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Twopenny Post-Bag, Intercepted Letters, Etc. Letter IV.

By Thomas Moore

Topics: classic

FROM THE RIGHT HON. PATRICK DUIGENAN TO THE RIGHT HON. SIR JOHN NICHOL.     Last week, dear Nichol, making merry     At dinner with our Secretary,     When all were drunk or pretty near     (The time for doing business here),     Says he to me, "Sweet Bully Bottom!     "These Papist dogs--hiccup--'od rot 'em!--     "Deserve to be bespattered--hiccup--     "With all the dirt even you can pick up.     "But, as the Prince (here's to him--fill--     "Hip, hip, hurra!)--is trying still     "To humbug them with kind professions,     "And as you deal in strong expressions--     "Rogue"--"traitor"--hiccup--and all that--     "You must be muzzled, Doctor Pat!--     "You must indeed--hiccup--that's flat."--     Yes--"muzzled" was the word Sir John--     These fools have clapt a muzzle on     The boldest mouth that e'er run o'er     With slaver of the times of yore![1]--     Was it for this that back I went     As far as Lateran and Trent,     To prove that they who damned us then     Ought now in turn be damned again?     The silent victim still to sit     Of Grattan's fire and Canning's wit,     To hear even noisy Mathew gabble on,     Nor mention once the Whore of Babylon!     Oh! 'tis too much--who now will be     The Nightman of No-Popery?     What Courtier, Saint or even Bishop     Such learned filth will ever fish up?     If there among our ranks be one     To take my place, 'tis thou, Sir John;     Thou who like me art dubbed Right Hon.     Like me too art a Lawyer Civil     That wishes Papists at the devil.         To whom then but to thee, my friend,     Should Patrick[2] his Port-folio send?     Take it--'tis thine--his learned Port-folio,     With all its theologic olio     Of Bulls, half Irish and half Roman--     Of Doctrines now believed by no man--     Of Councils held for men's salvation,     Yet always ending in damnation--     (Which shows that since the world's creation     Your Priests, whate'er their gentle shamming,     Have always had a taste for damning,)     And many more such pious scraps,     To prove (what we've long proved, perhaps,)     That mad as Christians used to be     About the Thirteenth Century,     There still are Christians to be had     In this, the Nineteenth, just as mad!         Farewell--I send with this, dear Nichol,     A rod or two I've had in pickle     Wherewith to trim old Grattan's jacket.--     The rest shall go by Monday's packet.     P. D.     Among the Enclosures in the foregoing Letter was the following     "Unanswerable Argument against the Papists."     We're told the ancient Roman nation     Made use of spittle in lustration;     (Vide "Lactantium ap. Gallaeum"[3]--     i. e. you need not read but see 'em;)     Now Irish Papists--fact surprising--     Make use of spittle in baptizing;     Which proves them all, O'Finns, O'Fagans,     Connors and Tooles all downright Pagans.     This fact's enough; let no one tell us     To free such sad, salivous fellows.--     No, no--the man, baptized with spittle,     Hath no truth in him--not a tittle!

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"FROM THE RIGHT HON. PATRICK DUIGENAN TO THE RIGHT HON. SIR JOHN NICHOL...."

"Twopenny Post-Bag, Intercepted Letters, Etc. Letter IV." is a quintessential example of Thomas Moore's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

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Author:Thomas Moore

"FROM THE RIGHT HON. PATRICK DUIGENAN TO THE RIGHT ..." by Thomas Moore

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Thomas Moore

About Thomas Moore

Thomas Moore (1779–1852) was an Irish poet, singer, and songwriter best known for "Irish Melodies" (1808–1834), a collection of songs including "The Last Rose of Summer" and "Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms." He was the most popular poet of his era in the British Isles.

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