Epigram On The Late Reform And The Whig Administration

Reform! reform! cries out the longing nation;
The people hail their own-elected House;
On tiptoe stands the general expectation:
What the grand doings of the Administration?
Lo! from the labouring mountain creeps a mouse!

    *    *    *    *    *

    Metaphysical Sages
    Have writ many pages,
    To decide if the Mind
    Be Spirit or Matter:
How strange! that in the pages
Of these metaphysical sages
    We so seldom can find
    Mind, Spirit, or Matter!

Thomas Oldham

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Thomas Oldham

Epigram On The March Of Intellect

Thomas Oldham, Simple Poetry

Eclogue, Summer

Thomas Oldham, Simple Poetry

Epitaph On Voltaire

Thomas Oldham, Simple Poetry

Epigram On The New Experiment Of Lighting The House Of Commons By Means Of Gas-Pipes Placed Between The Two Ceilings

Thomas Oldham, Simple Poetry

English

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Notions On Reform. By A Modern Reformer.

Of all the misfortunes as yet brought to pass
    By this comet-like Bill, with its long tail of speeches,
The saddest and worst is the schism which, alas!
    It has caused between Wetherel's waistcoat and breeches.

Some symptoms of this Anti-Union propensity
    Had oft broken out in that quarter before;
But the breach, since the Bill, has attained such immensity,
    Daniel himself could have scarce wisht it more.

Oh! haste to repair it, ye friends of good order,
    Ye Atwoods and Wynns, ere the moment is past;
Who can doubt that we tread upon Anarchy's border,
    When the ties that should hold men are loosening so fast?

Make Wetherel yield to "some sort of Reform"
    (As we all must, God help us! with very wry faces;)
And loud as he likes...

Thomas Moore

Musings Of An Unreformed Peer.

Of all the odd plans of this monstrously queer age,
The oddest is that of reforming the peerage;--
Just as if we, great dons, with a title and star,
Did not get on exceedingly well as we are,
And perform all the functions of noodles by birth
As completely as any born noodles on earth.

How acres descend, is in law-books displayed,
But we as wiseacres descend, ready made;
And by right of our rank in Debrett's nomenclature,
Are all of us born legislators by nature;--
Like ducklings to water instinctively taking,
So we with like quackery take to lawmaking;
And God forbid any reform should come o'er us,
To make us more wise than our sires were before us.

The Egyptians of old the same policy knew--
If your sire was a cook, you must be a cook too...

Thomas Moore

Thoughts On The Late Destructive Propositions Of The Tories.[1] By A Common-Councilman.

I sat me down in my easy chair,
    To read, as usual, the morning papers;
But--who shall describe my look of despair,
    When I came to Lefroy's "destructive" capers!
That he--that, of all live men, Lefroy
Should join in the cry "Destroy, destroy!"
Who, even when a babe, as I've heard said,
On Orange conserve was chiefly fed,
And never, till now, a movement made
That wasnt manfully retrograde!
Only think--to sweep from the light of day
Mayors, maces, criers and wigs away;
To annihilate--never to rise again--
A whole generation of aldermen,
Nor leave them even the accustomed tolls,
To keep together their bodies and souls!--
At a time too when snug posts and places
    Are falling away from us one by one,
Crash--crash--like the mummy-cases

Thomas Moore

Epistle From Captain Rock To Lord Lyndhurst.

Dear Lyndhurst,--you'll pardon my making thus free,--
But form is all fudge 'twixt such "comrogues" as we,
Who, whate'er the smooth views we, in public, may drive at,
Have both the same praiseworthy object, in private--
Namely, never to let the old regions of riot,
Where Rock hath long reigned, have one instant of quiet,
But keep Ireland still in that liquid we've taught her
To love more than meat, drink, or clothing--hot water.

All the difference betwixt you and me, as I take it,
Is simply, that you make the law and I break it;
And never, of big-wigs and small, were there two
Played so well into each other's hands as we do;
Insomuch, that the laws you and yours manufacture,
Seem all made express for the Rock-boys to fracture.
Not Birmingham's...

Thomas Moore

A Reformer.

When I was young, my heart elate
    With ardent notions warm,
I thirsted to inaugurate
    A spirit of reform;
The universe was all awry,
    Philosophy despite,
And mundane things disjointed I
    Was bound to set aright.

My mind conceived a million plans,
    For Hope was brave and strong,
But dared not with unaided hands
    Combat a giant wrong;
So with caress I sought to coax
    Those who had humored me
In infancy - the dear old folks -
    And gain their sympathy.

But quarreling with extant laws
    They would have deemed a shame
Who clung to error, just because
    Their fathers did the same.
I sought in Pleasure's gilded halls,
    Where grace and beauty stirred
At revelry's impetuous calls,
    To make ...

Hattie Howard

Reform

The time has come when men with hearts and brains
Must rise and take the misdirected reins
Of government; too long left in the hands
Of aliens and of lackeys.    He who stands
And sees the mighty vehicle of State
Hauled through the mire to some ignoble fate
And makes not such bold protest as he can,
    Is no American,

Ella Wheeler Wilcox