--"what a chance"--
By gammoning the Polka.

Professors swarm in every street,
'Tis ground on barrel organs sweet;
And every friend you chance to meet
Asks, if you dance the Polka.

Then over Fanny Ellsler came,
Brilliant with trans-Atlantic fame;
Says she, I'm German by my name,
So best I know the Polka.

And the row de dow she danced,
And in short clothes and red heels pranced,
And, as she skipped, her red heels glanced
In the Bohemian Polka.

But, now, my song is near its close,
A secret, now, I will disclose,
Don't tell, for it's beneath the rose,
A humbug is the Polka.

Then heigh for humbug France or Spain,
Who brings back our old steps again,
Which John Bull will applaud amain,
Just as he does the Polka."

CHAPTER XXIII.

An English dinner--Consols at par--The "Running Rein" case--Other
frauds--Royal visitors--Opening letters by Government--Duke of
Wellington's Statue--Barry on the Thames--Visit of Louis
Philippe--Guano--Queen opens Royal Exchange--Lord Mayor hissed.

As the length of time between this date, and the present writing is
great, and our social habits have somewhat changed, it may be interesting
to some of my readers to hear a Frenchman's account of an upper-class
dinner. It is taken from the _Constitutionel_, the organ of M. Thiers:

"Madeira wine has been out of fashion, in England, for some time.
Sherry and Port (to which are occasionally added Bordeaux and
Champagne, Rhenish wines and Hermitage) are, now, the only wines to
be seen on the tables of the rich. As for beer (the national drink),
it only makes its appearance at a banquet, for remembrance sake, and
in very small quantity. Port wine is held in especial favour by the
English, because, while it is more impregnated with alcohol than any
other, it is, at the same time the least irritating, and facilitates,
more than all the rest, the important operations of the digestive
organs. In order, however, to be possessed of all the requisite
qualities, it must not only be of the finest growth, or have been
eight or nine years in the cellar, but the regular connoisseurs
insist that it must cross the line several times, in order to be
first-rate. Five or six servants, with powdered wigs, in silk
stockings and knee breeches, hover about the table. The covers are
always changed