Early Eighteenth-Century Newspaper Reports compiled by Rictor Norton

How to make a Tory

How to make a Tory.

You must first metamorphise [sic] him into a fool,
      And bid him forbear meditation;
And be ever a slave, and be ever a tool,
      To folly, distemper and passion.
Put a ring in his nose, and hoodwink his eyes,
      For that’s a good step to distraction;
Cram his heart and his mouth with malice and lyes,
      And teach him to herd with the faction.
But to poyson his soul and his conscience to drown,
      You must chiefly, dear Robin, endeavour;
And then I'll be sworn, we shall have him our own,
      For ever, and ever, and ever.

[Weekly Journal, or The British Gazetteer, 25 August 1716]

(Texts have been modernized with regard to capitalization, italicization, and punctuation, but original spelling has been retained. This edition copyright Rictor Norton. All rights reserved. Reproduction for sale or profit prohibited. These extracts may not be archived, republished or redistributed without the permission of the compiler.)

CITATION: Rictor Norton, Early Eighteenth-Century Newspaper Reports: A Sourcebook, "How to make a Tory", 23 April 2002 <http://grubstreet.rictornorton.co.uk/lowlife7.htm>

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