PLAIN THOUGHTS

IN

PLAIN LANGUAGE:

A NEW BALLAD.

1743.

I.

ATTEND, ye brave Britons
Of every degree,

All you who deserve,

And resolve to be free;

Plain Thoughts will suffice,
And Plain Language will do,

When all we assert

Is known to be true.

Derry down, &c.

II.

To save our old laws,

A new monarch we took;

And well for those laws

An old tyrant forsook : And should our old England

Again be at stake,

A curse on the slaves

Who the new won't forsake.

Derry down, &c.

III.

This monarch, unskilled

In the nation's affairs,

A lover of wealth,

And a foe to all cares,
Resign'd to his statesmen

His kingdom itself,
And wink'd at their plunder

To share in the pelf.

Derry down, &c.

IV.

He purchas'd abroad,

While his ministers jobb'd; And Hanover flourish'd,

While Britain was robb'd: And when he chang'd hands

For a fresh set of men, Where those took a shilling, These villains took ten.

Derry down, &c.

V.

This monarch deceas'd,
His son did succeed ;

A Prince more august,
Never came of his breed;

For tho' at his birth,

Lying wags had a fling, He soon prov'd himself

The true son of a king.

Derry down, &c.

C.

VI.

Like measures he follow'd,

Like servants he had;
And all things grew worse,
That before were too bad:
For Walpole still rul'd

With corruption and gold,
The monarch he bought,

And the nation he sold.

Derry down, &c.

VII.

With armies at home,

And with foreign troops paid;
With laws that cramp'd freedom,
As taxes cramp'd trade:
With maxims quite new,
He pursu'd his base ends,
And help'd our old foes

Το oppress our old Friends.

Derry down, &c.

VIII.

At length when Corruption
Drain'd treasuries dry,
And none would be bought-
For none offer'd to buy,
The courtiers quit leaders

They follow'd for pay,
And leaders turn courtiers,

Worse rascals than they.

Derry down, &c.

IX.

My tale, Oh ye Britons!
This moral does bring,

However descended,

A king is a king; Whenever they're taken,

Most statesmen are knaves;

And patriots at court

Are the lowest of slaves.

Derry down, &c.