It was not without reasonable suspicions of the Jacobite party that the ministers of George I. deemed it prudent to keep the Commons they had, rather than face a fresh election, since a general mistrust was abroad. From an effusion upon the bell-ringing in 1716, on the anniversary of Queen Anne’s coronation, it appears this tribute of respect to the memory of the late sovereign was regarded as a Tory manifesto:-- “’Tis Nancy’s Coronation Day By whom ye hop’d to bring in play Young George, the Chevalier. But Fate, who best disposes things, And pulls down Queens and sets up Kings, A better George sent here.” According to the lyrist, the papists were tired of praying for Walpole’s abrupt end; but the conclusion exhibits the feeling then prevailing--and which was justified by after-events,--that the prolonged sessions of parliament under the new Septennial Act offered some defence against the schemes of their opponents; in fact, the tables were turned, and the Whigs of this parliament dreaded the machinations of the Tories, much as the Abhorrers and courtiers detested and feared the Whigs under Charles II. “But now they utter loud complaints, And curse all male and female saints, Walpole still lives, their curb; And four long years, at least, must come, Ere French pistoles, and friends to Rome, Our Liberties disturb.” The Pretender, whose cause looked hopeful at the time of his “dear sister’s” decease, was treated by the Whig satirists with all the ridicule their pens could command:-- “A FULL AND AMPLE EXPLANATION OF ONE KING JAMES’S DECLARATION. “Had my dear Sister still been living, I might have hop’d for (the Crown) of her giving; But she, alas, is gone, and all Her latest servants--I should call My friends--disgrac’d and out of power, Nay some committed to the Tower, _Impeach’d_! Who then but must resent, To see a British parliament, With all the power of Arms and Laws, So zealously oppose my Cause, Pay Dutch, raise English troops and seamen, And may, perhaps, bring more from Bremen. Can my good subjects bear this still, And thus _be sav’d against their will_? However, if you’ll still consent, To damn that thing call’d _Parliament_, Burn _Magna Charta_, bring confusion On all things since the Revolution, Be governed by no other measure, But our own sovereign will and pleasure, I’ll pardon all, and what I’ve promis’d, grant ye, All ‘Oaths of Coronation’ _non obstante_.” Whatever prospects the Pretender and his good friends the Tories might have cherished on the accession of George I., were abruptly put to flight after the abortive rising in 1715; this ill-advised attempt, and the consequences of its utter failure, are wittily set forth in the ballad:-- “THE RIGHT AND TRUE HISTORY OF PERKIN.