SONG,
On the Flight of the young Crows, from Newcastle Exchange; with their Address to the Corporation.
The young brood fairly fledg’d, we may fairly suppose,
Half the world must have heard of our Newcastle CROWS?
How their daddy, bold bird! from a rabble got free,
And was fully determin’d a freeman to be!
On the vane of the steeple, upon the Exchange,
Completed his nest, which beholders thought strange:
His bright jetty consort accomplish’d her part,
Nor foes, nor foul weather could alter her heart.
Their younglings, quite able to take distant flight,
Were told, by their parents, “Good manners are right.”
To their freedom admitted—they could do no less,
Than approach their kind patrons, with humble ADDRESS;
To thank them politely, without wanton joke,
For, so learned in swallow, they must learn to croak.—
In a trice——as if Æsop himself had inspir’d,
They began their address, whilst their hearers admir’d.
“Ye wise men, and good men, of Newcastle guild,
Who suffer’d our father and mother to build——
High, upon the high pinnacle of your Exchange,
And here see their offspring just ready to range;
To range with sweet freedom, o’er land, and o’er seas,
To eat and to drink, and to croak as we please——
Accept our plain thanks, while the reasons we clear,
Why some Merlin, or Shipton, hath sure sent us here.
“One thousand seven hundred, eighty and three,
For this town, a remarkable æra will be!
All folks will think right, from grave age to smart youth,
Nor priests, nor disciples, e’er wander from TRUTH;
Your rulers be loyal to great George the third,
Each rich man prove honest, and just to his word:
No fair-trading merchant will smuggle, or cheat,
No foul gorging glutton waste poor people’s meat.
“Your fine Sandhill maidens be merry and wise,
From their crying of lemons, to selling of pies;
Your green, and rare fish-women, civil enough,
Your milliners spruce, not so apt to take huff.
Up the Side, you’ll hear compliments, happy and free,
Where hot puddings, and haggishes, plenty shall be:
The silver-smiths, coopers, and tinmen will join
To sound the reforms now produc’d on the Tyne.
“Your Sandgate smart girls, the gay world will surprise,
Grown cleanly, and decent, and modest, and wise;
The keelmen, in manners, become quite polite,
No cursing at morn, nor much drunk over night!
Refining in language, improving in notes,
Letter R run far smoother, and glib through their throats:
Their Andrews, these sirnames, bear better degrees,
Ralphs, Richardsons, Rogersons, uttered with ease.
“No tailor will cabbage, no draper will pinch,
No shoemaker squeeze a full nail from an inch;
No baker, or flourman, be short of his weight,
No forestaller breed low designs in his pate;
No butcher, on Bank, keep prices too high,
No hatter, no baker, deceive with a lie!——
But what will stand foremost in public parade,
Newcastle shall furnish a cheaper COAL TRADE!
“In politics, surely, such changes will be,
The people and magistrates mutual agree;
No bribery, no menace, no little whit self,
No pride overbearing, or impudent wealth;
But each voter prove honest to old England’s laws,
Still prudently guarding fair liberty’s cause!
And so, brother freemen, God bless ye, adieu!
We fly to sage Franklin, and Washington now.”
A RARE CURIOSITY:
OR,
CROW’S NEST IN GATESHEAD.
A NEW SONG.
As Neddy and Betty were walking along,
Each cheerfully joining in dialogue song;
I met them, delighted on Gateshead green hill,
While Betty’s sweet voice charm’d all lads round each mill.
Derry down, &c.
BETTY.
Indeed, honest Neddy! the news is quite true,
Th’ Sandhill, no longer crow nests we can view;
The downfalling Steeple, and coming down Change,
Oblig’d feather’d builders at distance to range.
Derry down, &c.
NEDDY.
Does not my fair Betty know perfectly well,
No birds in prognostics black crows can excell?
No sooner their nests on the Sandhill were shewn,
Than public improvements came rapidly on.
Derry down, &c.
BETTY.
O yes I remember, from Close when they flew,
What crowds of spectators their nests came to view;
When pitched so nicely on top of the vane,
As signals, where Justice and Commerce did reign.
Derry down, &c.
NEDDY.
It is very true, my dear charmer, indeed,
Spectators beheld vast improvements succeed;
A beautiful Square, named Charlotte the Queen,
New streets, and Assembly Rooms elegant seen.
Derry down, &c.
BETTY.
O yes, and a Theatre, royal and fine,
Erected, no doubt, for some noble design;
To shew thoughtless mortals of ev’ry degree,
How defaulting they are, how good they should be.
Derry down, &c.
NEDDY.
From thence, if reflection keeps soberly on,
We’ve the Free Mason Lodge, in the style of St John;[16]
Where true wit and humour with charity meet,
And souls are united in union complete.
Derry down, &c.
BETTY.
I’m calling to mind, what a gipsy once told,
Who came in the crowd the crow’s nest to behold;
“These crows are wise creatures—Trade here will improve,
As sure as the winds can that weather-cock move!”
Derry down, &c.
NEDDY.
Then Gateshead is lucky, I vow and declare,
Behold, my dear Betty! where now the crows are;
Near Battle Bank foot, their snug nests you may find,
Upon those new chimnies, set free to the wind.
Derry down, &c.
BETTY.
O wonderful! Neddy, I see them so plain,
Quite opposite now to their former gilt vane;
The Stamp Office chosen, they mean to proceed,
The good folk of Gateshead are lucky indeed.
Derry down, &c.
NEDDY.
Then let me, dear Betty, meet better luck still,
Come, give me thy heart and thy hand with good will;
You know I am honest, my vows are sincere,
From all the deceits of vile rascals quite clear.
Derry down, &c.
BETTY.
So many false villains but court to deceive,
We virgins in prudence should slowly believe;
If they can but the punishing laws once escape,
They fear not the devil, his torments, or shape.
Derry down, &c.
NEDDY.
May all worthy millers grind such rascals down,
Till neither their dust nor their ashes are known;
Here’s my hand, dearest Bett! for life let us join,
Consent—and to morrow my all shall be thine.
Derry down, &c.
BETTY.
Dear Ned! I believe, and to-morrow shall see,
How blessing and blest honest lovers can be;
The crow’s nest in Gateshead full witness may prove,
That none but vile fools are deceitful in love.
Derry down, down, hey derry down.
[16] St John’s Lodge, No. 184, Free Masons’ Hall, Low Friar Street, Newcastle, dedicated October 18th, 1777, was some years after disused and converted into the Dispensary.