Mr. Molony's Account of the Ball

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) · 1849–1855

iambic tetrameter · 80 lines · from Ballads

O will ye choose to hear the news,Bedad I cannot pass it o'er:I'll tell you all about the BallTo the Naypaulase Ambassador.Begor! this fête all balls does bateAt which I've worn a pump, and IMust here relate the splendthor greatOf th' Oriental Company.

These men of sinse dispoised expinse,To fête these black Achilleses."We'll show the blacks," says they, "Almack's,And take the rooms at Willis's."With flags and shawls, for these Nepauls,They hung the rooms of Willis up,And decked the walls, and stairs, and halls,With roses and with lilies up.

And Jullien's band it tuck its stand,So sweetly in the middle there,And soft bassoons played heavenly chunes,And violins did fiddle there.And when the Coort was tired of spoort,I'd lave you, boys, to think there wasA nate buffet before them set,Where lashins of good dhrink there was.

At ten before the ball-room door,His moighty Excellincy was,He smoiled and bowed to all the crowd,So gorgeous and immense he was.His dusky shuit, sublime and mute,Into the door-way followed him;And O the noise of the blackguard boys,As they hurrood and hollowed him!

The noble Chair stud at the stair,And bade the dthrums to thump; and heDid thus evince, to that Black Prince,The welcome of his Company.O fair the girls, and rich the curls,And bright the oys you saw there, was;And fixed each oye, ye there could spoi,On Gineral Jung Bahawther, was!

This Gineral great then tuck his sate,With all the other ginerals,(Bedad his troat, his belt, his coat,All bleezed with precious minerals;)And as he there, with princely air,Recloinin on his cushion was,All round about his royal chairThe squeezin and the pushin was.

O Pat, such girls, such Jukes, and Earls,Such fashion and nobilitee!Just think of Tim, and fancy himAmidst the hoigh gentilitee!There was Lord De L'Huys, and the PortygeeseMinisther and his lady there,And I reckonized, with much surprise,Our messmate, Bob O'Grady, there;

There was Baroness Brunow, that looked like Juno,And Baroness Rehausen there,And Countess Roullier, that looked peculiarWell, in her robes of gauze in there.There was Lord Crowhurst (I knew him first,When only Mr. Pips he was),And Mick O'Toole, the great big fool,That after supper tipsy was.

There was Lord Fingall, and his ladies all,And Lords Killeen and Dufferin,And Paddy Fife, with his fat wife:I wondther how he could stuff her in.There was Lord Belfast, that by me past,And seemed to ask how should I go there?And the Widow Macrae, and Lord A Hay,And the Marchioness of Sligo there.

Yes, Jukes, and Earls, and diamonds, and pearls,And pretty girls, was sporting there;And some beside (the rogues!) I spied,Behind the windies, coorting there.O there's one I know, bedad would showAs beautiful as any there,And I'd like to hear the pipers blow,And shake a fut with Fanny there!

Words in this poem 16
bate n.
Strife; contention. [Prob. abbrev. from debate.]
blacks n.
The name of a kind of in used in copperplate printing, prepared from the charred husks of the grape, and residue of the wine press.
lave v. t.
To lade, dip, or pour out. [OE. laven. See Lavish.]
buffet n.
A cupboard or set of shelves, either movable or fixed at one side of a room, for the display of plate, china, etc., a sideboard. [F. buffet, LL. bufetum; of uncertain origin; perh. fr. the same source as E. buffet a blow, the root meaning to puff, hence (cf. puffed up) the idea of ostentat]
gorgeous a.
Imposing through splendid or various colors; showy; fine; magnificent. [OF. gorgias beautiful, glorious, vain, luxurious; cf. OF. gorgias ruff, neck handkerchief, and F. gorge throat, and se pengorger to assume airs. Cf. Gorge, n.]
bade
A form of the pat tense of Bid.
evince v. t.
To conquer; to subdue. [L. evincere vanquish completely, prevail, succeed in proving; e out + vincere to vanquish. See Victor, and cf. Evict.]
sate v. t.
To satisfy the desire or appetite of; to satiate; to glut; to surfeit. [Probably shortened fr. satiate: cf. L. satus full. See Satiate.]
troat v. i.
To cry, as a buck in rutting time. [Either onomatopoetic, or akin to throat.]
jukes
A pseudonym used to designate the descendants of two sisters, the
amidst prep.
In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
messmate n.
An associate in a mess.
baroness n.
A baron's wife; also, a lady who holds the baronial title in her own right; as, the Baroness Burdett-Coutts.
countess n.
The wife of an earl in the British peerage, or of a count in the Continental nobility; also, a lady possessed of the same dignity in her own right. See the Note under Count. [F. comtesse. See Count a nobleman.]
paddy a.
Low; mean; boorish; vagabond. [Prov. E. paddy worm-eaten.]
marchioness n.
The wife or the widow of a marquis; a woman who has the rank and dignity of a marquis. Spelman. [LL. marchionissa, fr. marchio a marquis. See Marquis.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Mr. Molony's Account of the Ball is in the public domain. This text is taken from Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #2732; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: William Makepeace Thackeray, Mr. Molony's Account of the Ball, in Ballads (1849–1855), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2732, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thackeray-ballads/mr-molony-s-account-of-the-ball.html, id L25707.

Form and metre

Mr. Molony's Account of the Ball is 80 lines in 10 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).

See other poems in iambic tetrameter.

Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.

Rhyme words, stanza by stanza

The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.

  1. 1 ----A-A- news · o'er · ball · ambassador · bateA · i · greatA · company
  2. 2 ----ABAB expinse · achilleses · almack's · willis's · nepaulsA · upB · hallsA · upB
  3. 3 -A-A-B-B stand · thereA · chunes · thereA · spoort · wasB · set · wasB
  4. 4 -A-A-B-B door · wasA · crowd · wasA · mute · himB · boys · himB
  5. 5 -----A-A stair · he · prince · company · curls · wasA · spoi · wasA
  6. 6 -A-ABCBC sate · gineralsA · coat · mineralsA · airB · wasC · chairB · wasC
  7. 7 -A-A-B-B earls · nobiliteeA · him · gentiliteeA · portygeese · thereB · surprise · thereB
  8. 8 -A-A-B-B juno · thereA · peculiar · thereA · first · wasB · fool · wasB
  9. 9 -----A-A all · dufferin · wife · in · past · thereA · hay · thereA
  10. 10 -A-ABABA pearls · thereA · spied · thereA · showB · thereA · blowB · thereA
Scansion, line by line

Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.

LineSyl.Stress
O will ye choose to hear the news,8········
Bedad I cannot pass it o'er:8···/˘···
I'll tell you all about the Ball8········
To the Naypaulase Ambassador.9·····˘/˘˘
Begor! this fête all balls does bate8········
At which I've worn a pump, and I8········
Must here relate the splendthor great8··˘/····
Of th' Oriental Company.8··˘/˘/˘˘
These men of sinse dispoised expinse,8········
To fête these black Achilleses.8····˘/˘˘
"We'll show the blacks," says they, "Almack's,8········
And take the rooms at Willis's."8·····/˘˘
With flags and shawls, for these Nepauls,8········
They hung the rooms of Willis up,8·····/˘·
And decked the walls, and stairs, and halls,8········
With roses and with lilies up.8·/˘··/˘·
And Jullien's band it tuck its stand,8········
So sweetly in the middle there,8·/˘··/˘·
And soft bassoons played heavenly chunes,8··˘/·/˘·
And violins did fiddle there.8·˘˘/·/˘·
And when the Coort was tired of spoort,8·····/··
I'd lave you, boys, to think there was8········
A nate buffet before them set,8··/˘····
Where lashins of good dhrink there was.8········
At ten before the ball-room door,8········
His moighty Excellincy was,8········
He smoiled and bowed to all the crowd,8········
So gorgeous and immense he was.8·/˘·˘/··
His dusky shuit, sublime and mute,8·/˘·˘/··
Into the door-way followed him;8·····/˘·
And O the noise of the blackguard boys,9······/˘·
As they hurrood and hollowed him!8·····/˘·
The noble Chair stud at the stair,8·/˘·····
And bade the dthrums to thump; and he8········
Did thus evince, to that Black Prince,8··˘/····
The welcome of his Company.8·/˘··/˘˘
O fair the girls, and rich the curls,8········
And bright the oys you saw there, was;8········
And fixed each oye, ye there could spoi,8········
On Gineral Jung Bahawther, was!9·········
This Gineral great then tuck his sate,9·········
With all the other ginerals,8···/˘···
(Bedad his troat, his belt, his coat,8········
All bleezed with precious minerals;)8···/˘/˘˘
And as he there, with princely air,8·····/˘·
Recloinin on his cushion was,8·····/˘·
All round about his royal chair8·····/˘·
The squeezin and the pushin was.8········
O Pat, such girls, such Jukes, and Earls,8········
Such fashion and nobilitee!8·/˘·····
Just think of Tim, and fancy him8·····/˘·
Amidst the hoigh gentilitee!8˘/······
There was Lord De L'Huys, and the Portygeese10··········
Ministher and his lady there,8·····/˘·
And I reckonized, with much surprise,9·······˘/
Our messmate, Bob O'Grady, there;8//˘·˘/˘·
There was Baroness Brunow, that looked like Juno,11··/˘·····/˘
And Baroness Rehausen there,8·/˘˘····
And Countess Roullier, that looked peculiar10·/˘····˘/˘
Well, in her robes of gauze in there.8········
There was Lord Crowhurst (I knew him first,9·········
When only Mr. Pips he was),8·/˘/˘···
And Mick O'Toole, the great big fool,8··˘/····
That after supper tipsy was.8···/˘/˘·
There was Lord Fingall, and his ladies all,10·······/˘·
And Lords Killeen and Dufferin,8··˘/····
And Paddy Fife, with his fat wife:8·/˘·····
I wondther how he could stuff her in.9·········
There was Lord Belfast, that by me past,9···/·····
And seemed to ask how should I go there?9·········
And the Widow Macrae, and Lord A Hay,10··/˘˘/····
And the Marchioness of Sligo there.8··/˘····
Yes, Jukes, and Earls, and diamonds, and pearls,9·····/˘··
And pretty girls, was sporting there;8·/˘··/˘·
And some beside (the rogues!) I spied,8··˘/····
Behind the windies, coorting there.8···/˘···
O there's one I know, bedad would show9·········
As beautiful as any there,8·/˘˘·/˘·
And I'd like to hear the pipers blow,8······/·
And shake a fut with Fanny there!8·····/˘·

The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.

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