A Metrical History of England Or, Recollections, in Rhyme, Of some of the most prominent Features in our National Chronology, from the Landing of Julius Caesar to the Commencement of the Regency, in 1812. In Two Volumes ... By Thomas Dibdin |
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 | A Metrical History of England |  |
Now Payne, the demagogue, began
To circulate his “Rights of Man;”
And mad enthusiastic fools
Of deep designing knaves the tools,
With Hudibrastic fury swelling,
Long'd to “ride forth a Colonelling.”
Kings, Priests, and Peers, at one fell sweep,
They sentenced to “Eternal Sleep;
For thus, with philosophic breath,
The new Scholastics christen'd death,
Religion, henceforth petty treason,
Was merely soften'd down to Reason;
The raising a domestic storm,
Was prettily misnamed Reform;
And sending thousands to their graves,
Saved them, of course, from being slaves.
Equality, that lovely word,
For which so many drew the sword,
Meant only, that industrious worth
Shou'd with the idlest rogue on earth
Share the fair produce of his labour;
And, when thus pillaged, rob his neighbour.
Well had the world run round, I wot,
Had things fall'n out—as they did not;
How decently at Church, (I mean
In Reason's Temple,) had been seen
Our British fair, no longer prudes,
Improved to lib'ral minded Nudes;
Returning home, for dinner ready,
Our servants, in the good cause steady,
Wou'd condescend to wait at table,
Or tend the kitchen, or the stable,
Provided master, and my dame,
Were pleased in turn to do the same;
While citizens, Dick, Poll, and Bobby,
In Gallic costume, sans culotte,
Preambulate park, street, and lobby,
By lady's robe bedeck'd, and lord's best coat.
To circulate his “Rights of Man;”
And mad enthusiastic fools
Of deep designing knaves the tools,
With Hudibrastic fury swelling,
Long'd to “ride forth a Colonelling.”
Kings, Priests, and Peers, at one fell sweep,
They sentenced to “Eternal Sleep;
258
The new Scholastics christen'd death,
Religion, henceforth petty treason,
Was merely soften'd down to Reason;
The raising a domestic storm,
Was prettily misnamed Reform;
And sending thousands to their graves,
Saved them, of course, from being slaves.
Equality, that lovely word,
For which so many drew the sword,
Meant only, that industrious worth
Shou'd with the idlest rogue on earth
Share the fair produce of his labour;
And, when thus pillaged, rob his neighbour.
Well had the world run round, I wot,
Had things fall'n out—as they did not;
How decently at Church, (I mean
In Reason's Temple,) had been seen
Our British fair, no longer prudes,
Improved to lib'ral minded Nudes;
Returning home, for dinner ready,
Our servants, in the good cause steady,
Wou'd condescend to wait at table,
Or tend the kitchen, or the stable,
259
Were pleased in turn to do the same;
While citizens, Dick, Poll, and Bobby,
In Gallic costume, sans culotte,
Preambulate park, street, and lobby,
By lady's robe bedeck'd, and lord's best coat.
| A Metrical History of England | |