who write with ease ;" 

 Legs upon legs a donkey-pound 

 An endless, puzzled, mill-horse round ; 

 Fit emblem for that brick Parnassus, 

 Where all the Pegasi are asses. 



Three Juries, men of brains and Bibles, 

 Have given three verdicts on three labels, 

 Which some would term " three paragraphs, 

 Just worthy of so many laughs." 

 For our part, in these ticklish days, 

 We feel no talent but for praise. 

 If mighty men are turned to laughter, 

 Who knows what Earthquake comes hereafter ? 

 Who knows but half-a-dozen sneers 

 May to the dog- star blow the Peers ? 

 Who knows but half an epigram 

 The current of the Thames may dam ? 

 And (through the special care of Heaven) 

 Swamp all thy orators, St. Stephen ! 

 So, when we see a rascal ride, 

 We wisely turn our heads aside, 

 Well satisfied, in times so nice, 

 There lives no Virtue but in Vice. 



The Russ has pacified the Turk 

 In Edinbro' fashion, a la Burke ; 

 While Malcolm's fleet at anchor lay, 

 Boldly resolved to see fair play. 



The Parliament has passed a session, 

 In the grand duty of confession, 

 Finding that mere old women's fears 

 Had shut their eyes three hundred years ; 

 The Commons scorning all requitals, 

 In shape of places, pensions, titles ; 

 The Lords, in honour quite as zealous, 

 With panegyric's largest bellows 

 Puffing the Premier's silken sail. 

 So ends the moral of our tale ! 



Farewell, thou Year of woe and shame ! 

 Is there no scourge of tenfold flame 



To lash, till every fibre wring ? 



But hush, sweet Muse ! here furl thy wing ; 

 Keep wisely to your laughing rhyme, 

 But choose your man, and take your time. 



