CRISPIN'S ANSWER

Much pleased am I, that you approve

Freedom's blest cause that brought me here:

Ireland I loved — but there they strove

To make me bend to King and Peer.

I could not bow to noble knaves,

Who Equal Rights to men deny:

Scornful, I left a land of slaves,

And hither came, my axe to ply:

The axe has well repaid my toil —

No king, no priest, I yet espy

To tythe my hogs, to tax my soil,

And suck my whiskey bottle dry.

In foreign lands what snares are laid!

There royal rights all right defeat;

They taxed my sun, they taxed my shade,

They taxed the offal that I eat.

They taxed my hat, they taxed my shoes,

Fresh taxes still on taxes grew;

They would have taxed my very nose,

Had I not fled, dear friends, to you.