["After conversing for ten minutes with him, I thought it my duty to retire, as there were others to be trotted up to him. I thought it would not be wise for me to force myself on him for too long, and we parted and shook hands, just like two kings - as we were." Bent, of Victoria, on his interview with King Edward in England.]

We were strollin' round together,
   Me an' Ted;
An' he listened very close to
   What I sed:
An' I talked about Victoryer,
   An' sez I: "I'd hate to bore yer;
But it's boshter, an' it's always right ahead" --
   I sed
         To Ted.

He was affable as could be --
   Was the King;
An' he seemed to take to me
   Like anything:
He was just about my figger,
   Tho' there's some say I am bigger;
An' resemblance it is just the sort of thing
   To bring
         The King.

"Mister Bent," he said quite proud,
   "I'm glad that we" --
"Oh, call me Tom," sez I:
  "Don't 'mister' me."
"Well, Tom, you gay old rake, you;
   You're the sort of man I take to;
You're so breezy, an' your manners they are free" --
   Sez he
         To me.

"An' I'm glad," he sez, "to know that
   We're a match
For ain't you monarch of the
   Cabbage Patch?
An' we're both just Kings an' brothers;
   An' we simply lose the others.
It's a shame you haven't got a crown to patch
   Your thatch
         D'ye catch?"

Then I simply winked an' sed:
   "Aw, dicken, Ted.
But, although there ain't a crown
   Upon my head.
You can wager I'm a right 'un,
   An' I'm just the thng at Brighton."
Then I saw some others waitin', so I sed:
   "S'long, Ted!
         Keep fed!"

"Den"
The Gadfly, 4 September 1907, p1455