No! He has issued no such foul command, But dooms down Despots by the People's hand; Marks tyrants out for fall in every age, Directs the justice of the people's rage; And hurling vengeance on all royal crimes, Ordains the Revolutions of the times! [Illustration: 198] A thing of no bowels-- ' --from the crown to the toe, topfull Of direst cruelty.--His Realm a slaughter-house-- The swords of soldiers are his teeth-- Iron for Naples, hid with English gilt. Shakspeare. The End. {191} A SLAP AT SLOP AND THE BRIDGE-STREET GANG [Illustration: 199] With Twenty-seven Cuts. LONDON: PRINTED BY AND FOR WILLIAM HONE, 46, LUDGATE HILL. Half a-Crown. {193} TO THE READER. The Slap, at first arranged in the manner, and in every respect in imitation, assumed the appearance of a newspaper, except that the columns were broken by _cuts_. It was a crown broadside, and the agreeable appearance of the stamp was preserved by the subjoined diagram being placed at the corner. [Illustration: 201] Doubtless every one who entered into the design, was satisfied with the original form of the publication; yet the author has been perplexed by numerous applications for an edition in this size. He finds it as difficult to account for want of taste as for it; but it being the fashion for the minority to be polite to the majority, he bends at last to the too general request, and submits The Slap, with a broken spirit, to go down, bound, with his other little pieces. 45, Ludgate Hill, 1822 {194} Original Address A Bag of political nuts ready cracked, is not only rather dangerous fare to serve up, but a man who takes the trouble to crack them, will find the kernels cleaner and sweeter for his pains. Though they who run may read the greater portion of the present sheet, yet there are a few articles that require attention, and two or three arc designed for those only who alone can understand them. My first intention was to parody Slop's paper, 'The Slop-tail,' or 'Much Times,' throughout. But he is as vapid as the Marquess of Lunnunderry. * What could I do with thoughts as unquotable, as confused, as ill conceived, as ill expressed, as that _puissante_ ** Lord's --without depth or originality--as plentiful and superficial as duck-weed.