THE DUKE OF PLAZA-TORO.

  In enterprise of martial kind,
    When there was any fighting,
  He led his regiment from behind,
    He found it less exciting. 
  But when away his regiment ran,
    His place was at the fore, O—­
      That celebrated,
      Cultivated,
      Underrated
        Nobleman,
    The Duke of Plaza-Toro! 
  In the first and foremost flight, ha, ha! 
  You always found that knight, ha, ha! 
      That celebrated,
      Cultivated,
      Underrated
        Nobleman,
    The Duke of Plaza-Toro!

  When, to evade Destruction’s hand,
    To hide they all proceeded,
  No soldier in that gallant band
    Hid half as well as he did. 
  He lay concealed throughout the war,
    And so preserved his gore, O! 
      That unaffected,
      Undetected,
      Well connected
        Warrior,
    The Duke of Plaza-Toro! 
  In every doughty deed, ha ha! 
  He always took the lead, ha ha! 
      That unaffected,
      Undetected,
      Well connected
        Warrior,
    The Duke of Plaza-Toro!

  When told that they would all be shot
    Unless they left the service,
  The hero hesitated not,
    So marvellous his nerve is. 
  He sent his resignation in,
    The first of all his corps, O! 
      That very knowing,
      Overflowing,
      Easy-going
        Paladin,
    The Duke of Plaza-Toro! 
  To men of grosser clay, ha, ha! 
  He always showed the way, ha, ha! 
      That very knowing,
      Overflowing,
      Easy-going
        Paladin,
    The Duke of Plaza-Toro!

THE REWARD OF MERIT.

  Dr. Belville was regarded as the Crichton of his age: 
  His tragedies were reckoned much too thoughtful for the stage;
  His poems held a noble rank, although it’s very true
  That, being very proper, they were read by very few. 
  He was a famous Painter, too, and shone upon the “line,”
  And even Mr. Ruskin came and worshipped at his shrine;
  But, alas, the school he followed was heroically high—­
  The kind of Art men rave about, but very seldom buy—­
      And everybody said
      “How can he be repaid—­
  This very great—­this very good—­this very gifted man?”
  But nobody could hit upon a practicable plan!

  He was a great Inventor, and discovered, all alone,
  A plan for making everybody’s fortune but his own;
  For, in business, an Inventor’s little better than a fool,
  And my highly gifted friend was no exception to the rule. 
  His poems—­people read them in the Quarterly Reviews—­
  His pictures—­they engraved them in the Illustrated News—­
  His inventions—­they, perhaps, might have enriched him by degrees,
  But all his little income went in Patent