Songs and Ballads for The People | ||
X. Village Politicians.
1
So they're down at the Chequers, and at it once more!Our rare politicians, they'll never give o'er!
And when they have done, they're as wise as before:
Which nobody can deny.
2
There's nothing on earth that they don't understand;The corn-laws, the taxes, the state of the land;
But the charter's the thing they have mostly in hand:
Which nobody can deny.
3
A clever contrivance that charter must be,To make a whole nation wise, glorious, and free!
But how 'twill be done, they don't rightly agree:
Which nobody can deny.
4
They would fain do away all the corn-laws, and thinkIt would cheapen provisions, their meat and their drink;
And forget that their wages would equally sink:
Which nobody can deny.
5
Vote by ballot, with other rare changes, they'd have;That coward's contrivance all cowards to save,
That makes a man, whether or no, like a knave:
Which nobody can deny.
15
6
There they wrangle and prate of their hardships and wrongs;To the “Weekly Dispatch,” too, they listen by throngs;
Which I, for my part, would not touch with the tongs:
Which nobody can deny.
7
Now I think, though 'tis vain to dispute about taste,That none but a madman would run in such haste,
His time, and his health, and his money to waste:
Which nobody can deny.
8
All the care that I take for the State is to prayMy best for the Church and the Queen every day;
And I know nothing more, and I hope never may:
Which nobody can deny.
Songs and Ballads for The People | ||