FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143  
144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   >>   >|  
And when she took to squall and kick-- For pain will wring, and pins will prick, E'en the wealthiest nabob's daughter-- They gave her no vulgar Dalby or gin, But a liquor with leaf of gold therein, Videlicet,--Dantzic Water. XXXVI. In short she was born, and bred, and nurst, And drest in the best from the very first, To please the genteelest censor-- And then, as soon as strength would allow, Was vaccinated, as babes are now, With virus ta'en from the best-bred cow Of Lord Althorpe's--now Earl Spencer. HER CHRISTENING. XXXVII. Though Shakspeare asks us, "What's in a name?" (As if cognomens were much the same), There's really a very great scope in it. A name?--why, wasn't there Doctor Dodd, That servant at once of Mammon and God, Who found four thousand pounds and odd, A prison--a cart--and a rope in it? XXXVIII. A name?--if the party had a voice, What mortal would be a Bugg by choice? As a Hogg, a Grubb, or a Chubb rejoice? Or any such nauseous blazon? Not to mention many a vulgar name, That would make a door-plate blush for shame, If door-plates were not so brazen! XXXIX. A name?--it has more than nominal worth, And belongs to good or bad luck at birth-- As dames of a certain degree know. In spite of his Page's hat and hose, His Page's jacket, and buttons in rows, Bob only sounds like a page in prose Till turn'd into Rupertino. XL. Now to christen the infant Kilmansegg, For days and days it was quite a plague, To hunt the list in the Lexicon: And scores were tried, like coin, by the ring, Ere names were found just the proper thing For a minor rich as a Mexican. XLI. Then cards were sent, the presence to beg Of all the kin of Kilmansegg, White, yellow, and brown relations: Brothers, Wardens of City Halls, And Uncles--rich as three Golden Balls From taking pledges of nations. XLII. Nephews, whom Fortune seem'd to bewitch, Rising in life like rockets-- Nieces, whose dowries knew no hitch-- Aunts, as certain of dying rich As candles in golden sockets-- Cousins German and Cousins' sons, All thriving and opulent--some had tons Of Kentish hops in their pockets! XLIII. For money had stuck to the race through life (As it did to the bushel when cash so rife Posed Ali Baba's brother's wife)-- And down to the Cousins and Coz-lings, The fortunate brood of the Kilmanseggs, As if they had come out of golden eggs,
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143  
144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Cousins
 

Kilmansegg

 

golden

 
vulgar
 
presence
 
buttons
 

jacket

 

Mexican

 

yellow

 

relations


plague
 
Brothers
 

infant

 

christen

 

Rupertino

 

Lexicon

 

proper

 

sounds

 

scores

 

Nephews


bushel
 

Kentish

 

pockets

 
Kilmanseggs
 

fortunate

 
brother
 
opulent
 

thriving

 

nations

 

pledges


Fortune

 

taking

 
Uncles
 
Golden
 

bewitch

 
candles
 

sockets

 

German

 

rockets

 

Rising


Nieces

 

dowries

 
Wardens
 

vaccinated

 
genteelest
 
censor
 

strength

 

Shakspeare

 
cognomens
 

Though