A Custom-House Breeze
ONE day—no matter for the month or year,
Calais packet, just come over,
And safely moor’d within the pier,
Began to land her passengers at Dover;
All glad to end a voyage long and rough.
And during which,
Through roll and pitch,
The Ocean-King had sickophants enough!
Away, as fast as they could walk or run,
Eager for steady rooms and quiet meals,
With bundles, bags, and boxes at their heels,
Away the passengers all went but one,
A female, who from some mysterious check,
Still linger’d on the steamer’s deck,
As if she did not care for land a tittle,
For horizontal rooms, and cleanly victual—
Or nervously afraid to put
Her foot
Into an Isle described as “tight and little.”
In vain commissioner and touter,
Porter and waiter throng’d about her;
Boring, as such officials only bore—
In spite of rope and barrow, knot and truck,
Of plank and ladder, there she stuck,
She couldn’t, no, she wouldn’t go on shore.
“But, ma’am,” the steward interfered,
“The wessel must be cleared.
You mustn’t stay aboard, ma’am, no one don’t!
It’s quite agin the orders so to do—
And all the passengers is gone but you.”
Says she, “I cannot go ashore and won’t!”
“You ought to!”
“But I can’t!”
“You must!”
“I shan’t!”
At last, attracted by the racket,
’Twixt gown and jacket,
The captain came himself, and cap in hand,
Begg’d very civilly to understand
Wherefore the lady could not leave the packet.
“Why then,” the lady whispered with a shiver,
That made the accents quiver,
“I’ve got some foreign silks about me pinn’d,
In short, so many things, all contraband,
To tell the truth I am afraid to land,
In such a searching wind!”
LONDON: E. MOXON, SON, & CO., 1 Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, E. C.
The Press and the Public, alike in Great Britain and her Colonies and in the United States, unite in their testimony to the immense superiority of Messrs. Moxon’s “Popular Poets” over any other similar Collections published by any other House. Their possession of the Copyright Works of Coleridge, Hood, Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, and other great National Poets, places this Series above rivalry.
New Volume now ready.
21. HOOD’S POETICAL WORKS. Illustrated by Gustave Doré and Alfred Thompson. Second Series.
| 1. Byron. | 6. Moore. | 11. Tupper. | 16. Humorous. |
| 2. Longfellow. | 7. Hood. | 12. Milton. | 17. American. |
| 3. Wordsworth. | 8. Keats. | 13. Campbell. | 18. Mrs. Hemans. |
| 4. Scott. | 9. Coleridge. | 14. Pope. | 19. Thomson. |
| 5. Shelley. | 10. Burns. | 15. Cowper. | 20. Miscellaneous. [ In the Press. |
CHARLES LAMB’S WORKS.—CENTENARY EDITION.
THE LIFE, LETTERS, AND WRITINGS OF CHARLES LAMB.
Edited by PERCY FITZGERALD, M.A., F.S.A.
This is the first Complete Edition of “Lamb’s Life and Writings” that has been offered to the public. The Memoir by Talfourd, with the “Final Memorials,” has been combined, while all the curious and interesting information that has come to light since he wrote has been added in the form of Notes, thus supplying a complete view of Lamb’s career. The letters have been placed with the rest of the correspondence, where also will be found many hitherto unprinted and uncollected letters. The miscellaneous pieces comprise many new articles in prose and verse, while a full Index to the Life, Works, and Letters will be given at the end of the last volume.
“A very charming biography, as well as a subtle and candid criticism on dear old Elia.”—Standard.
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THE HOOD-DORE.
The Complete Works of Thomas Hood, in Ten Volumes, containing all the Writings of this Popular Author (“Hood’s Own,” First and Second Series, Hood’s Comic and Serious Poems included), with all the Original Illustrations by Cruikshank, Leech, &c.
⁂ This Edition contains also the Memorials of Thomas Hood, Edited by his Son and Daughter.
Thomas Hood. Illustrated by Birket Foster. First Series. With Engravings, 21s.
E. Moxon, Son, & Co., Dorset Buildings, Salisbury Square.
Notes
1 Tarantula.
2 The name of a well-known lion at that time in the Zoological Gardens.
3 A word caught from some American Trader in passing.
4 See the story of Sidi Nonman, in the “Arabian Nights.”
5 Captain Kater, the moon’s surveyor.
6 The doctor’s composition for a night-cap.
7 “Since this poem was written, Doctor Ireland and those in authority under him have reduced the fares. It is gratifying to the English people to know that while butcher’s meat is rising tombs are falling.”—Note in Third Edition.
8 The daughter of William Harvey, the artist.
9 Solomon Eagle.
10 The late favourite of the King’s Theatre, who left the pas seul of life, for a perpetual Ball. Is not that her effigy now commonly borne about by the Italian image vendors—an ethereal form holding a wreath with both hands above her head—and her husband, in emblem, beneath her foot?
11 Geysers:—the boiling springs in Iceland.
12 Query, purly?—Printer’s Devil.
13 This word is omitted in the later edition.
14 The Adelphi.
15 The name of the lion in the Zoological Gardens.