To rat, or not to rat, that is the question;―― Whether ’tis safer for a Whig to suffer The sting of conscious inconsistency; Or to take arms against this nest of madmen, And by opposing, leave them. To rat――to vote―― No more; and by a vote to say we’ve done With Ireland, and the thousand natural ills Of Dis-establishment. A consummation Devoutly to be wished. To rat――to vote;―― To lose perchance our seat!――Ay, there’s the rub! For from that adverse vote what griefs may come, When we have shuffled off this party mesh, Must give us pause. There’s the respect That makes calamity of Whiggery; For who would bear the whips and votes of Glyn, Th’ oppressive Bright, proud Gladstone’s contumely, The sneer from Tory bench, each night’s delay, The seeking after office, and the groans The patient member meets with when he speaks, When he himself might their quietus make In the wrong lobby? Who would measures hear For which, he voting, acts an endless lie; But that the dread of something afterwards, The represented “county” from whose poll No renegade returns,――puzzles the will! And makes us rather bear the ills we have, Than fly to others that will plague us more! Thus interest doth make puppets of us all; And thus the native hue of patriotism Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of “self;” And gentlemen of sturdy truth and honour With this regard their conscience belie, And lose all sense of freedom. _Once a Week_, May 23, 1868. ――――:o:―――― THE SHAVER’S SOLILOQUY.