The Poetical Works of James Thomson The City of Dreadful Night: By James Thomson ("B. V."): Edited by Bertram Dobell: With a Memoir of the Author: In two volumes |
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THE OLD STORY AND THE NEW STOREY |
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 | The Poetical Works of James Thomson |  |
95
THE OLD STORY AND THE NEW STOREY
(House of Commons, Thursday, March 23.)
“For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have
more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall
be taken away even that he hath.”
—Matthew xiii. 12.
The Old Story says: We've another
Young prince who will wed like a man;
Let us give him, because of his mother,
An extra ten thousand per ann.
She has barely enough for herself, sirs;
Not five hundred a week is his sum;
Some of you have vastly more pelf, sirs;
Let our vote be unanimous, come!
Young prince who will wed like a man;
Let us give him, because of his mother,
An extra ten thousand per ann.
She has barely enough for herself, sirs;
Not five hundred a week is his sum;
Some of you have vastly more pelf, sirs;
Let our vote be unanimous, come!
The New Storey
says—(It is mentioned
How, hating such meanness to hear,
The noble array of the pensioned
Assailed him with laughter and jeer)—
He says: Public money should solely
For good public service be spent.
(Dear lords, what a doctrine unholy!
Why it saps at your rights to your rent!)
How, hating such meanness to hear,
The noble array of the pensioned
Assailed him with laughter and jeer)—
96
For good public service be spent.
(Dear lords, what a doctrine unholy!
Why it saps at your rights to your rent!)
He says: What I urge 'gainst a wasteful
And unjust proposal like this
Must to many of you be distasteful,
And the wherefore too palpable is;
Since one hundred and ten of your body,
And one hundred and twenty-six peers,
For no service, or service of shoddy,
Keep bleeding us numberless years.
And unjust proposal like this
Must to many of you be distasteful,
And the wherefore too palpable is;
Since one hundred and ten of your body,
And one hundred and twenty-six peers,
For no service, or service of shoddy,
Keep bleeding us numberless years.
He says: This ten thousand per annum
You would lavish on one wealthy pair—
Many hundred a grandad and grannam
Would keep in a comfort too rare;
Or in Sunderland—that's my own borough—
A small place—laugh on!—would secure
Education quite free and quite thorough
Without any rate on the poor.
You would lavish on one wealthy pair—
Many hundred a grandad and grannam
Would keep in a comfort too rare;
Or in Sunderland—that's my own borough—
A small place—laugh on!—would secure
Education quite free and quite thorough
Without any rate on the poor.
He says: These same princes as dummies
In army and navy fill posts,
While veterans, scorched up like mummies,
Must starve in the cold like their ghosts.
He says: Sweep away lordly flunkeys,
If you really this money must clutch,
Those bedizened and posturing monkeys—
Your Gold Sticks in Waiting and such.
In army and navy fill posts,
While veterans, scorched up like mummies,
Must starve in the cold like their ghosts.
97
If you really this money must clutch,
Those bedizened and posturing monkeys—
Your Gold Sticks in Waiting and such.
He says—But fine ears we won't batter
With more of his speech unpolite;
So we'll give our own view of the matter,
And our view of course is the right.
We say: When your State-ship you're building,
If you will have a gilt figure-head,
Of course you must pay for the gilding;
We say—there's no more to be said.
With more of his speech unpolite;
So we'll give our own view of the matter,
And our view of course is the right.
We say: When your State-ship you're building,
If you will have a gilt figure-head,
Of course you must pay for the gilding;
We say—there's no more to be said.
It is true that the head a ship carries
In proportion costs little when built;
It is true that this head never marries
And breeds little heads to be gilt.
It is true—but sane words are a treasure
Too precious for subjects like these—
Having set up such heads at your pleasure,
You can set them aside when you please.
In proportion costs little when built;
It is true that this head never marries
And breeds little heads to be gilt.
It is true—but sane words are a treasure
Too precious for subjects like these—
Having set up such heads at your pleasure,
You can set them aside when you please.
April 1882.
| The Poetical Works of James Thomson | |