"They pity our case, and assemble each neighbour, "To help our distress, and provide us with labour; "Their kind dispositions they've feelingly show'd, "So some work in their gardens, and some on the road. "The heights we will level, th' obstructions we'll clear, "Till a fine gravel walk the highways shall appear; "If they can't give full wages, they'll give what they can, "For the rents of the great all come short to a man. "Mr. Orator spokesman-employment you'd find, "Is good for the body, and good for the mind: "Who loves work, abhors riot; our trade will return, "But how shall we weave, if our workshops we burn?" In a rage, quoth the Patriot, "You are scoundrels and

"knaves;

"Do you know, you vile drudges, you'll live and die

"slaves?

"So you won't pull the jails down?" They answer'd,

"That's true,

"We'll leave them to hold such vile fellows as you.

"We know what you mean by your grand word Rre

“FORM,

"Why 'tis pestilence, hurricane, tempest, and storm; “Thy counsel our necks to the gallows would bring, "So take up your spades, boys, and God save the "King!"

THE LOYAL SUBJECT'S

POLITICAL CREED;

OR,

What I DO, and what I do NOT think.

Mock Creeds and Liturgies I'm told, That make a Christian's blood run cold, By Atheists and their friends are plann'd, To shake the faith of Briton's land.

I'll tell you what I too believe,
My Creed no mortal shall deceive;
No jesting mine with sacred things,
But what my own experience brings.

I do believe these times are sent
For warning, and for punishment;
Of God's displeasure they're the token,
Because His holy laws are broken.

The Newgate Calendar I read,

Where crimes on crimes so thick succeed;
E'en boys commit, these records say,
"The oldest sins the newest way."

I think Heaven's punishments are due
To Atheism and Sedition too;
I think for these 'tis God's own sending,
And not because our laws want mending.

THE LOYAL SUBJECT'S POLITICAL CREED. 101

I think that lies, and oaths, and stealing,
More wound the soul, and shock the feeling,

Than yielding to the powers that be,

Or reverencing authority.

I do not think with Mister Spence,

Our piety is too intense;

Nor do I think our Church wants mending,

But I do think it wants attending.

I think those men that magnify

Our wants, and raise a hue and cry,
Intend to make those wants a cause,
To shake our government and laws.

I do believe what hurts the grain,
Is not the pensions- but the rain;
I do not think that rotten Boroughs,
Can mar the wheat, or drench the furrows.

I think that pensions ill applied
Are wrong, whichever be the side;
But as rewards for faithful trust,
I think they're fairly earn'd and just.

I doubt if Peers with general summons,
Do fill th' elective House of Commons;
But this, whate'er that's wrong it yields,
Stops not the trade in Spitalfields.

If Birmingham ten Members had,
Think you the times would be less bad?
That annual Parliaments would tend
The price of bread or malt to mend?

102 THE LOYAL SUBJECT'S POLITICAL CREED.

I rather, and with reason, think
'Twould tend to raise the price of drink;
I'm sick of mending a whole nation,
Without more private reformation.

If general suffrage should proceed,
What general blessings would succeed?
Then rich and poor, and young and old,
Their share of government would hold.

What joy to hear th' inferior branches
Loud clamouring for th' elective franchise!
The RIGHTS OF Boys, and RIGHTS OF WIVES,
Would crown the comfort of our lives.

For should the low expel the great,
And wise mechanics rule the state,
I think the son may well aspire
To dispossess his equal sire.

If man alive can prove me wrong,
I'll change my note, and burn my song;
But if my reasoning's sound indeed
Till death I will maintain my Creed.

LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP.

ONCE Rome was disturb'd, for what country but yields It's Demagogues, Palace-Yards, Chiefs of Spa-Fields? Though not yet a Republic, yet Rome loved a riot; Where many are rulers, not any are quiet.

The folks discontented began to rebel,

A Parliament Man strove the tumult to quell ;
I'd tell you his name, but 'tis really so hard,
'Twould trouble the reader, and puzzle the bard.*

This Parliament Man, such another as Pitt,
Like him saved the land by his courage and wit;
Oh! Pitt, guardian Angel, what didst thou perform!
Heaven's peace to " the pilot that weather'd the storm.”

This man, who was one of the wisest of Romans,
Once told this short story in Rome's House of Commons;
Thus he spoke to cut short a seditious oration:
"Once the BELLY and LIMBS on a certain occasion

Here he stopp'd, for loud hisses, and louder applause,
Would have check'd him, but still he was true to his cause;
He went on, “ My good friends, a short tale I will tell ye,
"Of a quarrel that chanced 'twixt the Limbs and the Belly.

"Said the Limbs, you are idle, and live in proud state, “While we members do nothing but work, or but wait; "You've got a rare time on't, you sit at your ease, "And drive us, poor drudges, about as you please.

* Menenius Agrippa.