And ’tis in vain, too, that my foes I threaten and asperse,
When they are clearly for my threats in no wise aught the worse.
Though we’re a clever family, &c.
“And yet I scarce can bring myself to think I’ve had my day,
And ne’er again shall have the power a Ministry to slay.
Can it, indeed, have come to pass that Birmingham’s chief pride
Is now a pow’rless leader who is feared by neither side?
Can it, indeed, be true that I, spite all my brethren’s aid,
Shall see that Statesman triumph who so lately I betrayed,
And, hardest blow of all, live on to but too surely find