A New Song of the Election
“THE CAP, THOSE WHOM IT FITS MAY WEAR IT.”
O the general Electiom is coming they say,
What an huhabolu and a bustle there’ll be,
With the new candidates to be Parliament men,
And the old ones who wished for to go back again.
There’ll be all sorts of shuffling and all kinds of rigs,
There’s some will call Tories and some will call Whigs,
There’s some will wear colours, blue, orange, and red,
And to prove which is best, they’ll break each other’s heads.
O the general Election is coming they say,
What canvassing, coaxing, and thumping there’ll be,
While some will shout —— and —— so clever,
And others bawl —— and free trade for ever.
O the Whigs for ten years have cut a great swell,
But now by the Tories they’ve been wollop’d well,
And to pay off the bad boys with a good tit for tat,
They are sending them home to see how they like that.
This has caused amongst Tories and Whigs a great rout,
And many may go tell their mothers the’re out,
While some of the boobies will do a deal worse,
By loosing their election, and emptying their purse,
O the Elections are coming, what doings there’’ll be,
Such gutting and guzzling you never did see,
There’ll be cheap beef and ale for poor voters just then,
With Wine, Turtle, and Venison for gentlemen,
There will be open houses in every street,
Where the Birds of a feather may daily meet,
And sly Booots attends to collect all their senses;
Crying, landlord, fill up now, and damn all expenses.
Then to see the great nobs, who a canvassing go,
In the house, or the garret, or the cellar below,
Altho’ by infection he dreads his sweet life,
He’ll shake hands with the cobbler or kiss the sweep’s wife,
Or perhaps he will dandle the sweet little child,
Till he suddenly finds that his trowsers are spoiled,
Tho’ his heart it is ready to come up at his throat,
Yet he’d do ten times more to secure a vote.
And then at the last, when all other means fail,
To catch them they try to put salt on their tails,
Don’t think I mean bribery, my good sir, dear no!
They only give friends a small present or so.
Or perhaps if you have a nice Bird, Dog, or Cat.
To sell, they will give you five sovereigns for that,
He’s a very good customer, that is quite true,
So I’ll vote for ——, pray what less can I do?
O the Election is coming, what meeting and speeching,
All their knavish tricks to all the world teaching;
What rogues, fools, and shufflers, each other they call,
And stick their good characters up on the wall.
Each party seem ready the other to mill,
About rural policy, or the new poor-law bill.
While the Elections are on, what patriots they are,
But when they get in, the d——l may care.