I made a vow! I laid a snare! And crept quite softly up the stair, The hour had come for a midnight spree! And after dinner from her bed I stole the pillow for her head. O! the girl was fair to see! I took the dredger full of flour, The pillow powdered for an hour; The time had come for a midnight spree! I hated her for her cruel sell, She loved her tresses passing well. O! the girl was fair to see! She slept serenely all that night, But woke up in a dreadful fright; The time had come for a midnight spree! When half awake she neared the glass, She uttered naughty words, alas! O! the girl was fair to see! She brush'd and comb'd her floury head, "I'll never get it out," she said, The time had come for a midnight spree! My deep revenge she'll not forget I think she may be brushing yet! O! the girl was fair to see! From _Fun_, February 1, 1868. The same journal also contained, December 16th, 1872, _Papa's Theory_ (after A. Tenny..n); and, May 7, 1876, _Home They Brought the Gallant Red_--(croquet.) * * * * * George Cruikshank's _Omnibus_, published in 1842, contains on page 260 some pertinent remarks on Parody. "It is essential, says E. P. W., to the full effect of a parody, that the original should be familiar to the reader. Now, several parodies we have received possess that advantage, thus we have half-a-dozen parodies on "Gray's Elegy," suggested by the conflagration at the Tower, and a like number of variations of the "Beggar's Petition;" but although these originals are well known, we pass their parodies by in favour of one upon Tennyson's 'Mariana at the Moated Grange,' entitled"-- THE CLERK. With black coal-dust the walls and floor Were thickly coated, one and all; On rusty hinges swung the door That open'd to the gloomy wall; The broken chairs looked dull and dark, Undusted was the mantel-piece, And deeply-speck'd with spots of grease Within the chamber of the clerk. He only said "I'm very weary With living in this ditch;" He said, "I am confounded dreary, I would that I were rich." * * * * * About six fathoms from the wall, A blackened chimney (much askew) Smoked in his face--and round and small The chimney-pots destroyed his view, Hard by--a popular highway, With coal-dust turned to pitchy dark, Where many a little dog doth bark-- Some black, some mottled, many grey. He said, "My life is very dreary, With living in this ditch;" He said, "I am fatigued and weary, I would that I were rich." The two other verses of this parody have no great merit, and, indeed, the above are only quoted to show that more than forty years ago there was an outcry about the wretched habitations of our London poor.