Selected verses from a poem by Thomas Hazard. He was accused of being part of the Cato Street conspiracy as he let his school rooms be used by the plotters, but he claimed it was only for an hour a week to read the ‘Manchester Observer’. (Catalogue reference HO 44/5/f376)
Transcript
A TRUE
Picture of Society
AS DISPLAYED BY CERTAIN
RICH CHARACTERS
TOWARDS THEIR
Poor Neighbours
A POEM
BY THOMAS HAZARD
SCHOOL-MASTER
54, QUEEN STREET, EDGEWARE ROAD
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for miseries that shall come upon you – James c.5 v.1
Learn to do well; seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow – Isaiah, c.1 v.17
Ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? Saith the Lord God of hosts, – Ibid, c.3 v.14 &15
London
PRINTED FOR AND SOLD BY THE AUTHOR
1819
A
POEM
1.
Repent, ye tyrants, you have brought
Distress upon the poor,
And many men thro’ you have sought
Their bread from door to door.
2.
Alas! We labour but in vain,
Oppressors ov’er us boast,
For they have rais’d the price of grain,
To feed a cruel host.
3.
Like cannibals they drain our blood,
Our bread is tax’d, with tea,
And every evil they call good,
Lest mankind should be free.
4.
T’enjoy the blessings God bestows,
So bountiful for all,
Oppressors you, his love oppose,
And honest men inthral.
…
20.
You never labour, never toil,
But you can eat and drink,
You never cultivate the soil,
Nor of the poor man think.
21.
You say the poor was born to work,
For you, dukes, lords, and squires;
And you was only born to lurk,
And have your base desires.
22.
In coaches you do proudly ride,
And lord it over them,
That all your comforts, do provide,
Your fellow equal man.
23.
Behold the ploughman tills the field,
But muzzled must he be;
The best of fruits the Autumn yields
Is swallowed up by thee.
24.
The refuse only is for him
That ploughs, and sows, and reaps;
The basket holds, what left by him,
That (John,) the ploughman eats.