Poems on Various Subjects with some Essays in Prose, Letters to Correspondents, &c. and A Treatise on Health. By Samuel Bowden |
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The Beesom's Reply.
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 | Poems on Various Subjects |  |
The Beesom's Reply.
Proud haughty Huck-muck! boast no more,
Of Ancestors, a numerous score.
Thou bloated, pamper'd son of pride,
Thy empty lineage I deride.
I value not thy royal line,
Nor thy pretended right divine;
What boots high blood, and antient state?
Mine is as good, tho' not so great.
By genealogy of old,
A birchen sceptre too I hold;
And oft' the blood of monarchs stains
With purple ornament my veins;
In every hall and every school,
I often bear the sovereign rule.
Of Ancestors, a numerous score.
Thou bloated, pamper'd son of pride,
Thy empty lineage I deride.
I value not thy royal line,
Nor thy pretended right divine;
322
Mine is as good, tho' not so great.
By genealogy of old,
A birchen sceptre too I hold;
And oft' the blood of monarchs stains
With purple ornament my veins;
In every hall and every school,
I often bear the sovereign rule.
No longer shalt thou strut and swell,
In thy dominion of the cell.
For while thou govern'st with oppression,
I value not thy high succession.
A right divine, to govern wrong,
Can to no potentate belong.
Kings are but fathers of the state,
And if not virtuous, can't be great.
When subjects feel the servile chain,
The tyrant has no right to reign.
Dominion's but an empty thing,
The people constitute the king:
A scepter'd creature made at will,
And is himself a subject still;
Subject to laws far more divine,
Than Cyrus' race, or Cæsar's line.
In thy dominion of the cell.
For while thou govern'st with oppression,
I value not thy high succession.
A right divine, to govern wrong,
Can to no potentate belong.
Kings are but fathers of the state,
And if not virtuous, can't be great.
When subjects feel the servile chain,
The tyrant has no right to reign.
Dominion's but an empty thing,
The people constitute the king:
A scepter'd creature made at will,
And is himself a subject still;
Subject to laws far more divine,
Than Cyrus' race, or Cæsar's line.
Thy people long opprest complain,
Of thy unjust, tyrannic reign.
Of thy unjust, tyrannic reign.
323
My subjects own my gentler sway,
Nor feel the tribute which they pay.
Nor feel the tribute which they pay.
But after all our long debate,
Let no new jars disturb the state;
Tho', 'twixt your majesty and me,
In certain points we disagree,
Yet in one scheme we both comply,
To drain our subjects mighty dry.
While every tributary grain,
Curses our arbitrary reign,
And murmurs thro' the tub in vain.
Let us unite a safer way,
And govern with alternate sway,
Then if the sturdy slaves rebel,
And raise new ferments in our cell,
We'll both agree at next election,
To keep the vassals in subjection.
Let no new jars disturb the state;
Tho', 'twixt your majesty and me,
In certain points we disagree,
Yet in one scheme we both comply,
To drain our subjects mighty dry.
While every tributary grain,
Curses our arbitrary reign,
And murmurs thro' the tub in vain.
Let us unite a safer way,
And govern with alternate sway,
Then if the sturdy slaves rebel,
And raise new ferments in our cell,
We'll both agree at next election,
To keep the vassals in subjection.
| Poems on Various Subjects | |