The three tours of Doctor Syntax In search of 1. The picturesque, 2. Of consolation, 3. Of a wife. The text complete. [By William Combe] With four illustrations |
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 | The three tours of Doctor Syntax |  |
Patrick.—
“Yes, Sir, indeed, enough to shock you,
For faith, they can do nought but mock you;
Nay, if you swear, Sir, by my troth, The Echo will repeat the oath;
And if God bless you, you exclaim, The Echo will declare the same.
Say good, or bad, why in a crack, The ready voice will give it back.
The Echo which you hear at home Does from the parish steeple come;
At least, so all the people say, And I have heard it many a day:
Nay this I know that Old Tom White
Has heard it morn and noon and night,
Since he remembers he could hear;
And he has reach'd his eightieth year.
Now, after all, I see no wonder
When this great gun lets loose its thunder:
The Echo surely says no more Than the great gun has said before,
In an odd way, I own, and stronger, While it may last a little longer.
But give me such as I've been told, Unless poor Pat has been cajoled,
That when a question is preferr'd, Will answer give to every word;
—Your Rev'rence, I've a soldier's thought,
Could it be into practice brought;
'Twould give new strength, when cannon rattle,
And aid the mischief of a battle;
If, well ramm'd down and loaded high, The gun its shot could multiply,
As it can thus increase its sounds,
What added treat of blood and wounds
It would inflict by this same power, In the brisk contest of an hour;
In all directions balls would fly With such unknown variety;
The shot would revel in such plenty,
One gun would prove as good as twenty.”
“Yes, Sir, indeed, enough to shock you,
For faith, they can do nought but mock you;
Nay, if you swear, Sir, by my troth, The Echo will repeat the oath;
And if God bless you, you exclaim, The Echo will declare the same.
Say good, or bad, why in a crack, The ready voice will give it back.
The Echo which you hear at home Does from the parish steeple come;
At least, so all the people say, And I have heard it many a day:
Nay this I know that Old Tom White
Has heard it morn and noon and night,
Since he remembers he could hear;
And he has reach'd his eightieth year.
Now, after all, I see no wonder
When this great gun lets loose its thunder:
The Echo surely says no more Than the great gun has said before,
In an odd way, I own, and stronger, While it may last a little longer.
But give me such as I've been told, Unless poor Pat has been cajoled,
That when a question is preferr'd, Will answer give to every word;
—Your Rev'rence, I've a soldier's thought,
Could it be into practice brought;
'Twould give new strength, when cannon rattle,
And aid the mischief of a battle;
If, well ramm'd down and loaded high, The gun its shot could multiply,
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What added treat of blood and wounds
It would inflict by this same power, In the brisk contest of an hour;
In all directions balls would fly With such unknown variety;
The shot would revel in such plenty,
One gun would prove as good as twenty.”
| The three tours of Doctor Syntax | |