The Poems of Charles Sackville Sixth Earl of Dorset: Edited by Brice Harris |
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 | The Poems of Charles Sackville |  |
55
My Opinion
56
After thinking this fortnight of Whig and of Tory,
This to me is the long and the short of the story:
They are all fools and knaves, and they keep up this pother
On both sides, designing to cheat one another.
This to me is the long and the short of the story:
They are all fools and knaves, and they keep up this pother
On both sides, designing to cheat one another.
Poor Rowley, whose maxims of state are a riddle,
Has plac'd himself much like the pin in the middle;
Let which corner soever be tumbl'd down first,
'Tis ten thousand to one but he comes by the worst.
Has plac'd himself much like the pin in the middle;
Let which corner soever be tumbl'd down first,
'Tis ten thousand to one but he comes by the worst.
'Twixt brother and bastard, those Dukes of renown,
He'll make a wise shift to get rid of his crown;
Had he half common sense, were it ne'er so uncivil,
He'd have had 'em long since tipp'd down to the Devil.
He'll make a wise shift to get rid of his crown;
Had he half common sense, were it ne'er so uncivil,
He'd have had 'em long since tipp'd down to the Devil.
The first is a Prince well fashion'd, well featur'd,
No bigot to speak of, not false nor ill-natur'd;
The other for government can't be unfit,
He's so little a fop and so plaguy a wit.
No bigot to speak of, not false nor ill-natur'd;
The other for government can't be unfit,
He's so little a fop and so plaguy a wit.
Had I this soft son and this dangerous brother,
I'd hang up the one and I'd piss on the other;
I'd make this the long and the short of the story:
The fools might be Whigs, none but knaves should be Tories.
I'd hang up the one and I'd piss on the other;
I'd make this the long and the short of the story:
The fools might be Whigs, none but knaves should be Tories.
| The Poems of Charles Sackville | |