Some thought them despatches from Spain or the Turk, Others swore they brought word we had lost the Mauritius; But it turn'd out 'twas only Miss Fudge's new work, Which his Lordship devour'd with such zeal ex peditious Messrs. Simpkins and Co., to avoid all delay, Having sent it in sheets, that his Lordship might say, He had distanc'd the whole reading world by a day! LETTER VIII. FROM BOB FUDGE, ESQ., TO THE REV. MORTIMER O'MULLIGAN. Tuesday evening. I MUCH regret, dear Reverend Sir, I could not come to *** to meet you; Ev'n now I but by proxy greet you; Most other scourges of disease Reduce men to extremities But gout wo'n't leave one even these. From all my sister writes, I see That you and I will quite agree. I'm a plain man, who speak the truth, And trust you'll think me not uncivil, I've heard of your high patriot fame— From every word your lips let fall That you most truly wish the same. It plagues one's life out-thirty years Have I had dinning in my ears, "Ireland wants this, and that, and t'other," And, to this hour, one nothing hears But the same vile, eternal bother. While, of those countless things she wanted, I really think that Catholic question I never wanted draught or pill, Look what has happen'd since- the Elect The chosen triers of men's patience, From all the Three Denominations, Turn'd into speechers and law-makers, And whose shrill Yeas and Nays, in chorus, Fellows, who wo'n't eat ham with chicken, Th' Excise laws will be done away, And Circumcise ones pass'd instead o' them! In short, dear sir, look where one will, Our reverend Rector may be right, And regulates his leases by't; Meaning their terms should end, no doubt, He thinks, too, that the whole thing's ended Who brought th' accurst Reform Bill in. * However, let's not yet despair; Though Toryism's eclips'd, at present, And all that rampant glee, which revell'd * This appears to have been the opinion also of an eloquent writer in the Morning Watch. "One great object of Christ's second Advent, as the Man and as the King of the Jews, is to punish the Kings who do not acknowledge that their authority is derived from him, and who submit to receive it from that many-headed monster, the mob." No. x. p. 373. |