We were by taxes lightly rated
When Bytown was incorporated,
By the Bill by him presented
When he this village represented
In '47, the year, no other,
When to that stingy old step mother,
The County of Carleton we were tied
And had our temper sorely tried.
This was before Lord Sydenham's reign
Which gave that legislative strain
To our Colonial Constitution,
And made a legal institution,
The Bill Municipal in Legislation,
The often tinkered act which rules the nation.
And James Stewart, a medico
Of the old school of long ago,
A votary of potent pill,
And lancet too for many an ill.
And not a whit more given to kill
His patients, say these truthful rhymes.
Than M.D's of more modern times,
And now I think it only fair
To mention here Doctor O'Hare,
Who of old Bytown formed a part,
And practised the assuaging art
Before the time of Scanlon's tarry,
Before the days of Edward Barry
Who in his person did combine
The medical and legal line,
Exhibiting as his degree