Ap-Tudor! ap-Jones! oh!" cried nurse Jenny-ap-
But Taffy turn'd round, and call'd out in a trice,
"Jenny ap-Rice, hur could eat something nice,
A dainty Welch rabbit--go toast hur a slice
Of cheese, if you please, which better agrees
With the tooth of poor Taffy than physic and fees."
A pound Jenny got, and brought to his cot
The prime double Glo'ster, all hot! piping hot!
Was custard with mustard to Taffy ap-Jones.
"Buy some leeks, Jenny, and brew hur some caudle--
No more black doses from Doctor McDawdle!"
Jenny stew'd down a bunch into porridge, (Welch
And Taffy, Cot pless him! he wash'd down his lunch.
On the back of his hack next mom Doctor Mac
Ap answer'd his rap in a white cotton cap,
With another Welch rabbit just caught in his trap!
"A gobbling? you ghost Î" the Leech bellow'd loud,
"Does your mother know, Taffy, you're out of your
"Hur physic'd a week--at hur very last squeak,
Hur try'd toasted cheese and decoction of leek."
"I'm pocketting fees for the self-same disease
From the dustman next door--I'll prescribe toasted
And leek punch for lunch!" But the remedy fails--
What kills Pat from Kilmore, cures Taffy from Wales.
|In the year 1776," continued the Lauréat, "Mr. Philip Astley * transferred his equestrian troop to the 'Rounds.' To him succeeded Saunders, ** who brought forward into the 'circle' that 'wonderful child of promise,' his son, accompanied by the tailor riding to Brentford! To thee, Billy Button! and thy 'Buffo Caricatto,' Thompson, the tumbler, we owe some of the heartiest laughs of our youthful days. Ods 'wriggling, giggling, galloping, galloway,' we have made merry in St. Bartlemy!"
* In the early part of his career Mr. Astley paraded the streets of London, and dealt out his hand-bills to the servants and apprentices whom his trumpet and drum attracted to the doors as he passed along.
** Master Saunders, only seven years old, jumps through a hoop, and brings it over his head, and dances a hornpipe on the saddle, his horse going three-quarters speed round the circle! The Tailor riding to Brentford, by Mr. Belcher.-- Bartholomew Fair, 1796."
There were grand doings at the fair in 1786, 87 and 88. Palmer, "at the Greyhound," placarded Harlequin Proteus, and the Tailor done over. At the George Inn, Mr. Flockton exhibited the Italian Fantoccini, and the Tinker in a bustle. Mr. Jobson * put his puppets in motion; Mrs. Garmaris caravan, with the classical motto, _Hoc tempus et non aliter_, advertised vaulting by the juvenile imp. "Walk in, ladies and gentlemen," cried Mr. Smith, near the Swan Livery Stables; "and be enchanted among the rocks, fountains, and waterfalls of art!" Patrick O'Brien (o'ertopping Henry Blacker,** the seven feet four inches giant of 1761,) arrived in his teakettle. A goose, instructed by a poll parrot, sang several popular songs.