The Bagford Ballads: Illustrating the Last Years of the Stuarts

The Statesman.

"With favor and fortune fastidiously bless'd,
He's loud in his laugh, and he's coarse in his jest:
Of favor and fortune unmerited, vain,

A sharper in trifles, a dupe in the main ;
Achieving of nothing, still promising wonders,
By dint of experience, improving in blunders;
Oppressing true merit, exalting the base;
And selling his country to purchase his place;
A jobber of stocks by retailing false news;
A prater at Court in the style of the Stews;
Of virtue and worth by profession a jiber;
Of juries and senates the bully and briber;

Though I name not the wretch, you'll all know who[m] I mean,
'Tis the Cur-dog of Britain, and Spaniel of Spain.'

NEITHER these bitter verses by the Dean of St. Patrick's (in

whom that fountain of Marah never ran dry), nor the Bagford ballad on our next page, give the name of the Statesman, but in both cases it is the same: Sir Robert Walpole.

The connexion with Norfolk, mentioned so often in the ballad, was not merely political, but the family had been settled in the neighbourhood since the Norman Conquest. Their name was taken from (if it had not been earlier given to) the small town of Walpole on the borders of Lincolnshire; but an ancestor of Sir Robert exchanged the family mansion for Houghton. After 1727 the references to Houghton Hall were frequent in the Country Journal, or Craftsman, edited by "Caleb d'Anvers" (i.e. Nicholas Amhurst). Thereunto Walpole loved to retreat from the cares of business, and indulge in hunting. Political lampoons were rife in 1730, but even in 1728 there were many ballads circulated against him. The June Congress of Soisson was not forgotten, and burlesque descriptions of the Houghton revels were given to the appropriate tune of Chevy Chase (to which our ballad was to be sung: see pp. 390-392). One begins: To Houghton Hall, some days since, All bonny, blithe, and gay, With menial Nobles, like a Prince, Sir Blue-String1 took his way.

A mighty hunting was decreed
By this same noble crew;
The fox already doom'd to bleed,
Already in their view. &c.

For tune, see p. 209.

An allusion to Walpole's blue sash, or ribbon, of the Garter: bestowed on him in 1726. See also line 112 of the following ballad.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][merged small]

Printed for L. Sow, without Temple-Bar, and sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster.

To London I wou'd go, Sir,

My Fortune for to try,

I hear the People there
Soon ample Fortunes make;
And I'll make mine as soon,
Or else I'll much mistake;

When to London 1 do go, &c.

Some Persons who are there, I hear,
And make a gallant Show,

8 Soon raise an ample Fortune,
By saying Ay or No,

So to London I wou'd go, &c.

For if to raise a Fortune,

That is the only Way,

I think I can say Ay or No,

G-dz-ns, as well as they;

So to London I wou'd go, &c.

16 Friend Robin, quoth the Mayor,
You speak like a Man of Sense.
I wou'd not give a Fig for him
Who cannot get the Pence,

So to London you shall go, &c.
And to be chosen here, I'm sure,
That is your only Way;
For he who cannot get the Pence,
24 To us no Pence can Pay.

So to London you shall go, &c.

The Mayor he spoke full wisely,
For he most rightly thought,

28 He was not worth the choosing, if
He was not worth a Groat;

But to Strombolo might go, &c.3

Then hey for Westminster, quoth Bob, 32 And when I am got there,

Therefore if you won't give your Votes, I soon shall be a great Man,

Your Votes, Sir, I wou'd buy;

For to London fain I go, &c.

That, Friend, I need not fear;
So to London I will go, &c.

He first sat for Lynn in 1702.

2 Original misprinted; "not the worth."

3 A variation that is suggestive, as well as unique. A modern song tells of a gay cavalier," who, finding a pair of gloves in his mistress's chamber instead of the lady herself, and a ladder of ropes indicating her mode of flight, sums up his anxieties as to her future by his declaration, "When a lady elopes down a ladder of ropes, She may go to Hong Kong for me!" The sending a person to Coventry is a quite distinct operation from sending him to JERICHO-a place always in ill-repute and the latter saying may have come from the Biblical expression

[In White-letter. A four-paged sheet. Date about 1726-7.]

as to persons who had been treated ignominiously, and therefore exposed to derision if they came abroad-"Let them tarry at Jericho till their beards be grown." The consigning any penniless adventurer to so warm a place as the volcanic Stromboli was piquant, and more courteous than relegating him, as many would have done, to a still warmer locality.

The Commons sought to ruin him, for an irregularity while he was Secretary at War, connected with the forage contract in Scotland. "The contractors, rather than admit into their partnership a person whom he had recommended for that purpose, chose to present his friend with five hundred pounds. Their bill was addressed to Mr. Walpole, who indorsed it, and his friend touched the money. This transaction was interpreted into a bribe. Mr. Walpole was voted guilty of corruption, imprisoned in the Tower, and expelled the House." This was on the 17th of January, 1711-2. Being afterwards re-chosen by the same borough of Lynn-Regis, which he had before represented, a petition was lodged against him, and the Commons voted him incapable of being elected a member to serve in the present Parliament."-Smollett: Hist. of England, x. 86, 1759. While imprisoned in the Tower, refusing to make any concession, he was visited by crowds of friends, and wrote his vindication. He was released in July, 1712. Exactly twelve months later he was again returned by the burgesses of Lynn, and on the 6th Feb., 1713-4, took his seat. Swift in his Journal to Stella, 17th January, 1712, declares his hope about the Tower and expulsion. It is not improbable that SWIFT wrote this ballad.

[Bagford Collection, II. 178.]

The SPEECH.

Near B-gate a Man Inhabits, [qu. Bishopsgate ?]

That loves to live on Geese and Rabits;

And a fit Subject for a Satyr.

THIS Man was of a Mind aspiring,

And to be Somebody desiring; Wanted a Place of Trust, or Profit, Who of all Men could make most of it:

It was he coveted it therefore,

But he found none that did him care for;
T- -my at this was much dejected,
That he so long should be neglected;
It griev'd him much and vext him sore,
And almost brought him to Death's Door.

The Ancients, tho' they could not trust him,
(And for the Actions (late) have curst him)
Rather than he should die, and lose him,
A Warden of the Church they chose him;
Which is a Place of Care and Trouble,
To all that can't the Parish bubble;
For Men whose Honesty did guide 'em,

(And would not let their Conscience chide 'em)
Never esteem'd those Friends that chose 'em ;
But did their utmost to dispose 'em,

To chuse some others, and excuse 'em ;
Which when the Ancients did refuse 'em,
To be discharg'd on't, some as I know,
Have parted with their Ready-R[h]ino ;
But Tmy is not such a Novice,
To strive to shun so good an Office.

For (contrary to Custom) he

When chosen to this Dignity,

With Bows and Cringes he draws near 'em,

(A Sight so strange, enough to scare 'em);
Of Zeal and Honesty he boasts,
And's Benefactors thus accosts,

Your Worships, let me now beseech,

To listen to my Learned Speech;

My humble Thanks I'm now returning,

[scil. Coffin]