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" Scrip!»

(As we see, in a glass that tells the weather,
The heat and the silver rise together,)
And Liberty sung from the patriot's lip,
While a voice from his pocket whisper'd,
The ghost of Miltiades came again ;-
He smiled, as the pale moon shines through rain,
For his soul was glad at that patriot strain;
(And, poor, dear ghost-how little he knew
The jobs and tricks of the Philhellene crew!)
« Blessings and thanks!» was all he said,

Then melting away, like a night-dream, fled!
The Benthamite hears-amazed that ghosts
Could be such fools-and away he posts,
A patriot still? Ah no, ab no-
Goddess of Freedom, thy scrip is low,
And, warm and fond as thy lovers are,
Thou triest their passion when under par.
The Benthamite's ardour fast decays,
By turns, he weeps, and swears, and prays,
And wishes the Devil had crescent and cross,
Ere he had been forced to sell at a loss.
They quote him the stock of various nations,
But, spite of his classic associations,
Lord! how he loathes the Greek quotations!

Who 'll buy my scrip? Who 'll buy my scrip?»
Is now the theme of the patriot's lip,
As he runs to tell how hard his lot is
To Messrs Orlando and Luriottis,
And says, «Oh Greece, for liberty's sake,
Do buy my scrip, and I vow to break
Those dark, unholy bonds of thine-
If you'll only consent to buy up mine?».

The ghost of Miltiades came once more ;--
His brow, like the night, was lowering o'er,
And he said, with a look that flash'd dismay,
« Of Liberty's foes the worst are they
Who turn to a trade her cause divine,
And gamble for gold on Freedom's shrine !»
Thus saying, the ghost, as he took his flight,
Gave a Parthian kick to the Benthamite,
Which sent him, whimpering, off to Jerry-
And vanish'd away to the Stygian ferry!

MORAL POSITIONS.

A DREAM.

His Lordship said that it took a long time for a moral position to find its way across the Atlantic. He was sorry that its voyage had heen so long, etc.-Speech of Lord Dudley and Ward on Colonial Slavery, March 8.

T OTHER night, after hearing Lord Dudley's oration (A treat that comes once in the year, as May-day does),

I dreamt that I saw-what a strange operation!

A « moral position» shipp'd off for Barbadoes.
The whole Bench of Bishops stood by, in grave attitudes,
Packing the article tidy and neat ;-

As their Rev'rences know, that in southerly latitudes
<< Moral positions » don't keep very sweet.
There was Bathurst arranging the custom-house pass;
And, to guard the frail package from tousing and

routing,

There stood my Lord Eldon, endorsing it « Glass,» Though-as to which side should lie uppermost

doubling.

The freight was, however, stow'd safe in the hold; The winds were polite, and the moon look'd romantic,

While off in the good ship « the Truth» we were roll'd, With our ethical cargo, across the Atlantic.

Long, dolefully long, seem'd the voyage we made;For the Truth,» at all times but a very slow sailer, By friends, near as much as by foes, is delay'd,

And few come aboard her, though so many hail her. At length, safe arrived, I went through « tare and tret,» Deliver'd my goods in the primest condition

And next morning read, in the Bridgetown Gazette,
« Just arrived, by the Truth,' a new Moral Position!
The Captain»--here, startled to find myself named
As the Captain» (a thing which, I own it with pain,
I, through life, have avoided), I woke-look'd ashamed-
Found I wasn't a captain, and dozed off again,

THE TWO BONDSMEN.

WHEN Joseph, a Bondsman in Egypt, of old,

Shi an'd the wanton embraces of Potiphar's dame,

She

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er'd him jewels, she offer'd him gold,

more than all riches he valued his fame.
eph! thou Bondsman of Greece, can it be
ne actions of namesakes so little agree?
Scrip is a Potiphar's lady to thee,

aen with 13 per cent. she embellish'd her charms,
Adst thou fly, honest Joseph? Yes-into her arms.
Oh Joseph! dear Joseph! bethink thee in time,
And take a friend's counsel, though tender'd in rhyme.
Refund, «< honest» Joseph: how great were the shame,
If, when posteriority sits on thy name,

They should sternly decree, 'twixt your namesake and

you,

That he was the Christian, and thou wert the Jew.

1 Remote posterity-a favourite word of the present AttorneyGeneral's.

REFLECTIONS.

SUGGESTED BY A LATE CORRESPONDENCE ON THE CATHOLIC

QUESTION.

POOR Catholics, bitter enough,

Heaven knows, are the doses you 've taken; You've swallow'd down LIVERPOOL's stuff,

His nonsense of ether, «< well shaken;» You've borne the mad slaver of LEES,

And the twaddle of saintly Lord LORTON; But-worse, oh ye gods, than all theseYou've been lectured by Mr Sec. HORTON! Alas for six millions of men!

Fit subjects for nought but dissection, When HORTON himself takes the pen,

To tell them they 've lost his protection!

Ye sects, who monopolise bliss,

While your neighbours' damnation you sport on,

Know ye any damnation like this

To be cut by the Under Sec. HORTON?

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LINES WRITTEN IN ST STEPHEN'S CHAPEL, AFTER THE DISSOLUTION.

BY A MEMBER OF THE UPPER BENCHES.

THE King's speech toll'd the Commons' knell,
The House is clear'd, the chair vacated,
And gloom and loneliness now dwell

Where Britain's wise men congregated.

The gallery is dark and lone,

No longer throng'd with curious folk, Happy to pay their good half-crown

To hear bad speeches badly spoke. The Treasury seats no placemen show, Clear'd is each Opposition bench;

And even never-ending Joe

No longer cries-« Retrench! retrench!»

Fred. Robinson no more his skill
Employs in weaving speeches fair,
The country gentlemen to fill
With promises as thin as air.

Really the Hon. Member for Montrose should take a little breath; his objections are most unfair; and what is worse, they are never-ending.-See the Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech in reply to Mr Hume, Feb. 23, 1826.

Dick Martin now no plan proposes

To aid the brute part of the nation, While Members cough and blow their noses, To drown his most humane oration. Good Mr Brogden, where art thou, Most worthy-Chairman of Committees ? To strip one laurel from thy brow Would surely be a thousand pities. "T was a good joke, forsooth, to think Thou shouldst give up thy louest winnings, And thereby own that thou didst wink, Pure soul! at other people's sinnings.' Where's Holmes, Corruption's ready hack, Who life and credit both consumes In whipping in the Treasury pack, And jobbing in committee-rooms ?2 I look around-no well-known face Along the benches meets my eye— No Member « rises in his place,»

For all have other fish to fry. Not one is left of King and sages, Who lately sat debating here; The crowded hustings now engages Their every hope and every fear. Electors, rally to the poll,

And Lord John Russell never heed:

Let gold alone your choice control,

« The best man 's he who best can bleed.n3

But if, too timid, you delay,

(By Bribery Statute held in awe),

Fear not-there is a ready way

To serve yourselves and cheat the law.
In times like these, when things are high,
And candidates must be well fed,
Your cabbages they 'll freely buy,

Kind souls! at two pounds ten a-head.4
Thus may we hope for many a law,

And many a measure most discreet, When pure as even the last we saw

Britain's new Parliament shall meet. Then haste, ye Candidates, and strive An M. P. to your names to tack, And-after July twenty-five-5

Collective wisdom-welcome back!

1 Mr Brogden said he certainly should not refund the money, because, by so doin, he should convict himself.-See the Report of a Meeting of the Proprietors of the Arigna Mining Company.

The barefaced system of voting at private bill committees, without having heard an iota of evidence for or against, forms a distinguished feature in the history of the late parliament.

A maxim which has been pretty well acted on in the present elections.

4 During the election at Sudbury, four cal bages sold for 10. and a plate of gooseberries fetched 251., the sellers where these articles were so scarce being voters.-See the Times of Friday June 20. The day on which the writs are returnable, and the new parliament is to meet pro forma.

THE END.

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