And note the tittle-tattle down That floats in hear-say on the Town ; Who Lady A. is going to wed, When Mrs. B. was put to bed, And what's the kind of liaison 'Twixt Captain White and Mrs. Brown ;How the "bend sinister" got place Upon the 'scutcheon of "his Grace;" Is like or not to end in law; With all the racy anecdotes Outpoured from rumour's thousand throats, If such a dame, so free and easy But ladies hence should take a hint, Song writers, an amphibious band, That first of playwrights and of wits So says he o'er and o'er again Who robs the French for Drury Lane; And near to them, from Cork's gay city, *The Scotch contributor to this work, who volunteered his services to the Literary Souvenir, with the promise of a favourable review in the Magazine if they were received, and who, by a trick, obtained admission to Mr. Bulwer's house, for the purpose of lampooning that gentleman, had better keep his tongue" from evil-speaking," if he would avoid the chastisement due to such offences, for the future! + The Pig-and-Whistle is a pot-house in St. Paul's ChurchYard, where these wags used, in former days, to hold their symposia. I am told, but cannot vouch for the fact, that at this cheap repository of wit and whiskey, the aspiring contributor may become as stupid as he pleases for a shilling, and as drunk as a lord for eighteen-pence, supper included. I lament to add, that the Orestes and Pylades mentioned in my text, are the only survivors of their illustrious association: they have outlasted First of the train, see Crofton Croker, And, cheek-by-jowl, his brother twin, A whit the graver than he is— He will so oft without remorse play! three several sets of their friends; and probably suggested the admirable series of papers in Blackwood, entitled "First and Last." * The Authors of the Fairy Legends are some seven or eight in number; among them may be mentioned Messrs. Keithley, Humphries, Maginn, Lynch, and Mr. Crofton Croker. Give him a glass or two of whiskey, But for that booby by his side, That picks its larger brethren's teeth; Dines in some shark's pestiferous maw, Sups on a whale's encumbered jaw; * A namesake, but no connexion of the able and excellent author of "The Kuzzilbash," J. B. Fraser. And prone in offal still to wallow, Bolts what its patrons cannot swallow; Too foul for even Maginn to own; Which they who seldom money stint, Refused to pay for, or to print ; * And left, though they had given the order, The Theban deep, who undertook For C. and B. to write a book; Which when the manuscript was sent, Proved in the same predicament! * Where are the Resumés of History, which Messrs. Whittaker announced from the pen of this gentleman? |