_A Political Enigma. Compounded from the Press of the Period._
[Illustration]
He's hopeless of heaven, he's too bad for ----,
(So say Unionist bards, and they ought to know well,)
He is JUDAS-cum-CAIN with a _soupcon_ of OATES,
An imperious despot, who grovels for votes;
A mean truckling tyrant, an autocrat slave;
A Knave who plays King, and a King who plays Knave.
A haughty Commander, the tool of his troops,
A swayer of "items," nose-led by his dupes;
A Dog-despot, wagged by the tip of his tail,
A Conspirator potent, whose plot's bound to fail;
The land's greatest danger, because such a dolt;
As ruler a scourge, because breeding revolt;
As political guide ever banefully strong,
Because the majority sees he is wrong.
A prolix _Polonius_ who proves his senility
By taking the shine out of youth and ability:
A veteran lagging superfluous, whose age
Puts him "out of it" so, that he fills the whole stage:
So old that his age gives him every claim,
Save to decent respect, which, of course, is a shame,
And absurd "fetish-worship." As Lucifer proud
And imperious, yet supple of knee to the crowd;
A CORIOLANUS who plays the JACK CADE;
A coward of nothing and no one afraid;
A blundering batsman whom none can bowl out;
A craven who staggers opponents most stout;
A traitor who gives his whole life to the State,
Whose zeal proves his spite, and his service his hate.
A truckler to treason and trickster for place,
Whose stubbornness oft throws him out of the race;
A lover of power and public applause,
Who dares to oppose the most popular cause.
A talkative sophist who will _not_ explain;
A bad-tempered man, ever bland and urbane:
A casuist no one can half understand,
But whose sinister purpose is plain as your hand;
A vituperative and venomous foe,
Whose speeches with calm magnanimity glow.
In short, an old dolt, who inflicts dire defeat
On the smartest young foes he can manage to meet;
A powerless provoker of dreadful disasters,
A master of slaves whose mere slaves are his masters;
A voluble sphinx, and a simple chimaera
The Age's conundrum, the _crux_ of his aera!
_Mem._:
If you can't give a guess at the theme of these rhymes,
Why, peruse all the papers, and move with the times!
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