This is all I now shall ask,
Hie thee, monarch, to thy task;
Finish Eldon's frills and borders,
Then return for further orders.
Oh what progress for our sake,
Kings in millinery make!
Ribands, garters, and such things,
Are supplied by _other_ Kings--
Ferdinand his rank denotes
By providing petticoats.
HAT _VERSUS_ WIG.
1827.
"At the interment of the Duke of York, Lord Eldon, in order to guard
against the effects of the damp, stood upon his hat during the whole
of the ceremony."
--_metus omnes et inexorabile fatum
subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis
avari_.
'Twixt Eldon's Hat and Eldon's Wig
There lately rose an altercation,--
Each with its own importance big,
Disputing _which_ most serves the nation.
Quoth Wig, with consequential air,
"Pooh! pooh! you surely can't design,
"My worthy beaver, to compare
"Your station in the state with mine.
"Who meets the learned legal crew?
"Who fronts the lordly Senate's pride?
"The Wig, the Wig, my friend--while you
"Hang dangling on some peg outside.
"Oh! 'tis the Wig, that rules, like Love,
"Senate and Court, with like _eclat_--
"And wards below and lords above,
"For Law is Wig and Wig is Law!
"Who tried the long, _Long_ WELLESLEY suit,
"Which tried one's patience, in return?
"Not thou, oh Hat!--tho' _couldst_ thou do't,
"Of other _brims_[1] than thine thou'dst learn.
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