THE ARMS OF ENGLAND,
As Improved by the Peace Society.
Of the poor old British Lion
The sentence has gone forth,
Since Bright has lifted up his heels
Against him in the North.
Then let him vail the tufted tail
He once so proudly bore,
When coarsely vain of might and mane,
He guarded England's shore.
Be the soldier brute in council mute,
Nor more sound war's alarms;
Let him yield his place to a milder race
In Britain's coat of arms.
For the lion is a dangerous beast,
And so's the unicorn;
The one has teeth and talons,
And the other hoofs and horn.
So in a crack from Britain's back
Let's tear the coat she has on,
And in its place our 'scutcheon grace
With Peace's proper blazon:
Gules we'll eschew—that bloody hue!—
With drab the field arrange;
But or and argent we'll retain,
As sovereigns and small change.
Nor lion for supporter,
Nor unicorn shall stand,
But a spaniel mendiant, and a hare
Funkant, on either hand;
In the first and fourth, where erst were charged
Lions passant guardant three,
There three hares boltant to the world,
Shall Britain's symbol be.
In the second, that was or
In double tressure counterflowered—
Where gules, in times gone by,
The Scotch lion rampant towered—
In honour of great Cowan,
And his Embro' fellows true,
In a tressure of Scotch thistles,
An ass prançant you shall view.
In the third, that once showed azure,
The harp of Ireland, or—
Since we'll not stand such vanities
As music any more,
We mean to blazon, argent,
A ledger, proper, blank—
As typical of squared accounts,
And a balance at the bank.
"Dieu et mon Droit," we will withdraw,
The phrase is simple gammon;—
For "Dieu" read £ s. d.,—since who
Should be our God but Mammon?
And as for Droit, you know 'tis Might,
Not Right that wins the game—
So "£ s. d. et Non Droit" shall be
The motto we'll proclaim!