FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   >>   >|  
en cocks, And above them all, The dome of St. Paul, With its Golden Cross and its Golden Ball, Shone out as if newly burnished! CCXXII. And lo! for Golden Hours and Joys, Troops of glittering Golden Boys Danced along with a jocund noise, And their gilded emblems carried! In short, 'twas the year's most Golden Day, By mortals call'd the First of May, When Miss Kilmansegg, Of the Golden Leg, With a Golden Ring was married! CCXXIII. And thousands of children, women, and men, Counted the clock from eight till ten, From St. James's sonorous steeple; For next to that interesting job, The hanging of Jack, or Bill, or Bob, There's nothing so draws a London mob As the noosing of very rich people. CCXXIV. And a treat it was for the mob to behold The Bridal Carriage that blazed with gold! And the Footmen tall and the Coachman bold, In liveries so resplendent-- Coats you wonder'd to see in place, They seem'd so rich with golden lace, That they might have been independent. CCXXV. Coats, that made those menials proud Gaze with scorn on the dingy crowd, From their gilded elevations; Not to forget that saucy lad (Ostentation's favorite cad); The Page, who look'd, so splendidly clad, Like a Page of the "Wealth of Nations." CCXXVI. But the Coachman carried off the state, With what was a Lancashire body of late Turn'd into a Dresden Figure; With a bridal Nosegay of early bloom, About the size of a birchen broom, And so huge a White Favor, had Gog been Groom He need not have worn a bigger. CCXXVII. And then to see the Groom! the Count With Foreign Orders to such an amount, And whiskers so wild--nay, bestial; He seem'd to have borrow'd the shaggy hair As well as the Stars of the Polar Bear, To make him look celestial! CCXXVIII. And then--Great Jove!--the struggle, the crush, The screams, the heaving, the awful rush, The swearing, the tearing, and fighting,-- The hats and bonnets smash'd like an egg-- To catch a glimpse of the Golden Leg, Which, between the steps and Miss Kilmansegg, Was fully display'd in alighting! CCXXIX. From the Golden Ankle up to the Knee There it was for the mob to see! A shocking act had it chanced to be A crooked leg or a skinny: But although a magnificent veil she wore. Such as never was seen before, In case of blushes, she blush'd no more Than George the First on a guinea! CCXXX.
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   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   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Golden
 

Coachman

 

Kilmansegg

 

carried

 

gilded

 
whiskers
 
amount
 

CCXXVI

 

Dresden

 
Nosegay

shaggy

 

bridal

 
borrow
 

bestial

 

Lancashire

 
Figure
 

birchen

 
Foreign
 

CCXXVII

 
bigger

Orders

 

screams

 

crooked

 
skinny
 
magnificent
 

chanced

 

CCXXIX

 
alighting
 
shocking
 

George


guinea

 
blushes
 

display

 

struggle

 
Nations
 

heaving

 

CCXXVIII

 

celestial

 

swearing

 
glimpse

fighting

 
tearing
 

bonnets

 

married

 

CCXXIII

 

mortals

 

thousands

 

children

 

sonorous

 
steeple