, handkerchiefs, tapestry too, in the jolly days
When our sires wore a quaint but light coat of blue paint,
With a few streaks of red upon high days and holidays;
And that long, long 'ere BACON and BUNGAY were taken
Unawares by the sudden blow up of their crucible,
Each Chinese fire-eater had found "vile saltpetre"
To the purpose of killing "tall fellows" reducible.
Then the more he enquires concerning their sires,
The greater the reason he sees to anticipate
That much of the mystery shrouding the history
Of Europe, the records of China will dissipate;
For as old HOANG TI built the wall, strong and high,
To check the fierce Huns as it now checks the Tartars,
Not long after old HANNIBAL conquered at Cannae,
And then wasted his time in his snug winter quarters;
And as if China's sons had not driven those Huns
Into Europe by many a subsequent battle, a
Longer respite, I ween, for old Rome there had been,
Nor Europe so early had bowed to an ATTILA.
It is clear that a stranger and far greater danger
Threatened Rome when on Carthage her wrath she was wreaking;
And that Cato the Censor had shown greater sense, or
Discernment, by crying "_Delenda est_ Peking!"
But alas! all these stories of China's old glories,
_Mr. Punch_ plainly sees it is vain to recall,
Since the course of the nation in civilisation
Has for ages been typified best by its wall.
No more, like his sires, the Chinese aspires
In science and art to be making some new step;
But the national skill, like a soldier on drill,
Keeps performing a kind of perpetual goose-step.
For the vast population, the _hand_ cultivation
Of the still fertile country no longer suffices;
Though to drain swamps they toil, and to carry up soil
To the rocky hill sides, no unfrequent device is.
And, on seeing their dainties, poor _Punch_ fit to faint is,
As he cries, "Nought but famine gives such things a price!"
"Rats and mice, and such _small_ deer," snakes and puppies are all dear.
As helping to eke out their pittance of rice.
Now whilst thus his quick wit is on their antiquities
Busy as that of a LAYARD or BONOMI;
Or, like that of M'CULLOCH, of pig, sheep, and bullock,
Rice and tea, is discussing the social economy,
There springs up a great riot near, and the patriot
Army comes marching along in its pride;
Crying out as they go, "We are hostile to Fo!"
They fling down the josses on every