(_Spithead, July 23, 1887._)
[IN replying to a Naval Deputation which waited upon the QUEEN with
a Jubilee Album and Address, HER MAJESTY said, "she felt certain
that the Navy would always uphold the honour of the Kingdom."]
RIGHT Royal Lady on the throne!
From stem to starn, from top to kelson,
The British Fleet is all your own,
To-day as in them times of NELSON.
'Twill help you still to rule the wave,
Though swabs may croak and lubbers twaddle;
That Album MILNE our Admiral gave,
Shows many a change in rig and model,
But could they hail us at Spithead.
To-day, old DRAKE, or HOWE or HOWARD,
They'd find the race as never bred,
To scour the brine, traitor or coward.
What the old _Victory_ did of old,
The _Ajax_ or the _Devastation_
Would dare to-day, and JACK makes bold,
In this here year of Jubilation,
To answer to his Sovereign's trust,
Like every British son of ADAM,
('Midst the enthoosiatic bust
Of loud hoorays) _his_ "Aye, aye, Madam!"
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MR. PUNCH'S HISTORICAL PARALLELS. No. 1.
[Illustration: LORD CHURCHILL, KNOWN AS GRANDOLPH, AT THE BATTLE OF THE
ESTIMATES.]
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