Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, UNSOPHISTICATED WISHES, BY MISS JEMINA INGOLDSBY, AGED 15, by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

UNSOPHISTICATED WISHES, BY MISS JEMINA INGOLDSBY, AGED 15, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh! How I should like in a coach to ride
Last Line: And I shouldn't much care if his name was brown.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ingoldsby, Thomas
Subject(s): Wishes


OH! how I should like in a Coach to ride,
Like the Sheriffs I saw upon Lord Mayor's day,
With a Coachman and little Postilion astride
On the back of the leader, a prancing bay.

And then behind it, oh! I should glory
To see the tall serving-men standing upright,
Like the two who attend Mr. Montefiore,
(Sir Moses I should say) for now he's a Knight.

And then the liveries, I know it is rude to
Find fault -- but I'll hint as he can't see me blush,
That I'd not have the things I can only allude to
Either orange in hue or constructed of plush;

But their coats and their waistcoats and hats are delightful,
Their charming silk stockings -- I vow and declare
Our John's ginger gaiters so wrinkled and frightful,
I never again shall be able to bear.

Oh! how I should like to have diamonds and rubies,
And large plume of feathers and flowers in my hair.
My gracious! to think how our Tom and those boobies,
Jack Smith and his friend Mister Thompson, would stare.

Then how I should like to drive to Guildhall,
And to see the nobility flocking in shoals,
With their two-guinea tickets to dance at the ball
Which the Lord Mayor gives for the relief of the Poles.

And to look at the gas so uncommonly pretty,
And the stars and the armour all just as they were
The day that the Queen came in state to the city
To dine with the whole Corporation and Mayor.

Oh! how I should like to see Jane and Letitia,
Miss Jones and the two Misses Frump sitting still,
While dear Ensign Brown, of the West Kent Militia,
Solicits my hand for the 'Supper' Quadrille.

With his fine white teeth and his cheek like a rose,
And his black cravat and his diamond pin,
And the nice little moustache under his nose,
And the dear little tuft on the tip of his chin.

And how I should like some fine morning to ride
In my coach, and my white satin shoes and gown,
To St. James's Church, with a Beau by side,
And I shouldn't much care if his name was Brown.





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