Poems on several occasions

Through thee the free-born Briton braves
The' assaults of arbitrary power;
Tortured with shackles, laughs at slaves;
And boasts of freedom in the Tower!

VI

Through thee may British kings possess
A more advanced revenue far
Than James or Charles enjoy'd in peace,
Than Anne or William in their war.

VII

Merit, not number, now we see,
In all elections bears the sway;
And fifty, when sustain'd by thee,
Can make five hundred fly away.

612

VIII

Thy conduct no suspicion draws,
Nor friends of liberty alarms;
Though arms are still increased by laws,
And laws are still enforced by arms.

IX

Long daring to oppose thy power,
By thee the stubborn Francis fell;
Resistless, when thine anger swore
The haughty prelate's pride to quell.

X

Thy piercing eye through plots profound,
Almost unsearchable, can see;
And depths which Harcourt cannot sound
Are plain to Pawlett made by thee.

XI

To thee the' united senate bends,
And laws themselves confess thy power;
The Charter of the Forest ends,
And Magna Charta is no more.

XII

Through thee all court the stronger side;
Protesting keen no more alarms;
The haughty London veils her pride,
And Scots deliver up their arms.

613

XIII

For thee their chests the misers drain,
And three per cent. rejoice to choose;
To others faithful but for gain,
Obliged by Walpole when they lose.

XIV

Thy pleasure right and wrong can make
To shift their limits to and fro:
Freind at thy nod as hell is black,
And Saint-John is as white as snow.

XV

The Utrecht treaty, growing good,
That severs Austria's house from Spain,
'Twas Oxford's treason to conclude,
'Tis Walpole's glory to maintain.

XVI

Thy mercy wise, for public ends,
To every sect indulgence shows,
To Quakers unbaptized extends,
And smiles on unconverted Jews.

XVII

Thy yoke old rebels willing bear,
Obsequious to thy least command:
Nor wilt thou leave, to breathe the air,
A single Tory in the land.

614

XVIII

One only wish the bard can give
To raise thine honour yet more high:
When fate permits no more to live,
With equal glory mayst thou die!

II.—UPON THE JEWEL OF THE TOWER. 1716.

I

In glorious Anna's later time,
When Whigs were stripp'd of sovereign power,
Their wits extoll'd in ballad-rhyme
A precious Jewel of the Tower.

II

O might they now repeat their art!
How Britain would rejoice once more,
Could she but see the second part
Of that same Jewel in the Tower!

III

The second part to the same tune,
To mend what was amiss before;
That greater care might now be shown
To keep the Jewel in the Tower.

615

IV

Case-harden'd Steele it did surpass,
Yet still grew harder every hour:
And such a rarity, sure, was
No where so well as in the Tower!

V

The gems were once, we know, purloin'd:
But now that trick can take no more;
They're safe in locks and bars confined:
And so should this, too, in the Tower.

VI

But let the counterfeit be shown,
And cant abuse our ears no more;
The gem became the case of stone;
Walpole was Jewel of the Tower.

VII

It was not George's gem, they said,
Nor of his partner Anna's store:
'Tis pity, then, he kept his head,
Or e'er came living from the Tower.

VIII

He ne'er deserved, we'll all agree,
The same that Cæsar did before:
Subjects the gems of crowns may be,
But Whigs the monsters of the Tower.

616

IX

His claws at least should be secured
From ever doing mischief more,
When safe in dens for life immured,
Like other monsters of the Tower.

X

So might his savage rage be stopp'd;
So might he roar, but not devour;
Or slaughter beasts alone when coop'd,
Like other monsters, in the Tower.

XI

Murders at home and wars abroad
Must sate his thirst of human gore:
Monsters so greedy after blood
Appear but seldom in the Tower.

XII

Since Whigs sang songs when you were in;
Since, now you're out on 't, Tories lour;
There, all agree, you brightest shine:
Again be glorious in the Tower!

XIII

Not only ballads should display
Thy merits, as they did before;
But bonfires brighten all thy way,
And guns salute thee at the Tower.

617

III.—MERCY: AN ODE.

I

Of cruel Power let others dream,
And charge the great with doing wrong:
Their Mercy, an unusual theme,
Is here the subject of my song.

II

When Anne and Britain's glory died,
They scorn'd the cost of idle show,
Of mourning guards and velvet's pride,
Of peers and pageantry of woe;

III

Designing more than royal state,—
That all who dared their mistress love,
Impeach'd, might follow her in fate,
And bear her company above.

IV

When first their monarch treads our shore,
The court its mildness soon declares,—
By stopping Ormond at the door,
Instead of throwing him down-stairs!

V

Rewards to steady friends to give,
Impartial o'er the realm they range;
That fees good Cowper might receive,
And bless the universal change.

618

VI

Since Charles restored, none such appears
In any single life-time seen;
Nay, count to make up seven years
The glorious Revolution in.

VII

Harley, who never knew to yield,
Who gave the Brunswick race their power,
From rage of listed mobs they shield,
And safely lodge him in the Tower:

VIII

Though ne'er to try him they intend,
But mourn he should in durance stay;
Nor thousands would refuse to spend,
To bear his charge—to fly away.

IX

The senate, who a golden store,
Unask'd, had pour'd on Brunswick's throne,
Nor met, nor were dissolved, before
The sovereign took his offer'd crown;

X

Lest they, perhaps, the pompous day
Had graced, and George's medals shared;
Lest interest might have seem'd to sway,
When virtue was its own reward.

Cætera desunt.

619

IV.—THE HUMBLE ADDRESS OF THE KNIGHT TO THE KING.

Since now from all sides you're address'd,
Permit me, Sir, among the rest,
An humble supplicant to stand,
And make my speech, and kiss your hand.
My business is to beg your Grace
Would not remove me from my place:
Which granted, in few words and plain
I mean to teach you how to reign.

From cares and toils you shall be free,
Rule but as viceroy under me.
Things at my whistle shall be done,
For any reason, or for none.
Of which an instance take most curious:
Because the world is grown luxurious,
And 'cause the king should by his station
Set an example to the nation,
We shall enable you by Bill
To eat and drink and --- your fill;
That, if you list, you may afford
To spread again the Green-Cloth Board;
And make what duchesses you please
For public-private services.
Fear not your running up a score;
It shall not be accounted for.
The Funds shall to your pocket sink,
And yet the public debt shall shrink.

620

Besides, no living mortal knows
Like me to' avenge you of your foes.
I mind not prating Jacks a straw:
If any title me “bashaw,”
I send with unresisted power
The free-born Briton to the Tower.
For, but to hint I do amiss,
The blackest of all treason is.
If you but cast an angry look
Upon a bishop or a duke,
Attainder sends him 'cross the seas,
Or Act for Pains and Penalties.
Impeach, imprison, try, and kill,—
It all shall be but Mercy still:
I'll hang the Jacobite by vote,
Who offers to affirm 'tis not.
What wonders may not acted be
By him that remedied South-Sea?
You shall not, under my command,
From regency excluded stand.
Nay, more: let me but gain my ends,
I'll give preferment to your friends,
And (if you beg to have it done)
Bestow a garter on your son.

O, be not from this glorious course
Seduced by evil counsellors!
No ear to wicked Tories yield,
To Pulteney or to Chesterfield.
If idle tales your heart should move
Of public good and people's love;

621

Should you not open, frank and free,
The flood-gates of the treasury;
Should your next parliament be new;
My knighthood then might look but blue:
For if you let their votes alone,
You are a king, and I am none.

V.—NOSCE TEIPSUM: TO THE KNIGHT.

I

Discourteous and adventurous knight,
'Tis your old custom, wrong or right,
To call each foe “a Jacobite.”

II

That ugly, saucy word keep in;
For 'tis mere vice correcting sin,
Cethegus blamed by Catiline.

III

From the same charge yourself defend:
And, if that silly way you mend,
You've cause to thank me as a friend.

IV

The Preston tale need not be told,—
How rebels' lives you fairly sold,
Who had their purchase for their gold:

622

V

Nor yet how, wonderfully good,
For father Francis once you stood,
When Sandys was panting for his blood:

VI

Nor yet what hints from Mar you took:
Nor how most manfully you spoke
“For the good lord of Bolingbroke.”

VII

Nor yet your worth shall we accuse
Of vile and treasonable views,
For spending nights with Mrs. Hughes.

VIII

But still some faults will foes espy;
And fools ask questions by-the-by,
To which your wisdom won't reply.

IX

They ask, (and well it might amaze
Those who can wonder at your ways,)
What schemes you laid with madam Hayes:

X

Since plots with ease you make appear,
Though deep as hell, why don't you clear,
Who sent to Rome your cousin Layer?

623

XI

Did ever those whom you miscall
Bestow preferment, great or small,
On Benedictine-general?

XII

Did wicked Tories suffer here
Jesuits those children to be near
Whom once their parents durst not rear?

XIII

Did ever Romish priest maintain
The English orders in their reign,
And lose a pension for his pain?

XIV

Did e'er their persecuting fury
So drop an honest man, to curry
Favour with cardinal De Fleury?

XV

What makes old Jacobites surprise
The world by praising to the skies
Your steps, as honest and as wise?

XVI

Whence your respect to Waldegrave shown?
What makes him represent the throne?—
His kindred's virtues, or his own?

624

XVII

To George why does your conduct raise
More foes in half a twelvemonth's space,
Than Will or Harry all their days?

VI.—TO MR. LISTER,

ON HIS CONSTANT ATTENDANCE AT PARLIAMENT.

While others poorly shrink away,
Like phantoms at approach of day,
Not sickness' self can Lister make
The well-fought combat to forsake.
Vain are the strong assaults of pain;
His friends' persuasions are as vain.
His country's grief, too plainly known,
Prevents the minding of his own.
Nor morning-watch diverts his aim;
O'erpower'd, outvoted,—still the same.
He falls, averse to fly or yield,
As Britons ought, upon the field.
Our Sodom might from fate be free,
Had she but fifty such as he.
But, ah! so low our ebb, I fear,
Scarcely can ten be reckon'd there.

Still be your glorious course pursued:
Opposing ill is doing good.
With generous love to Britain fired,
Persist, unbroken and untired,

625

Till Winnington shall steady prove,
Till Pulteney shall sir Robert love,
And Oxford's earl a courtier be,
And Shippen leave his honesty,
And Wyndham common-sense forego,
And Oglethorpe a coward grow,
And northern folk refuse a place,
And Billy blush in sign of grace,
And courtiers loathe a money-bill,
And Bob be tired with doing ill.
May all these wonders first be view'd,
Ere you be tired with doing good!

VII.—ON SIR ROBERT WALPOLE'S SAYING HE WOULD NEVER EMPLOY BOLINGBROKE TO WRITE FOR HIM.

No; let not Saint-John plead a cause like thine!
The man is fit for 't, but the pen too fine.
Select some champion worthier to succeed,—
Thy friend John Dunton, advocate in need.
More apt supporters far thy wisdom knows,
For dull, low rhyme, or pert, abusive prose.
Let the High-German scribble for his fees;
And hire the' immortal author of “the Bees.”
Horneck unpadlock'd then may write his fill,
And vice be still extoll'd by Mandeville.

626

VIII.—ON A CONFERENCE IN FRANCE.

Poor Horace, as the French assure ye,
Waited on cardinal De Fleury;
Horace a strong protector needing,
Renown'd for wit as well as breeding.
“Dear sir,” quoth he, “our house remember:
Patch up some peace before December;
Or else to Tyburn we are damn'd all
At Christmas next, by way of gambol.”

Dear cardinal, this supplication
Reject, and hear the British nation:
The brothers and their cause forsaking,
Promote our Christmas merry-making.
Their guilt would soon procure them scourges,
Unbutton but your cloak like Burgess;
They're gone, in friendship if you falter:
They've had their swing without a halter
Now long enough; O show the minute
That lets them take their swing too in it!

IX.—TO HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF QUEENSBOROUGH.

Let the knight on beauty lour,
Loveliest ornament of power;
Let him, at a stager's nod,
Painted, prostitute, and proud,
Hate to real charms display,
Basely sworn to ruin Gay:

627

Who his hatred would not bear,
Favouring smiles from you to share?
Happy Gay! ordain'd to know
Such a friend and such a foe!

What, though sense and wit to love
Courtiers' idle rage may move?
Calmly you unhurt retreat,
Banish'd from the meaner great;
Take your beauties thence away:
Full revenge is to obey.
Let the vulgar rank and face
Borrow lustre from the place.
There where friendship false beguiles,
Basely murdering while it smiles;
There where proud despotic will
Boasts the power of doing ill;
There where paltry gold outvies
All the lustre of your eyes;—
Generous and just and fair,
Why, O why should you be there?

X.—ON THE STREET-ROBBERIES.

I

The robbers every day increase,
And streets are nightly plunder'd:
Yet he who takes a thief, oft sees
Not sixpence in the hundred.

628

II

Pay down the hundred pound in court,
When culprit is convicted.
This by the cock-pit, men report,
Is fiercely contradicted.

III

No moneys hastily must go
To pay such calls as these are.
What forms and business mean, they know;
What perquisites and fees are.

IV

They value not the public ill;
Let them wear gold that win it.
Let some folks rob without-door still,
So some may rob within it.

V

No treasurers prompt-payment love:
They speak with fellow-feeling;
The precedent might dangerous prove,
To punish men for stealing.

XI.—EPIGRAM.

[From sunset to daybreak, when folks are asleep]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

From sunset to daybreak, when folks are asleep,
New watchmen are 'pointed the 'chequer to keep:
New locks and new bolts fasten every door,
And the chests are made three times as strong as before.

629

Yet the thieves, when 'tis open, the treasure may seize;
For the same are still trusted with care of the keys.
From the night to the morning, 'tis true, all is right:
But who shall secure it from morning to night?

XII.—ANACREONTIC.

[No disappointment, friend, has power]

No disappointment, friend, has power
To make me sigh or pine an hour.
Should some inferior rival get
The start by not deserving it,
A Whig's prosperity should move
No more my envy than my love.
Say, should this place for Master know
At once an alien and a foe;
I hope to view with mind serene
The ruin I have long foreseen.
Shall I for trifles grieve? shall I,
Who saw my father banish'd fly,
And Walpole live, and Anna die?

XIII.—ANOTHER.

[If e'er I cast a wishful eye]

If e'er I cast a wishful eye
On the gilt chariot rolling by;
Or pined to find my equals grow
To pomp, while I remain below;

630

My breast if ever envy tore
To view my country's foes in power,
To see, while merit trampled lies,
A Walpole or a Hoadly rise:—
If e'er at objects mean as those
One pang, except of pity, rose;
May I ere death so wretched be,
That even they may pity me!

XIV.—AN EPIGRAM.

[A steward once, the Scripture says]

A steward once, the Scripture says,
When order'd his accounts to pass,
To gain his master's debtors o'er,
Cried, “For a hundred write fourscore.”
Near as he could, sir Robert, bent
To follow gospel-precedent,
When told a hundred, late, would do,
Cried, “I beseech you, sir, take two.”
In merit which should we prefer,
The steward or the treasurer?
Neither for justice cared a fig;
Too proud to beg, too old to dig;
Both bountiful themselves have shown
In things that never were their own.
But here a difference we must grant:—
One robb'd the rich to keep off want;
T'other, vast treasures to secure,
Stole from the public and the poor.

631

XV.—ANOTHER.

[When patriots sent a bishop 'cross the seas]

When patriots sent a bishop 'cross the seas,
They met to fix the Pains and Penalties;
While true-blue blood-hounds on his death were bent,
Thy mercy, Walpole, voted banishment;
Or forced thy sovereign's orders to perform,
Or proud to govern as to raise the storm.
Thy goodness, shown in such a dangerous day,
He only who received it can repay:
Thou never justly recompensed canst be,
Till banish'd Francis do the same for thee.

XVI.—ANOTHER.

[Though some would give sir Bob no quarter]

Though some would give sir Bob no quarter,
But long to hang him in his garter;
Yet sure he will deserve to have
Such mercy as in power he gave.
Send him abroad to take his ease,
By Act of Pains and Penalties:
But if he e'er comes here again,
Law, take thy course, and hang him then.

632

XVII.—ANOTHER.

[Four shillings in the pound we see]

Four shillings in the pound we see,
And well may rest contented,
Since war—Bob swore 't should never be—
Is happily prevented.

But he, now absolute become,
May plunder every penny;
Then blame him not for taking some,
But thank for leaving any.

XVIII.—ANOTHER.

[Let Hal his treason now confess]

Let Hal his treason now confess,
Display'd to every eye:
'Twas base in Hal to sell a peace,
But great in Bob to buy.

Which most promotes Great Britain's gain,
To all mankind is clear;
One sends our treasure 'cross the main,
One brings the foreign here.

But if 'tis fit to give rewards
Or punishments to either,
Why, make them both together lords,
Or hang them both together.

633

XIX.—ANOTHER.

[At scribblers poor, that write to eat]

At scribblers poor, that write to eat,
Ye wags, give over jeering;
Since, gall'd by Harry, Bob the Great
Has stoop'd to pamphleteering.

Would not one champion on his side
For love or money venture?
Must knighthood's mirror, spite of pride,
So mean a combat enter?

To take the field his weakness shows,
Though well he could maintain it:
Since Hal no honour has to lose,
Pray, how should Robin gain it?

Worthy each other are the two:
Halloo, boys! fairly start ye:
May he be hated worse than you
That ever tries to part ye!

XX.—ANOTHER.

[If we may credit Newcombe's lay]

If we may credit Newcombe's lay,
Sir Robert, unperplex'd,
Is Greek Demosthenes one day,
And Roman Tully next.

634

What, though their eloquence be lost?
Their vices he may hold;
The Roman's cowardice and boast,
The Grecian's love of gold.

XXI.—ANOTHER.

[Quoth sir Robert, “Our ribands, I find, are too few,—]

Quoth sir Robert, “Our ribands, I find, are too few,—
Of St. Andrew's the green, and St. George's the blue.
I must find out a red one, a colour more gay,
That will tie up my subjects with pride to' obey.
Though the 'chequer may suffer by prodigal donors,
Yet the king's ne'er exhausted, that fountain of honours.”

XXII.—A PANEGYRIC, 1731.

[With favour and fortune fastidiously blest]

[_]

The attribution of this poem is questionable.

With favour and fortune fastidiously blest,
He's loud in his laugh, and coarse in his jest;
Of favour and fortune unmerited vain,
A sharper in trifles, a dupe in the main;
Achieving of nothing, still promising wonders,
By dint of experience improving in blunders;

635

Oppressing true merit, exalting the base,
And selling his country to purchase a place;
A jobber of stocks by retailing false news,
A prater at Court in the style of the mews;
Of virtue and worth by profession a giber,
Of juries and senates the bully and briber!
Though I name not the wretch, you know whom I mean;
'Tis the cur-dog of Britain, and spaniel of Spain!

XXIII.—EPIGRAM.

[To save a scoundrel, Scotch and English meet]

To save a scoundrel, Scotch and English meet,
And dukes and statesmen for his life entreat,
Whose every deed deserves a halter well,
Excepting that, perhaps, for which he fell.
But say, what intercession do we hear
For the learn'd prelate and the gallant peer?
Whose worth and virtues enemies allow,
Excepting that for which they suffer now.
For these what statesmen pray, what courtiers plead?
Tell it, to future ages tell the deed,—
That those for Charteris did a pardon gain,
Who Rochester in banishment detain,
And bid the exiled Ormond die in Spain!

636

XXIV.—A LITANY.

From dethroning our prince for what ministers do;
From a church false to kings, and a meeting-house true;
And from Whigs of all sorts, both the old and the new;
May we be deliver'd!

From rebellious obedience and Whig moderation;
From our liberties saved by impris'ning the nation;
And from murdering with or without proclamation;
May we be deliver'd!

From a blind faith and zeal, both in church and in state;
From the meeting, at stake or on scaffold, our fate;
And from re-reformation, or Rome at the gate;
May we be deliver'd!

From an honest man's blame, and a villain's applause;
From our using ill means to support a good cause;
From decrying the gospel, and slighting the laws;
May we be deliver'd!

From a Dutch commonwealth and a Frenchified regence;
From the preaching to queens, not to kings, an obedience;
And from holding resistance, and teaching allegiance;
May we be deliver'd!

637

From priestcraft, and eke staff and shoes at the gate;
From repealing of Bibles and Creeds by the state;
And alike from a Quaker's and Cardinal's hat;
May we be deliver'd!

From laws made or annull'd for a party alone;
From riots on one side, on t'other side none;
From a duke in a mob, or a duke in a throne;
May we be deliver'd!

From making or murdering lords on occasion;
From bought senates in red, or mob-administration;
From the bishops' declaring and Mar's declaration;
May we be deliver'd!

From revenge in an office, and Papists in power;
From justice impartial that stoops to a whore;
From impeaching an Ormond, and not ------;
May we be deliver'd!

University of Virginia Library

SATIRICAL POETRY

AGAINST SIR ROBERT WALPOLE'S ADMINISTRATION.

I.—AN ODE TO MR. WALPOLE.

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

XI

XII

XIII

XIV

XV

XVI

XVII

XVIII

II.—UPON THE JEWEL OF THE TOWER. 1716.

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

XI

XII

XIII

III.—MERCY: AN ODE.

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

IV.—THE HUMBLE ADDRESS OF THE KNIGHT TO THE KING.

V.—NOSCE TEIPSUM: TO THE KNIGHT.

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

X

XI

XII

XIII

XIV

XV

XVI

XVII

VI.—TO MR. LISTER,

ON HIS CONSTANT ATTENDANCE AT PARLIAMENT.

VII.—ON SIR ROBERT WALPOLE'S SAYING HE WOULD NEVER EMPLOY BOLINGBROKE TO WRITE FOR HIM.

VIII.—ON A CONFERENCE IN FRANCE.

IX.—TO HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF QUEENSBOROUGH.

X.—ON THE STREET-ROBBERIES.

I

II

III

IV

V

XI.—EPIGRAM.

[From sunset to daybreak, when folks are asleep]

XII.—ANACREONTIC.