OUR CLOSING DAY. 249 



poor " Cock Robin," and at the end of every verse the 

 whole company, taking their parts like a well-trained choir, 

 gave a pretty melancholy refrain : 



" All the birds in the air fell a sighing and sobbing 

 When they heard of the death of poor Cock Robin." 



True, sobbing according to usage does not strictly rhyme 

 with Robin, but we were not fastidious, and were not tired, 

 although the verses were just as numerous as the birds, 

 beasts, and fishes who were concerned with the tragic 

 decease and touching interment of the defunct Redbreast. 

 The late Mr. AVeiss himself could not have sung the 

 4 'Village Blacksmith" better than it was given, and there 

 was one who came so close to reality in his imitation of the 

 veteran Ransford that it was necessary to look a second 

 time to decide whether it was not that splendid interpreter 

 of Dibdin who sang and acted "Tom Tough." Next to 

 the Cock Robin chant in popularity amongst the chorus- 

 singers was a singularly quaint and catching slave song 

 brought by a young member from Carolina, where he had 

 heard it sung by the plantation hands. The general 

 burden of the solo I have forgotten, but the chorus printed 

 itself upon the memory at once, and I fancy it gives a 

 pretty clear notion of the rest : 



" There's a good time coming and it's almost nigh, 



It's a long, long time on its way. 

 Then go and tell Elijah to hurry up Pomp 

 And meet us at the gum-tree down by the Swamp, 



To wake Nicodemus to-day." 



There are aggrieved anglers as well as parishioners, and 

 our aggrieved member carried the meeting entirely with 



