246 GovEBNMfiNT, Laws, &c. [Part II. 



are here ; but, what a difference in the Clergyman ! 

 What a difTerence between the sober, sedate, friendly 

 man who preaches to one of these congregations, and 

 the greedy, chattering, lying, backbiting, mischief-mak- 

 ing, everlasting plague, that you go to hear, and are 

 compelled to hear, or stay away from the church. Baker 

 always puts me in mind of the Magpie. 



Tlie IMagpie, bird of chatt'iing fame, 

 Whose tongue and hue bespeak his name ; 

 The first a squalling clam! rous clack, 

 Tlie last made up of white and black ; 

 Feeder alike on Jlesh and com, 

 Greedy alike at eve and morn ; 

 Of all the birds thct prying j^est, 

 Must needs be Parmi o'er the rest. 



448. Thus I began a fable, when I lived at Botley. 

 I have forgotten the rest of it. It Avill please 30U to 

 hear that there are no Mag-pies in America ; but, it will 

 please you still more to hear, that no men that resem- 

 ble them are parsons here. I have sometimes been 

 half tempted to believe, that the Magpie first suggested 

 to tyrants the idea of having a tithe-eating Clergy. 

 The Magpie devours the corn and grain ; so does the 

 Parson. The Magpie takes the wool from the sheep's 

 backs; so does the Parson. The Magpie devours alike 

 the young animals and the eggs ; so does the Parson. 

 The Magpie's clack is everlastingly going ; so is the 

 Parson's. The Magpie repeats by rote words that are 

 taught it ; so does the Parson. The Magpie is always 

 skipping and hopping and peeping into other's nests ; 

 so is the Parson. The Magpie's colour is partly black 

 and partly white ; so is the Parson's. The Magpie's 

 greediness, impudence, and cruelty are proverbial ; so 

 are those of the Parson. I was saying to a farmer the 

 other day, that if the Boroughmongers had a mind to 

 ruin America, they would another time, send over five 

 or six good large flocks of Magpies, instead of five or 

 six of their armies; but, upon second thought, they 

 would do the thing far more effectually by sending over 

 five or six flocks of their Parsons, and getting the peo- 

 ple to receive them and cherish them as the Buhcark of 

 religion. 



End of Part II. 



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