1832.] [ 70 ] 



THE NEW YEAR. 

 BY A LIBERAL WHIG. 



ALL hail, auspicious Year ! the glorious day draws near, 

 When every pensioned Peer corruption must eschew ; 



The boroughmongering swarm shall bow before the storm, 

 And give us a Reform in the year thirty-two. 



Few now of any station deny some reformation 



Is wanted by the nation (because they're in a stew) ; 



The Bishops and the Peers grow fainter with their cheers, 

 While thinking of their fears in the year thirty-two. 



And some have had discretion, in this the present session, 

 To make a full confession, as honest men should do ; 



And I have good authority to say that our minority 

 Will turn to a majority in the year thirty-two. 



What if the Cholera rages, as so the wight presages 

 Who scribbled all those pages in the Quarterly Review, 



We'll have a quarantine to keep the King and Queen, 

 And " Constitution" clean, in the year thirty-two. 



Our members shall do more than they have done before, 

 Save some, perhaps a score the ever- active few ; 



For all must use their speech, while Irving lives to teach 

 Some " unknown tongue" to each in the year thirty-two. 



Should I behold the day when Russell, Brougham, and Grey 

 Shall one and all give way before the factious crew, 



Then shall I look to Peel, in hopes he will reveal 

 Consistency and zeal in the year thirty-two. 



When Cumberland talks sense on any good pretence 

 Newcastle lowers his rents, and takes less than his due ; 



When Eldon fails to " doubt" what he has been about, 

 The Whigs may then be out in the year thirty-two. 



When Cobbett, for a week, shall write, or think, or speak 

 Philosophy or Greek, in Kensington or Kew 



Why then his Indian corn he'll leave to Tory scorn, 

 And on the Whigs will fawn in the year thirty-two. 



When Hunt shall give his aid to those he has betrayed, 

 And talks less of his maid, his Betty, or his Sue ; 



And when O'Connell's fiat shall fail to raise a riot, . 

 The mobs will then be quiet in the year thirty-two. 



When Wilberforce shall shew that blacks are white as snow, 

 And tithes all men shall know are blessings good and true, 



With Percival at last, before the session's passed, 

 We'll have a general fast in the year thirty -two. 



When Hume forgets his score, that two and two make four 

 When Sibthorpe's not a bore, and Rothschild's not a Jew 



When Croker's elocution shall force a dissolution, 

 There'll be a revolution in the year thirty-two. 



Give praise to all on earth whose merit is their worth 



Crush faction in the birth, like dirt beneath the shoe ; 

 Thus shall man be judged alone by virtues of his own, 



If prejudice be flown, in the year thirty-two. 

 Oh ! could I but fulfil the impulse of my will, 



Education I'd instil in men of every hue ; 

 And then by that decree there should not living be 



A soul that wasn't free in the year thirty-two. , 



