It was this episode that the Rev. R. H. Barham has immortalized in his _Ingoldsby Legends_, under the title of “A Row in an Omnibus (box),” beginning: Doldrum the Manager sits in his chair, With a gloomy brow and dissatisfied air, And he says, as he slaps his hand on his knee, ‘I’ll have nothing to do with Fiddle-de-dee! ‘—But Fiddle-de-dee sings clear and loud, And his trills and his quavers astonish the crowd. Such a singer as he, You’ll nowhere see, They’ll all be screaming for Fiddle-de-dee! ‘—Though Fiddle-de-dee sings loud and clear, And his tones are sweet, yet his terms are dear! The glove won’t fit! The deuce a bit. I shall give an engagement to Fal-de-ral-tit!’” CHAPTER XIII. The Mulready Envelope—Plans of Royal Exchange decided on—Fire at York Minster—Queen shot at by Oxford—Oxford in Bedlam—Scientific Agriculture—Electro-metallurgy—Embossed envelope—Sale of Louis Napoleon’s effects. On the 1st of May, the Post Office issued the long expected postal envelope designed by W. Mulready, R.A., and the opinion of _The Times_ may be taken as the expression of most people’s feelings about it. _Times_, 2 May.—“We have been favoured with a sight of one of the new stamp covers, and we must say we never beheld anything more ludicrous than the figures or allegorical device by which it is marked with its official character—why not add embellished? Cruickshank could scarcely produce anything so laughable. It is, apparently, a spirited attempt to imitate the hieroglyphic which formed one of the ornaments to _Moore’s Almanack_; Britannia is seated in the centre, with the lion couchant (Whiggish) at her feet; her arms are extended, scattering little flying children to some elephants on the left; and, on the right, to a group of gentlemen, some of whom, at all events, are not enclosed in _envelopes_, writing on their knees, evidently on account of a paucity of tables. There are, besides, sundry figures, who, if they were to appear in the streets of London, or any of our highways, would be liable to the penalties of the Vagrant Act for indecent exposure. Under the tableland by which these figures are supported, some evidence of a laudable curiosity is depicted, by three or four ladies, who are represented reading a billet doux, or valentine, and some little boys, evidently learning to spell, by the mental exertion which their anxious faces disclose. One serious omission we must notice. Why have those Mercuries in red jackets, who traverse London and its environs on lame ponies, been omitted? We must admit that, as they have been, recently, better mounted, that is one reason why they should not appear in this Government picture.” But the reader can judge how far this description is borne out. [Picture: Mulready envelope]