Classic Poem

When James, our great monarch, so wise and discreet,
Was gone with three barges to face the Dutch fleet,
Our young prince of Wales, by inheritance stout,
Was coming to aid him and peeped his head out;
But seeing his father, without ships or men,
Commit the defense of us all to a chain,
Taffy was frighted and skulked in again;
Nor thought, while the Dutch domineered in our road,
It was safe to come further and venture abroad.
Not Waldegrave, or th'epistle of seigneur le duke,
Made Her Majesty sick, and her royal womb puke;
But the Dutchmen pickeering at Dover and Harwich,
Gave the ministers agues and the queen a miscarriage.
And to see the poor king stand in ships of such need,
Made the Catholics quake, and Her Majesty bleed.
I wish the sad accident don't spoil the young prince,
Take off all his manhood and make him a wench;
But the hero, his father, no courage did lack,
Who was sorry on such a pretext to come back.
He marked out his ground, and mounted a gun,
And, 'tis thought, without such a pretense he had run;
For his army and navy were said to increase,
As appears (when we have no occasion) in peace.
Nay, if the Dutch come, we despise 'em so much,
Our navy incognito will leave 'em i'th'lurch;
And, to their eternal disgrace, we are able
To beat 'em by way of a post and a cable.
Why was this, sir, left out of th' wise declaration
That flattered with hopes of more forces the nation?
'Twould have done us great good to have said you intended
The strength of the nation, the chain should be mended.
Though we thank you for passing so kindly your word
(Which never was broke) that you'd rule by the sword,
This promise we know you meant to fulfill,
And therefore you have reason (by Gad!) to take't ill
That the bishops, the bishops did throw out the bill.