PAMPHLETS AND PARODIES ON POLITICAL SUBJECTS By William Hone, With Numerous Wood Cuts, by Cruikshank [Illustration: 010] [Illustration: 011] {003} LONDON: I. CHIDLEY, J 51, GOSWELL STREET,. {005} THE POLITICAL HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT. "A straw--thrown up to show which way the wind blows." WITH THIRTEEN CUTS [Illustration: 013] Fifty-first Edition London: Printed By And For William Hone, Ludgate Hill. 1821. ONE SHILLING. {006] --"Many, whose sequester'd lot Forbids their interference, looking on, Anticipate perforce some dire event; And, seeing the old castle of the state, That promis'd once more firmness, so assail'd, That all its tempest-beaten turrets shake, Stand motionless expectants of its fall." Cowper. NOTE. Each Motto that follows, is from Cowper's "Task." {007} THE AUTHOR'S DEDICATION TO HIS POLITICAL GODCHILD. To Doctor Slop, In Acknowledgment Of Many Public Testimonials Of His Filial Gratitude; And To The Nursery Of Children Six Feet High, His Readers, For The Delight And Instruction Of Their Uninformed Minds This Juvenile Publication Is Affectionately Inscribed, By The Doctor's Political Godfather, The Author. **The Publication wherein the Author of "The Political House that Jack Built" conferred upon Dr. SLOP the lasting distinction of his name, was a Jeu d'Esprit, entitled "Buonapartephobia, or cursing made easy to the meanest capacity"--It is reprinted, and may be had of the Publisher, Price One Shilling. [Illustration: 016] {009} THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT [Illustration: 017] THIS IS THE WEALTH that lay In the House that Jack built. {010} [Illustration: 018] ----"A race obscene, Spawn'd in the muddy beds of Nile, came forth, Polluting Egypt: gardens, fields, and plains, Were cover'd with the pest; The croaking nuisance lurk'd in every nook; Nor palaces, nor even chambers,'scap'd; And the land stank --so num'rous was the fry." THESE ARE THE VERMIN That plunder the Wealth, That lay in the House, That Jack built. {011} [Illustration: 019] THIS IS THE THING, that in spite of new Acts, And attempts to restrain it, by Soldiers or Tax, Will _poison_ the Vermin, That plunder the Wealth, That lay in the House, That Jack built. {012} [Illustration: 020] THIS IS THE PUBLIC INFORMER, who Would pull down the _Thing,_ that, in spite of new Acts, And attempts to restrain it, by Soldiers or Tax, Will poison the Vermin, that plunder the Wealth, That lay in the House, that Jack built. {013} [Illustration: 021]