"This Captain he takes in a _gold_ ballasted ship, Each summer to _terra damnosa_ a trip, For which he begs, borrows, scrapes all he can get, And runs his poor _owners_ most vilely in debt.
"The last time he set out for this blessed place, He met them, and told them a most piteous case, Of a sister of his, who, though bred up at court, Was ready to perish for want of support.
"This _Hung'ry_ sister he then did pretend, Would be to his owners a notable friend, If they would at that critical juncture supply her; They did--but, alas! all the fat's in the fire!"
The ballad then suggests that the King, having got all the money possible, made a peace with the enemies of the Queen of Hungary, described in the ballad as the sister:--
"He then turns his sister adrift, and declares Her most mortal foes were her father's right heirs: 'G--d z--ds!' cries the world, 'such a step was ne'er taken!' 'Oh, oh!' says Moll Bluff, 'I have saved my own bacon.
"'Let France damn the Germans, and undamn the Dutch, And Spain on old England pish ever so much; Let Russia bang Sweden, or Sweden bang that, I care not, by _Robert, one kick of my hat!_
"'Or should my chous'd owners begin to look sour, I'll trust to _mate_ Bob to exert his old power, _Regit animos dictis_, or _numis_ with ease So, spite of your growling, I'll act as I please!'"
The British Nation, described as the owners, are cautioned to look into the accounts of their Captain, who is bringing them to insolvency:--
"This secret, however, must out on the day When he meets his poor owners to ask for his pay; And I fear, when they come to adjust the account, A zero for balance will prove their amount."
The final result of all these subsidy votes was to increase our national debt, up to the signing of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, to £76,000,000; while the seven years' war, which came later, brought the debt to £133,000,000, not including in this the capitalized value of the terminable annuities.
On November 22d, 1743, a caricature was published, which had a wide sale, and which represented the King as a fat Hanoverian white horse riding to death a nearly starved British lion.
In 1744, £200,000 was voted, which King George and Lord Carteret, who was called by William Pitt, his "Hanoverian troop minister," had agreed to give the King of Sardinia. £40,000 was also voted for a payment made by the King to the Duke of Arenberg. This payment was denounced by Mr. Lyttelton as a dangerous misapplication of public money.