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Ode To John Bradbury

by R. C. Lehmann

(THE NOTES FOR '1 AND 10S ARE SIGNED BY JOHN BRADBURY)

When the Red KAISER, swoll'n with impious pride

And stuffed with texts to serve his instant need,

Took Shame for partner and Disgrace for guide,

Earned to the full the hateful traitor's meed,

And bade his hordes advance

Through Belgium's cities towards the fields of France;

And when at last our patient island race,

By the attempted wrong

Made fierce and strong,

Flung back the challenge in the braggart's face,

Oh then, while martial music filled the air,

Clarion and fife and bagpipe and the drum,

Calling to men to muster, march, and dare,

Oh, then thy day, JOHN BRADBURY, was come.

JOHN BRADBURY, the Muse shall fill my strain

To sing thy praises; thou hadst spent thy time

Not idly, nor hadst lived thy life in vain,

Unfitted for the guerdon of my rhyme.

For lo, the Funds went sudden crashing down,

And men grew pale with monetary fear,

And in the toppling mart

The stoutest heart

Melted, and fortunes seemed to disappear;

And some, forgetting their austere renown,

Went mad and sold

Whate'er they could and wildly called for Gold!

"Since through no fault of ours the die was cast

We shall go forth and fight

In death's despite

And shall return victorious at the last;

But how, ah how," they said,

"Shall we and ours be fed

And clothed and housed from dreary day to day,

If, while our hearths grow cold, we have no coin to pay?"

Then thou, where no gold was and little store

Of silver, didst appear and wave thy pen,

And with thy signature

Make things secure,

Bidding us all pluck up our hearts once more

And face our foolish fancied fears like men.

"I give you notes," you said, "of different kinds

To ease your anxious minds:

The one is black and shall be fairly found

Equal in value to a golden pound;

The other - mark its healthy scarlet print -

Is worth a full half-sovereign from the Mint."

Thus didst thou speak - at least I think thou didst -

And, lo, the murmurs fell

And all things went right well,

While thy notes fluttered in our happy midst.

Therefore our grateful hearts go forth to thee,

Our British note-provider, brave JOHN BRADBURY!