On the Scroll! And why not? Be you sure that it bears Many entries less worthy of record than theirs, The rough sea-faring fellows, whose names now go down, With applause from their Sovereign to swell their renown, To posterity's ears. And right pleasantly, too, They should sound on those ears; for, run over each crew And you'll find that those names have a true homely smack Both of country and kinship; there's JIM, there is Jack, There is BOB, there is BILL, TOM and GEORGE, CHARLIE, FRANK; Can you not hear them sound o'er the waves as in rank They go down to their work, ringing right cheery hail Through the shrieks of the storm that shall not make _them_ pale, Those bold Britons? They're brothers, sires, cousins, and sons, For see how the "family name" through them runs Those COTTONS could make up a crew at a pinch! Whilst the HOOKEYS and WHITES from that task need not flinch. Yes, these names sound as well on the Scroll, after all, As NAPOLEON or CÆSAR; and when the Great Call Of the last human Muster Roll comes, some plain "BILL," Whose business was rather to save than to kill, May step before mad ALEXANDER. Well, brothers, (You BUCKETTS, and WOODFORDS and COOPERS and others, Whose names he need hardly string into his rhymes,) _Punch_ hopes you may look on this Record sometimes With pleasant reflections. Mere words, he well knows, Will not--"butter your parsnips"--(to put sense in prose): But you have his hearty good will, and you know it,-- Right gladly he takes this occasion to show it! And when or wherever _another_ should come, Be sure your friend _Punch_ won't be careless or dumb!
I am really fond of the game, which is fortunate, though my partners don't think so; but I am free to confess, that nothing short of an absorbing admiration for it and desire to excel, could tempt me to brave the sarcasms, even insults, to which I am subjected. Your thoroughgoing Whist-player as such--admirable in private life as I personally know him to be--the moment he begins the daily business of his life, seems to cast his better nature to the winds. At another time and place he would lend a sympathetic ear to any tale of woe; now and here nothing seems to interest him but his own immediate welfare, which he pursues with concentrated energy and earnestness. I verily believe that if, at one of two adjoining tables, the chandelier fell on the players' heads to their exceeding detriment, the occupants of the other table would scarcely lift their eyes or interrupt their rubber for one moment. _Fiant chartæ ruat coelum_--let the cards be made whatever chandeliers fall.