The political and occasional poems of Winthrop Mackworth Praed ::

Poulett, our ancestors were fools;
But we have lectures, pamphlets, schools,
Lord Brougham and Gower Street College;
All patriots learn to read and write;
And bigots shudder at the light
Of newspapers and knowledge.

Immortal men our Earth have blest;
Great Kitchiner invented yest,
And made mysterious gravy;

173

In jet is blazoned Warren's name;
The safety lamp lights up the fame
Of good Sir Humphrey Davy.

But round thy temples, Thomson, played
(Young Solon of the Board of Trade)
A blaze of brighter glory;
When thou didst make, with wondrous wit,
A surplus of a deficit,
To bother Whig and Tory.

“Let not the creditor be grieved,
Although his cash be not received;”
Oh bliss to hear thee say it!
“How can his interest be worse?
'Tis fructifying in the purse
Of those who ought to pay it!”

The gallery shook at that dark word;
The chief clerk trembled as he heard;
Up started Mr. Speaker:
And thou didst smile on poor Lord A.,
A mild, meek smile, that seemed to say
“Eureka! Lo, Eureka!”

“Henceforth,” Long Wellesley Long Pole said,
“Henceforth I shall not hear with dread
The echoes of my knocker!”

174

Quoth Joseph Hume, “I'll bet a pound
The clever boy has somewhere found
My own new notes on Cocker!”

Harvey and Schonswar cried, “Hear, hear,”
Only poor Waithman did not cheer;
Ah, whence was Waithman's sorrow?
“I wish,” he sighed, “that eight or nine
Good liberal customers of mine
Mayn't see the Times to-morrow!”

Hail, happy Thomson! Fraud and debt
Shall mock the Fleet and the Gazette,
By grace of thine orations;
Fierce Captain Rock, in Clare and Louth,
Shall leave off oaths, and learn to mouth
Thy limpid lucubrations.

Prate on, prate on, oh! not in vain;
So long as London shall contain
A seller and a buyer—
Perish Ricardo, perish Mill!
Thy praise shall be recorded still,
Poulett—the Fructifier!

University of Virginia Library

XV. ODE ADDRESSED TO THE RT. HON. POULETT THOMSON, ON HIS DISCOVERY OF THE FRUCTIFYING PRINCIPLE.