PARSONS AND PIES! 
 
 ^ SsMtM RtclO&S. 
 
 DERRY DOWN" 
 
 GOOD honest John Bull, let it not you surprise 
 If youVe told so alike are your Parsons and Pies ; 
 
 For ‘*as clear as mud” ^tis, when compared together. 
 
 No two can seem more to be birds of a feather.’^ 
 
 First,— poor farmer Clodpole, he would, with a sigh. 
 Declare that he dreaded both Parson and Pie ; 
 
 For no shock (save of nerves !) can at harvest remain : 
 They both then so seize on his corn and his grain 1 
 
 Though poor Mag— like the Parson — he can’t claim the 
 merit 
 
 Of having been ^^call’d" by a certain good Spirit,* 
 
 Yet, both are so greedy that speedily they 
 On the eggs and young animals ever will prey ! 
 
 And though the Pie gains no fine ‘^larnen” at College, 
 They both of the ^^fleecing'' art show such a knowledge: 
 Yes, those who the [jamb to exalt never lack— 
 
 Like Pies — the poor ^^sheep'’* they will ever attack! 
 
 Oh! all those who observe them with freedom declare 
 That they seem altogether a sad preying pair ; 
 
 And though one, in his goodness, so much cries up giving. 
 They both make the dead so conduce to their hiving / 
 
 Again: though contentment’s a virtue so great, 
 
 Mr. Pious, he seldom seems blest with his fate : 
 
 Like a Pie, he'd still hop”— he’s so little at rest— 
 
 And a better berth find in another’s snug nest 1 
 
 Old Levi’s sons, too, though but little’s the matter. 
 
 Like Pies, when alarm’d — oh, ye gods, how they’ll chatter! 
 And alike as to colour each seems, by his back. 
 
 For neither displays but the white and the black ! 
 
 But our Parsons and Pies so resemble each other, 
 
 ’Twould be quite a bore, so I’ll give but another : — 
 
 They both, in the world, long have gained some note 
 For words men have taught them repeating by rote 1 9 
 
 * See the Fobm(!) of Ordination. 
 
 c. c. 
 
 GREAT TOTHAM, ESSEX. 
 
 Great Totham; Printed at Charles Clark's Private Press,