What security have you, ye Bishops and Peers,
If thus you give back Mr. Bell's _parapluie_,
That he mayn't with its stick, come about all your ears,
And then--_where_ would your Protestant periwigs be?
No! heaven be my judge, were I dying to-day,
Ere I dropt in the grave, like a medlar that's mellow,
"For God's sake"--at that awful moment I'd say--
"For God's sake, _don't_ give Mr. Bell his umbrella."
["This address," says a ministerial journal, "delivered with amazing
emphasis and earnestness, occasioned an extraordinary sensation in the
House. Nothing since the memorable address of the Duke of York has
produced so remarkable an impression."]
[1] A case which interested the public very much at this period. A
gentleman, of the name, of Bell, having left his umbrella behind him in
the House of Lords, the doorkeepers (standing, no doubt, on the privileges
of that noble body) refused to restore it to him; and the above speech,
which may be considered as a _pendant_ to that of the Learned Earl on
the Catholic Question, arose out of the transaction.
[2] From Mr. Canning's translation of Jekyl's--
"I say, my good fellows,
As you've no umbrellas."
A PASTORAL BALLAD.
BY JOHN BULL.
_Dublin, March 12, 1827_.--Friday, after the arrival of the
packet bringing the account of the defeat of the Catholic Question, in
the House of Commons, orders were sent to the Pigeon-House to forward
5,000,000 rounds of musket-ball cartridge to the different garrisons
round the country.
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