To bring is better than to cause
Good news, say they who frame our laws.
The bravest soldier is not half
Rewarded as a telegraph,
And Royalty puts no such spurs on
A veteran’s heels as those of Curzon.
Yet, poor blind Fanny Brown! at last
On thee a royal glance is cast,
Altho’ none ever heard thee praise
Spaniel or poodle all thy days:
How sadly then those days were spent!
Repent, O Fanny Brown, repent!
And thus, perhaps, in time to come,
A parish girl may lead thee home
In thy old age, and thou mayst find
One heart that feels for lame and blind:
But, having yet some vigor, hope
Reward for rubbing Windsor soap
On (if benignant fate so will)
Smock royal and field-marshal frill.