Classic Poem

Says Captain John Clay,
" 'Tis the second of May,
All the town's in a humming condition,
Like bees in a hive —
Shall I give you a drive
To the Somerset House Exhibition? "
" You've tumbled, " I answered, " my wish on,
We'll go to this year's Exhibition: "
So, light as Queen Mab,
We enter'd his cab,
And drove to the new Exhibition.

We first, hard as bone,
View'd the models in stone,
And saw, like a turkey a dish on,
Fair Psyche on Zephyrs,
As spotless as heifers,
All making an odd Exhibition.
A polish'd defunct politician,
A Kemble, — the drama's magician,
A Mrs. H. Gurney,
A marble attorney;
And all in this Year's Exhibition.

We then, with our cat-
A-logue stow'd in our hat,
Ascended, with no expedition,
Where Hercules grapples
His larceny apples,
And guards this sublime Exhibition.
Upstairs, in a weary condition,
We mounted this grand Exhibition,
Saw Boys with a spaniel,
Two Flounders by Daniell,
And all in this Year's Exhibition.

A chief of dragoons
In tight red pantaloons,
Stood looking as fierce as Domitian;
A big Holofernes,
Whom Judith at her knees
Survey'd in a ticklish condition.
Indeed 'tis a fine Exhibition!
Pray mark in this Year's Exhibition
A fat Captive Negro,
Whose visage made me grow
Quite sad, in this new Exhibition.

There's Jesse Watts Russell,
A Waterloo Bustle,
May Morning — not painted by Titian;
A Boa Constrictor,
As big as the picture,
And all in this Year's Exhibition.
Indeed 'tis a fine Exhibition,
Pray note in this new Exhibition
A Farebrother Sheriff,
I should not much care if
He graced not this year's Exhibition.

There's mild Caradori,
H. Singleton's Glory,
A head of R. Gooch, a physician,
Charles Mathews revealing
His charms to the ceiling,
And all in this grand Exhibition.
A Snow-storm, a dresser with Fish on,
Three Smugglers prepared for sedition,
Five heads by Sir Thomas —
Should fate take him from us,
'Twould be a much worse Exhibition.

A Juliet by Briggs,
A Peasant and pigs,
A doctor descended from Priscian.
A Miss Charlotte Bestwich;
Not naming the rest which
Appear in this year's Exhibition.
Pray, reader, let no prohibition
Keep you from this year's Exhibition.
Do but go, and I trust
That you'll find this a just
Account of the new Exhibition.