This parody originally appeared in a publication called _Town-Talk_, but was afterwards reprinted in a scarce little volume of poems entitled “_Plaintive Tales_,” by a Comedian. Published by W. Tilley, Chelsea, London, in 1819. This book is now principally sought after by collectors because it has an early illustration by George Cruikshank, on which the name is incorrectly spelt _Cruikshanks_. ――――:o:―――― AN ELEGY WRITTEN IN THE LONG VACATION. The vacant streets proclaim the ‘_parting_ day,’ The loaded coaches setting off, you see, The Gownsman homeward bends his joyous way, And leaves the college and the town to me. No wine, no supper-parties glad the sight, O’er all the court a solemn stillness reigns; Save where some gambling Gyps o’er skittles fight, When Fortune robs them of their easy gains. Save that at intervals from yonder tow’r You hear some moping Questionist complain, Condemn’d to toil thro’ many a weary hour O’er Newton, Smith, and ‘Calculus’ again. (Haply the Porter or some Gyp may say, “Oft have we seen him at the break of dawn, Brushing with hasty steps the dew away, And take his seedy walk across the lawn.”) All else is hush’d!――the Spider here has made His web o’er books in many a mould’ring heap; And on the shelf till next October laid Euclid and Wood and Aristotle sleep! TOGATUS. _The Gownsman._ Cambridge, January 7, 1831. ―――― WOES OF CHANGE, or The Lachrymatory Lament of Laudator Temporis (et Rerum) Acti. By _Thomas Dibdin, Esq._ Improvement tolls the knell of what, of yore, We loved, and May-day garlands have gone by; And _Charleys_ on their posts now sleep no more, But hourly _weep_ the hours they used to cry! No more grim heads, each stuck upon a pike, On lookers _up_ from Temple Bar look _down_; The strikers at St. Dunstan’s cease to strike, They gave a _quarter’s_ notice, and left town. (And, could St. Dunstan’s _club_-mates _club_ to dine, Their “marble jaws” would make a curious clatter; Clay goblets would contain their wall-fruit wine, And all their pastry would be “stony batter!”) The Strand’s so _changed_, they’ve left no ‘_Change_ at all, Where beasts and beefeaters once held their sway; Exeter ’Change is turned into a hall, And operas that _ran_ have _run_ away! If many a coach, to _omnibus_ enlarged, Takes, for a tizzy, Dandyzettes or drabs, By such a fare the fair are fairly charged, Yet why have chariots dwindled down to _cabs_? Who but for _Porridge Island_ sheds a tear, Its sav’ry steam’s to ev’ry nose a loss! Shops in _arcades_ to buyers may be dear! But will they give us back one golden cross?