Modern Chevy Chase, or, The analysis
THE
MODERN CHEVY CHASE;
OR,
THE ANALYSIS:
A POEM,
"'Tis Libery that crowns Britannia's Isle,
And makes her barren rocks and her bleak mountains smile."
Addison.
GLASGOW:
Printed for the Author, and sold at his House,
No. 15, Duke Street.
1831.
PRICE THREE HALFPENCE.
Miller, Printer.
THE ANALYSIS.
God prosper long our Patriot King,
Our Lords and Commons all,
Who voted that we should be free
From Boroughmonger’s thrall.
Commission’d by King William Great,
And Patriot Sage Earl Grey,
Lord Russell in the Commons’ House
Of Parliament did say:
To rectify our far-famed State,
A law will I propose,
To stem Corruption’s threatening tide,
And lessen Britain’s woes.
In choosing Representatives
On Reformation’s plan;
Throughout the land I’d give a vote
To every thriving man;
Which easily we’ll ascertain,
By land or household rent:
Thus, Guardians of true Freedom should
To Parliament be sent.
Men who their Constituents' weal
Will always have at heart;
Who will not falsify their trust,
Nor act the truant’s part:
As we have seen in times gone by,
Some chosen to come here,
Who went abroad, and never would
At Duty's post appear.
Close-boroughs let us disfranchise,
Ere their Corruption's weight,
By dire accumulation sink,
The vessel of the State.
Sir Robert Inglis made reply,
A change may raise a storm,
Which might endanger King and State:
I'll vote against Reform.
Small Boroughs yet should rule the large,
As it has long been so;
For if they don't, the Throne will sink
Within ten years, I know.
Squire Twiss declares, in haughty tone,
Petitions I despise:
The Parliament should shut their ears
Against the People's cries.
They know not what is for them best-
For at the Nation's debt,
And taxes which have pressed them down,
They ignorantly fret.
Unquestionable wisdom rests
With us the members here:
Let none by shopmen chosen come,
Among us to appear.
Lord Althorp said, The Commons' House
Should Comnmons represent,
And not the borough-buying Lords,
With selfish wrong intent.
Lord Gower said, That he was pleased
With matters as they stood—
Some through small borough wickets came,
To seek the general good.
The second night, Great Joseph Hume
In cheerful mood appeared,
With reasons for Reform, from what,
Against it he had heard.
He hailed it as the rising sun
Of Old Britannia's weal,
Whose brightness cheered the Patriot's hopes,
And warmed his growing zeal.
Squire Shelley grumbled at the thought,
Of Gatton disfranchised;
To shut him out from Parliament,
Where much a seat he prized.
Next, Master Wall said feelingly,
Though Time old towns destroy,
I'd have the Mayors and Aldermen
Their anclent power enjoy.
Lord Newark thought, the bill proposed,
Was good without debate,
Yet wished some rotten boroughs left
As ballast to the State.
Lord Darlington sald, boroughs old,
Time battered and decayed,
Should for their disfranchisement have
Some compensation made.
Lord Ebrington, for active zeal,
Gave Lord John Russell thanks,
And his coadjutors who filled
The Ministerial ranks.
Lord Stormont said he saw a storm,
That promised little good
To Aldborough, where people yet
Knew where its walls had stood:
And for this cause he thought it right,
That he, and many more,
Should vote against Reform, as they
Had always done before.
Next, Sir John Walsh the mirror held
Of visionary fear;
The sword of Damocles, quoth he,
I see suspended here.
Then Squire Macauley rose, and hailed
The Bill proposed with joy,
With all its hopeful tendencies,
Corruption to destroy;
He blamed the opposers of Reform,
Who hugged an evil cause,—
He said Prosperity would rise
With salutary laws.
Squire Hunt, who Preston represents,
Said, all who taxes paid
Should have a vote, each working man,
Whatever be his trade.
Lord Morpeth said, That if Reform
Unnecessary were,
And if that all was well, the House
Were ready to declare;
Then they, with clear consistency,
Might high their courage pitch;
Nor grant Reform, but rather die
In Sarum's only ditch.
But yet he scarcely could believe
That they, with vain pretence,
Would shut their eyes against the light
And rules of common sense.
Sir Charles Wetherell (half enraged)
Contemned the Bill proposed,
Averring 'twould be robbery,
If Boroughbridge were closed.
He, in hot zeal, to vilify
The Bill in various ways,
Its movers ranked with regicides
In the first Charles's days.
Thus, Yea and Nay were tossed about
With oratorial flights,
Which kept the House in ferment high
Seven memorable nights.
At length the great division came,—
Out voted by but one,
The sullen Boroughmongers fear
Their griping sway undone.
Fame sped the tale with rapid flight,
Which every where was cheered,—
While brightening joy, in every face,
Through Britain's isle appeared.
But Scotia blushed, when Fame declared
How, when the cause was tried,
Thirteen of her choice forty-five—
No more—took Freedom's side!
This tells how requisite Reform,
Corruption to enchain,
"Whose fall may be like Lucifer's,
Never to rise again."
IMPROMTU,
On visiting the Glasgow Damask Factory—
Messrs. Anderson and Gardeners',
East Dean Street.
'Midst Winter's gloom, the wondering eye perceives
Spring's reses, trees of Summer, Autumn's leaves,
Emblematizing well the changing year;
The scattered snow-drops, too, of Winter's reign,
And bright armorial bearings entertain
The Fancy, on the webs as they appear.
Sage Anderson, when William, Britain's King,
Whose Fame for future ages is on wing,
Such hopes Britannia places now on him,
When he comes down to Scotland, will you not
Weave for the King some curious vest or coat,
To emulate the shirt without a seam?[1]
Ingenious Gardeners! ye may doubly claim
The rosy honours of the Gardener's name,
While on your webs appear such fruits and flowers,
Which well may last for generations; while
Around their clusters mimic children smile
By Ingenuity's creative powers.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
- ↑ The Shirt without a seam was manufactured by Mr. Anderson's brother, Mr. David Anderson, and was presented to King George the IV., for which Mr. A. was rewarded with fifty guineas. Messrs. R. and J. Gardener were then at their apprenticeships with Mr. A., and witness-ed the progress of this complicated production of inventive in-genuity,—being occasionally employed In getting forward the royal web, which contained another Shirt, now placed in the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow.