*T Henry, A New Year's address of Richard and George (ca1787) *U Poem http://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/henry/writing/poetry/ca1787.htm *U Grammar http://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/henry/xmasresearch/grammarhenry.htm#ca1787 *U Search http://www.iment.com/maida/familytree/henry/xmasresearch/searchablehenryspoems.htm#ca1787 *C MSS p45-48, PJ New Year's 1787, signed Richard and George Before the friends of Mr. Power In this good-natur'd happy hour Respectfully we both appear And wish you all a Happy Year. You see in us a brace of chickens Who, as the plot of nations thickens, Deal at your doors each Wednesday morn The sun-shine of the week - or storm. When earth quakes make old chimnies rattle Or gossips in a corner tattle Or twenty pumpkins in a row Enormous on one tendril grow. When flush'd with wine (the modern nectar) Two Beaus as bluff & bold as Hector Like lions meet and nobly dare To flash their pistols in the air. When sons of Neptune stoutly try Who shall affirm the toughest lye And swear they saw a fish, complete From stem to stern, twelve thousand feet. When three grim tygers make their dinners Upon at least a dozen sinners When Cupid's arrows don't miscarry And lovers meet - & meeting marry: When these events and thousands more Are acted - or not acted o'er The Country Journal ever ready To seize its prey, all keen and steady Pursues the tidings as they rise, And plunders all as lawful prize: While we, the mercuries of the day, Deliver at your feet the prey. Tho suns shine clear, or tempests growl, Mild zephyrs fan or whirlwinds howl; Tho cold snows fly, or hailstones rattle And ev'ry element's in battle: Thro thick and thin and thin and thick Go flound'ring on poor George and Dick! Nor care a button for disasters So you're contented gentle masters. And now the end of all this clatter Is but a small and trifling matter; A puny six pence or a shilling From willing souls to souls as willing. And here to you our gen'rous donors We pledge our sacred words of honours No valrous rooster by our deed Shall on the field of battle bleed. Nor by our too-well-aimed ball The hapless, flutt'ring turkey fall: No deep-charged muskets thund'ring roar Beneath the peaceful burghers door, Shall tell the sleeping folks within That mighty New Year doth begin. Like civil (chubs) we will retire And by a snug and social fire With cakes of season on the board Collected from each housewife's hoard We'll push the glass of mead about And laugh the tedious ev'ning out.