GODOLPHIN HORNE
WHO WAS CURSED WITH THE SIN OF PRIDE AND BECAME A BOOT-BLACK
by: Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953)
- odolphin Horne was Nobly Born;
- He held the Human Race in Scorn,
- And lived with all his Sisters where
- His father lived, in Berkeley Square.
- And oh! the Lad was Deathly Proud!
- He never shook your Hand or Bowed,
- But merely smirked and nodded thus:
- How perfectly ridiculous!
- Alas! That such Affected Tricks
- Should flourish in a Child of Six!
- (For such was Young Godolphin’s age).
- Just then, the Court required a Page,
- Whereat the Lord High Chamberlain
- (The Kindest and the Best of Men),
- He went good-naturedly and took
- A Perfectly Enormous Book
- Called People Qualified to Be
- Attendant on His Majesty,
- And murmured, as he scanned the list
- (To see that no one should be missed),
- “There’s William Coutts has got the Flue,
- And Billy Higgs would never do,
- And Guy de Vere is far too young,
- And ... wasn’t D’Alton’s Father hung?
- And as for Alexander Byng! ...
- I think I know the kind of thing,
- A Churchman, cleanly, nobly born,
- Come let us say Godolphin Horne?”
- But hardly had he said the word
- When Murmurs of Dissent were heard.
- The King of Iceland’s Eldest Son
- Said, “Thank you! I am taking none!”
- The Aged Duchess of Athlone
- Remarked, in her sub-acid tone,
- “I doubt if He is what we need!”
- With which the Bishops all agreed;
- And even Lady Mary Flood
- (So Kind, and oh! so really good)
- Said, “No! He wouldn’t do at all,
- He’d make us feel a lot too small,”
- The Chamberlain said,
- “ ... Well, well, well!
- No doubt you’re right.... One cannot tell!”
- He took his Gold and Diamond Pen
- And Scratched Godolphin out again.
- So now Godolphin is the Boy
- Who blacks the Boots at the Savoy.
"Godolphin Horne" is reprinted from Cautionary Tales for Children. Hilaire Belloc. 1907. |
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