Dunraven
1881
Punch, August 13, 1881, p. 61
From Punch Magazine: The Earl of Dunraven,[1] in protesting against the short time allowed for the consideration of the Irish Land Bill, said “he was not a strict Sabbatarian,[2] and had even advocated in that House the desirability of enjoying reasonable recreation on the Sunday, but it was impossible that racking one’s brains over the tangled intricacies of that Bill could be considered wholesome recreation for anyone.”
And Dunraven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
O’er that blessed Bill of Billy’s,[3] puzzling at it o’er and o’er;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a child’s that hath been screaming,
And the gaslight o’er him streaming shows them heavy, red, and sore;
And his voice from out its pages rises in a muffled roar:—
“Hang the Bill! it is a bore!”
Footnotes
- The Earl of Dunraven — Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin (1841–1926), the 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl. A Conservative politician, he succeeded to his father’s Irish Peerage in 1871, with estates in County Limerick, and lands in south Wales and, later, Colorado. (back to text)
- Sabbatarian — One who strictly observes the Sabbath. (back to text)
- Billy — The Land Law (Ireland) Act 1881 was introduced by then-Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. (back to text)
Return to the Quaint and Curious index for more pastiches and parodies of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”.
