"As for his Lordship's vulgar notions about the _mob_" he
adds, "they are very fit for the Poet of the _Morning Post_, and for
nobody else.
adds, "they are very fit for the Poet of the _Morning Post_, and for
nobody else.
Byron
_March 23d_, 1820.
[First published _Murray's Magazine_, March, 1887,
vol. i. pp. 292, 293. ]
FOOTNOTES:
[113] [John Cam Hobhouse (1786-1869) (see _Letters_, 1898, i. 163,
_note_ 1) was committed to Newgate in December, 1819, for certain
passages in a pamphlet entitled, _A Trifling Mistake in Thomas Lord
Erskine's recent Preface_, which were voted (December 10) a breach of
privilege. He remained in prison till the dissolution on the king's
death, February 20, 1820, when he stood and was returned for
Westminster. Byron's Liberalism was intermittent, and he felt, or, as
Hobhouse thought, pretended to feel, as a Whig and an aristocrat with
regard to the free lances of the Radical party. The sole charge in this
"filthy ballad," which annoyed Hobhouse, was that he had founded a Whig
Club when he was an undergraduate at Cambridge. He assured Murray (see
his letter, November, 1820, _Letters_, vol. iv. Appendix XI. pp.
498-500) that he was not the founder of the club, and that Byron himself
was a member.
"As for his Lordship's vulgar notions about the _mob_" he
adds, "they are very fit for the Poet of the _Morning Post_, and for
nobody else. " There is no reason to suppose that Byron was in any way
responsible for the version as sent to the _Morning Post_. ]
"MY BOY HOBBY O.
[ANOTHER VERSION. ]
To the Editor of the _Morning Post_.
Sir,--A copy of verses, to the tune of '_My boy Tammy_,' are repeated
in literary circles, and said to be written by a Noble Lord of the
highest poetical fame, upon his quondam friend and annotator. My memory
does not enable me to repeat more than the first two verses quite
accurately, but the humourous spirit of the Song may be gathered from
these:--
1.
Why were you put in Lob's pond,
My boy, HOBBY O? (_bis_)
For telling folks to pull the House
By the ears into the Lobby O!
2.
Who are your grand Reformers now,
My boy, HOBBY O? (_bis_)
There's me and BURDETT,--gentlemen,
And Blackguards HUNT and COBBY O!
3.
Have you no other friends but these,
My boy, HOBBY O? (_bis_)
Yes, Southwark's Knight,[*] the County BYNG,
And in the City, BOBBY O!
[*] "Southwark's Knight" was General Sir Robert Thomas Wilson
(1777-1849), who was returned for Southwark in 1818, and again in 1820;
"County Byng" was George Byng, M.
