FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



of a song, both words and music, which I once 

 picked up at a second-hand bookseller's. The 

 following appears on the title-page : 



Published by Subscription. 



New Song. 

 The Royal Cheese. 

 Made at West Pennard, Somerset, 

 (From the milk of Seven Hundred and 



Fifty Cows). 



Intended as a Present to 

 Her Majesty Queen Victoria, 



respectfully inscribed to 

 The Farmers of the West of England. 

 The Music by 

 T. Williams. 



Ent. Sta. Hall. (Pr. 2/-. To Subscribers 1/6). 



Author of " Not a Drum was heard," " Old England shall 



weather the storm," &c. 

 LONDON : 2, Strand, Trafalgar Square. 



Surmounting this inscription is a copper-plate 

 engraving. In the background is represented 

 the stern of an old three-decker, on which is 

 inscribed, as its name, ' Victoria," with the 

 Union Jack floating proudly above it. In the 

 foreground are three British sailors, the foremost 

 of whom bears a big round box, with " sample " 

 inscribed on it. He is showing this to a Spanish 

 don and his lady, both of them attired in the 

 ancient national costume as handed down to us 

 in the " penny plain, twopence coloured " prints 

 of our childhood. Both the don and his lady 

 are apparently horror-struck at sight of the 

 sample-box, though why they should be I know 

 not, and the lady in her fright is dropping a plate 

 of grapes, melons and other fruits, while the 

 countenances of the pair display the most abject 



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