CHRISTMAS CAROL, 1845. Tune .--" Packington's Pound. " I. "The intrigues of this month shall we e'er comprehend? Will the Dons, when the Parliament meets, give a clue? Will one Tory among them speak out like a friend, On the why and because of this famous to-do? Is it really the case That the Whigs are in place, Because Peel, when his colleagues assembled, appall'd them By a cool proposition, To toss to perdition, Both the faith and the force that in office install'd them." II. Thus groan'd out a grumbler, all sulky and sour, But for Christopher's temper such trash was too much; And it soon made the malecontent quiver and cower, When he saw preparations for handling the Crutch. "Lay your croaking aside," The old gentleman cried, "Or I'll make you eat up each ungenerous word: Not our deadliest foe, Such injustice should know, And far less shall a friend be convicted unheard. III. "Come read here their Mottoes extracted from Burke For the Commoners,--here for the Peerage from Lodge; Say, can these be consistent with pitiful work, On a par with some Whiggish O'Connellite dodge? Though at present a cloud May the mystery shroud, Till secrecy's seal from their lips be removed; When the truth shall appear, It will all become clear, And the words here inscribed shall again be approved. IV. "Ne'er believe that Peel's noble Industria Plann'd Aught design'd of its honours his fame to despoil, Aught but Justice to Industry , Justice to Land, To the loom and the ploughshare, the sea and the soil. His hand will still hold Straight, steady, and bold, The scales where our wealth and our welfare are weigh'd: Still though tempests may blow, And cross currents may flow, He will steer our good ship till at anchor she's laid." V. "But surely that terrible leader of Walter's Was not utterly void of foundation in fact. Was the Cabinet really not full of defaulters, And resolved for a time on that ruinous act?" "Cease, blockhead, to babble Your ganderlike gable: Could Repeal e'er be Reason Contents Me with Graham, Could the Ne Nimium Of good Gordon succumb, Or the Stanley's Sans Changer be changed into shame? VI. "With Avito Honore would Wortley turn tail, To his PrAEsto Et Persto is Binning untrue? Could the Sperno Timere of Somerset quail, Or a Ripon with treachery blot Foy Est Tout ? Could the princely Buccleuch Stoop the star-spangled blue Of his Bellenden banner when Leaguers came on? Proved the Lion a jest On great Wellington's crest? Did his Virtus exude at the shriek of Lord John? VII. "Arthur falter'd?--I'll swallow such inpudent flams When the ears of the sow yield us purses of silk; When there's no Devil's Dust in the Cotton Lord's shams, And the truck-master's pail holds unmystified milk. Not a Tory, I swear, Will be forced to declare In the face of the Nation's assembled Senatus. That from duty he shrunk, Or once felt in a funck About Cobden, and Bright, and some rotten potatoes! VIII. "We shall see them again, even now or erelong, Upon Wisdom and Equity taking their stand, Calm, able, and upright, harmonious, and strong, In peace and prosperity ruling the land. Firm, faithful, and free? What they say they will do-- No Right unprotected, no Wrong unredress'd; While writers of Letters And all their abettors Stand in swaggering impotence caught and confess'd."