Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Public Health, Sanitation, Disease

    Introduces 'Centralisation' as the great bogie of that the 'great guardian of Vestrydom's Ark', Bumble (the parish beadle from Charles J H Dickens's Oliver Twist). Centralisation is 'rolled / From under the vestry-room table' when, in the face of 'Vested interests' thwarting 'some long-standing brazen-faced job', 'a zealous Reformer, or Minister bold, / Takes the bull by the horns'. Describes the hostility between Bumbledom and Centralisation, notably when 'Bumbledom [...] Hands Paup'rism o'er to starvation, / Or has lifted its heel to spurn Misery aside' and faces the poor law board inspectors who are the 'minions of CENTRALISATION!'. Bumbledom is also made responsible for neglecting the need to make sewers, stop 'a foul trade', to drain, sluice and mop 'Some plague-smitten court', and to purify 'Some fever-nest', and is represented as saying 'Hands off with your Centralisation!' and solving these problems with self-government. The author's support for centralisation is confirmed in his conclusion which has Bumbledom upholding 'risk and no Centralisation!'.