Merrie England in the Olden Time, Vol. 2Daniel, George
History
Merrie England in the Olden Time, Vol. 2
Daniel, George
England -- Social life and customs
They led off in full puff, dancing about, upon, and on all-fours under
the tables. The fire-irons were confided to a musical brother, with
instructions to imitate the triangles; and as the company danced round
the room,--the room, returning the compliment, danced round them.
The club having been capered within an inch of their lives, Lord
Larkinton begged Mr. Bo-peep to favour them with Jim Crow, consenting to
waive the _jump obligato_, in consideration of his previous exertions.
But he must sing it in character; and in the absence of lamp-black and
charcoal, the corks were burnt, to enable Sir Frederick Fitzfun and
Colonel Fro lick (my Lord holding his partner's physiognomy between his
palms like a vice--the vice and Mr. Nosebags looking ruefully on) to
transform Mr. Bopeep into a negro chorister. His sable toilet being
completed, the president opened with “_Jim Crow_;” but his memory
failing, he got into “_Sich a gittin' up stairs_.” At fault again,
he introduced the “Last rose of summer,” then “The boaty rows”
“Four-and-twenty fiddlers all of a row” “Old Rose and burn the bellows”
“Blow high, blow low” “Three Tooley Street Tailors” “By the deep nine”
“I know a bank” and “You must not sham Abraham Newland”--all of which
he sang to the same tune, “Jim Crow” being the musical bed of torture
to which he elongated or curtailed them. As an accompaniment to this odd
medley, the decanters and tumblers flew about in all directions,
some escaping out at window, others irradiating the floor with their
glittering particles. Colonel Frolick, brandishing a poker, stood
before the last half inch of a once resplendent mirror contemplating his
handiwork and mustaches, and ready to begin upon the gold frame. Every
square of crown glass having been beaten out, and every hat's crown
beaten in, Lord Larkinton politely asked the Rev. Nehemiah Nosebags to
crown all with a song. The chaplain, looking as melancholy as the last
bumper in a bottle before it's buzzed, snuffled, in a Tabernacle twang,
“The-e bir-ird that si-ings in yo-on-der ca-age.”
“Make your bird sing a little more lively,” shouted my Lord, “or we
shan't get out of the cage to-night!”
Many a true word spoken in jest; for mine host, thinking his Lordship's
next joke might be to unroof, batter down, or set fire to the Owl and
Ivy Bush, rushed into the room marshalling a posse of the police, when
a battle royal ensued, and sconces and truncheons, scraping acquaintance
with each other, made “a ghostly rattle.” Disappointed of Mr. Nosebags'
stave, and having no relish for those of the constables, we stole away,
leaving Colonel Frolick beating a tattoo on some dozen of oil-skin hats;
Lord Larkinton and Sir Frederick Fitzfun pushing forward the affrighted
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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