The political and occasional poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed ::

I'm quite amazed! Twelve months and more
I've taken monstrous pains
To raise my friends from shore to shore,
And make them break their chains;
And much I've plotted, much I've planned,
With energy and skill,
And yet I cannot understand
The clauses of the Bill.

The patriots in the papers wrote
To say the fight was won;
Yet some maintain I have a vote,
And some aver I've none;

205

And bless me! do whate'er I can,
And ask where'er I will,
I never find a gentleman
Who comprehends the Bill.

Attorney Fleece is very good
At anything obscure;
If nonsense can be understood,
He'll understand it, sure;
There's no man better at a lease,
Or sharper at a will;
But bless your heart! Attorney Fleece
Is bothered by the Bill!

At Greek or Latin, you may swear,
The schoolmaster is quick;
They say he'll construe, I declare,
Right through a wall of brick;
But he's been poring for a week,
And may be poring still;
It's infinitely worse than Greek—
He can't translate the Bill.

My landlord, old Sir Charles, was sent,
In the most flattering way,
From Hocus Hall to Parliament
To help Reform, and Grey.

206

He sat, Sir, for the nation's sake,
Till sitting made him ill:
And then—'twas easier to make,
Than to make out—the Bill.

At last, to set the matter right,
Two counsellors came down;
And each, to make our darkness light,
Has brought a wig and gown.
But one says “yes,” and t'other “no,”
A—“black,” B—“white,” until
I don't think either seems to know
The meaning of the Bill.

They say Lord Brougham has power to teach
All sorts of puzzling things,
From alphabets and parts of speech
Down to the crimes of kings.
If yet, in pamphlets and reviews,
He loves young minds to drill,
Some day, perhaps, he will diffuse
Some knowledge of the Bill.

University of Virginia Library

XXV. STANZAS.

BY A TEN POUNDER OBJECTED TO.