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No. 18:
Song (Sultan with Chorus)
| Sultan. |
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Let a satirist enumerate a catalogue of crimes
Though he label them the outcome of our
shallow modern times; |
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Yet a Persian Punch's pencil, in a prehistoric peep,
Would show us human nature just as shallow —
or as deep. |
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It is money more than manners nowadays that make a man;
And a man may make his money in such manner as he can; |
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And the more he makes of it, the more his
friends will make of him —
That has always been the way since human
sharks began to swim! |
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And cynics may complain |
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That Society is mixed; |
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But I gather in the main |
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Its ingredients are fixed; |
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And Society has always been a sort of "ginger-pop,"
The dregs are at the bottom, and the froth
is at the top! |
| Chorus. |
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And Society has always been a sort of "ginger-pop,"
For the dregs are at the bottom, and the froth is at the top! |
| Sultan. |
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Now philosophy may frown upon the follies of the froth --
Where bounce has beaten brains and vulgar shoddy's counted cloth, |
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Where sentiment is "silly," and politeness "out of date,"
And hearts, instead of golden, are a cheap electro-plate; |
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But a woman is a woman, and a man is but a man,
And the froth has always floated ever since the world began; |
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And the froth of human nature is the feeble-minded mob
Of animated fashion-plates that make the genus "snob." |
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And cynics may complain |
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That Society is mixed; |
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I am ready to maintain |
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Its ingredients are fixed; |
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And the world of men and women is a social "ginger-pop,"
The dregs are at the bottom, and the froth is at the top! |
| Chorus. |
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And the world of men and women is a social "ginger-pop,"
For the dregs are at the bottom, and the froth is at the top! |
Exeunt Chorus and Executioner.
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Page modified
1 February, 2009
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