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XXI. PLEDGES.
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192

XXI. PLEDGES.

BY A TEN-POUND HOUSEHOLDER.

When a gentleman comes
With his trumpets and drums,
And hangs out a flag at the Dragon,
Some pledges, no doubt,
We must get him to spout
To the shop-keepers, out of a wagon.
For although an M.P.
May be wiser than we
Till the House is dissolved, in December,
Thenceforth, we're assured,
Since Reform is secured,
We'll be wiser by far than our member.

193

A pledge must be had
That, since times are so bad,
He'll prepare a long speech, to improve them;
And since taxes, at best,
Are a very poor jest,
He'll take infinite pains to remove them.
He must promise and vow
That he'll never allow
A Bishop to ride in his carriage;
That he'll lighten our cares
By abolishing prayers,
And extinguishing baptism and marriage.
He must solemnly say
That he'll vote no more pay
To the troops, in their ugly red jackets;
And that none may complain
On the banks of the Seine,
He'll dismast all our ships, but the packets.
That the labourer's arm
May be stout on the farm,
That our commerce may wake from stagnation,
That our trades may revive,
And our looms look alive,
He'll be pledged to all free importation.

194

And that city and plain
May recover again
From the squabbles of Pitts and of Foxes,
He'll be pledged, amidst cheers,
To demolish the Peers,
And give us the balls and the boxes.
Some questions our wit
May have chanced to omit;
So, for fear he should happen to stumble,
He must promise to go
With Hume, Harvey, and Co.,
And be their obedient and humble.
We must bind him, poor man,
To obey their divan,
However their worships may task him,
To swallow their lies
Without any surprise,
And to vote black is white, when they ask him.
These hints I shall lay,
In a forcible way,
Before an intelligent quorum,
Who meet to debate
Upon matters of State,
To-night, at the National Forum.