You grow up, and you discover What it is to be a lover. Some young lady is selected— Poor, perhaps, but well-connected, Whom you hail (for Love is blind) As the Queen of Fairy-kind. Though she’s plain—perhaps unsightly, Makes her face up—laces tightly, In her form your fancy traces All the gifts of all the graces. Rivals none the maiden woo, So you take her and she takes you! Ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! Joke beginning, Never ceases, Till your inning Time releases; On your way You blindly stray, And day by day The joke increases! Ten years later—Time progresses— Sours your temper—thins your tresses; Fancy, then, her chain relaxes; Rates are facts and so are taxes. Fairy Queen’s no longer young— Fairy Queen has such a tongue! Twins have probably intruded— Quite unbidden—just as you did; They’re a source of care and trouble— Just as you were—only double. Comes at last the final stroke— Time has had his little joke! Ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! Daily driven (Wife as drover) Ill you’ve thriven— Ne’er in clover: Lastly, when Threescore and ten (And not till then), The joke is over! Ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! ho! Then—and then The joke is over! LIMITED LIABILITY SOME seven men form an Association (If possible, all Peers and Baronets), They start off with a public declaration To what extent they mean to pay their debts. That’s called their Capital: if they are wary They will not quote it at a sum immense. The figure’s immaterial—it may vary From eighteen million down to eighteenpence. _I_ should put it rather low; The good sense of doing so Will be evident at once to any debtor. When it’s left to you to say What amount you mean to pay, Why, the lower you can put it at, the better.