Counterblast on Penny Trumpet

If Mr. Bright retiring does not please,
  And Mr. Gladstone staying gives offence,
What can man do which is not one of these?
     Use your own common sense.
Yet he's a brave man who abjures his cause
  For conscience' sake: let byegones be byegones:
Not this among the makers of our laws
     The least and last of Johns.

If all our byegones could be piled on shelves
  High out of reach of penny-line Tyrtæus!
If only all of us could see ourselves
        As others see us!