I dreamt that huge monsters――a fearful band―― Were staring to such a degree That the sight was more than I could withstand, For they turn’d all their eyes upon me. And I dreamt that King John’s unearthly ghost Stepped forth my homage to claim, When I woke and I found ’twas my bedstead’s post, But it frightened me all the same. ―――― DREAMS OF MABILLE BALLS. (The famous Moulin Rouge Restaurant and Mabille disappear together from the Champs Elysées this month.) (RETROSPECTIVE BALLADS.) (_Sung confidentially by the Old “Bohemian Boy_.”) I dreamt that I danced at Mabille balls―― That again at the Cancan I shied: But to judge from the set that now honoured those walls, I had far best have Cancan’d outside! For, spite JULES’S antics, once good as a feast―― Spite Music, Nymphs, flare――still the same. I noticed, what certainly pleased me the least, That the whole thing seemed horribly tame, Oh, so tame! So depressingly, horribly tame! _Punch._ March 4, 1882. ―――― MARBLED BEEF. (Ballad for the Modern Butcher, with acknowledgments to the Shade of Bunn.) I dreamt that I dined on Marbled Beef, And found it the best I had tried; And of all its good points I held this the chief,―― The figure at which ’twas supplied. But when, as Prime English, I found it as nice You tried on the same old game, And though every carcass cost you half the price, You charged me still the same! You charged me still the same! _Punch._ April 18, 1885. ――――:o:―――― BEAUTIFUL STAR. ―――― Beautiful star! on each opera night, Watching with wonder your diamonds bright, And hearing your cadences echo afar, I envy your fortune, fair opera star―― Star of the evening, beautiful star. I hear sad Amina’s cantabile ring, I see the bouquets which by dozens they fling; Watch gaily Rosina her guardian cajole, And weep when Medea entrances my soul―― Star of the evening, beautiful star. I love thee in _Norma_ and fair Marguerite, And _Lohengrin_ even thy tones can make sweet: But I sigh that no journal will pay me to write At the rate of thy two hundred guineas per night―― Star of the evening, beautiful star. _Funny Folks._ ―――― Beautiful Pit, behind the stalls, For treatment kind thy memory calls; Who could fail to thy use admit, Pit of the Haymarket, Haymarket Pit! Pit of the Haymarket, beautiful Haymarket Pit!