...not fed', Causley directs us to Milton's 'Lycidas', and those whose . . . lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw; The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed ... Here 'scrannel' means thin, lean, meagre, and is a perfect word for a cynical government's...

...need they? They are sped; And when they list, their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel1 pipes of wretched straw; The hungry sheep look up and are not fed, But swoll'n with wind, and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly and foul contagion spread; Besides what...

...recks it them? What need they? They are sped; And when they list, their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel Pipes of wretched straw, The hungry...inwardly, and foul contagion spread: Besides what the grim Woolf with privy paw Daily devours apace, and nothing sed, But that two-handed engine at the door,...