so hard to do it. There was not a pimple on
his face, his cheeks were rosy and glistening, but not flushed; and his
eyes were as bright and clear and deep as a couple of large sapphires.

This nobleman said a few words, without any excitement, or desire to
create it, every word to the point, and the best that could be chosen
not to go beyond the point. There was no attempt at eloquence, and yet
the speech was eloquent, because it suggested so much more than was
said. More excitable natures, overcome by half a bottle, resolved to
have the other half, in honour of that toast.

Then the Marquis did a very kind and thoughtful thing, for which he
deserved a bottle of the Royal Tokay, such as even Napoleon could not
obtain. When the cheering was done, and every eye was fixed upon the
blushing Scudamore--who felt himself, under that fixture, like an insect
under a lens which the sun is turning into a burning-glass--the Chairman
perceived his sad plight, and to give him more time and more spirit,
rose again.

"Gentlemen," he said, "or I would rather call you brother Englishmen at
this moment, I have forgotten one thing. Before our young hero replies
to his health, let us give him that spirited song 'Billy Blue,' which is
well known to every man here, I'll be bound. Tell the drummer down
there to be ready for chorus." Billy Blue, though almost forgotten now
(because the enemy would not fight him), the blockader of Brest, the
hardy, skilful, and ever watchful Admiral Cornwallis, would be known to
us nearly as well as Nelson, if fame were not a lottery.

As the Lord-Lieutenant waved his hand, the company rose with one accord,
and followed the lead of his strong clear voice in the popular song,
called

"BILLY BLUE"

1

"'Tis a terrible time for Englishmen;
All tyrants do abhor them;
Every one of them hath to fight with ten,
And the Lord alone is for them.
But the Lord hath given the strong right hand,
And the courage to face the thunder;
If a Frenchman treads this English land,
He shall find his grave thereunder.

CHORUS

Britannia is the Ocean-Queen, and she standeth staunch and
true,
With Nelson for her faulchion keen, and her buckler Billy Blue.

2

"They are mustering on yon Gallic coasts,
You can see them from this high land,
The biggest of