[102] [The sixth edition of _Childe Harold's Pilgrimage_ (1813) was "printed by T. Davison, Whitefriars, for John Murray, Bookseller to the Admiralty, and the Board of Longitude." Medwin (_Conversations_, 1824, p. 259) attributes to Byron a statement that Murray had to choose between continuing to be his publisher and printing the "Navy Lists," and "that there was no hesitation which way he should decide: the Admiralty carried the day." In his "Notes" to the _Conversations_ (November 2, 1824) Murray characterized "the passage about the Admiralty" as "unfounded in fact, and no otherwise deserving of notice than to mark its absurdity."] BALLAD. TO THE TUNE OF "SALLEY IN OUR ALLEY." 1. OF all the twice ten thousand bards That ever penned a canto, Whom Pudding or whom Praise rewards For lining a portmanteau; Of all the poets ever known, From Grub-street to Fop's Alley,[103] The Muse may boast--the World must own There's none like pretty Gally![104] 2. He writes as well as any Miss, Has published many a poem; The shame is yours, the gain is his, In case you should not know 'em: He has ten thousand pounds a year-- I do not mean to vally-- His songs at sixpence would be dear, So give them gratis, Gaily! 3. And if this statement should seem queer, Or set down in a hurry, Go, ask (if he will be sincere) His bookseller--John Murray. Come, say, how many have been sold, And don't stand shilly-shally, Of bound and lettered, red and gold, Well printed works of Gally. 4. For Astley's circus Upton[105] writes, And also for the Surry; (_sic_) Fitzgerald weekly still recites, Though grinning Critics worry: Miss Holford's Peg, and Sotheby's Saul, In fame exactly tally; From Stationer's Hall to Grocer's Stall They go--and so does Gally. 5. He rode upon a Camel's hump[106] Through Araby the sandy, Which surely must have hurt the rump Of this poetic dandy. His rhymes are of the costive kind, And barren as each valley In deserts which he left behind Has been the Muse of Gally. 6. He has a Seat in Parliament, Is fat and passing wealthy; And surely he should be content With these and being healthy: But Great Ambition will misrule Men at all risks to sally,-- Now makes a poet--now a fool, And _we_ know _which_--of Gally. 7.