Blabworth-cum-Talkington by W. S. Gilbert

You are here: Archive Home > Bab Ballads > Blabworth-cum-Talkington

Blabworth-cum-Talkington

Fun, VII - 20th June 1868

Draper's clerk in a humble way, Margate-bound, on a Seventh-day; Gent in figured dicky and frill Smoking pipes on Richmond Hill; Coster dressed for an Epping bout; Servant-gal with a Sunday out; Quail, quail, quail, quail! Here is the REVEREND BARNEY PAYLE,
	Good in a dismal way!
		Gurgle and groan Never were known Ever to fail BARNABY PAYLE,
	BARNABY PAYLE, B.A.

Rumble, blunder, stumble, thunder, Wrangle, tangle, jingle-jangle, Fluttery, stuttery, bog, fog,
		Missing his tack, Changing his track, Losing his threads, Mixing his "heads,"
Flash! Dash! Splash! Crash!
	Slowly, fastly, grimly, ghastly; Firstly, secondly, thirdly, lastly.
		Lastly first, Firstly last, Sinners curst, Hope all past.
	Down!down!down!down! Sob — sigh — gulp — frown. Boil! boil! boil! boil! Boiling lead and blazing oil.
		Groans — squirms Bones — worms
	Contradiction full, in terms,
		(Half-past one — Almost done).
	Wake! wake! wake! wake!
		Deuce to take! All at stake!
	Wake! wake! wake! wake!

	Suddenly — grandly devotional Thrilling — emphatic — emotional
		Various kinds Of baby minds
Trained on BARNABY PAYLE-ian rules, At Blabworth-Talkington Infant Schools.
	Fill, oh fill the silver plate — Donors dwindling down of late — Hundreds wanted — thousands — more Give, oh give, at the church's door!

This was the sermon one fine day,
Preached by BARNABY PAYLE, B.A.,
The first he'd ever had to speak,
For PAYLE was only "frocked" last week.

In an otherwise empty pew,
Sat a respectable Jew,
His starting eyeballs glistened —
Despite dissent, with best attent
That Hebrew person listened.

And PAYLE, B.A., remarked the way
In which the Jew drank in, that day,
The burning things he chose to say,
And hoped to see him christened.

The sermon at an end,
His Israelitish friend,
Heart-smitten to the core,
Sought out the vestry door.

	"Oh, admirable PAYLE, I've heard my people rail
Against your priests, and say that they can only smirk or roar,
	But I can only say That, thanks to you, to-day
I've learnt a better lesson than I ever learnt before.

"I've learnt why clerks in a humble way
Sail abroad on their Seventh Day;
I've learnt why costermongers will
Spend that day on the Epping hill;
I've learnt the meaning of pious cant,
Baldness, ignorance, dullness, rant —
A wonderful study for thoughtful minds
At Blabworth-Talkington Church one finds!"

Archive Home | W. S. Gilbert | Bab Ballads

Page Created 29 July, 2011