Poem by George Canning

Sapphics. The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder

		FRIEND   OF   HUMANITY

‘Needy Knife-grinder! whither are you going?  
Rough is the road, your Wheel is out of order – 
Bleak blows the blast; – your hat has got a hole in’t,
					So have your breeches!

‘Weary Knife-grinder! little think the proud ones,
Who in their coaches roll along the turnpike-
-road, what hard work ’tis crying all day “Knives and
					Scissars to grind O!”

‘Tell me, Knife-grinder, how you came to grind knives? 
Did some rich man tyrannically use you ? 
Was it the ’Squire? or Parson of the Parish?
					Or the Attorney?

‘Was it the ’Squire for killing of his Game? or 
Covetous Parson for his Tythes distraining? 
Or roguish Lawyer made you lose your little
					All in a law-suit?

‘(Have you not read the Rights of Man, by TOM PAINE?) 
Drops of compassion tremble on my eye-lids, 
Ready to fall, as soon as you have told your
					Pitiful story.’

		KNIFE-GRINDER

‘Story! God bless you! I have none to tell, Sir, 
Only last night a-drinking at the Chequers, 
This poor old hat and breeches, as you see, were
					Torn in a scuffle.

‘Constables came up for to take me into 
Custody;  they took me before the Justice; 
Justice OLDMIXON put me in the Parish-
					-Stocks for a Vagrant.

‘I should be glad to drink your Honour’s health in 
A Pot of Beer, if you would give me Sixpence; 
But for my part, I never love to meddle
					With Politics, Sir.’

		FRIEND   OF   HUMANITY

‘I give thee Sixpence! I will see thee damn’d first –
Wretch! whom no sense of wrongs can rouse to vengeance –
Sordid, unfeeling, reprobate, degraded,
					Spiritless outcast!’

 
The Anti-Jacobin, No. 2, November 27, 1797

1. The Traitor's Epitah
2. On the Death of His Eldest Son
3. Parody
4. All the Talents
5. The Pilgrimage to Mecca

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