An Excellent New Ballad Or, The True English Dean[1] To Be Hanged For A Rape. 1730 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCC DEDECC FGFGCC HIHICC JKLKCC MNMNCC OPOQCC NDNDCC RSTSCC UVUVCC WSWSCC XNYNCC| Our brethren of England who love us so dear | A |
| And in all they do for us so kindly do mean | B |
| A blessing upon them have sent us this year | A |
| For the good of our church a true English dean | B |
| A holier priest ne'er was wrapt up in crape | C |
| The worst you can say he committed a rape | C |
| - | |
| In his journey to Dublin he lighted at Chester | D |
| And there he grew fond of another man's wife | E |
| Burst into her chamber and would have caress'd her | D |
| But she valued her honour much more than her life | E |
| She bustled and struggled and made her escape | C |
| To a room full of guests for fear of a rape | C |
| - | |
| The dean he pursued to recover his game | F |
| And now to attack her again he prepares | G |
| But the company stood in defence of the dame | F |
| They cudgell'd and cuff'd him and kick'd him down stairs | G |
| His deanship was now in a damnable scrape | C |
| And this was no time for committing a rape | C |
| - | |
| To Dublin he comes to the bagnio he goes | H |
| And orders the landlord to bring him a whore | I |
| No scruple came on him his gown to expose | H |
| 'Twas what all his life he had practised before | I |
| He made himself drunk with the juice of the grape | C |
| And got a good clap but committed no rape | C |
| - | |
| The dean and his landlord a jolly comrade | J |
| Resolved for a fortnight to swim in delight | K |
| For why they had both been brought up to the trade | L |
| Of drinking all day and of whoring all night | K |
| His landlord was ready his deanship to ape | C |
| In every debauch but committing a rape | C |
| - | |
| This Protestant zealot this English divine | M |
| In church and in state was of principles sound | N |
| Was truer than Steele to the Hanover line | M |
| And grieved that a Tory should live above ground | N |
| Shall a subject so loyal be hang'd by the nape | C |
| For no other crime but committing a rape | C |
| - | |
| By old Popish canons as wise men have penn'd 'em | O |
| Each priest had a concubine jure ecclesiae | P |
| Who'd be Dean of Fernes without a commendam | O |
| And precedents we can produce if it please ye | Q |
| Then why should the dean when whores are so cheap | C |
| Be put to the peril and toil of a rape | C |
| - | |
| If fortune should please but to take such a crotchet | N |
| To thee I apply great Smedley's successor | D |
| To give thee lawn sleeves a mitre and rochet | N |
| Whom wouldst thou resemble I leave thee a guesser | D |
| But I only behold thee in Atherton's shape | C |
| For sodomy hang'd as thou for a rape | C |
| - | |
| Ah dost thou not envy the brave Colonel Chartres | R |
| Condemn'd for thy crime at threescore and ten | S |
| To hang him all England would lend him their garters | T |
| Yet he lives and is ready to ravish again | S |
| Then throttle thyself with an ell of strong tape | C |
| For thou hast not a groat to atone for a rape | C |
| - | |
| The dean he was vex'd that his whores were so willing | U |
| He long'd for a girl that would struggle and squall | V |
| He ravish'd her fairly and saved a good shilling | U |
| But here was to pay the devil and all | V |
| His troubles and sorrows now come in a heap | C |
| And hang'd he must be for committing a rape | C |
| - | |
| If maidens are ravish'd it is their own choice | W |
| Why are they so wilful to struggle with men | S |
| If they would but lie quiet and stifle their voice | W |
| No devil nor dean could ravish them then | S |
| Nor would there be need of a strong hempen cape | C |
| Tied round the dean's neck for committing a rape | C |
| - | |
| Our church and our state dear England maintains | X |
| For which all true Protestant hearts should be glad | N |
| She sends us our bishops our judges and deans | Y |
| And better would give us if better she had | N |
| But lord how the rabble will stare and will gape | C |
| When the good English dean is hang'd up for a rape | C |
Jonathan Swift
(1)
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About An Excellent New Ballad Or, The True English Dean[1] To Be Hanged For A Rape. 1730
An Excellent New Ballad Or, The True English Dean[1] To Be Hanged For A Rape. 1730 is a poem by Jonathan Swift. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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