THE WESTMINSTER GUIDE. PART I. ADDRESSED TO MR. ANSTY. POST to town, my friend ANSTY, or if A visit in person, yet spare us your muse: you refuse Give her wing, ere too late for this city's election, Where much waits her comment, and more her correction. What novels to laugh at! what follies to chide! Oh! how we all long for a WESTMINSTER Guide! So 'tis lodg'd where it suits-in the hands of the guards; Turn next to the candidates-at such a crisisWe've a right to observe on their virtues or vices. и на Hoop founds (and with justice to most apprehensions) But his party to change, and his friend to betray, For the third, if at Court we his character scan, But hark! proclamation and silence intreated; * And for one voice to vote there are ten to confound: Now follow fresh tribes, scarce a man worth a louse, Till put into plight at NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE; Ten poll for one mansion, each proving he keeps it, And one for each chimney-he'll prove that he sweeps itWith these mix the great, on rights equally fables, Great Peers from poor lodgings, great Lawyers from stables; Ev'n the Soldier, whose household's a centinel box, Of the new HE of Cs constituents legal. What troops too of females 'mong'st CHARLES's Old tabbies and gossips, scolds, gigglers, and sprosers! More hateful than serpents, more ugly than SIN. Thus the Bacchanal tribes when they ORPHEUS as sailed, Drowned his notes with their yells ere their vengeance prevailed, Well knowing the sound of his voice or his lyre, Had charms to allay diabolical ire. Our Bacchanals find a more difficult foe; For what strains can inchant, though from ORPHEUS they flow, Like the orator's spell o'er the patriot mind, When pleading to reason the cause of mankind? Now for councils more secret that govern the plan A Calif is nothing without a DIvan. With invisible step let us steal on the quorum, Where MAIN WARING sits in the Chair of Decorum. * On his master's commands" Carry law to effect." fine 'em; "And let him who would construe th' effective still further, "Knock out a friend's brains to accuse them of murder. "I have ready some hundreds of resolute knaves, "With bludgeons well shaped into Constables' staves, "In WESTMINSTER strangers-true creatures of power, "Like the lions-ferociously nursed at the Tower †. "Do we want more support?-Mark! that band of red coats! "Whose first service over, of giving their votes, } Why not try for a second-the cutting of throats! "From the SAVOY they march-their mercy all lie at, "When the Bench gives the call, and St. Js's the fiat." Thus the law of effect the wise justice expounds, This is WILMOT's abridgment compris'd in twelve rounds; The new MIDDLESEX CODE-which treats subjects like partridge, While the Statutes at large are cut up into cartridge. Enough of these horrors-a milder design, Though not a more lawful one, CORBET, is thine ! The polling to close, but decision adjourn, And in scrutiny endless to sink the return. See the letter of the Lord Lieutenant of MI, May 8th. These strange Constables were avowedly brought from the Tower Hamlets. Thy employers who ranged on the Treasury Bench, Shall boldly stand forth in support of the act, * See the speech of a young orator in a late debate. END OF THE FIRST PART. HH 4 |