Edward Farmer

“ Books to mankind are as the flowers to the bee. Read, therefore; I conjure ye, read! Seeing that the spring and summer of your life is the proper season for laying in an useful stock of knowledge, which, to the mind, like the well-stored hive to the bee, is a source of sustenance, when the cold, and otherwise dreary winter of "old age" sets in! ”

“ What thousands thou hast usher'd in
To this sad world of guilt and sorrow;
But whatsoe'er thy faults have been,
Thy reign, old boy, is o'er to-morrow.
So, part we friends, for thou hast dried
The tear from many a weeping eye ”

“ Here's the royal pavilion—hats off, hats off;
'Tis the royal pavilion—hats off;
Where the Prince, and the Queen, and the children are seen,
The pride of Old England—hats off, hats off;
Long, long may they live—hats off. ”

“ The soldier, when fighting for honor and fame,
Will strike yet the fiercer at sound of his name;
While the love-smile of Woman, to all justly dear,
Beams brighter by far, if the monarch draws near.
E'en the heart of the miser, tho' flinty and cold,
Will warm into rapture at sight of "King Gold."
Alike axe his vassals, the wise man and fool,
Each bows and submits, with delight, to his rule ”

“ Was implanted, dear Mary, by thee,
And time serves to shew me how lasting and true
That first love, dear Mary, shall be.
Tho' distance may part us, thy memory still
I'll treasure, as miser his gold! ”

“ This, Marquis, is the Gem we give!
And, now, uprouse the joyous strain,
Let only mirth and pleasure reign;
Raise high your goblets fill'd with wine,
The Thistle and the Rose entwine;
May their bright path be strewn with flowers,
Their life one round of blissful hours;
May heaven's blessing e'er betide
"The Campbell" and his lovely Bride!
In making our arrangements to live, we should never forget that we have also to die. ”

“ Written on the marriage of Lady Evelyn Gower with Lord Blantyre, 1849.
Let the cannon's loud roar to the bells' tuneful peal,
Tell forth in glad chorus, the joy that we feel:
Let echo, with notes of delight, swell the choir,
For the "Fair Maid of Trentham" is "Lady Blantyre."
See Scotia's famed land of the mountain and wave,
At the the shrine of our fairest hath yeilded her brave:
Far blest above others, be ever that hour,
When the blood of the Stewart was blent with the Gower.
All hail to the Trentham! beneath whose proud dome,
Meek pity and charity both find a home ”

“ Which graved his image on this heart,
And through its inmost core is stealing.
Forget him! they have never felt
The wild and throbbing pulse which tells
Where Love hath o'ertumed reason's throne,
And monarch of the bosom dwells. ”

“ Around a tuneful choir of amorous birds,
With love-engender'd notes,
In one great concert join, and carol out their joy—'Tis Spring!
Conscience is a sort of mental finger-post, pointing out our proper route. ”

“ Turn, then, Oh ! turn to Him, alone hath power to give
An angel's courage when you die, and peace while yet you live:
In meekness bend thy knee, commence the needful task,
Beg heaven's pardon for your sins, while you have strength to ask! ”

“ This World's a Large Fair.
This world's a large fair, hurrah, hurrah,
It's no more than a fair, hurrah,
And the people around, keeping stalls will be found,
Or else they are showmen, hurrah, hurrah,
Or else they are showmen, hurrah. ”

“ Are lovelier far—they 're angel's eyes;
And when looks dim that glorious throng,
They weep that those they love do wrong.
The soft and murmuring winds you hear
Are sighs that precede the coming tear,
My Mother's, 'mong them, oft in showers ”

“ The spoiler came in evil hour,
Who, lacking taste, and having power,
O monstrous act! decreed its fall,
And built a paltry Market Hall!
Significant.
Anybody will lend you an umbrella when it doesn't rain. ”

“ Of a fine Old English specimen, whose locks are silvery grey,
Yet still as young at heart he is, that heart's as free from gall,
(And he's fond of sport of any sort) as the youngest 'mong them all.
He's a fine Old English Forester, one of the olden time. ”

“ He'll tell you that there's not a place,
Above, below, or all around,
But if ye, sorrowing, seek his face
The God of mercy may be found!
There's not a planet in the sky,
But lighteth where the Spirit lives ”

“ No person can, by any possibility, be more acutely alive to the glaring folly of parading my "exalted doggrel" before the public than myself, and I have yet to learn whether I am about most to astonish those who know me, by attempting poetry at all, or those who do not, by the hardihood evinced in publishing it when written. ”

“ Hypocricy is a masquerade dress lent by the Devil, which will be expected to be personally returned by the wearer.
Unpretended Love, Disinterested Friendship, Political Honesty, and Tortoiseshell Tom Cats, are four things rarely to be met with. ”

“ I wish fervently that mankind were obliged to make into parcels all (or most of) the unasked advice they give. I rather opine that the cost of the paper and string, together with the trouble of directing, would put a partial stop to its indulgences. ”

“ When folks met to be happy and free!
'Tis a pity such customs should e'er pass away.
However old fashioned they be!
A blackguard is a living syringe filled with dirty water, with which he ever and anon doth defile his betters. ”

“ You'll have those fork-tines into somebody's legs!"
"Look out, Mr. Benton; there's one at your back,
On the top of the chaff-hole—just give him a crack."
"Mind, mind where you're hitting—there's one up the wall."
Oh! I thought it a mouse, by its being so small."
"No, no, it's a rat, look; and here are the rest;
There's twelve or thirteen of them down in this nest."
They are nearing the bottom, each sheaf they displace
Yields a rat, which produces a kill, or a race. ”

“ Poor "pussy" in each has a death-meaning foe.
They're getting the slows on, they're all of them beat,
It's rarely a sportsman enjoys such a treat;
Now, Topper! now, Bugle! they'll kill her!—they won'nt ”

“ On a young lady's expressing her intention of marrying a gentleman, who she herself confessed had few qualifications beyond the possession of four hundred and fifty pounds per annum.
Any young man good looking, whose income is clear
The sum of four hundred and fifty a year,
May address the fair Charlotte without any fear,
But he must have four hundred and fifty a year. ”

“ To-morrow is the food on which procrastination lives: 'tis also the day on which idle men work and fools reform!
Who, in the possession of happiness, would be mad enough to prefer an hour to a day; a day to a week ”

“ Are left, which make it worth the wearing.
If clouds should lour, and friends look sour,
'Tis only neighbour's fare your finding;
One maxim still cures every ill,
Cheer up! and keep on never minding! ”

“ With frenzied haste the window up I threw,
A half-scorched body met my sickening view—
The truth revealing, quick I turned away—
Our neighbour Perkins killed his pig that day!
They do things well, who never try ”

“ And ope'd the door to one whose face
Bore sorrow's past and present trace.
"Why Martha?" (thus began the boy,)
"Why look so pale? What makes you cry?"
"Oh! Master Henry! oh!" she said,
"My child! my poor blind child is dead! ”

“ To gammon the other fair folks.
There's booths, too, for gambling; come play—come play;
Yes, out and out gambling, come play;
Where shares, scrip and dice, clean you out in a trice;
They've just picked up "Johnny," come play—come play;
He'll know better in future than play.
See, the gamblers are fighting; go in!—go in!
They've kicked up a "shindy," go in!
And during the brawl they'll break many a stall,
Besides picking pockets, go in!—go in!
Now play all you know; go in!
Just notice those stalls; oh dear—oh dear ”

“ When, finding no others were left them to munch,
They left off, and went into Benton's to lunch.
In marrying, as in pearl fishing, the odds are fearfully against us. It is not every oyster-shell that contains a pearl. ”

“ This song is an attempt to describe a few of the leading points in the character of Mr. John Penson, park keeper, at Trentham Hall, Staffordshire, whose family have had the honour of serving in that capacity since the reign of Elizabeth. ”

“ Without one earthly friend, or home,
The children of the pauper roam.
The boy, with gentle accents, said,
(Patting his little sister's head,) —
"Don't cry, dear Anna; dry that tear;
None but the wicked need to fear ”