The Comic Almanack, Volume 2: An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities — John Shaqi
The Comic Almanack, Volume 2: An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and OdditiesThackeray, William Makepeace
Philosophy
The Comic Almanack, Volume 2: An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities
Thackeray, William Makepeace
Almanacs, English -- England -- London; English wit and humor
"We pledge ourselves to do our very best,
And leave to fickle fortune all the rest.
Aided by you we boldly laugh at fate,—
And, by the way, half-price at half past eight,
'Tis here that human nature may be learned,—
_Vivat Regina!_—Money not returned!"
The play of "Macbeth," _from_ the text of Shakspeare, now proceeded, and
the manager's candour in using the disjunctive _from_ was speedily
visible. The ambitious thane wore a plaid shawl, commonly called a
horse-cloth, and a pair of stocking-drawers, with a breast-plate formed
of the brass ornaments used to cover the screws of tent bedsteads. The
scene with the witches was thrown into such confusion by the performers
not knowing their parts, that it was impossible to say which was witch,
and, by way of an overflow at half-price, the rain came on in such
torrents at about half-past eight, that in the fourth act Macbeth came
on under an umbrella, beneath the shelter of which he concluded the
performance. The damp thus thrown on the efforts of the new lessee
brought the season to a precipitate close, and Doublethrust abdicated
the managerial throne after a short rain, but by no means a merry one.
WHO SHALL EDUCATE THE PRINCE OF WALES?
Wanted a Tutor!
His qualities we thus define:—
In mind he must be masculine,
In politics quite neuter.
Of law he must possess a smattering,
Sufficient just to set him chattering
On the prerogatives of kings,
And other less important things.
Of how the English crown
Has come from William down;
How it descended smooth and even,
Till from the Empress Maud
It was unjustly clawed,
By her ambitious younger cousin Stephen.
How subsequently John
Did try it on;
Causing a slight digression
In the succession.
And how, to come to times much nigher,
The title to the crown,
Upon the heirs was settled down,
Of the Princess Sophia.
Wanted a Tutor for the Prince of Wales!
No one whose patience ever fails,
Whate'er that patience may occur to try,
Need take the trouble to apply.
He must possess the power
Of making learning quite a treat;
Retaining nothing but the sweet,
And throwing out the sour.
To grammar and orthography,
To spelling and geography,
To Latin and geometry,
To Greek and trigonometry,
He must be able to impart
Charms that will win a royal heart.
And this must all be done indeed
At railroad speed.
He must possess the power of teaching faster
Than those who promise in a week
To teach their pupils Spanish, French, or Greek,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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