Perhaps this isn't a local history question but I'm just reading John
Redcliffe- Maud's autobiography EXPERIENCES OF AN OPTIMIST and see that he
quotes (p.34) a verse I first heard about 40 years ago in a slightly
different form:
And now that the great ones go off to their dinner,
The Secretary stays getting thinner and thinner,
etc.
This was also quoted in THE OLDIE last November but started
After the board has gone to its dinner...etc.
Neither Redcliffe-Maud nor the writer in the Oldie give any clue to the
origin of this and now I want to quote it in something I'm writing.
Does anyone know the verse's author or source? Or the original version?
Brian Read
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