THE CONGRESS OF EXCISE-ASSES. Or, Sir B ue S ng's overthrow: a new ballad. To the tune of, I'll tell thee, Estcourt, a pleasant tale.

[EXCISE.]

Edité par London: printed for Mr. Nichols and sold at the pamphlet shops, 1733

A propos de cet article

Folio, pp. [8]; disbound. First edition. A satire on Sir Robert Walpole's ill-fated attempt to add excise taxes on wine and tobacco to those already in place on soap, salt, candles, brandy, beer, etc.; in the end the public outcry was so great that the new Excise Bill had to be withdrawn. This ballad purports to convey the back-room scheming of those in the government responsible for concocting this abohrrent piece of legislation. 'Sir Blue String' was one of the opposition epithets for Walpole. Among his band of cohorts here is 'Sir John Mundungus', i.e. John Randolph, the recently appointed colonial agent for Virginia, who gave Walpole much advice on the proposed imposition of an excise tax on tobacco: Quoth Sir John Mundungus, 'Tis true, they have stung us, Wherefor let us humble the vermin; What matters if they For victuals can't pay, So we flaunt it in velvet and ermin. Another key player in the scheme was Sir William Yonge, who is lampooned two stanzas later as 'Will Addle'. There were quite a few of these sixpenny ballads published over the course of the year, but this one is distinguished by the presence of two large rectangular woodcuts on the title-page, the upper one showing the many-headed 'Excise-Monster' pulling a chariot bearing the devil, and confronted by a crowd of opposition journalists wielding clubs, and the lower one depicting pro-government journals being thrown on a bonfire, beside which is an equestrian statue of Charles I. William Pulteney has been suggested as the author of this ballad, on stylistic grounds; there is, however, no firm evidence for this ascription. A fine copy of a rare poem. Foxon C368 and ESTC record the same five locations: BL, Bodleian; Harvard, Texas and Columbia.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: THE CONGRESS OF EXCISE-ASSES. Or, Sir B ue S ng's overthrow: a new ballad. To the tune of, I'll tell thee, Estcourt, a pleasant tale.
• Éditeur: London: printed for Mr. Nichols and sold at the pamphlet shops
• Date de parution: 1733
• Édition: Edition originale
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Poetry