BURNT IN EFFIGY.

Patea Mail, Volume VI, Issue 519, 13 May 1880, Page 3

BURNT IN EFFIGY.

A distinguished philosopher was immortalised in this toAvn last night. He was burnt in effigy. The fire broke out exactly at nine of the clock, and raged furiously during llmin. 59scc. Tlie flare-up Avas sudden, severe, and splendiferous. As the effigy AVarmed to his work, he threw up sparks in scintillating clouds; : Mounting higher and higher, With a desperate desire, And a resolute endeavor Noav, iaoav to sit or never By the side of the pale ucav moon.

Still the beauteous “ bust” blazed without bursting; ami, if we may say so, still belched bright blasts from his burning bosom, beaming brilliantly beyond the blooming bystanders, whose blessed bodies brightened bale fully in the beautiful blustering bonfire. A chorus of crackling cries came with captivating caccinnation across the causeway, calling Carlyle to cultivate the correct cure for a cold. Down dropt the damp dew, drowning the demoniac D; and the rain raitled round the roaring rags. Then music’ arose with its voluptuous sw r ell, And Carlyle’s tin-kettle band broke into triumphant dissonance, intended as a variation on the “ Devil’s tattoo.” Had yon beard the shouts, and the squeals, and the squeaks, You’d not have forgotten the sound for

weeks. When the effigy had lit up the scene for the 14 minutes and 59 seconds aforesaid, the Fire Brigade burst on the fun like men rushing desperately to do or die ; and whisking round the corner of Dr Croft’s residence, blowing their alarm whistles, and swinging their mighty buckets, they extinguished the burning effigy in the twinkling of a bedpost. A dozen buckets of water at e a strong dose ot physic even for an effigy; and as the light flickered and expired, a cry rent the darkened air, like a shriek from a dying dragon : ** This is a cure for diphtheria!”