"THE Queen is with us," Whigs exulting say,
"For, when she found us in, she let us stay."
It may be so; but give me leave to doubt,

If long she'll keep you when she finds you out.

STAMP DUTY ON RECEIPTS.

"I WOULD," says Fox, "a tax devise,
That should not fall on me."

"Then tax receipts," Lord North replies,
"For those you never see!"

CROMWELL'S COIN.

WHEN stern old Cromwell ruled our glorious land,
This change of legend on its coin he planned:
On one side, plainly written, "God with us;"
"The Commonwealth of England," the reverse.
"I see," quoth a cavalier, "thus truth abides,
"God and the Commonwealth on different sides."

I. J. R.

• Alluding to the plan once said to be common in country districts of dragging

a goose up and down a foul chimney.

GIBBON'S POLITICAL VERSATILITY.

IN 1779, Mr. Gibbon, the historian, was appointed one of the "Lords of Trade and Plantations," and held that office till its abolition in consequence of Mr. Burke's Reform bill. Of Gibbon's political principles, a slight judgment may be formed from an anecdote, which came to light a few years ago, on the sale of the library of Mr. Fox, who, in the first volume of Mr. Gibbon's history, had written the following memorandum and verses, on the author's accepting a seat at the Board of Trade:

"The author of this book, upon the delivery of the Spanish rescript in 1779, declared publicly at Brooke's, That there was no salvation for this country, unless six of the heads of the cabinet council were cut off, and laid upon the table of the houses of parliament as examples; and, in less than a fortnight after this declaration, he took an employment under the same cabinet council."

THE COMMONS TO KING CHARLES II.

In all humanity we crave

Our Sovereign may be our slave;
And humbly beg that he may be
Betrayed by us most loyally.
And if he please once to lay down
His sceptre, dignity, and crown,
We'll make him, for the time to come,
The greatest Prince in Christendom.

C. J. Fox.

THE KING'S ANSWER.

CHARLES at this time, having no need,
Thanks you as much as if he did.

ROCHESTER.

ON KING CHARLES'S DOUBLE DEALING.

Or such a paradox as this

Before I never dreamt;

The King of England has become
A subject of contempt.

ON THE EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF ESSEX.

WHEN noble Essex, Blount, and Danvers died,
One saw them suffer who had heard them tried;
And, sighing, said: "When such brave soldiers die,
Is't not great pity, think you?" "No," said I;

"There is no man of sense in all the city
Will say 'tis great, but rather little pity.'

SIR JOHN HARRINGTON.

ORATOR HENLEY.

HENLEY used every Saturday to print an advertisement in the Daily Advertiser, announcing the subject of his ensuing lecture, with a motto before it, which was generally a sneer at some public transaction of the preceding week. Dr. Cohden, one of Geo. II.'s Chaplains, having in 1748 preached a sermon at St. James's from the words, "Take away the wicked before the King, and his throne shall be established in righteousness," his sermon gave great displeasure at Court, and the doctor was dismissed from the list of Chaplains. The Saturday following, Henley's advertisement contained this parody on the text:

AWAY with the wicked before the King,
Away with the wicked behind him;

His throne it will bless

With righteousness,

And we shall know where to find him.

THE GEORGES.

GEORGE THE FIRST was reckoned vile,
Viler George the Second;

And what mortal ever heard

Any good of George the Third?
When from earth the Fourth ascended,
God be praised, the Georges ended!

W. S. LANDor.

GEORGE I., STAR OF BRUNSWICK.

HE preferred Hanover to England;
He preferred two hideous mistresses
To a beautiful and innocent wife.

He hated arts and despised literature;
But he liked train-oil in hissalads,

And gave an enlightened patronage to bad oysters.

And he had Walpole as a minister;

Consistent in his preference for every kind of corruption.

W. M. THACKERAY.

GEORGE II.

In most things I did as my father had done,
I was false to my wife, and I hated my son:
My spending was small, and my avarice much;
My kingdom was English, my heart was High Dutch :
At Dettingen fight I was known not to blench;

I butchered the Scotch and I bearded the French;
I neither had morals, nor manners, nor wit;
I wasn't much missed when I died in a fit.
Here set up my statue, and make it complete,
With Pitt on his knees at my dirty old feet.

W. M.T.

GEORGE III.

GIVE me a royal niche--it is my due,
The virtuosest king the realm e'er knew.
I through a decent reputable life

Was constant to plain food, and a plain wife.
Ireland I risked, and lost America;
But dined on legs of mutton every day.
My brain, perhaps, might be a feeble part,
But yet I think I had an English heart.
When all the kings were prostrate, I alone
Stood face to face against Napoleon;
Nor ever could the ruthless Frenchman forge
A fetter for old England and old George.
I let loose flaming Nelson on his fleets;
I met his troops with Wellesley's bayonets.
Triumphant waved my flag on land and sea:
Where was the king in Europe like to me?
Monarchs exiled found shelter on my shores;
My bounty rescued kings and emperors.
But what boots victory by land and sea?
What boots that kings found refuge at my knee?
I was a conqueror, but yet not proud;

And careless, even though Napoleon bowed.
The rescued kings came to kiss my garment's hem,
My guns roared triumph, but I never heard.
Old England thrilled with joy, I never stirred.
What care had I of pomp, or fame, or power-
A crazy old blind man in Windsor tower?

W. M. T.

GEORGE IV.

He left an example for Age and for Youth to avoid;
He never acted well by man or woman,

And was as false to his mistress as to his wife;

He deserted his friends and his principles;

He was so ignorant that he could scarcely spell;
But he had some skill in cutting out coats,
And an undeniable taste for cookery.

He built the Palaces of Brighton and of Buckingham,
And for these qualities and proofs of genius
An admiring aristocracy

Christened him "The First Gentleman in Europe."
Friends, respect the king whose statue is here,
And the generous aristocracy who admired him.*

W. M. T.

*These originally appeared in "Punch," and were styled by Mr. Thackeray Quasi-epigrams.