Volume Ii Part 30 (1/2)
[Footnote 5: The see of Killaloe was then vacant, and to this bishopric the Reverend Dr. George Carr, chaplain to the Irish House of Commons, was nominated, by letters-patent.--_Scott_.]
[Footnote 6: Alluding to the sullen silence of Oxford upon the accession.--_Scott_.]
[Footnote 7: This is spelled Chloe, but evidently should be Clio; indeed, many errors appear in the transcription, which probably were mistakes of the transcriber.--_Scott._]
AN EXCELLENT NEW SONG[1]
ON A SEDITIOUS PAMPHLET. 1720-21
To the tune of ”Packington's Pound.”
Brocades, and damasks, and tabbies, and gauzes, Are, by Robert Ballantine, lately brought over, With forty things more: now hear what the law says, Whoe'er will not wear them is not the king's lover.
Though a printer and Dean, Seditiously mean, Our true Irish hearts from Old England to wean, We'll buy English silks for our wives and our daughters, In spite of his deans.h.i.+p and journeyman Waters.
In England the dead in woollen are clad, The Dean and his printer then let us cry fie on; To be clothed like a carca.s.s would make a Teague mad, Since a living dog better is than a dead lion.
Our wives they grow sullen At wearing of woollen, And all we poor shopkeepers must our horns pull in.
Then we'll buy English silks for our wives and our daughters, In spite of his deans.h.i.+p and journeyman Waters.
Whoever our trading with England would hinder, To inflame both the nations do plainly conspire, Because Irish linen will soon turn to tinder, And wool it is greasy, and quickly takes fire.
Therefore, I a.s.sure ye, Our n.o.ble grand jury, When they saw the Dean's book, they were in a great fury; They would buy English silks for their wives and their daughters, In spite of his deans.h.i.+p and journeyman Waters.
This wicked rogue Waters, who always is sinning, And before _coram n.o.bis_ so oft has been call'd, Henceforward shall print neither pamphlets nor linen, And if swearing can do't shall be swingingly maul'd: And as for the Dean, You know whom I mean, If the printer will peach him, he'll scarce come off clean.
Then we'll buy English silks for our wives and our daughters, In spite of his deans.h.i.+p and journeyman Waters.
[Footnote 1: This ballad alludes to the Dean's ”Proposal for the use of Irish Manufactures,” for which the printer was prosecuted with great violence. Lord Chief-Justice Whitshed sent the jury repeatedly out of court, until he had wearied them into a special verdict. See Swift's Letter to Pope, Jan. 1721, and ”Prose Works,” vii, 13.--_W. E. B._]
THE RUN UPON THE BANKERS[1]
The bold encroachers on the deep Gain by degrees huge tracts of land, Till Neptune, with one general sweep, Turns all again to barren strand.
The mult.i.tude's capricious pranks Are said to represent the seas, Breaking the bankers and the banks, Resume their own whene'er they please.
Money, the life-blood of the nation, Corrupts and stagnates in the veins, Unless a proper circulation Its motion and its heat maintains.
Because 'tis lordly not to pay, Quakers and aldermen in state, Like peers, have levees every day Of duns attending at their gate.
We want our money on the nail; The banker's ruin'd if he pays: They seem to act an ancient tale; The birds are met to strip the jays.
”Riches,” the wisest monarch sings, ”Make pinions for themselves to fly;”[2]
They fly like bats on parchment wings, And geese their silver plumes supply.
No money left for squandering heirs!
Bills turn the lenders into debtors: The wish of Nero[3] now is theirs, ”That they had never known their letters.”
Conceive the works of midnight hags, Tormenting fools behind their backs: Thus bankers, o'er their bills and bags, Sit squeezing images of wax.
Conceive the whole enchantment broke; The witches left in open air, With power no more than other folk, Exposed with all their magic ware.