1814 10

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1814.10
The Soliloquy of a Sailor,
With one eye, one arm, and one leg, as he limped
through St. James's Park yesterday

"All My Eye"
The Morning Chronicle (July 26, 1814)

Blind as I am, methinks a camp I view—
Many the Tents, but faith, the Contents few.
Who pays the piper?—Who d'ye think?—John Bull,
While for his wife and babes he wants a belly full.
For this, I lost an eye, an arm, a leg.
For this poor NAN too is compelled to beg.
Illumination![1] —O the shame and scandal,
Gods light they grudge, and tax my farthing candle.


Notes

1. The end of the war, as well as outstanding victories in the course of the war, was celebrated by public firework displays.

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