Pun Upon Pye
Being asked once his opinion of the poetry of Pye, the then Poet Laureat, his reply was, that he thought very handsomely of some of Mr. P.’s poems, which he had read. This did not suffice, and he was pressed for his opinion of the Laureat-Ode that had just appeared in the public prints. Not having seen it, he desired his friend to read it to him, and the introductory lines containing something about the singing of birds, Wakefield abruptly silenced him with this happy allusion to the Laureat’s name, in the following nursery rhymes:—
“And when the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing:
And was not this a dainty dish
To set before a king.”