Painted Emblems of a Race

OF FAMILY PORTRAITS.

Painted emblems of a race,

All accurst in days of yore,

Each from his accustomed place

Steps into the world once more.

(THE PICTURES STEP FROM THEIR FRAMES AND MARCH AROUND THE STAGE.)

Baronet of Ruddigore,

Last of our accursèd line,

Down upon the oaken floor –

Down upon those knees of thine.

Coward, poltroon, shaker, squeamer,

Blockhead, sluggard, dullard, dreamer,

Shirker, shuffler, crawler, creeper,

Sniffler, snuffler, wailer, weeper,

Earthworm, maggot, tadpole, weevil!

Set upon thy course of evil,

Lest the King of Spectre-Land

Set on thee his grisly hand!

(THE SPECTRE OF SIR RODERIC DESCENDS FROM HIS FRAME.)

Beware! beware! beware!

Gaunt vision, who art thou

That thus, with icy glare

And stern relentless brow,

Appearest, who knows how?

I am the spectre of the late

Sir Roderic Murgatroyd,

Who comes to warn thee that thy fate

Thou canst not now avoid.

Alas, poor ghost!

The pity you

Express for nothing goes

We spectres are a jollier crew

Than you, perhaps, suppose!

We spectres are a jollier crew

Than you, perhaps, suppose!