I’m very busy now, Mary, The while yon cart attends, For I’m packing up our furniture, And all our odds and ends: For these goods are all we have, Mary Our household’s joy and pride; And there’s nothing left to seize on now, We’ve packed them all inside. We’re bidding now a long farewell, My Mary, to our den; And we’ll not forget next Quarter-day To do the same again. Folks say it is but fair to pay One’s landlord, I don’t care; For I ne’er intend to do so, Were it fifty times as fair. _Diogenes._ 1853. ―――― THE LAY OF THE HENPECKED. _By Lady Sufferin._ I’m sitting in a style, Mary, Which doesn’t coincide With what I’ve been accustomed to Since you became my bride; The men are singing comic songs, The lark gets loud and high, For I’ve ask’d――since you’re from home, Mary―― A party on the sly. The place is rather changed, Mary, Of smoke it slightly smells, And the table and the floor are strewn With heaps of oyster shells; And the men have marked your damask chairs With many a muddy streak, And they’ve drawn burnt cork moustaches on Your mother’s portrait’s cheek. I’m very jolly now, Mary, ’Midst old and valued friends, (Though they’ve in the carpet burnt some holes, With their Havannahs’ ends). For thou wert somewhat cross with me, And ever apt to chide, But there’s nothing left to care for now You’re gone to the sea-side. And yet I fear when all you’ve learnt, This ev’ning’s work I’ll rue; And I’ll not forget it, darling, for You won’t allow me to. In vain they sing “The Pope he leads,” Likewise “Begone dull Care;” For at thought of you, I vow I can’t Sit easy in my chair. _Our Miscellany_, edited by E. H. Yates, and R, B. Brough, (London, Routledge & Co., 1856). This amusing Parody had already been published in Albert Smith’s _The Man in the Moon_. ―――― SONG FOR THE SITZ. I’m sitting in this style, Mary, The bathman by my side; And if you saw me now, Mary, You would not be my bride; They call this hatching health, Mary, I cannot tell you why; There’s water to my waist, Mary, And water in each eye. From _Health and Pleasure, or Malvern Punch_, by J. B, Oddfish. London: Simpkin Marshall & Co., 1865. The same amusing little work contains parodies of the following songs:――“Still so Gently;” “Kiss me quick, and go my Honey;” “The Storm” (Cease Rude Boreas); and a long one on “We’re a ’Noddin,” entitled “We’re all Pressing.” These Songs are explanatory of the treatment adopted at the various Hydropathic Establishments in Malvern. ――――