A gallows make to hang them
To this much-admired Poyson1 I administer the following Antidote.
“;See, See the mad Marauders come!
Let loose to rob and Plunder;
They hope to find our Senate dumb,
Our Statesmen lost in Wonder.But let them shun this hostile Shore
Or back again we’ll bang ’em,
And of their Tree of Liberty
A Gallows make to hang ’em.Nor Crown nor half a Crown they’ll get;
We’ll never be such Ninnies2,
To feed the fasting Mounshers fat
With our bright English Guineas—Then let them shun our hostile Shore
Or back again we’ll bang ’em;
And of their Tree of Liberty
A Gallows make to hang ’em.No British Palace e’er was built
By poor Men’s Blood or Tears Sir;
Like proud Versailles pollute with Guilt,
Which found a Lot severe Sir:Then let them shun our happy Shore,
Or back again we’ll bang ’em;
And of their Tree of Liberty
A Gallows make to hang ’em.We’ll fight till Death for Church and King,
and firmly fix’d will see ’em:
The merry Bells around shall ring,
and grace a Grand Te Deum.When Frenchmen fly our happy Shore,
Or back again we bang ’em;
And of their Tree of Liberty
A Gallows make to hang ’em.Then fear at least Cælestial Fires
For Sacrilege intended;
That Church which but to Heav’n aspires.
Will be by Heav’n defended.Then let Mounseer not venture here,
For back again we’ll bang him,
Or of his Tree of Liberty,
A Gallows make to hang him.Those who to plot with France combine
Old England shall disown them;
Our Brunswick sinks their Jacobine
As Howe has lately shown them.3Then let them shun the dang’rous Shore
Or back again we’ll bang them,
And of their Tree of Liberty
A Gallows make to hang them.”;
I should really be glad that these Verses found Admirers too; they are certainly as witty as the wicked ones, much more pointed I think—but facit Indignatio &c.
Written by Hester Lynch Thrale. Thraliana entry dated October to November 1794.
- 1. Plant, Plant the Tree verses by her eldest daughter Queeney.
- 2. Slang, meaning silly.
- 3. Her account of the 'Glorious First of June' which took place in May 1794.