object:1.jk - The Gadfly
author class:John Keats
book class:Keats - Poems
subject class:Poetry
class:chapter
1.
All gentle folks who owe a grudge
To any living thing
Open your ears and stay your t[r]udge
Whilst I in dudgeon sing.
2.
The Gadfly he hath stung me sore--
O may he ne'er sting you!
But we have many a horrid bore
He may sting black and blue.
3.
Has any here an old grey Mare
With three legs all her store,
O put it to her Buttocks bare
And straight she'll run on four.
4.
Has any here a Lawyer suit
Of 1743,
Take Lawyer's nose and put it to't
And you the end will see.
5.
Is there a Man in Parliament
Dum[b-] founder'd in his speech,
O let his neighbour make a rent
And put one in his breech.
6.
O Lowther how much better thou
Hadst figur'd t'other day
When to the folks thou mad'st a bow
And hadst no more to say.
7.
If lucky Gadfly had but ta'en
His seat * * * * * * * * *
And put thee to a little pain
To save thee from a worse.
8.
Better than Southey it had been,
Better than Mr. D-------,
Better than Wordsworth too, I ween,
Better than Mr. V-------.
9.
Forgive me pray good people all
For deviating so --
In spirit sure I had a call --
And now I on will go.
10.
Has any here a daughter fair
Too fond of reading novels,
Too apt to fall in love with care
And charming Mister Lovels,
11.
O put a Gadfly to that thing
She keeps so white and pert --
I mean the finger for the ring,
And it will breed a wort.
12.
Has any here a pious spouse
Who seven times a day
Scolds as King David pray'd, to chouse
And have her holy way --
13.
O let a Gadfly's little sting
Persuade her sacred tongue
That noises are a common thing,
But that her bell has rung.
14.
And as this is the summon bo
num of all conquering,
I leave "withouten wordes mo"
The Gadfly's little sting.
'On the 17th of July 1818 [Keats and Brown] were approaching Inverary, and Keats began a letter to his brother Tom at "Cairn-something," having walked fifteen miles to breakfast through "two tremendous Glens." One of these was Glencroe and the other perhaps a smaller glen at the southern extremity of Glenfyne: Glencroe is mentioned later on in the letter and is also identifiable by a place called "Rest and be thankful" which the poet names; and at the end of the smaller glen is Cairndow not far from the northern extremity of Loch Fyne, a bathe in which was the occasion of the ballad given above -- a bathe to which the gadflies were the only drawback. This ballad, now I believe first published, seems to me one of the brightest and most humorous of the pieces which Keats classified as doggerel; and I presume it may be assigned to the 17th of July 1818.
(stanza 4) Line 2 is of course to be read "Of seventeen forty three," not "Of seventeen hundred and forty three."
(stanzas 6-8): I have not met with any account of the particular circumstances in which one of the members of Westmoreland figured in the manner described in stanza 6; but probably the contemporary newspaper press might show what episode Keats was contemplating in the memorable campaign in which the whigs tried to upset the then time-honoured influence of the House of Lowther, which had nominated the two county members, undisputedly, for a long time. The particular Lowther of stanza 6 was probably the Treasury Lord who was afterwards second Earl of Lonsdale. Wordsworth's Two Addresses To The Freeholders of Westmoreland are probably glanced at in stanza 8; "Mr. V----" would doubtless be the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nicholas Vansittart; and "Mr. D-----" may perhaps have been Mr. Dundas, who had held office in a previous ministry; but this last name rests upon mere conjecture.
(stanza 10): The reference is probably to the hero of Scott's novel The Antiquary, properly the Honourable William Geraldin, heir of the Earl of Glenallan, but known throughout the book as Mr. Lovel.
(stanza 12): Perhaps the reference is to Psalm cix, verse 164, "Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgements;" but there is certainly no intentional disrespect to David, the word 'chouse' being the exclusive property of the pious scold.'
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