| Words |
Come Liberals of every description unite,
Let by-ganes be by-ganes at least for a night,
Quash all your old quarrels, forgive and forget,
And down with your dust for another feed yet!
To-night let the long-wished millennium begin,
Let the Whig kindly smile to the Radical's grin,
Let no "minor difference" fetter your glee,
Sink all your opinions whatever they be:-
Let the laird whom "the Bread-tax" has pampered and fed,
Hob-a-nob with the weaver who sighs for "Cheap bread";
While the Fund-holder sits cheek by jowl with the men
Who would pay off the Debt with a dash of the pen.
Let Annual, Triennial, Septennial Elections
Create for the night no discordant reflections;
Let those who want Ballot and those who want none,
Dine off the same platter and pick the same bone.
Let the man who belongs to the "section extreme"
Clear his head for a time of his Radical dream,
And take off his glass saying "Good luck betide
The men whom more flexible principles guide!"
And oh! When you welcome your BANNERMAN'S name
Rend the roof of the room with your joyous acclaim
And in charity, drown in your rapturous praise
The stammering speech which your plaudits repays.
Nor, though victory crown'd not his struggles, forget
The YOUNG LAIRD OF CRATHES, -Kincardinshire's pet;
And SIR MICHAEL, - oh gladden the gloom of his soul
By toasting his name in a full flowing bowl!
Then hushed be the plaudit and silenced the cheer
As you turn for a space from the men that are here,
To hallow the memory of those whom you want
A Pillar and Miller, a Hyde and a CANT!
But on themes such as these do not linger too long;
Give full sweep to your triumph in chorus and song;
With toasts and with cheers let the night pass away,
Till your revels are stilled by the dawn of the day.
Then Patriots of every description unite,
Let by-ganes by by-ganes at least for a night,
Sink all your old grudges, forgive and forget,
And fork out your bobs for another feed yet!
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| Description |
Songs from ‘WHIG-RADICAL Festival Extraordinary!’ (1835)
This song comes from a Tory pamphlet which mocks the Whigs and Radicals. It suggests that the Whigs and Radicals are not united, and that the Whig MP, Alexander Bannerman, who is given the position of the Chairman at this 'dinner', is a most ineffectual Member of Parliament.
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