Classic Poem

TO THE TUNE OF " SALLY IN OUR ALLEY"

[First published complete in the Edition of 1904 from a manuscript in the possession of Mr. Murray. This and the two following poems are in a letter to John Murray, dated April 11, 1818.]

Of all the twice ten thousand bards
That ever penn'd a canto.
Whom Pudding or whom Praise rewards
For lining a portmanteau;
Of all the poets ever known,
From Grub-street to Fop's Alley,
The Muse may boast — the World must own
There's none like pretty Gally!

He writes as well as any Miss,
Has publish'd many a poem;
The shame is yours, the gain is his,
In case you should not know 'em:
He has ten thousand pounds a year —
I do not mean to vally —
His songs at sixpence would be dear,
So give them gratis, Gally!

And if this statement should seem queer,
Or set down in a hurry,
Go, ask (if he will be sincere)
His bookseller — John Murray.
Come, say, how many have been sold,
And don't stand shilly-shally,
Of bound and letter'd, red and gold,
Well printed works of Gally.

For Astley's circus Upton writes,
And also for the Surry ( sic );
Fitzgerald weekly still recites,
Though grinning Critics worry:
Miss Holford's Peg, and Sotheby's Saul,
In fame exactly tally;
From Stationer's Hall to Grocer's Stall
They go — and so does Gally.

He rode upon a Camel's hump
Through Araby the sandy,
Which surely must have hurt the rump
Of this poetic dandy.
His rhymes are of the costive kind,
And barren as each valley
In deserts which he left behind
Has been the Muse of Gally.

He has a Seat in Parliament,
Is fat and passing wealthy;
And surely he should be content
With these and being healthy:
But Great Ambition will misrule
Men at all risks to sally, —
Now makes a poet — now a fool,
And we know which — of Gally.

Some in the playhouse like to row,
Some with the Watch to battle.
Exchanging many a midnight blow
To Music of the Rattle.
Some folks like rowing on the Thames,
Some rowing in an Alley,
But all the Row my fancy claims
Is rowing of my Gally .