The Queen of Hearts, VIRGO, a bright constellation,
(That she'll turn up a trump is the hope of the nation),
By a whole pack of outlandish knaves who are suing,
Is sorely beset, for she shrinks from their wooing.
Each holds out a circle in which to entrap her,
And ev'ry one hopes that _he_ shall kidnap her.
But occult operations behind the state curtain
Shew an _Elph_, that makes _their_ success very uncertain.
Now, look to the left, and you'll see that _Egalité_,
That awful French thing, wants to pull down _Regality_;
And, much to the horror of all Christian people,
It tugs at the Church,—or, at least, at the steeple.
A sage-looking wight, who is marking the "Movement,"
Seems to think it by no means would be an improvement;
But as prophecies often show forth strange vagaries,
And, nine times in ten, are explained by contraries,
Let us hope we shall find that a people's affection
Is the very best remedy 'gainst disaffection.
May it crush the foul traitors who love revolution,
And preserve all that's good in our wise constitution.
[Illustration:
JANUARY.—New Year's Eve.
]