All Milton's Paradise by heart;
Strange mixture he of prose and rhyme,
Ridiculous, and the sublime
In him were singularly blended;
Where one began or the other ended,
It would be difficult to tell.
He played his part in each so well,
James Spencer Lidstone, fare thee well!
And 'mongst the ancient sons of fame
Who says that Dinny Cantlin's name
Does not deserve a line or two
In these old chronicles most true?
Dinny was just four feet in length,
Although a man of pith and strength,
His arm was always ready, too,
All rowdyism to subdue.
When special constable one day,
He captured in some sudden fray
A fellow six feet high, or taller,
And held him firmly by the collar;
And Dinny, as he upward gazed
At the colossus, o'er him raised,
Exclaimed, "escape now, if you can,
You're in the clutches of a man!"
Dinny had a commanding eye,
His hat was eighteen inches high
Come next to view, Denis O'Neill,
A ship carpenter, who laid the keel
Of many a vessel in his day,
And still he clinks and caulks away.