THE PUNCHPUDDLE HUNT 



In the Punchpuddle Hunt there are tinkers and tailors 

 And rich men and poor men of every degree; 



There are beggarmen, thieves, there are soldiers and sailors 

 The only thing lacking's a Labour M.P. ; 



There are butchers and bakers (old men with new acres). 

 And of sportsmen — at times — a stray couple or three. 



Oh, happier far with a duckgun and punt 



Were the Nimrods that follow The Punchpuddle Hunt ! 



II 



See The Punchpuddle Hunt on " The Walnuts " converging, 



The seat of Sir Solomon Ikestein (we'll say). 

 Through villages surging, from stations emerging. 



The high-roads and by-roads with scarlet are gay. 

 On covert-hacks spurring, in motor-cars whirring. 

 In hundreds they flock to the breakfast to-day. 

 The steeds of the Ikestein are turned in the stalls ; 

 The ancestor Ikesteins leer down from the walls ; 

 On the chairs in the halls are the famous Three Balls, 

 Or, on a field sable ; while yonder the table 

 Is groaning beneath a repast that appals. 

 Oh, the food and the drink and the roads bear the brunt 

 Of the damage that's done by the Punchpuddle Hunt ! 



73 



