To drink, or not to drink? That is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler inwardly to suffer
The pangs and twitchings of uneasy stomach,
Or to take brandy-toddy 'gainst the colic,
And by imbibing end it? To drink,--to sleep,--
To snore;--and, by a snooze, to say we end
The head-ache, and the morning's parching thirst
That drinking's heir to;--'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To drink,--to pay,--
To pay the waiter's bill?--Ay--there's the rub;
For in that snipe-like bill, a stop may come,
When we would shuffle off our mortal score,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes sobriety of so long date;
For who could bear to hear the glasses ring
In concert clear--the chairman's ready toast--
The pops of out-drawn corks--the "hip hurrah!"
The eloquence of claret--and the songs,
Which often through the noisy revel break,
When a man--might his quietus make
With a full bottle? Who would sober be,
Or sip weak coffee through the live-long night;
But that the dread of being laid upon
That stretcher by policemen borne, on which
The reveller reclines,--puzzles me much,
And makes me rather tipple ginger beer,
Than fly to brandy, or to--
[Illustration: --HODGE'S SIN?]
Thus poverty doth make us Temp'rance men.
* * * * *
"TRY OUR BEST SYMPATHY."
It is a fact, when the deputation of the distressed manufacturers waited
upon Sir Robert Peel to represent to him their destitute condition, that
the Right Honourable Baronet declared he felt the deepest sympathy for
them. This is all very fine--but we fear greatly, if Sir Robert should be
inclined to make a commercial speculation of his _sympathy_, that he would
go into the market with
[Illustration: A VERY SMALL STOCK-IN(G) TRADE.]
* * * * *