["The most trenchant critics of the Government since its
formation have been Mr. PRINGLE and Mr. HOGGE."--_British
Weekly_].
The gipsy camping in a dingle
I reckon as a lucky dog;
He doesn't hear the voice of PRINGLE,
He doesn't hear the snorts of HOGGE.
The moujik crouching in his ingle
Somewhere near Tomsk or Taganrog
I envy; he is far from PRINGLE
And equally remote from HOGGE.
I find them deadly when they're single,
But deadlier in the duologue,
When the insufferable PRINGLE
Backs the intolerable HOGGE.
I'd rather walk for miles on shingle
Or flounder knee-deep in a bog
Than listen to a speech from PRINGLE
Or hearken to the howls of HOGGE.
Their tyrannous exactions mingle
The vices of Kings Stork and Log;
One day I give the palm to PRINGLE,
The next I offer it to HOGGE.
The style of _Mr. Alfred Jingle_
Was jumpy, but he did not clog
His sense with woolly words, like PRINGLE,
With priggish petulance, like HOGGE.
I'd love to see the _Bing Boys_ bingle,
To go to music-halls _incog._,
Instead of being posed by PRINGLE
And heckled by the hateful HOGGE.
My appetite is gone; I "pingle"
(As Norfolk puts it) with my prog;
My meals are marred by thoughts of PRINGLE,
My sleep is massacred by HOGGE.
O patriots, with your nerves a-tingle,
With all your righteous souls agog,
Will none of you demolish PRINGLE
And utterly extinguish HOGGE?
* * * * *