And how make Malt for lack of Barley? Come Gentlemen-let's hold a parley: I doubt we'er going fast to ruin This Wellington is our undoing And, if friend Boney has the dropsy, (h) 'T'will turn our projects turvey topsey; Then on what subjects we shall vent Our ceaseless yell of discontent I hardly know-Speak neighbours wise Shall we for groanings advertise? (i) (h) A report to that effect was current about this time. (¿) This inimitable expedient of the City Demagogue was instantly adopted by acclamation; and advertisements, (or passages tantamount to them) decreed to be regularly inserted in the Statesman, Globe, and Morning Chronicle Newspapers. For if the Nation's satisfied, Would I in infancy had died! In lieu of Bread (my worthy friends) The Board Potatoes recommends; (k) As you (dear Liverymen) must know, No that they won't, (cries squeaking Billy) To eat them then is vastly silly! (k) The Board of Agriculture, in the spring of the year 1812, inserted advertisements in several newspapers recommending the increased cultivation of Potatoes, as the best possible substitute for Bread in a season of scarcity. Besides I as a Scholar, know The History of Potatoe: (1) Solanum its generic name: Now (fellow liverymen) 'tis shame To give us Nightshade for a treat— And make poor Cockneys poison eat! (m) 'Tis meant to thin the population And leave no Growlers in the Nation. (1) I remonstrated seriously with my friend Martin for making the a in Potatoe short which I told him was always pronounced long; but he replied that I was quite unacquainted with City pronunciation, and that Billy invariably pronounced it short.So I was forced to give up the point; being sorry to say a Mule is a docile animal compared with Mr. Matter-of-Fact, who is obstinacy personified, (" tho' he's my friend.") Editor. (m) I am reluctantly obliged to confess that Billy's objection is founded in fact, the Nightshade and Potatoe being both comprehended under Solanum in Botany, though the latter, so far from being poisonous, is highly nutritious. Well-Heaven defend me from the set! Hail spotless. We! (n) pure ·! (n) pure Btt! (0) Who went prepar'd for desperate work, And storm'd the R-y-l Fort of Y—k; (n) Vide Mrs. Clarke's Memoirs. (0) Vide Miss Scott's case.-The author is of opinion that the. Baronet might sit for a representation of Purity and Patriotism personified. The only difficulty would be how to combine the attributes of each in the same Portrait: and on more mature reflection Bit should be pourtrayed as the former, and his Link'd by a murderous oath, and bent T'o'erturn the present Government. Foes to Religion---Order---Laws-- Like Cherokees and Chickasaws! But Savages---I beg your pardon! Who scorn such base assassination, As late disgrac'd the British Nation. Say can the Muse forget thy fall, Belov'd-regretted-Perceval? Dark was the deed, and foul the blow, That laid Britannia's Pilot low! incomparable friend as the latter. What a gratification would it be to the Dilettanti to see this par nobile fratrum thus represented in the next Exhibition! |