My fault I own――my censure ends; Nay more――I’ll try to make amends, Who is the _safest_ of all friends? My Hookah. Say who? or what retains the power, When fickle Fortune ’gins to lour, To solace many a lonely hour? My Hookah. When death-like dews and fogs prevailing In Pinnace or in Budg’-row sailing, What is it that prevents our ailing? My Hookah. When we’re our skins with claret soaking, And heedless wits their friends are joking, _Which_ friend will stand the _greatest smoking_? My Hookah. By what――(nay, answer at your ease,) While pocketing our six rupees―― By what d’ye mean the town to please? My Hookah. ――――:o:―――― MY JENNY. A LAY OF LUMLEY. “_Jenny sçait quoi._”――French idiom. “_Jenny knows what’s what._”――English translation. Oh! when by all my troop forsaken, And Beale had all my singers taken, Who just appeared to save my bacon? My Jenny! Who was it I at last cajoled, To break her word for British gold, [23]By which the Poet Bunn was sold, My Jenny! Who is this Swedish nightingale, Of whom each told a different tale, “She’d rival Grisi;” “No, she’d fail,” My Jenny! Alboni, Castellan, or Grisi Are tolerable, and may please ye, But where’s the girl who’ll beat them easy, My Jenny! Who made so brilliant a _début_, And such an awful audience drew, That all _soprani_ pallid grew, My Jenny! Who is’t I hope will still remain, Because I can foresee, with pain All’s up when she’s gone back again, My Jenny! _The Man in the Moon_. Vol. I. ――――:o:―――― MY LANDLADY. _By a Lodger._ Who greets me with a greasy smile, Though she is cheating me the while―― And says, “I’m out of coals and ile?” My Landlady. Who says she’s seen much better days, And will her “poor departed” praise, And with her chat my meal delays? My Landlady. Who lets her son my collars wear, And with me my clean linen share? Who with my clothes-brush does her hair? My Landlady. Who on my viands waxes fat! Who keeps a most voracious cat! Who often listens on my mat? My Landlady. Who won’t bring up cold joints to me, Who drinks my spirits――prigs my tea―― Who for my sideboard keeps a key? My Landlady. Who “cooks” the little bills I pay, And cheats me――yes! in every way; Who is it I shall leave to-day? My Landlady. _The Figaro Album_, 1873.