Well, who the heck is William Pitt?
Should I stand or should I sit?
Google to my hearts content
Link-to-link
Link-to-link
What the heck is Parliament?
It could be I just don't care
Or my head is full of air,
What is up with this man's hair?
Link-to-link
Link-to-link
In the darkness
Link-to-link
Through the pop up ads.
Should I sing his praises?
Or write him off a cad?
Suspending habeas corpus
Reformers amuck among us
Thomas Hardy went to jail.
Seems the devil had no tail.
King George III had ears a plenty
Maybe blackbirds four and twenty
Bread, Peace, and No Pitt
Appeared to be the voice of it.
Not much the friend
Of the working man
Tax this, tax that, near and far
Shut your mouth or we will scar
Your peasant pleasantries.
Link-to-link
Among the stuffy such
I don't think I like him much.
Author notes
Welcome to my internet search for William Pitt 
Written August 30th, 2005
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Just too many Hardys-Horatio had one too, those infamous words!
My family come from Hardy country, his cottage is a lovely little museum near Dorchester, very pretty English.
Thankyou for your entry.
Barb -
This explains it, as being the type of person who likes to get her facts right, (one of my many charater flaws!) I checked on thomas hardy only to discover at least three famous ones living in this period, our friend here who was tried for sedition, the well known author, of far from the madding crowd fame, and captain Thomas hardy of kiss me hardy, Nelson fame, obviously thomas hardy was the 19th century version of John Smith!
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Thanks for the comments. Keep in mind that the Thomas Hardy in the time of William Pitt was not the poet we are familiar with for his poetry. I left it in the poem tho because it adds to the feeling of Googling info about someone for the first time. This poem is more about first impressions and how it leads us into our oppinions of people. I realize that the man did a lot of great things that probably benefited many people, but the portion of history I was reading was really focused a bit more on his opposition. With me being American and living thru all the Patriot Act, etc behind our 911 fears.
My oppinion of the man is definately tainted with my own frame of reference which may or may not have anything to do with the truth .
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A well researched piece with a touch of humour,I knew about Thomas Paine, and Habeas Corpus (they are trying to do the same thing again!) but I must admit, although a fan of Hardy, well I have to be really seeing where I come from, I never knew he went to prison at the time.
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Lol. The Thomas Hardy line came from here
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRpitt.htm
Pitt's attitude towards political reform changed dramatically after war was declared. In May 1793 Pitt brought in a bill suspending Habeas Corpus. Although denounced by Charles Fox and his supporters, the bill was passed by the House of Commons in twenty-four hours. Those advocating parliamentary reform were arrested and charged with sedition. Tom Paine managed to escape but others such as Thomas Hardy, John Thellwall and Thomas Muir were imprisoned.
Thomas Hardy stuck out for me because I am familiar with his poetry. It turns out that he and some of the other locals rallied to bring a vote to the common man because they felt The House Of Commons only pretended to represent them. Most of them were jailed or punished in some sort of way. The passing of the habeas corpus thing was an attempt by politicians to be able to lock people up without bringing formal charges against them. As a result, many of those who contested government decisions went to jail.
Lol, not a very proffesional history lesson, but I find it all quite interesting.
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Now wasn't that a lovely romp!
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"Thomas Hardy went to Jail?" I don't geddit.
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Now this is a poem about William Pitt that I can relate too... and I agree about the hair wholeheartedly.
Good luck -
My fellah Philip had a biography of him bought for him for christmas, it weighs a tonne, he lies in bed reading it, i'm all for educating the mind but Pitt for bedtime reading, I think not, lol... mind you i'd soon doze off... bust my nose as the weighty tome smacked me in the face though..
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Lol, Barb, thanks for the response. Keep in mind, I only met the man today, so my observations are apt to be a bit pre-judgemental and as normally superficial as most first impressions of the celebrity type human species . I am a bit amazed. This is a man that I, in my limited experience, have never heard of, but there is no shortage of imformation about him on the internet. This actually made for a very fun writing project.
I still think his hair may have hampered his love life a bit
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Thankyou, I see you have formed a very right wing opinion of him, he,he but i'm really pleased you took the time to have a look at him... and what's wrong with his hair
(mind you he never married)
barb
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