| Title | The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists |
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| Page | 1281 |
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| Chapter | -- |
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| Text |
who gave `I'm the Marquis of Camberwell Green'. There was a lot of what music-hall artists call `business' attached to his song, and as he proceeded, Payne, who was ghastly pale and very nervous, went through a lot of galvanic motions and gestures, bowing and scraping and sliding about and flourishing his handkerchief in imitation of the courtly graces of the Marquis. During this performance the audience maintained an appalling silence, which so embarrassed Payne that before he was half-way through the song he had to stop because he could not remember the rest. However, to make up for this failure he sang another called `We all must die, like the fire in the grate'. This also was received in a very lukewarm manner by the crowd, same of whom laughed and others suggested that if he couldn't sing any better than that, the sooner HE was dead the better. This was followed by another Tory ballad, the chorus being as follows: His clothes may be ragged, his hands may be soiled. But where's the disgrace if for bread he has toiled. His 'art is in the right place, deny it no one can The backbone of Old England is the honest workin' man.' |
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