They told me in leaving Teheran, Danger of eating dirt I ran,-- That out of the realms of the Shah-in-Shah I should find rulers called Light and Law. May the graves of their mothers be defiled That fain with such bosh had their Shah beguiled! For the more of these Feringhee Kaffirs[19] I've known, The whiter to me my face has grown. I've seen the land calls the Russki lord, And there the rulers are Stick and Sword; To the land of the Prusski when I came, The tongue was changed, but the rule the same: The stars on the coats may be sown more thick, But the Prusski's Shah-in-Shah is Stick! And here in the land of the Inglees They live and move but the Shah to please. If my diamonds are as the sun in the skies, What is the brightness of my eyes? As in this land there is no sun, They make a daylight instead of one. The Queen from her palace for me retires To Teheran binding it with wires. Here's Sutherland Beg[20] makes his palace mine, And all but bids skies for me to shine. At the Crystal Palace, Effendi Grove With the rain itself for my pleasure strove, And out of the water brought the fire To compass the Shah-in-Shah's desire. In a wonderful land of wax I've been, And _houris_ fairer than Heaven I've seen; To the Inglees Bank a visit I've paid Where Reuter's gold for me is laid; And all that have seen me, and all I have seen, As dust in the path of the Shah hath been, And instead of eating dirt, I see But Kaffirs eating dirt to me. [Footnote 15: Frank, European.] [Footnote 16: Viziers, Ministers.] [Footnote 17: Cash.] [Footnote 18: Menials employed to apply the bastinado.] [Footnote 19: Infidels, unbelievers.] [Footnote 20: Chief or Lord.] We need not be surprised, after reading this scathing poem, to find that, when the Shah left our shores, _Punch_ had no difficulty in enduring his bereavement with fortitude. The net result, so far as the million were concerned, was the addition of "Have you seen the Shah?" to the catchwords of the hour. In the eternal competition between London and the provinces, centralization and local autonomy, it was hardly to be expected that _Punch_, in his jealousy for London, should adopt a judicial or impartial attitude. In earlier years he had protested vigorously against Celtic egotism, when developed at the expense of English sobriety, and the growth of the movement in favour of the vernacular in Wales and the spread of Eisteddfods provoked him to contemptuous antagonism. In the "Essence of Parliament" for May 5, 1862, this hostility is sufficiently outspoken:--