“We much revere our sires, who were a mighty race of men; For every glass of port we drink, they nothing thought of ten. They dwelt above the foulest drains: they breathed the closest air: They had their yearly twinge of gout, and little seemed to care. They set those meddling people down for Jacobins or fools, Who talked of public libraries and grants to normal schools; Since common folks who read and write, and like their betters speak, Want something more than pipes and beer, and sermons once a-week. And therefore both by land and sea their match they rarely met, But made the name of Britain great, and ran her deep in debt. They seldom stopped to count the foe, nor sum the moneys spent, But clenched their teeth, and straight ahead with sword and musket went. And, though they thought if trade were free that England ne’er would thrive, They freely gave their blood for Moore, and Wellington, and Clive. And though they burned their coal at home, nor fetched their ice from Wenham, They played the man before Quebec, and stormed the lines at Blenheim. When sailors lived on mouldy bread, and lumps of rusty pork, No Frenchman dared his nose to show between the Downs and Cork; But now that Jack gets beef and greens, and next his skin wears flannel, The ‘Standard’ says, we’ve not a ship in plight to keep the Channel.” [13] Karkinos (_Crab_) was an indifferent tragedian of the day, some of whose lines are here parodied. [14] See note, p. 19. [15] The speech of a late member for Sheffield--much missed in the House, and whom it would be most unfair to compare with Cleon--will occur to many readers: “I’m Tear’em.” [16] A parody on the touching farewell of Alcestis to her nuptial chamber, in the tragedy of Euripides:-- “Farewell! and she who takes my place--may she Be happier!--truer wife she cannot be.” [17] Preface to The Knights. [18] Half the joke is irreparably lost in English. The Greek word for “_treaty_” or “_truce_” meant literally the “_libation_” of wine with which the terms were ratified. [19] Which each soldier was required to take with him on the march. [20] Telephus, Philoctetes, Bellerophon, and probably other tragedy heroes, were all represented by Euripides as lame. But no one could possibly have made greater capital out of the physical sufferings of Philoctetes from his lame foot than the author’s favourite Sophocles. [21] Of course every Athenian would be amused by the parody of the well-remembered scene in the Iliad:-- “The babe clung crying to his nurse’s breast, Scared at the dazzling helm and nodding crest. With secret pleasure each fond parent smiled, And Hector hastened to relieve his child; The glittering terrors from his brow unbound, And placed the beaming helmet on the ground.”