SONNET TO MATHEW WOOD, ESQ.

Alderman and M.P.

(1820)

Hold on thy course uncheck’d, heroic WOOD! 
Regardless what the player’s son may prate,
Saint Stephens’ fool, the Zany of Debate—­
Who nothing generous ever understood. 
London’s twice Praetor! scorn the fool-born jest—­
The stage’s scum, and refuse of the players—­
Stale topics against Magistrates and Mayors—­
City and Country both thy worth attest. 
Bid him leave off his shallow Eton wit,
More fit to sooth the superficial ear
Of drunken PITT, and that pickpocket Peer,
When at their sottish orgies they did sit,
Hatching mad counsels from inflated vein,
Till England, and the nations, reeled with pain.

ON A PROJECTED JOURNEY

(1820)

To gratify his people’s wish
See G[eorg]e at length prepare—­
He’s setting out for Hanover—­
We’ve often wished him there.

SONG FOR THE C[ORONATIO]N

Tune, “Roy’s Wife of Aldivalloch"

(1820)

Roi’s wife of Brunswick Oels!
Roi’s wife of Brunswick Oels! 
Wot you how she came to him,
While he supinely dreamt of no ills? 
Vow! but she is a canty Queen,
And well can she scare each royal orgie.—­
To us she ever must be dear,
Though she’s for ever cut by Georgie.—­

            Roi’s wife, etc. Da capo.

THE UNBELOVED

(1820)

Not a woman, child, or man in
All this isle, that loves thee, C[anni]ng. 
Fools, whom gentle manners sway,
May incline to C[astlerea]gh,
Princes, who old ladies love,
Of the Doctor may approve,
Chancery lads do not abhor
Their chatty, childish Chancellor. 
In Liverpool some virtues strike,
And little Van’s beneath dislike. 
Tho, if I were to be dead for’t,
I could never love thee, H[eadfor]t: 
(Every man must have his way)
Other grey adulterers may. 
But thou unamiable object,—­
Dear to neither prince, nor subject;—­
Veriest, meanest scab, for pelf
Fastning on the skin of Guelph,
Thou, thou must, surely, loathe thyself.

ON THE ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND OF LORD BYRON’S REMAINS

(1824)

Manners, they say, by climate alter not: 
Who goes a drunkard will return a sot. 
So lordly Juan, damn’d to lasting fame,
Went out a pickle, and came back the same.

LINES

Suggested by a Sight of Waltham Cross

(1827)

Time-mouldering CROSSES, gemm’d with imagery
Of costliest work, and Gothic tracery,
Point still the spots, to hallow’d wedlock dear,
Where rested on its solemn way the bier,
That bore the bones of Edward’s Elinor
To mix with Royal dust at Westminster.—­
Far different rites did thee to dust consign,
Duke Brunswick’s daughter, Princely Caroline. 
A hurrying funeral, and a banish’d grave,
High-minded Wife! were all that thou could’st have. 
Grieve not, great Ghost, nor count in death thy losses;
Thou in thy life-time had’st thy share of crosses.