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Off set our Prince to seek John Bull's abode,
But first took France-it lay upon the road.

XIII.

Monsieur Baboon, after much late commotion,

Was agitated like a settling ocean,

Quite out of sorts, and could not tell what ail'd him,
Only the glory of his house had fail'd him;

Besides, some tumours on his noddle biding,

Gave indication of a recent hideing.*

*

Our Prince, though Sultauns of such things are heedless, Thought it a thing indelicate and needless

To ask, if at that moment he was happy.

And Monsieur, seeing that he was comme il faut, a
Loud voice mustered up, for " Vive le Roi!"

Then whisper'd," Ave you any news of Nappy?"
The Sultaun answered him with a cross question,-
"Pray, can you tell me aught of one John Bull,
That dwells somewhere beyond your herring-pool?"
The query seem'd of difficult digestion,

The party shrugg'd, and grinn'd, and took his snuff,
And found his whole good breeding scarce enough.

XIV.

Twitching his visage into as many puckers
As damsels wont to put into their tuckers,
Ere liberal Fashion damn'd both lace and lawn,
And bade the veil of modesty be drawn,-
Replied the Frenchman, after a brief pause,
"Jean Bool!-I vas not know him-yes, I vas-
I vas remember dat von year or two,
I saw him at von place called Vaterloo-
Ma foi! il s'est tres joliment battu,
Dat is for Englishman,-m' entendez vouz?
But den he had wit him one damn son-gun,
Regue I no like-dey call him Vellington."-
Monsieur's politeness could not hide his fret,
So Solimaun took leave and cross'd the streight.

XV.

John Bull was in his very worst of moods,
Raving of sterile farms and unsold goods;
His sugar-loaves and bales about he threw,
And on his counter beat the Devil's tattoo.
His wars were ended, and the victory won,
But then, 'twas reckoning-day with honest John,
And authors vouch 'twas still this Worthy's way,
"Never to grumble till he came to pay;

* Or drubbing, so called in the Slang Dictionary.

And then he always thinks, his temper's such,
The work too little, and the pay too much."*
Yet, grumbler as he is, so kind and hearty,
That when his mortal foe was on the floor,
And past the power to harm his quiet more,
Poor John had well nigh wept for Buonaparte!
Such was the wight whom Solimaun salam'd,—
"And who are you," John answer'd, " and be d-d?"

XVI.

"A stranger, come to see the happiest man,So, Seignior, all avouch,-in Frangistan."+"Happy? my tenants breaking on my hand, Unstock'd my pastures, and untill'd my land; Sugar and rum a drug, and mice and moths The sole consumers of my good broad-cloths-Happy?-why, cursed war and racking tax Have left us scarcely raiment to our backs." "In that case, Seignior, I may take my leave; I came to ask a favour-but I grieve".

"Favour?" said John, and eyed the Sultaun hard, "It's my belief you came to break the yardBut, stay, you look like some poor foreign sinner; Take that, to buy yourself a shirt and dinner." With that he chuck'd a guinea at his head; But, with due dignity, the Sultaun said,"Permit me, sir, your bounty to decline; A shirt indeed I seek, but none of thine. Seignior, I kiss your hands, so fare you well." And John said," Kiss my breech, and go to hell!"

XVII.

Next door to John there dwelt his sister Peg,
Once a wild lass as ever shook a leg
When the blithe bagpipe blew-but soberer now,
She doucely span her flax and milk'd her cow.
And whereas erst she was a needy slattern,
Nor now of wealth or cleanliness a pattern,
Yet once a-month her house was partly swept,
And once a week a plenteous board she kept.
And whereas eke the vixen used her claws,
And teeth, of yore, on slender provocation,
She now was grown amenable to laws,

A quiet soul as any in the nation;

The sole remembrance of her warlike joys
Was in old songs she sang to please her boys.
John Bull, whom, in their years of early strife,
She wont to lead a cat-and-doggish life,

* See the True-born Englishman, by Daniel De Foe.
+ Europe.

POETRY.

Now found the woman, as he said, a neighbour,
Who look'd to the main chance, declined no labour,
Loved a long grace and spoke a northern jargon,
And was dd close in making of a bargain.

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The Sultaun enter'd, and he made his leg,
And with decorum curtsied sister Peg;
(She loved a book, and knew a thing or two,
And guess'd at once with whom she had to do
She bade him "sit into the fire," and took
Her dram, her cake, her kebbock, from the nook ;
Asked him "about the news from eastern parts;
And of her absent bairns, puir Highland hearts!
If peace brought down the price of tea and pepper,
And if the nitmugs were grown ony cheaper ;-
Were there nae speerings of our Mungo Park-
Ye'll be the gentleman that wants the sark?
If ye wad buy a web o' auld wife's spinning,
I'll warrant ye it's a weel-wearing linen."

XIX.

Then up got Peg, and round the house 'gan scuttle,
In search of goods her customer to nail,
Until the Sultaun strain'd his princely throttle,

And hollowed," Ma'am, that is not what I ail.
Pray, are you happy, ma'am, in this snug glen?"
"Happy?" said Peg, "What for d'ye want to ken?-
Besides, just think upon this by-gane year,

Grain wadna pay the yoking o' the pleugh." "What say you to the present?"-" Meal's sae dear, To mak their brose my bairns have scarce aneugh." "The devil take the shirt," said Solimaun,

"I think my quest will end as it began.

Farewell, ma'am; nay, no ceremony, I beg""Ye'll no be for the linen then?" said Peg.

XX.

Now, for the land of verdant Erin
The Sultaun's royal bark is steering,

The emerald isle, where honest Paddy dwells,
The cousin of John Bull, as story tells.

For a long space had John, with words of thunder,
Hard looks, and harder knocks, kept Paddy under,
Till the poor lad, like boy that's flogg'd unduly,
Had gotten somewhat restive and unruly.
Hard was his lot and lodging you'll allow,
A wigwam that would hardly serve a sow;
His landlord, and of middlemen two brace,
Had screw'd his rent up--to the starving place;

His garment was a top-coat, and an old one,
His meal was a potatoe, and a cold one;
But still for fun or frolic, and all that,

In the round world was not the match of Pat.

XXI.

The Sultaun saw him on a holiday,

Which is with Paddy still a jolly day:

When mass is ended, and his load of sins
Confess'd, and Mother Church hath from her binns
Dealt forth a bonus of imputed merit,
Then is Pat's time for fancy, whim, and spirit;
To jest, to sing, to caper fair and free,
And dance as light as leaf upon the tree!
"By Mahomet," said Sultaun Solimaun,
"That ragged fellow is our very man!
Rush in and seize him-do not do him hurt,
But, will be nill he, let me have his shirt!"

XXII.

Shilela their plan was well nigh after baulking, (Much less provocation will set it a-walking,)

But the odds that foil'd Hercules foil'd Paddy Whack;

They seized, and they floor'd, and they stripp'd him—Alack !
Ub-bubboo! Paddy had not- -a shirt to his back!!!
And the King disappointed, with sorrow and shame,
Went back to Serendib as sad as he came.

Between 2 and 5
5 and 10
10 and 20

The LONDON GENERAL BILL of

CHRISTENINGS and BURIALS from December 13, 1814, to December 12, 1815.

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60 and 70, 1621 70 and 80, 1221 870 40 and 50, 2075 80 and 90, 674 67750 and 60, 1886 [90 and 100, 167 |

100, 2 101, 103, 1

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+ There have been executed in the city of London and county of Surrey, 20; of which number 8 nly have been reported to be buried within the bills of mortality.

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