KNIFE-GRINDER
Story, God bless you, I have none to tell, sir;
Only last night a-drinking at the Chequers,
This poor old hat and breeches, as you see, were
Torn in a scuffle.
Constables came up for to take me into
Custody; they took me before the justice;
Justice Oldmixon put me in the parish
Stocks for a vagrant.
I should be glad to drink your honor's health in
A pot of beer, if you will give me sixpence;
But for my part I never love to meddle
With politics, sir.
FRIEND OF HUMANITY
I give thee sixpence; I will see thee damned first,
Wretch! whom no sense of wrongs
Can rouse to vengeance!
Sordid, unfeeling, reprobate, degraded,
Spiritless outcast!
[Kicks the K-g, overturns his wheel, and exit in a transport of
republican enthusiasm and universal philanthropy.]
THE GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND.
[The following extract from a speech on Parliamentary Reform
affords an excellent example of his style of eloquence.]
Other nations, excited by the example of the liberty which this
country has long possessed, have attempted to copy our
Constitution; and some of them have shot beyond it in the
fierceness of their pursuit. I grudge not to other nations that
share of liberty which they may acquire; in the name of God, let
them enjoy it! But let us warn them that they lose not the object
of their desire by the very eagerness with which they attempt to
grasp it.
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