, real _cheque_ to Vice!

XIX.

In brief,--Oh teach the child its moral rote,
Not _in_ the way from which 'twill not depart,--
But _out_--out--out! Oh, bid it walk remote!
And if the skies are clos'd against the smart,
Ev'n let him wear the single-breasted coat,
For that ensureth singleness of heart.--
Do what you will, his every want supply,
_Keep_ him--but _out_ of Newgate, Mrs. Fry!

ODE TO RICHARD MARTIN, ESQ.,[22]

M.P. FOR GALWAY.

"_Martin_ in this has proved himself a very good man!"
--_Boxiana_.

[Footnote 22: The well-known Humanitarian, M. P. for Galway, the author
of "Martin's Act" for the protection of animals from ill-treatment, and
one of the founders of the noble society having the same object. He
died in 1834.]

I.

How many sing of wars,
Of Greek and Trojan jars--
The butcheries of men!
The Muse hath a "Perpetual Ruby Pen!"
Dabbling with heroes and the blood they spill;
But no one sings the man
That, like a pelican,
Nourishes Pity with his tender _Bill_!

II.

Thou Wilberforce of hacks!
Of whites as well as blacks,
Pyebald and dapple gray,
Chestnut and bay--
No poet's eulogy thy name adorns!
But oxen, from the fens,
Sheep--in their pens,
Praise thee, and red cows with their winding horns!
Thou art sung on brutal pipes!
Drovers may curse thee,
Knackers asperse thee,
And sly M.P.'s bestow their cruel wipes;
But the old horse neighs thee,
And zebras praise thee,--
Asses, I mean--that have as many stripes!

III.

Hast thou not taught the Drover to forbear,
In Smithfield's muddy, murderous, vile environ,--
Staying his lifted bludgeon in the air!
Bullocks don't wear
_Oxide_ of iron!
The cruel Jarvy thou hast summon'd oft,
Enforcing mercy on the coarse Yahoo,
That thought his horse the _courser_ of the two--
Whilst Swift smiled down aloft!--
O worthy pair! for this, when ye inhabit
Bodies of birds--(if so the spirit shifts
From flesh to feather)--when the clown uplifts
His hands against the sparrow's nest, to _grab_ it,--
He shall not harm the MARTINS and the _Swifts_!

IV.

Ah! when Dean Swift was _quick_, how he enhanc'd
The horse!--and humbled biped man like Plato!
But now he's dead, the charger is mischanc'd--
Gone backward in the world--and not advanc'd,--
Remember Cato!
Swift was the horse's champion--not the King