Punch,  34 (1858), 234–35.

The Pet of the Provinces

Anon

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Politics, Government, Medical Treatment, Surgery


    Identifying him as the 'State Quack', this poem describes Benjamin Disraeli's trumpeting of his political victories to his countrymen. Some of his boasts about his political powers are couched in medical terms: for example, he promises the country that 'we've medicines in store which will serve you far more than any that others could send you', including 'Tory-Whig mixtures, from Peelite prescriptions they're made up', 'Conservative Pills, that will cure all your ills', and 'the best antidotes for too liberal votes, which might bring on a low Radical fever'. Also boasts that he can perform a 'tax-amputation' and that he has a pill which will be called '"Poor Man's Friend", which will keep up his strength without eating'. (235)



© Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical Project, Universities of Leeds and Sheffield, 2005 - 2020

Printed from Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical: An Electronic Index, v. 4.0, The Digital Humanities Institute <http://www.sciper.org> [accessed ]