Notwithstanding all the faults found with Barry’s designs, there are really only four good reasons of complaint. The Houses of Parliament are built on too low a site; they are built in a style of architecture totally unsuited for their purposes, and our climate; they are built of a very perishable stone, which is already crumbling to decay; and the chamber in which the Commons meet is only just large enough to accommodate one-half of the members. ―――― THE WATER THAT JOHN DRINKS. This is the water that John drinks. This is the Thames with its cento of stink, That supplies the water that John drinks. * * * * * (_Millions of Money._) This is the price that we pay to wink At the vested int’rests that fill to the brink, The network of sewers from cesspool and sink, That feed the fish that float in the ink- y stream of the Thames with its cento of stink, That supplies the water that John does drink. _Punch._ 1849. ―――― THE SHOW THAT SHAM BUILT. This is the Show that Sham built. This is the fault that lay in the show, &c. This is the fat that came of the fault, &c. This is the hog that eat the fat, &c. This is the press that worried the hog, &c. This is the swell, commercially born, who cursed the press, &c. This is the grammar, all tattered and torn, that belonged to the swell, &c. This is the feast of much decency shorn, that aired the grammar, &c. And this is the home, better known as _Cremorne_, Fit place for the feast of all decency shorn, That aired the grammar, all tattered and torn, That belonged to the swell (commercially born) That cursed the press, That worried the hog, That eat the fat, That came of the fault, That lay in the Show, That Sham built. _The Tomahawk._ Nov. 9, 1867. (Lord Mayor’s Day.) ―――― In 1872 a skit on the promoters of the _Emma_ mines was published, as “_A New Nursery Ballad_, embellished with portraits of some of the most _Emma_-nent men of the Day.” Salt Lake City, Utah. Published by and for Emma A. Sell. The frontispiece represented Knaves and Asses, and the other illustrations quaintly represented the various events alluded to in the Rhyme: This is the mine that Lyon struck * * * * * These are the Dupes who insanely tore To subscribe the Sum the Directors swore, Was worth a Million of Pounds and more, On the return of the Swell who was sent to explore, The mine by a general of the army corps, Who was backed by the Britishers, one, two, three, four, Who shared with the Yanks from the Eastern shore, Who joined with the men who had cleared out the ore, That lay in the mine that Lyon struck. ――――