From Statesmen to Excisemen, All Placemen may drink wine; But tatter'd squires, and merchants, Shall swill up Gin like swine. When a drinking they do go, &c. And should Old England perish, For ev'ry man she loses, We turn-coats lose a foe. Then a drinking they may go, &c. 'Tis true, when Walpole ruled, We bellow'd loud at Gin; But now it is no evil, For we are now come in. And a drinking all shall go, &c. No more shall sober Britons Their note shall quickly alter, And a drinking they shall go, &c. Behold, how shoals of beggars While a drinking they do go, &c. The people all complain, That by trade they nothing get; Then let them sit and drink, They will drink us out of debt. go, &c. And should the war continue, What cause have we to fear? To licence theft and murder, So a drinking we will go, &c. Then welcome all my Finches,* "Ah, Bat† you had been welcome, As a drinking we do go, &c. And you, cool foreign statesmen, Just as we our debts shall pay. As a drinking we do go, &c. As for my honour'd patron, Since no man courts his favour, Now a drinking he may go, &c. [See references to the following notes in the preceding page.] * The Earl of Winchelsea, and his two brothers, William Finch, and Edward Finch Hatton. Edward Finch, brother of the Earl of Winchelsea, and Groom of the Bedchamber to George II. was Ambassador at Russia: he united the unpolished sycophancy of that Court to the manners of a Spaniard: you may judge of his absurdity, when in defence of a treaty, he gave an account in the House of Commons of the Czarina's health and kindred.-W. + Allen, first Earl Bathurst. Sir Robert was a veteran But, here comes Pelham-mum; "Your servant, master Pelham, "When will Orford come?" Then a drinking we may go, &c. Then fill a rosy bumper, And send the glass about; Here's health to all those in, And death to all those out. THE INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE RIGHT HON. HENRY PELHAM * AND WILLIAM, EARL OF BATH. THE story goes, as Fame will tattle still, Once on a time 'squire Harry met Lord Will; * Mr. Pelham could teach servility to a parliament, whose privileges were yet untouched: he got into power without unpopularity, and endured any thing rather than risk his administration. He was timorous, reserved, fickle, apt to despair; he would often not attempt when he was convinced he would be right; he employed any means to get able men out of the Opposition; he always bought off enemies to avoid their satire; he was obscure on the most trivial occurrences; perplexed, even when he had but one idea; and whenever he spoke well it was owing to his being heated; he must lose his temper before he could exert his reason; he degraded truth by timidity, sense by mystery, and right by asking pardon for it; he professed honesty, and kept his word, when nothing happened to make him break it; opposition or contradictionwere two things his nature could not bear; he was very proud, but not with self-sufficiency; he had neither osten |