  Alas! Is it true that the great R. M. Bowker No longer in Parliament covets a place? But follows his brethren—this gigantic joker? The greatest—the last of a very slow race. First Thomas the tartar; then William the wailer, Knocked under; they couldn’t keep pace with the age. Now the last of the trio, great Robert the railer, Has made his Bow curtly and gone from the stage. But oh! in the Senate the gap, will be shocking! Long, long will be missed that cantankerous face— He stood six feet three in his veldschoen and stocking. ’Twill take a braw chiel, mon, to fill up his place. Though his broadcloth was broadest, his humour was broader— Though his legs were the longest, the length of his jaw Out-did them; yet he was ne’er once called to order, By the fierce little knight whose mere wig’s nod was law. There may in the future be low jokes and high jokes; And good jokes and jokes good for nothing at all— But no more his sly jokes, his wry jokes and dry jokes— For this flower of all jokers is gone to the wall. But oh! on the road, as life’s journey we drag on, Whether main road or branch, Grief will turn on her main, Will ne’er take that buck of a wag on again. Yet, a paradox, trekking along on the mail road, He was, as I’ll prove, though ’twill nothing avail. Though he growled at the railroad and kept the old frail road, The whole of his journey he kept on the rail. But what of the “House” without one Bowker in it? Like a waggon deprived of its break, down ’twill go, And the whole span of Parliament into infinite Disorder will rush, with their Achter os flauw. Well, peace to the manes of these shaggy old lions! May the song of the steam-engine lull them to rest; May they, free from “obstruction,” “protest,” and “defiance” (But not in a buck-waggon) go to the blest. Be this their escutcheon:—A steam-engine rampant, A patriot floored on the floor of the “House,” A skinned nigger salient—sixteen oxen couchant, A waggon smashed up, and a broken-down smouse. H. W. Bidwell. Uitenhage, May 21. [Image of decorative bar not available.] |
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