gor.)

Then Puss exclaimed, ‘Boots you must buy,
And a hat with a feather supply,

And a modern, yet smart, crinoline ;
For a lady who goes up to Court
Must be dressed as a fine lady ought,

For in tip-topmost circles she’s seen.’
Then such feminine wiles she did use,

Which male mortals can never refuse

When with them they go out a-shopping.
Though the penalty’s well known before,

They pass through the bonnet-shop door ;

And they’re lost if persuaded to pop in.
Next morning at dawn Pussy rose,

Decked herself in her holiday clothes,

And went off to the forest a-sporting ;
Where a large bag she half filled with clover,
And a rabbit’s-hole covered right over,

Till a pair of fine bucks there were caught in.
Now the Monarch he loved a wild rabbit,

And our Puss she well knew ’twas his habit

To have some cooked each day for dinner.
As a courtier she learnt his weak point,

That he cared not to dine from the joint ;

Of his favour she'll thus be the winner.
She had found out his stores were all cleared,
Not a rabbit for days had appeared,

And the King had grown sulky and surly.
Now his favourite fancy was tickled,

‘Boil them well, cook, with pork freshly pickled,

And let us all dine very early.’

Then a pheasant, a partridge, or hare,
Caught at midnight by means of a snare,
Were also presented at Court.