 | 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition |  |
763
KING HODGE.
Squire assures me I am King,
Says the Sovereign Masses
Need not any longer cling
To the bloated classes;
But it cannot be, my mates,
For I hate aggression,
And he keeps the old estates
Tight in his possession;
No, he is not coming down,
From the swag and swilling,
If he offers me a “crown”—
I would take a shilling.
Says the Sovereign Masses
Need not any longer cling
To the bloated classes;
But it cannot be, my mates,
For I hate aggression,
And he keeps the old estates
Tight in his possession;
No, he is not coming down,
From the swag and swilling,
If he offers me a “crown”—
I would take a shilling.
Papers lie, we know them well,
When they call us master,
Just to make their garbage sell,
Coined in money, faster;
Still I tramp about the fields,
Sweating, swearing, itching,
Heaping up what harvest yields
Not for my enriching;
Still I never have my ease,
As is bosses' habit,
Eking out the bread and cheese
With a casual rabbit.
When they call us master,
Just to make their garbage sell,
Coined in money, faster;
Still I tramp about the fields,
Sweating, swearing, itching,
Heaping up what harvest yields
Not for my enriching;
Still I never have my ease,
As is bosses' habit,
Eking out the bread and cheese
With a casual rabbit.
True, at first I rather took
To my new position,
Bought a lying Gladstone book,
Playing politician;
Thought those acres and the cow
Lovely in the distance,
Liked the mercenary bow
Begging my assistance;
Fancied I was what they said—
Though unchanged my station,
And as vilely housed and paid—
Monarch of Creation.
To my new position,
Bought a lying Gladstone book,
Playing politician;
Thought those acres and the cow
Lovely in the distance,
Liked the mercenary bow
Begging my assistance;
Fancied I was what they said—
Though unchanged my station,
And as vilely housed and paid—
Monarch of Creation.
Noblemen were “brothers” quite,
Ere the last Election,
Ladies all in pink and white
Showed me marked affection;
Swells came cadging for my vote,
Promised landed treasures,
Better wages, a good coat—
But they stopped at “measures”;
Lord Flapdoodle tried each dodge,
Introduced his sister—
Now I am but simple Hodge,
Though I then was “Mister.”
Ere the last Election,
Ladies all in pink and white
Showed me marked affection;
Swells came cadging for my vote,
Promised landed treasures,
Better wages, a good coat—
But they stopped at “measures”;
Lord Flapdoodle tried each dodge,
Introduced his sister—
Now I am but simple Hodge,
Though I then was “Mister.”
764
Yet they now salute me King.
Brag about the glories
Suffrage and the ballot bring
Slaves set free from Tories;
Though it always is but cant,
Not a bit for spending—
Only food and clothing scant,
Till the workhouse ending;
And I would, however queer
Seems my own opinion,
Barter for a glass of beer
All my new dominion.
Brag about the glories
Suffrage and the ballot bring
Slaves set free from Tories;
Though it always is but cant,
Not a bit for spending—
Only food and clothing scant,
Till the workhouse ending;
And I would, however queer
Seems my own opinion,
Barter for a glass of beer
All my new dominion.
| 'Twixt Kiss and Lip or Under the Sword. By the author of "Women Must Weep," [i.e. F. W. O. Ward] Third edition | |