All night within that gloomy cell The keys within the padlock creaked; The tipsy 'gents' bawled out as well, And in the dungeons yelled and shrieked. Policemen slyly prowled about; Their faces glimmered through the door, But brought not, though he did implore, One humble glass of cold without. He only said, "The night is dreary;" "Bail cometh not," he said; He said, "I have been very beery, I would I were in bed!" At morn, the noise of boys aloof, Inspectors' orders, and the chaff Of cads upon the busses' roof, To Poplar bound, too much by half Did prove; but most he loathed the hour When Mr. Jardine chose to say Five shillings he would have to pay, Now he was in policeman's power. Then said he, "This is very dreary;" "Bail will not come," he said; He said, "I'll never more get beery, But go straight home to bed!" * * * * * In 1855, Messrs. G. Routledge & Co., published a small volume, by Frank E. Smedley and Edmund Hodgson Yates, entitled _Mirth and Metre_, which contained several excellent parodies, one entitled Boreäna, after the _The Ballad of Oriana;_ and another, called Vauxhall, which imitated _Locksley Hall_. Most of the parodies in the book were written by Mr. Edmund H. Yates, but he gave the credit of Boreäna to Mr. Frank Smedley, the author of several well-known novels, who died in May, 1864. THE BALLAD OF BOREÄNA. My brain is wearied with thy prate, Boreäna, I sit and curse my hapless fate, Boreäna, What time the rain pours down the gutter, Still your platitudes you utter Boreäna, I unholy wishes mutter, Boreäna. Ere the night-light's flame was fading, Boreäna, While the cats were serenading, Boreäna, Sheep were bleating, oxen lowing, We heard the beasts to Smithfield going, Boreäna, You said the butcher's bill was owing, Boreäna. At Cremorne, we two alone, Boreäna, Ere my wisdom teeth were grown, Boreäna, While the dancers gaily hopped, And the brass-band never stopped, Boreäna, I to thee the question popped, Boreäna. She stood behind the area gate, Boreäna, She did it just to aggravate, Boreäna, She saw me wink, she heard me swear, She recognised the scoundrel there, Boreäna, She _knows_ a bailiff I can't bear, Boreäna.