'
Here there came a wonderful, unspellable choking sound, partly through
the mouth, partly through the nose, from several of the officers; and
old General Chattesworth, who was frowning hard upon his dessert-plate,
cried, 'Order, gentlemen,' in a stern, but very tremulous undertone.
Lord Castlemallard, leaning upon his elbow, was staring with a grave and
dreamy curiosity at the songster, and neither he nor his lordship heard
the interruption, and on went the pleasant ditty; and as the musician
regularly repeated the last two lines like a clerk in a piece of
psalmody, the young wags, to save themselves from bursting outright,
joined in the chorus, while verse after verse waxed more uproarious and
hilarious, and gave a singular relief to Loftus's thin, high, quavering
solo:--
(_Loftus, solo._)
'But to forbear from flesh, fowl, fish,
And eat potatoes in a dish,
Done o'er with amber, or a mess
Of ringos in a Spanish dress
(_Chorus of Officers._)
'Done o'er with amber, or a mess
Of ringos in a Spanish dress.'
''Tis a good song,' murmured Doctor Walsingham in Lord Castlemallard's
ear--'I know the verses well--the ingenious and pious Howel penned them
in the reign of King James the First.
Pages:
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95