THE

RENOWNED HISTORY AND RARE

ACHIEVEMENTS

OF

JOHN WILKES.

AN HEROIC BALLAD.

DICERE RES GRANDES NOSTRO DAT MUSA POETE.

FULL often I have read, inscrib'd

On parchment and on vellum,

The deeds of ancient heroes and

The chances that befel 'em ;

And ballads I have heard rehears'd

By harmonists itinerant,

Who modern worthies celebrate,

Yet scarcely make a dinner on't:

Some of whom sprang from noble race,

And some were in pigstye born;

Persius, Sat. 1,

Dependent upon royal grace,
Or triple tree of Tyburn.

And sundry gallants yet unsung,

Who scarcely have their fellows,
Amendments move in parliament,
Or live by mending bellows:

But of all who were or will be sung

In solemn stave or ditty,

There's none can vie with JOHNNY WILKES,

The Chamberlain of the City.

CHORUS.

JOHN WILKES he was for Middlesex,
They chose him knight of the shire:
And he made a fool of Alderman BULL,
And call'd Parson HORNE a lyar.

Homer, for provender and fame,
When he was blind and pennyless,
Descanted of the Spartan Dame

Who a cuckold made of Menelaus:

His heroes' sounding names you've heard,

Whose blood or brains were spill'd in

Troy's siege, as long as Nestor's beard,

Which rooks their nests did build in.

Virgil Æneas sung, of yore

Approv'd a valiant soldier;

Thro' slaughter, smoke, and flame, he bore

His dad upon his shoulder:

(Else had some swaggering Grecian boy Soon made a hole in his skin,

And spitted him in burning Troy

To roast like a pork griskin.)
Æneas hence for piety

Was fam'd, or folks belie him;
Yet Helenus was as good as he,

And chaplain to King Priam.

But why the merits do I vaunt

Of chaplain or of layman?

JOHN WILKES was brave as John of Gaunt,

Religious as a Bramin:

Where wit or weapon came in play

Nothing for JOHN was too hard;

He wrote against the King all day,

And at night he fought his Steward.*

* A minute detail of the duel which Mr. Wilkes fought with Lord Talbot, Steward of the Household, is given in "Letters to "and from Mr. Wilkes," published in 1769.

Eke was he Friar of Medenham,*

And liv'd in orthodoxy ;

For, when he could not pray himself,

JOHN WILKES he was for Middlesex, &c.

Old Shylock, the Jew-broker,

Was both covetous and cruel;

He hoarded up his ducats, and

He dined on watergruel;

And, when Anthonio could not pay

The monies he had borrow'd,

He pull❜d out his snickersnee

With imprecations horrid :

"Thy bond is forfeited," he cried, "The penalty, I ask it;

* For an account of the Monks of Medenham, and the consternation excited among the members of that irreverend order, during the celebration of their scandalous rites, by BROTHER WILKES'S MONKEY, consult the third volume of "CHRYSAL," or "The Adventures of a Guinea." And for a particular description of Medenham Abbey, see the "Letters to "Mr. Wilkes" beforementioned.

Ay, and a pound of Christian flesh
"I'll cut from thy bread-basket."
But, when poor Sylva John besought
That he would but name his pay-day,

John swore that he had no such word
In his Encyclopedia:

Whereat this patient Israelite

He waxed wondrous ire:

But lo! JOHN chous'd him of his bond,

And he burnt it in the fire.

*

CHORUS.

JOHN WILKES he was for Middlesex, &c.

* Mr. Wilkes, having been repeatedly solicited by Sylva, a Jew, to discharge a bond and other securities, which he had given him to a considerable amount, at length appointed a day and hour for that express purpose, inviting his creditor to breakfast with him at the same time. The Jew, punctual to his engagement, met with the most flattering reception, and sat down to a special dèjunè dinè most exquisitely seasoned with the wit and vivacity of his host, who unlocked his scrutoire and made a display of cash and bank notes, minutely inquiring of Sylva the amount of what he owed him, and whether he had brought with him every receipt which was requisite to exonerate his debtor from future demands. The bond and necessary papers were of course produced, and freely submitted by Sylva (whom the fascinat

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