Punch (12.1847)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

65

*The State may perish, dash my wig ! j When sudden, hark ! one, two, three, four ! "Up, up, ere day we must divide.

No time tor tears or trouble \

The Church may go to glory ! Tramp, tramp, tramp in the lobby !

Where there's Protection, I am Whig ! i The sound of one, that on the floor

1 Where there's Protection, Tory ! Dismouuteth from his hobby !

Though on the bench I shine a star— And, hark ! a whisper, soft and low,

With sweet Protection sooner far
I'd vote black white, nor doubt it.
Than vote black black without it."

•' 'Tis time ! my courser chafes to go.
Come forth, nor make objection ;
'Tis I, thy loved Protection !

Far lighter than of old I ride,

My steed can carry double."
" Ah thou, my own Protection, near !
I reck not fate, I know not fear;
With thee, thro' Opposition,
I'll ride to a division !

" With thee 111 ride, whate'er betide,

It is not for thy beauty ;
No common sense can e'er divide

The friends whose love is duty I"
He swang, he sprang, resolved and rash,
And hurry-skurry—off, slap-dash !
Needs whip nor spur, nor striving,
That hath the Old One driving 1

And through the night to left and right,

Figures and facts flew by them 1
Statistics rose to sink from sight,
Before they came a-nigh them !
" Dost fear, dost fear ? Our case is queer,
I've but four shillings "—" Nay, my dear,
To ri ie with thee I'm willing,
Though thou hadst but a shilling.

"Draw bit, my love, or soon we strike—"
" What is this bar we bowl at ?

It is belike, the saucy pike
Humanity takes toll at :—

No toll we pay I stand from the way !"

The pikeman's down—hurrah, hurrah I

And rising lithe and limber,

The good steed tops the timber !

What means that wail upon the gale,
That knell on knell recurring ?

What means that peaL and that re-peal ?
" The Corn Laws we 're interring."

And lo ! a troop their heads that droop,

And 'neath their lifeless burden stoop—

Four Dukes support the carcase,
Followed by Earl and Marquis !

" To hide the corse, that went to dorse

Last Session, be your mission ;
I and my member—we, perforce,

Must ride to our division !
Come, dim, discoronetted band,
Sing us a song, we '11 ride at hand ;
Befits a song to cheer us,
With that dead Corn Law near us."

No pause mr stop, behind they drop,
The dirge sounds sad the breeze on ;

Away, they rattle ; hop, hop, hop 1
Away, past truth and reason !

Convictions rise to bar your course ;

Reck not of scratches, man or horse ;

Harden your hearts and to them !—

No sooner at, than through them !

" See there, see there 1 That grisly troop
To this dead law that pandered—

Hark ! how they croak, and howl and whoop,
The Herald, Post, and Standard I "

' Ho, journal pack, upon our track ! '

And lo, they follow in a crack :

Around, behind, before us,

Raising a dismal chorus I

'; Bravo, bravo ! our steed can go 1
We 're light, he's in condition !

Hark, hark, I hear a member crow,

We must be near division ! "
" 0 say, my love, what will it be ?"
" A precious small minority,
And want of some will thin it
That ought to figure in it.

" Huzza, my friend, we 're at the end,
Our hoof-tramp stirs their slumbers."

" I see but graves, that upward send
Wasted and waning numbers I

What means this place of to nbs we see ?"

"It is where I must henceforth be.

Where we may take our pleasures,—

The Limbo of dead measures ! "

And lo ! a grim and ghastly change
The Member saw come o'er him ;

His full-fed face grew shrunk and strange.
His flesh fell down before him.

What once was lusty, fat, and fair,

Stood noisome, naked, blank and bare !

And of his loved Protection

Was left no recollection !

The horse bounds high—wide open fly
The graves—the ghosts uprear them ;

Dead measures flash and float and cry,
In horrid welcome uear them !

With spasms the Member's brain was stirred 5

Rung on his ear an awful word—

A brother member roaring :

': Good gracious ! How you 're snoring ! "