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The political and occasional poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed

Edited, with notes, by Sir George Young
Praed, Winthrop Mackworth (1802-1839)

collapse sectionI. 
Part I.
 I. 
I. A FREE TRANSLATION OF A LETTER FROM PRINCE HILT TO A FRIEND AT PARIS.
 II. 
II. CHANCERY MORALS.
 III. 
III. LETTERS TO ILLUSTRIOUS CHARACTERS.
 IV. 
IV. LETTERS TO ILLUSTRIOUS CHARACTERS.
 V. 
V. LOVE'S ETERNITY.
 VI. 
VI. A SONG OF IMPOSSIBILITIES.
 VII. 
VII. ODE TO THE CHANCELLOR.
 VIII. 
VIII. WISDOM OF THE GREAT COUNCIL. I.
 IX. 
IX. WISDOM OF THE GREAT COUNCIL. II.
 X. 
X. THE LAY OF THE CHEESE.
 XI. 
XI. ROYAL EDUCATION.
 XII. 
XII. THE CORONATION OF CHARLES X.
 XIII. 
XIII. THE CORONATION OF CHARLES X.
 XIV. 
XIV. THE LONDON UNIVERSITY.
 XV. 
XV. AN EPITAPH ON THE LATE KING OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.
 XVII. 
XVII. THE CHAUNTS OF THE BRAZEN HEAD. II.
 XVIII. 
XVIII. THE CHAUNTS OF THE BRAZEN HEAD. III.
 XX. 
XX. THE DEATH OF CANNING.
 XXI. 
XXI. THE RIDDLES OF THE SPHINX.
 XXII. 
XXII. THE OUTS.
 XXIII. 
XXIII. THE RETROSPECT.
 XXIV. 
XXIV. BIGOTRY'S REMONSTRANCE.
 XXVI. 
XXVI. WATERLOO.
 XXVII. 
XXVII. MARS DISARMED BY LOVE.
collapse sectionII. 
Part II.
 I. 
I. THE NEW ORDER OF THINGS.
 II. 
II. THE CONVERT.
 III. 
III. ODE TO POPULARITY.
 IV. 
IV. THE COMPLAINT OF LIBERTY.
 V. 
V. WHY AND WHEREFORE.
 VI. 
VI. KING ALFRED'S BOOK.
 VII. 
VII. INTENTIONS.
 VIII. 
VIII. THE BEGGAR'S PETITION.
 IX. 
IX. SPEECH OF THE IRISH SECRETARY IN DEFENCE OF THE LORD LIEUTENANT.
 X. 
X. SPEECH DELIVERED BY A WORTHY ALDERMAN, SEVERAL TIMES, IN COMMITTEE ON THE REFORM BILL.
 XI. 
XI. THE BILL, THE WHOLE BILL, AND NOTHING BUT THE BILL.
 XII. 
XII. REASONS FOR NOT RATTING.
 XIII. 
XIII. THE OLD TORY.
 XIV. 
XIV. THE YOUNG WHIG.
 XV. 
XV. ODE ADDRESSED TO THE RT. HON. POULETT THOMSON, ON HIS DISCOVERY OF THE FRUCTIFYING PRINCIPLE.
 XVI. 
XVI. THE DREAM OF A REPORTER.
 XVII. 
XVII. THE NEW LIGHT.
 XVIII. 
XVIII. LONG AGO.
 XIX. 
XIX. PLUS DE POLITIQUE.
 XX. 
XX. THE MAGIC BENCH.
 XXI. 
XXI. PLEDGES.
 XXII. 
XXII. HUME TRANSLATED.
 XXIII. 
XXIII. THE OLD SOLDIER.
 XXIV. 
XXIV. A CABINET CAROL.
 XXV. 
XXV. STANZAS.
 XXVI. 
XXVI. AN EPISTLE
 XXVII. 
XXVII. THE BEGGAR'S THANKS.
 XXVIII. 
XXVIII. A NURSERY SONG.
 XXIX. 
XXIX. STANZAS
 XXX. 
XXX. PATRIOT AND PLACEMAN.
 XXXI. 
XXXI. WHISTLE.
 XXXII. 
XXXII. THE ADIEUS OF WESTMINSTER.
 XXXIII. 
XXXIII. THIRTY-TWO AND THIRTY-THREE.
 XXXIV. 
XXXIV. THE WASHING OF THE BLACKAMOOR.
 XXXV. 
XXXV. MR. LITTLETON'S FRIENDSHIP.
 XXXVI. 
XXXVI. THE REMONSTRANCE.
 XXXVII. 
XXXVII. THE RUSSELL MELODIES.
 XXXVIII. 
XXXVIII. THE RUSSELL MELODIES.
 XXXIX. 
XXXIX. THE RUSSELL MELODIES.
 XL. 
XL. THE RUSSELL MELODIES.
 XLI. 
XLI. THE RUSSELL MELODIES.
 XLII. 
XLII. THE RUSSELL MELODIES.
 XLIII. 
XLIII. MAXIMS.
 XLIV. 
XLIV. THE SONG OF THE NURSE.
 XLV. 
XLV. THE STATE OF THE NATION.
 XLVI. 
XLVI. A MEMBER'S MUSINGS.
 XLVII. 
XLVII. COUNSELS OF A FATHER TO HIS SON.
 XLVIII. 
XLVIII. THE WHISPERS OF THE RUE RIVOLI.
 XLIX. 
XLIX. THE FALSE REPORT.
 L. 
L. A FAMILIAR EPISTLE.
 LI. 
LI. COLLOQUIES OF THE CANONGATE.
 LII. 
LII. THE LATE RESIGNATIONS.
 LIII. 
LIII. THE SONG OF THE BELLS.
collapse sectionIII. 
Part III.
 I. 
I THE CONTESTED ELECTION.
 II. 
II. THE POLITICAL DRAWING-ROOM.
 III. 
III. THE TREASURY BENCH.

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214

XXIX. STANZAS

ON SEEING THE SPEAKER ASLEEP IN HIS CHAIR, DURING ONE OF THE DEBATES OF THE FIRST REFORMED PARLIAMENT.

215

Sleep, Mr. Speaker; it's surely fair,
If you don't in your bed, that you should in your chair;
Longer and longer still they grow,
Tory and Radical, Aye and No;
Talking by night, and talking by day;
Sleep, Mr. Speaker; sleep, sleep while you may!
Sleep, Mr. Speaker; slumber lies
Light and brief on a Speaker's eyes.
Fielden or Finn, in a minute or two,
Some disorderly thing will do;
Riot will chase repose away;
Sleep, Mr. Speaker; sleep, sleep while you may.
Sleep, Mr. Speaker; Cobbett will soon
Move to abolish the sun and moon;
Hume, no doubt, will be taking the sense
Of the House on a saving of thirteen pence;
Grattan will growl, or Baldwin bray;
Sleep, Mr. Speaker; sleep, sleep while you may.
Sleep, Mr. Speaker; dream of the time
When loyalty was not quite a crime,
When Grant was a pupil in Canning's school,
And Palmerston fancied Wood a fool.
216

Lord, how principles pass away!
Sleep, Mr. Speaker; sleep, sleep while you may.
Sleep, Mr. Speaker; sweet to men
Is the sleep that comes but now and then;
Sweet to the sorrowful, sweet to the ill,
Sweet to the children who work in a mill.
You have more need of sleep than they;
Sleep, Mr. Speaker; sleep, sleep while you may.
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