THE BATTERY WAR.26
“Twice twenty shoe-boys, twice two dozen guards,
Chairmen and porters, hackney-coachmen, dandies!”
“
ere, Dickens!—go fetch my great-coat and umbrella,
Tell Johnny and Robert to put on their shoes;
And Dickens—take something to drink, my good fellow,
You may go with Tom Ostler, along, if you choose:
You must put your new coat on, but mind and be quiet,
Till my clerk, Mr. Scribble, shall tip you the wink;
Then, roar like the devil—hiss—kick up a riot!
I imagine we’ll settle the thing in a twink.”
Arrived at the Hall, they were nothing too early;
Little Hartman was placed, like King Log, in the chair,
Supported, for contrast, by modest King Charlie;
The General was speaking, who is to be Mayor:
Undaunted he stood in the midst of the bobbery,
Clerks, footmen, and dandies—ye gods! what a noise!
No thief in Fly-Market, just caught in a robbery,
Could raise such a clatter of blackguards and boys.
