Great were the sums collected! And great results in consequence expected. But somehow, in the teeth of all endeavour, According to reports At yearly courts, The blacks, confound them! were as black as ever! Yes! spite of all the water sous’d aloft, Soap, plain and mottled, hard and soft, Soda and pearlash, huckaback and sand, Brooms, brushes, palm of hand, And scourers in the office strong and clever, In spite of all the tubbing, rubbing, scrubbing, The routing and the grubbing, The blacks, confound them! were as black as ever! In fact in his perennial speech, The Chairman own’d the niggers did not bleach, As he had hoped, From being washed and soaped, A circumstance he named with grief and pity; But still he had the happiness to say, For self and the Committee, By persevering in the present way And scrubbing at the Blacks from day to day, Although he could not promise perfect white, From certain symptoms that had come to light, He hoped in time to get them gray! Lull’d by this vague assurance, The friends and patrons of the sable tribe Continued to subscribe, And waited, waited on with much endurance-- Many a frugal sister, thrifty daughter-- Many a stinted widow, pinching mother-- With income by the tax made somewhat shorter, Still paid implicitly her crown per quarter, Only to hear as ev’ry year came round, That Mr. Treasurer had spent her pound; And as she loved her sable brother, That Mr. Treasurer must have another! But, spite of pounds or guineas, Instead of giving any hint Of turning to a neutral tint, The plaguy negroes and their piccaninnies Were still the colour of the bird that caws-- Only some very aged souls Showing a little gray upon their polls, Like daws! However, nothing dashed By such repeated failures, or abashed, The Court still met;--the Chairman and Directors, The Secretary, good at pen and ink, The worthy Treasurer, who kept the chink, And all the cash Collectors; With hundreds of that class, so kindly credulous, Without whose help, no charlatan alive, Or Bubble Company could hope to thrive, Or busy Chevalier, however sedulous-- Those good and easy innocents in fact, Who willingly receiving chaff for corn, As pointed out by Butler’s tact, Still find a secret pleasure in the act Of being pluck’d and shorn! However, in long hundreds there they were, Thronging the hot, and close, and dusty court, To hear once more addresses from the Chair, And regular Report.