The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 402, Supplementary Number (1829) — John Shaqi
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 402, Supplementary Number (1829)Various
General
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 402, Supplementary Number (1829)
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
We intend to let the facetious author have his own _say_ on the comical
contents of this very comical little work, by merely running over a few
of the head and tail pieces of the several pages. We think with Mr.
Hood, that "In the Christmas Holidays, or rather, Holly Days, according
to one of the emblems of the season, we naturally look for mirth.
Christmas is strictly a Comic Annual, and its specific gaiety is even
implied in the specific gravity of its oxen." So much for the design,
which is far more congenial to our feelings than the thousand and one
sonnets, pointless epigrams, laments, and monodies, which are usually
showered from crimson and gold envelopes at this dull season of the
year. There are thirty-seven pieces--all in humorous and "righte merrie
conceite." We shall give a few random extracts, or specimens, and then
run over the cuts. Our first is--(and what should it be?)
NUMBER ONE.
"It's very hard! and so it is,
To live in such a row,
And witness this, that every Miss
But me has got a beau.
For Love goes calling up and down,
But here he seems to shun.
I'm sure he has been asked enough
To call at Number One!
"I'm sick of all the double knocks
That come to Number Four!
At Number Three I often see
A lover at the door;
And one in blue, at Number Two,
Calls daily like a dun,--
It's very hard they come so near
And not at Number One.
"Miss Bell, I hear, has got a dear
Exactly to her mind,
By sitting at the window pane
Without a bit of blind;
But I go in the balcony,
Which she has never done,
Yet arts that thrive at Number Five
Don't take at Number One.
"'Tis hard with plenty in the street,
And plenty passing by,--
There's nice young men at Number Ten,
But only rather shy;
And Mrs. Smith across the way
Has got a grown-up son.
But la! he hardly seems to know
There is a Number One!
"There's Mr. Wick at Number Nine,
But he's intent on pelf,
And though he's pious, will not love
His neighbour as himself.
At Number Seven there was a sale--
The goods had quite a run!
And here I've got my single lot
On hand at Number One!
"My mother often sits at work
And talks of props and stays,
And what a comfort I shall be
In her declining days!
The very maids about the house
Have set me down a nun,
The sweethearts all belong to them
That call at Number One!
"Once only, when the flue took fire,
One Friday afternoon,
Young Mr. Long came kindly in,
And told me not to swoon.
Why can't he come again without
The Phoenix and the Sun?
We cannot always have a flue
On fire at Number One!
"I am not old, I am not plain,
Nor awkward in my gait--
I am not crooked like the bride
That went from Number Eight;
I'm sure white satin made her look
As brown as any bun--
But even beauty has no chance
I think at Number One.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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