Author: Anon [W. A.]

This poem appears in our anthology

Publication: Ayr Advertiser, or West Country Journal

Published: 24 May 1832

Place of publication: Ayr, Scotland

Publication type: Newspaper/Periodical

Featured individuals:
Henry Brougham (1778-1868)
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764-1845)
Joseph Hume (1777-1855)
Robert Peel (1788-1850)

A full copy of this poem is available.

Archive/Library: Carnegie Library, Ayr
Classmark(s): Microfilm: The Ayr Advertiser January 1831 to December 1833
Pages(s): 1

This satirical poem is spoken by one who hopes to 'stop the progress of the Bill'.  The poem's first two stanzas ask an unnamed individual to prove their strength in various ways (for example, 'quench Etna with a cup of tea') to demonstrate that they can break the pro-reform movement.  In the final stanza, the speaker asks this figure to manipulate some key pro-reformers: for instance, 'Make Hume forget his country's weal'.  It also asks this figure to 'still woman's tongue', suggesting that women were influential in the pro-reform movement.  The poem later appeared, under the title 'Tasks for the Anti-Reformers' in The Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle on 11-06-1831.