The poet concludes his portrait of this illustrious person, with the following lines—
The triple honours that adorn his head,A three-fold influence o’er his virtue shed;AsGallia’s prince, behold him proud and vain;Thrifty and close asCaledonia’s thane;InRichmond’s duke, we trace our own JOHN BULL,Of schemes enamour’d—and of schemes—the GULL.
* * * * *
The author of the Rolliad has, in his last edition, introduced so considerable an alteration, that we should hold ourselves inexcusable, after the very favourable reception our commentaries have been honoured with, in omitting to seize the earliest opportunity of pointing it out to the public.
Finding the variety and importance of the characters he is called upon to describe, likely to demand a greater portion both of time and words than an expiring man can be reasonably supposed to afford, instead of leaving the whole description of that illustrious assembly, of which the dying drummer has already delineated some of the principal ornaments, to the same character, he has made an addition to the vision in which the House of Commons is represented, at the conclusion of the Sixth Book, by contriving that the lantern of Merlin should be shifted in such a manner, as to display at once to the eager eye of Rollo, the whole interior of the Upper House; to gain a seat in which the hero immediately expresses a laudable impatience, as well as a just indignation, on beholding persons, far less worthy than himself, among those whom the late very numerous creations prevent our calling—
——pauci—quos æquus amavit Jupiter—
With still less propriety, perhaps we should add—
—Aut ardens evexit ad æthera virtus.VIRG.
The hero’s displeasure is thus forcibly described:
Zounds! quoth greatRollo, with indignant frown,’Mid British nobles shall a base-born clown,With air imperious ape a monarch’s nod,Less fit to sit there than my groom, by G-d[1]?
Longinus, in his chapter on interrogations, proves them to be a source of the sublime. They are, indeed, says Dr. Young, the proper style of majesty incensed. Where, therefore, can they be with more propriety introduced, than from the mouth of our offended hero? Merlin, after sympathizing with him in the justice of these feelings, proceeds to a description of the august assembly they are viewing. The author’s reverence for the religion of his country naturally disposes him first to take notice of the spiritual lords of Parliament—
Yon rev’rend prelates, rob’d in sleeves of lawn,Too meek to murmur, and too proud to fawn,Who still submissive to their Maker’s nod,Adore their sov’reign, and respect their God;And wait, good men! all worldly things forgot,In humble hope of Enoch’s happy lot.
We apprehend that the fourth line, by an error in the press, the words “adore and respect,” must have been misplaced; but our veneration for our author will not permit us to hazard even the slightest alteration of the text. The happy ambiguity of the word “Maker,” is truly beautiful.
We are sorry, however, to observe, that modern times afford some instances of exceptions to the above description, as well as one very distinguished one, indeed, to that which follows of the sixteen Peers of Scotland:—
Alike in loyalty, alike in worth,Behold the sixteen nobles of the north;Fast friends to monarchy, yet sprung from thoseWho basely sold their monarch to his foes;Since which, atoning for their father’s crime,The sons, as basely, sell themselves to him:With ev’ry change prepar’d to change their note,With ev’ry government prepar’d to vote,Save when, perhaps, on some important bill,They know, by second sight, the royal will;With royalDenbighhearing birds that sing,“Oppose the minister to please the king.”
These last lines allude to a well authenticated anecdote, which deserves to be recorded as an instance of the interference of divine Providence in favour of this country, when her immediate destruction was threatened by the memorable India bill, so happily rejected by the House of Lords in the year 1783.
The Earl ofDenbigh, a Lord of his Majesty’s Bed-chamber, being newly married, and solacing himself at his country-seat in the sweats of matrimonial bliss, to his great astonishment heard, on a winter’s evening, in the cold month of December, a nightingale singing in the woods. Having listened with great attention to so extraordinary a phœnomenon, it appeared to his Lordship that the bird distinctly repeated the following significant words, in the same manner that the bells of London admonished the celebrated Whittington,
“Throw out the India bill;Such is your master’s will.”
His Lordship immediately communicated this singular circumstance to the fair partner of his connubial joys, who, for the good of her country, patriotically, though reluctantly, consented to forego the newly tasted delights of wedlock, and permitted her beloved bridegroom to set out for London, where his Lordship fortunately arrived in time, to co-operate with the rest of his noble and honourable brethren, the lords of the king’s bed-chamber, in defeating that detestable measure; a measure calculated to effect the immediate ruin of this country, by overthrowing the happy system of government which has so long prevailed in our East-India territories.—After having described the above-mentioned classes of nobility, he proceeds to take notice of the admirable person who so worthily presides in this august assembly:—
The ruggedThurlow, who with sullen scowl,In surly mood, at friend and foe will growl;Of proud prerogative, the stern support,Defends the entrance of greatGeorge’s court’Gainst factious Whigs, lest they who stole the seal,The sacred diadem itself should steal:So have I seen near village butcher’s stall(If things so great may be compar’d with small)A mastiff guarding, on a market day,With snarling vigilance, his master’s tray.
The fact of a desperate and degraded faction having actually broken into the dwelling-house of the Lord High Chancellor, and carried off the great seal of England, is of equal notoriety and authenticity with that of their having treacherously attempted, when in power, to transfer the crown of Great-Britain from the head of our most gracious sovereign to that of their ambitious leader, so justly denominated the Cromwell of modern times.
While our author is dwelling on events which every Englishman must recollect with heart-felt satisfaction, he is naturally reminded of that excellent nobleman, whose character he has, in the mouth of the dying drummer, given more at large, and who bore so meritorious a share in that happy revolution which restored to the sovereign of these kingdoms the right of nominating his own servants; a right exercised by every private gentleman in the choice of his butler, cook, coachman, footman, &c. but which a powerful and wicked aristocratic combination endeavoured to circumscribe in the monarch, with respect to the appointment of ministers of state. Upon this occasion he compares the noble Marquis to the pious hero of the Æneid, and recollects the description of his conduct during the conflagration of Troy; an alarming moment, not unaptly likened to that of the Duke of Portland’s administration, when his Majesty, like king Priam, had the misfortune of seeing
——Medium in penctralibus hostem.VIRG.
The learned reader will bear in mind the description of Æneas:—
Limen ærat, cæcoque fores, &c.VIRG.
WhenTroywas burning, and the’ insulting foeHad well-nigh laid her lofty bulwarks low,The good Æneas, to avert her fate,SoughtPriam’s palace through aposterngate:Thus when the Whigs, a bold and factious band,Had snatch’d the sceptre from their sovereign’s hand,Up theback-stairsthe virtuousGrenvillesneaks,To rid the closet of those worse thanGreeks,Whose impious tongues audaciously maintain,That for their subjects, kings were born to reign.
The abominable doctrines of the republican party are here held forth in their genuine colours, to the detestation of all true lovers of our happy constitution. The magician then thinks fit to endeavour to pacify the hero’s indignation, which we before took notice of, on seeing persons less worthy than himself preferred to the dignity of peerage, by the mention of two of those newly created, whose promotion equally reflects the highest honour upon government.
LonsdaleandCamelfordthrice honour’d names!Whose god-like bosoms glow with patriot flames:To serve his country, at her utmost need,By this, behold a ship of war decreed;While that, impell’d by all a convert’s zeal,Devotes his borough to the public weal.But still the wise their second thoughts prefer,Thus both our patriots on these gifts demur;Ere yet she’s launch’d the vessel runs aground,AndSarumsells for twice three thousand pound.
The generous offers of those public-spirited noblemen, the one during the administration of the Marquis of Landsdown, proposing to build a seventy-four-gun ship, for the public service; the other on Mr. Pitt’s motion for a parliamentary reform, against which he had before not only voted, but written a pamphlet, declaring his readiness to make a present of his burgage tenure borough of Old Sarum to the bank of England, are too fresh in the recollection of their grateful countrymen to need being here recorded. With respect, however, to the subsequent sale of the borough for the “twice three thousand pounds,” our author does not himself seem perfectly clear, since we afterwards meet with these lines:
Say, what gaveCamelfordhis wish’d-for rank?Did he devoteOld Sarumto the Bank?Or did he not, that envied rank to gain,Transfer the victim to the Treas’ry’s fame?
His character of the Earl of Lonsdale is too long to be here inserted, but is perhaps one of the most finished parts of the whole poem: we cannot, however, refrain from transcribing the four following lines, on account of the peculiar happiness of their expression. The reader will not forget the declaration of this great man, that he was in possession of the land, the fire, and the water, of the town of Whitehaven.
E’en by the elements his pow’r confess’d,Of mines and boroughsLonsdalestands possess’d;And one sad servitude alike denotesThe slave that labours, and the slave that votes.
Our paper now reminds us that it is time to close our observations for the present, which we shall do with four lines added by our author to the former part of the sixth book, in compliment to his favourite, the Marquis of Graham, on his late happy marriage.
With joyBritanniasees her fav’rite gooseFast bound andpinion’din the nuptial noose;Presaging fondly from so fair a mate,A brood of goslings, cackling in debate.
[1] See Mr. Rolle’s speech in the parliamentary debates.
* * * * *
Ourdying drummer, in consequence of his extraordinary exertions in delineating those exalted personages, the MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM and DUKE OF RICHMOND; exertions which we think we may venture to pronounce unparalleled by any one, drummer, or other, similarly circumstanced; unfortunately found himself so debilitated, that we were very fearful, like Balaam’s ass, LORD VALLETORT, or any other equally strange animal, occasionally endowed with speech, his task being executed, that his mouth would for ever after remain incapable of utterance.
But though his powers might be suspended, fortunately the
——in æternam clauduntur lumina noctem,
has, in consequence of the timely relaxation afforded to the wounded gentleman during the whole of our last number, been for the present avoided; and, like Mr. PITT’s question of parliamentary reform, adjourned to a moreexpedient moment.
To our drummer we might say, as well as to our matchless premier,
Larga quidem DRANCE, semper tibi copia fandi,
which, though, some malevolent critics might profligately translate
“There is no end to thy prosing,”
those who have read our drummer’s last dying words, or heard our minister’s new made speeches, will admit to be in both instances equally inapplicable.
The natural powers of our author here again burst forth with such renovated energy, that, like the swan, his music seems to increase as his veins become drained.
Alluding to an event too recent to require elucidation, after describing the virtues of the most amiable personage in the kingdom, and more particularly applauding her charity, which he says is so unbounded, that it
———Surmounts dull Nature’s ties,Nor even to WINCHELSEA a smile denies.
He proceeds
And thou too, LENOX! worthy of thy name!Thou heir to RICHMOND, and to RICHMOND’s fame!On equal terms, when BRUNSWICK deign’d to graceThe spurious offspring of the STUART race;When thy rash arm design’d her favorite dead,The christian triumph’d, and the mother fled:No rage indignant shook her pious frame,No partial doating swayed the saint-like dame;But spurn’d and scorn’d where Honor’s sons resort,Her friendship sooth’d thee, in thy monarch’s court.
How much does this meek resignation, in respect to COLONEL LENOX, appear superior to the pagan rage of MEZENTIUS towards ÆNEAS, on somewhat of a similar occasion, when, instead of desiring him to dance a minuet at the Etrurian court, he savagely, and of malice prepense, hurls his spear at the foe of his son, madly exclaiming
—Jam venio moriturus et hæc tibi portoDona prius.
But our author excels Virgil, as much as the amiable qualities of the great personage described, exceed those of MEZENTIUS: that august character instead of dying, did not so much as faint; and so far from hurling a spear at Mr. LENOX, she did not cast at him even an angry glance.
The christian triumph’d, &c.
We are happy in noticing this line, and indeed the whole of the passage, on another account, as it establishes the orthodoxy of the drummer upon so firm a basis, that DR. HORSLEY himself could scarcely object to his obtaining a seat in parliament.
There is something so extremely ingenious in the following lines, and they account too on such rational grounds for a partiality that has puzzled so many able heads, that we cannot forbear transcribing them.
Apostrophizing the exalted personage before alluded to, he says,
Early you read, nor did the advice deride,Suspicion ne’er should taint a CÆSAR’s bride;And who in spotless purity so fitTo guard an honest wife’s good fame, as PITT.
The beautiful compliment here introduced to the chastity of our immaculate premier, from the pen of such an author, must give him the most supreme satisfaction. And
O decus Italiæ virgo!!!
Long mayst thou continue to deserve it!!!
From treating of the minister’s virgin innocence, our author, by a very unaccountable transition, proceeds to a family man, namely, the modern MÆCENAS, the CENSOR MORUM, the ARBITER ELEGANTIARUM of Great Britain; in a word, to the most illustrious JAMES CECIL EARL OF SALISBURY, and lord chamberlain to his majesty, whom, in a kind of episode he thus addresses,
Oh! had the gods but kindly will’d it soThat thou had’st lived two hundred years ago:Had’st thou then rul’d the stage, from sportive scornThy prudent care had guarded peers unborn.No simple chamberlains had libell’d been,No OSTRICKS fool’d in SHAKESPEARE’s saucy scene.
But then wisely recollecting this not to be altogether the most friendly of wishes, in as much, that, if his lordship had been chamberlain to QUEEN ELIZABETH, he could not, in the common course of events, have been, as his honour SIR RICHARD PEPPER ARDEN most sweetly sings in his PROBATIONARY ODE,
“The tallest, fittest man to go before the king,”
In the days of GEORGE THE THIRD; by which we should most probably not only have been deprived of the attic entertainments of SIGNORS DELPINI and CARNEVALE, but perhaps too have lost some of our best dramatic writers; such as GREATHEAD, HAYLEY, DR. STRATFORD, and TOMMY VAUGHAN: our author, with a sudden kind of repentance, says,
But hence fond thoughts, nor be by passion hurried!Had he then lived, he now were dead and buried.Not now should theatres his orders own;Not now in alehouse signs his face be shewn.
If we might be so presumptuous as to impute a fault to our author, we should say that he is rather too fond of what the French styleequivoque.—This partiality of his breaks forth in a variety of places; such as SIR JOSEPH MAWBEY being
———a knowing man ingrain,———MARTIN’ssterlingsense, &c. &c.
In the present instance too, where, supposing the noble Marquis to have lived two hundred years ago, he says,
“Not now should theatres hisordersown.”
He leaves us completely in the dark, whether by the wordorders, we are to understand his lordship’s commands astheatrical anatomist, or therecommendations, which he is pleased to make to the managers of our public amusements, to admit his dependants and servants gratuitously; and which recommendations in the vulgar tongue of the theatres are technically styledorders. If we might hazard an opinion, from the known condescension of his lordship, and his attention to the accommodation of his inferiors, we should be inclined to construe it in the latter sense; an attention, indeed, which, in the case in question, is said to be so unbounded, that he might exclaim with ÆNEAS
Nemo ex hoc numero mihi non donatus abibit.
Should any caviler here object, that for every five shillings thus generously bestowed on the dependant, a proportionatevacuumis made in the pocket of the manager, let him recollect, that it is a first and immutable principle of civil policy, thatthe convenience of the few must yield to the accommodation of the many; and, that the noble Marquis, as a peer and legislator of Great Britain, is too closely attached to our excellent constitution to swerve from so old and established a maxim.
With respect to the last line of the couplet,
“Not now in alehouse signs his face be shewn,”
we must confess that our author’s imagination has here been rather too prurient.—His lordship’s head does not, as far as we can learn, upon the most minute enquiry,at present, grace any alehouse whatever—It was indeed for some little time displayed at HATFIELD in HERTS; but the words “Good entertainment within,” being written under it, they were deemed by travellers so extremely unapposite, that to avoid further expence, LORD SALISBURY’s head was taken down, and “The old bald face Stag” resumed its pristine station.
Yet, enraptured with his first idea, our author soon forgets his late reflection, and proceeds on the supposition of the noble lord having exercised his pruning knife upon SHAKESPEARE and JOHNSON, and the advantages which would have been derived from it, some of which he thus beautifully describes:
To plays should RICHMOND then undaunted come,Secured from listening to PAROLLES’s drum:Nor shouldst thou, CAMELFORD, the fool reprove,Who lost a world to gain a wanton’s love.“Give me a horse,” CATHCART should ne’er annoy:Nor thou, oh! PITT, behold the angry boy.
The last line but one of these,
Give me a horse, &c.
seems to allude to a circumstance that occurred in America, where his lordship being on foot, and having to march nearly five miles over a sandy plain in the heat of summer, fortunately discovered, tied to the door of a house, a horse belonging to an officer of cavalry. His lordship thinking that riding was pleasanter than walking, and probably also imagining that the owner might be better engaged, judged it expedient to avail himself of this steed, which thus so fortunately presented itself, and accordingly borrowed it. The subsequent apology, however, which he made when the proprietor, rather out of humour at his unlooked-for pedestrian expedition, came up to reclaim his lost goods, was so extremely ample, that the most rigid asserter of the old fusty doctrines ofmeumandtuumcannot deny that the dismounted cavalier had full compensation for any inconvenience that he might have experienced. And we must add, that every delicacy of the noble lord on this subject ought now to terminate.
We shall conclude with an extract from some complimentary verses by a noble secretary, who is himself both an AMATEUR and ARTISTE.—Were any thing wanting to our author’s fame, this elegant testimony in his favour must be decisive with every reader of taste.
Oh! mighty ROLLE, may long thy fame be known!And long thy virtues in his verse be shewn!When THURLOW’s christian meekness, SYDNEY’s sense,When RICHMOND’s valour, HOPETOWN’s eloquence,When HAWKESB’RY’s patriotism neglected lieIntomb’d with CHESTERFIELD’s humanity,When PRETTYMEN, sage guardian of PITT’s youth,Shall lose each claim to honesty and truth,When each pure blush DUNDAS’s cheek can boast,With ARDEN’s law and nose alike are lost,When grateful ROBINSON shall be forgot,And not a line be read of MAJOR SCOTT,When PHIPPS no more shall listening crouds engage,And HAMLET’s jests be rased from memory’s page,When PITT each patriot’s joy no more shall prove,Nor from fond beauty catch the sigh of love,When even thy sufferings, virtuous chief! shall fade,And BASSET’s horsewhip but appear a shade,Thy sacred spirit shall effulgence shedAnd raise to kindred fame the mighty dead:Long ages shall admire thy matchless soul,And children’s children lisp the praise of ROLLE.
* * * * *
It now only remains for us to perform the last melancholy office to the dying drummer, and to do what little justice we can to the very ingenious and striking manner in which our author closes at once his prophecy and his life.
It is a trite observation, that the curious seldom hear any good of themselves; and all epic poets, who have sent their heroes to conjurors, have, with excellent morality, taught us, that they who pry into futurity, too often anticipate affliction.—VIRGIL plainly intimates this lesson in the caution which he puts into the mouth of ANCHISES, when ÆNEAS enquires into the future destiny of the younger MARCELLUS, whose premature death forms the pathetic subject of the concluding vision in the sixth book of the ÆNEID:
“O nate, ingentum lectum ne quære tuorum.”
“Seek not to know (the ghost replied with tears)The sorrows of thy sons in future years.”DRYDEN.
Then, instead of declining any further answer, he very unnecessarily proceeds to make his son as miserable as he can, by detailing all the circumstances best calculated to create the most tender interest.—The revelation of disagreeable events to come, is by our poet more naturally put into the mouth of an enemy.—After running over many more noble names than the records of the herald’s office afford us any assistance in tracing, the second sighted Saxon, in the midst of his dying convulsions, suddenly bursts into a violent explosion of laughter.—This, of course, excites the curiosity of ROLLO, as it probably will that of our readers; upon which the drummer insults his conqueror with rather a long but very lively recital of all the numerous disappointments and mortifications with which he foresees that the destinies will affect the virtues of ROLLO’s great descendant, the present illustrious member for Devonshire. He mentions Mr. ROLLE’s many unsuccessful attempts to obtain the honour of the peerage; alludes to some of the little splenetive escapes into which even his elevated magnanimity is well known to have been for a moment betrayed on those trying occasions. We now see all the drift and artifice of the poet, and why he thought the occasion worthy of making the drummer so preternaturally long winded, in displaying at full all the glories of the house of peers; it was to heighten by contrast the chagrin of ROLLO at finding the doors of this august assembly for ever barred against his posterity.
To understand the introductory lines of the following passage, it is necessary to inform our readers, if they are not already acquainted with the fact, that somewhere in the back settlements of America, there is now actually existing an illegitimate batch of little ROLLE’s.
Though wide should spread thy spurious race around,In other worlds, which must not yet be found,While they with savages in forests roamDeserted, far from their paternal home;A mightier savage in thy wilds EX-MOOR,Their well-born brother shall his fate deplore,By friends neglected, as by foes abhorr’d,No duke, no marquis, not a simple lord.Tho’ thick as MARGARET’s knights with each address,New peers, on peers, in crouds each other press,He only finds, of all the friends of PITT,His luckless head no coronet will fit.
But what our author seems more particularly to have laboured, is a passage which he has lately inserted: it relates to the cruel slight which was shewn to Mr. ROLLE during the late royal progress through the west.—Who is there that remembers the awful period when the regency was in suspence, but must at the same time remember the patriotic, decent, and consistent conduct of Mr. ROLLE? How laudably, in his parliamentary speeches, did he co-operate to the best of his power, with the popular pamphlets of the worthy Dr. WITHERS! How nobly did he display his steady loyalty to the father, while he endeavoured to shake the future right of the son to the throne of his ancestors! How brightly did he manifest his attachment to the person of his MAJESTY, by voting to seclude him in the hour of sickness from the too distressing presence of his royal brothers and his children; and, after all, when he could no longer resist the title of the heir apparent, with what unembarrassed grace did he agree to the address of his constituents, complimenting the prince on his accession to that high charge,to which hisSITUATION and VIRTUESso eminentlyENTITLEDhim:yet, even then, with how peculiar a dexterity did Mr. ROLLE mingle what some would have thought an affront, with his praises, directly informing his ROYAL HIGHNESS that he had no confidence whatever in any virtues but those of the minister. But, alas, how uncertain is the reward of all sublunary merit! Those good judges who inquired into the literary labours of the pious and charitable Dr. WITHERS, did not exalt him to that conspicuous post, which he so justly deserved, and would so well have graced; neither did one ray of royal favour cheer the loyalty of Mr. ROLLE during his majesty’s visit to DEVONSHIRE; though with an unexampled liberality, the worthy member had contracted for the fragments of Lord MOUNT EDGECUMBE’s desert, and the ruins of his triumphal arches; had brought down several of the minister’s young friends to personate virgins in white, sing, and strew flowers along the way; and had actually dispatched a chaise and four to Exeter, for his old friend and instructor,mynheerHOPPINGEN VAN CAPERHAGEN, dancing-master and poet; who had promised to prepare both thebaletsandballadsfor this glorious festivity. And for whom was Mr. ROLLE neglected? For his colleague, Mr. BASTARD; a gentleman who, in his political oscillations, has of late vibrated much more frequently to the opposition than to the treasury bench. This most unaccountable preference we are certain must be matter of deep regret to all our readers of sensibility;—to the drummer it is matter of exultation.
In vain with such bold spirit shall he speak,That furious WITHERS shall to him seem meek;In vain for party urge his country’s fate;To save the church, in vain distract the state;In loyal duty to the father shewn,Doubt the son’s title to his future throne;And from the suffering monarch’s couch removeAll care fraternal, and all filial love:Then when mankind in choral praise unite,Though blind before, see virtues beaming bright;Yet feigning to confide, distrust evince,And while he flatters, dare insult his PRINCE.Vain claims!—when now, the people’s sins transferredOn their own heads, mad riot is the word;When through the west in gracious progress goesThe monarch, happy victor of his woes;While Royal smiles gild every cottage wall,Hope never comes toROLLE,that comes to all;And more with envy to disturb his breast,BASTARD’s glad roof receives the Royal guest.
Here the drummer, exhausted with this last wonderful exertion, begins to find his pangs increase fast upon him; and what follows, for two and thirty lines, is all interrupted with different interjections of laughter and pain, till the last line, which consists entirely of such interjections.—Our readers may probably recollect the well-known line of THOMPSON.
Which, by the way, is but a poor plagiarism from SHAKESPEARE:
There is certainly in this line a very pretty change rung in the different ways of arranging the name and the interjection; but perhaps there may be greater merit, though of another kind, in the sudden change of passions which OTWAY has expressed in the dying interjection of PIERRE:
“We have deceiv’d the senate—ha! ha! oh!”
These modern instances, however, fall very short of the admirable use made of interjections by the ancients, especially the GREEKS, who did not scruple to put together whole lines of them.—Thus in the PHILOCTETES of SOPHOCLES, besides a great number of hemistics, we find a verse and a half:
“—————Παπαι,Παπα, παπα, παπα, παπα, παπα παπαι.”
The harsh and intractable genius of our language will not permit us to give any adequate idea of the soft, sweet, and innocent sound of the original.—It may, however, be faithfully, though coarsely, translated
“———Alas!Alack! alack! alack! alack! alack! alas!”
At the same time, we have -our doubts whether some chastised tastes may not prefer the simplicity of ARISTOPHANES; though it must not be concealed, that there are critics who think he meant a wicked stroke of ridicule at the PHILOCTETES of SOPHOCLES, when, in his own PLUTUS, he makes his sycophant, at the smell of roast meat, exclaim—
“Υυ, υυ, υυ, υυ, υυ, υυ!”
Which we shall render by an excellent interjection, first coined from the rich mint of MAJOR JOHN SCOTT, in his incomparable Ode—
“Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff,sniff,sniff, sniff.”
But whatever may be the comparative merits of these passages, ancient and modern, we are confident no future critic will dispute but that they are all excelled by the following exquisite couplet of our author:
Ha! ha!—this soothes me in severest woe;Ho! ho!—ah! ah!—oh! oh!—ha! ah!—ho!—oh!!!
We have now seen the drummer quietly inurn’d, and sung our requiem over his grave: we hope, however, that
——He, dead corse, may yet, in complete calf,Revisit oft the glimpses of the candle,Making night chearful.
We had flattered ourselves with the hope of concluding the criticisms on the ROLLIAD with an ode of Mr. ROLLE himself, written in the original EX-MOOR dialect; but we have hitherto, owing to the eagerness with which that gentleman’s literary labours are sought after, unfortunately been unable to procure a copy. The learned Mr. DAINES BARRINGTON having, however, kindly hinted to us, that he thought he had once heard Sir JOHN HAWKINS say, that he believed there was something applicable to a drum in the possession of Mr. STEVENS, the erudite annotator on SHAKESPEARE, Sir JOSEPH BANKS kindly wrote to that gentleman; who, upon searching into his manuscripts at Hampstead, found the following epitaph, which is clearly designed for our drummer. Mr. STEVENS was so good as to accompany his kind and invaluable communication with a dissertation to prove that this FRANCIS of GLASTONBURY, from similarity of style and orthography, must have been the author of the epitaph which declares that celebrated outlaw, ROBIN HOOD, to have been a British peer. Mr. PEGGE too informs us, that the HARLEIAN MISCELLANY will be found to confirm this idea; and at the same time suggests, whether, as that dignified character, Mr. WARREN HASTINGS, has declared himself to be descended from an Earl of HUNTINGDON, and the late Earl and his family have, through some unaccountable fantasy, as constantly declined the honour of the affinity, this apparent difference of opinion may not be accounted for by supposing him to be descended fromthatEarl?—But, if we are to imagine any descendants of that exalted character to be still in existence, with great deference to Mr. PEGGE’s better judgment, might not Sir ALEXANDER HOOD, and his noble brother, from similarity of name, appear more likely to be descendants of this celebrated archer? and from him also inherit that skill which the gallant admiral, on a never to be forgotten occasion, so eminently displayed in drawing along bow?We can only now lament, that we have not room for any minute enquiry into these various hypotheses, and that we are under the necessity of proceeding to the drummer’s epitaph, and the conclusion of our criticisms.
[Blackletter:“A stalwart Saxon here doth lie,Japeth nat, men of Normandie;Rollo nought scoft his dyand wordesOf poynt mo perrand than a swordis.And leal folk of EnglelondeShall haven hem yvir mo in honde.Bot syn that in his life I trowe,Of shepes skynnes he had ynowe,For yvir he drommed thereupon:Now he, pardie, is dede and gone,May no man chese a shepis skynneTo wrappe his dyand wordes inne.”Od. Frauncis of Glastonbury.]
In this Eclogue our Author has imitated the Second of his favourite Virgil, with more than his usual Precision. The Subject of Mr. ROSE’s COMPLAINT is, that he is left to do the whole Business of the Treasury during the broiling Heats of Summer, while his Colleague, Mr. STEELE, enjoys the cool Breezes from the Sea, with Mr. PITT, at Brighthelmstone. In this the Scholar has improved on the Original of his great Master, as the Cause of the Distress which he relates is much more natural. This Eclogue, from some internal Evidence, we believe to have been written in the Summer of 1785, though there may be one or two Allusions that have been inserted at a later Period.
None more than ROSE, amid the courtly ring,Lov’d BILLY, joy of JENKY and the KING.But vain his hope to shine in BILLY’s eyes;Vain all his votes, his speeches, and his lies.STEELE’s happier claims the boy’s regard engage; 5Alike their studies, nor unlike their age:With STEELE, companion of his vacant hours,Oft would he seek Brighthelmstone’s sea-girt tow’rs;For STEELE, relinquish Beauty’s trifling talk,With STEELE each morning ride, each evening walk; 10Or in full tea-cups drowning cares of state,On gentler topics urge the mock debate;On coffee now the previous question move;Now rise a surplusage of cream to prove;Pass muffins in Committees of Supply, 15And “butter’d toast” amend by adding “dry:”Then gravely sage, as in St. Stephen’s scenes,With grief more true, propose the Ways and Means;Or wanting these, unanimous of will,They negative the leave to bring a bill. 20In one sad joy all ROSE’s comfort lay;Pensive he sought the treasury day by day;There, in his inmost chamber lock’d alone,To boxes red and green he pour’d his moanIn rhymes uncouth; for Rose, to business bred 25A purser’s clerk, in rhyme was little read;Nor, since his learning with his fortunes grew,Had such vain arts engaged his sober view;For STOCKDALE’s shelves contented to composeThe humbler poetry of lying prose. 30O barb’rous BILLY! (thus would he begin)ROSE and his lies you value not a pin;Yet to compassion callous as a Turk,You kill me, cruel, with eternal work.Now, after six long months of nothing done, 35Each to his home, our youthful statesmen run;The mongrel ’squires, whose votes our Treasury pays,Now, with their hunters, till the winter graze;Now e’en the reptiles of the Blue and Buff,In rural leisure, scrawl their factious stuff; 40Already pious HILL, with timely cares,New songs, new hymns, for harvest-home prepares:But with the love-lorne beauties, whom I markThin and more thin, parading in the park,I yet remain; and ply my busy feet 45FromDuke-streethither, hence toDowning-street,In vain!—while far from this deserted scene,With happier STEELE you saunter on the Steine.And for a paltry salary, stript of fees,Thus shall I toil, while others live at ease? 50Better, another summer long, obeySelf-weening LANSDOWNE’s transitory sway:Tho’ GRAFTON call’d him proud, I found him kind;With me he puzzled, and with him I din’d.Better with FOX in opposition share, 55Black tho’ he be, and tho’ my BILLY fair.Think, BILLY, think JOHN BULL a tasteless brute,By black, or fair, decides not the dispute:Ah! think, how politics resemble chess;Tho’ now the white exult in short success, 60One erring move a sad reverse may bring,The black may triumph, and check-mate our king.You slight me, BILLY; and but little heed,What talents I possess, what merits plead;How in white lies abounds my fertile brain; 65And with what forgeries I those lies sustain.A thousand fictions wander in my mind;With me all seasons ready forgeries find.I know the charm by ROBINSON employed,How to the Treas’ry JACK his rats decoy’d. 70Not wit, but malice, PRETTYMAN reveals,When to my head he argues from my heels.My skull is not so thick; but last recessI finish’d a whole pamphlet for the press;And if by some seditious scribbler maul’d, 75The pen of CHALMERS to my aid I call’d,With PRETTY would I write, tho’ judg’d by you;If all that authors think themselves be true.O! to the smoky town would BILLY come;With me draw estimates, or cast a sum; 80Pore on the papers which these trunks contain,Then with red tape in bundles tie again;Chaste tho’ he be, if BILLY cannot sing,Yet should he play to captivate the KING.Beneath two Monarchs of the Brunswick line, 85In wealth to flourish, and in arms to shine,Was Britain’s boast; ’till GEORGE THE THIRD arose,In arts to gain his triumphs o’er our foes.From RAMSAY’s pallet, and from WHITEHEAD’s lyre,He sought renown that ages may admire: 90And RAMSAY gone, the honours of a nameTo REYNOLDS gives, but trusts to WEST for fame:For he alone, with subtler judgment blest,Shall teach the world how REYNOLDS yields to WEST.He too, by merit measuring the meed, 95Bids WARTON now to WHITEHEAD’s bays succeed;But, to reward FAUQUIER’s illustrious toils,Reserves the richer half of WHITEHEAD’s spoils.For well the monarch saw with prescient eye,That WARTON’s wants kind OXFORD would supply, 100Who, justly liberal to the task uncouth,Learns from St. JAMES’s hard historic truth.Blest OXFORD! in whose bowers the Laureat sings!O faithful to the worst, and best of Kings,Firm to the Right Divine of regal sway, 105Though Heav’n and Thou long differ’d where it lay!Still of preferment be thy Sister Queen!Thy nobler zeal disdains a thought so mean;Still in thy German Cousin’s martial school,Be each young hope of BRITAIN train’d to rule; 110But thine are honours of distinguishd grace,Thou once a year shall view thy sovereign’s face,While round him croud thy loyal sons, amaz’d,To see him stare at tow’rs, by WYATT rais’d.Yet fear not, OXFORD, lest a monarch’s smiles 115Lure fickle WYATT from the unfinish’d piles;To thee shall WYATT still be left in peace,’Till ENGLISH ATHENS rival ancient Greece.For him see CHAMBERS, greatly pretty, drawFar other plans than ever Grecian saw; 120Where two trim dove-cotes rise on either hand,O’er the proud roofs, whose front adorns the Strand;While thro’ three gateways, like three key-holes spied,A bowl inverted crowns the distant side.But music most great GEORGE’s cares relieves, 125Sage arbiter of minims, and of breves!Yet not by him is living genius fed,With taste more frugal he protects the dead;Not all alike; for, though a Briton born,He laughs all natal prejudice to scorn; 130His nicer ear our barbarous masters pain,Though PURCELL, our own Orpheus, swell the strain;And mighty HANDEL, a gigantic name,Owes to his country half his tuneful fame.Nor of our souls neglectful, GEORGE provides, 135To lead his flocks, his own Right Reverend guides;Himself makes bishops, and himself promotes,Nor seeks to influence, tho’ he gives, their votes.Then for a Prince so pious, so refin’d,An air of HANDEL, or a psalm to grind, 140Disdain not, BILLY: for his sovereign’s sakeWhat pains did PAGET with his gamut take!And to an Earl what rais’d the simple Peer?What but that gamut, to his Sovereign dear?O come, my BILLY, I have bought for you 145The barrel-organ of a strolling Jew;Dying, he sold it me at second-hand:Sev’n stops it boasts, with barrels at command.How at my prize did envious UXBRIDGE fume,Just what he wish’d for his new music-room. 150Come, BILLY, come. Two wantons late I dodg’d,And mark’d the dangerous alley where they lodg’d.Fair as pearl-powder are their opening charms,In tender beauty; fit for BILLY’s arms;And from the toilet blooming as they seem, 155Two cows would scarce supply them with cold cream.The house, the name to BILLY will I show,Long has DUNDAS the secret wish’d to know,And he shall know: since services like theseHave little pow’r our virtuous youth to please. 160Come, BILLY, come. For you each rising dayMy maids, tho’ tax’d, shall twine a huge bouquet:That you, next winter, at the birth-night ballIn loyal splendor may out-dazzle all;Dear Mrs. ROSE her needle shall employ, 165To ’broider a fine waistcoat for my boy;In gay design shall blend with skilful toil,Gold, silver, spangles, crystals, beads, and foil,’Till the rich work in bright confusion showFlow’rs of all hues—and many more than blow. 170I too, for something to present—some bookWhich BILLY wants, and I can spare—will look:EDEN’s five letters, with an half-bound setOf pamphlet schemes to pay the public debt;And pasted there, too thin to bind alone, 175My SHELBURNE’s speech so gracious from the throne.COCKER’s arithmetic my gift shall swell;By JOHNSON how esteem’d, let BOSWELL tell.Take too these Treaties by DEBRETT; and hereTake to explain them, SALMON’s Gazetteer. 180And you, Committee labours of DUNDAS,And you, his late dispatches to Madras,Bound up with BILLY’s fav’rite act I’ll send;Together bound—for sweetly thus you blend.ROSE, you’re a blockhead! Let no factious scribe 185Hear such a thought, that BILLY heeds a bribe:Or grant th’ Immaculate, not proof to pelf,Has STEELE a soul less liberal than yourself?—Zounds! what a blunder! worse than when I madeA FRENCH arrêt, the guard of BRITISH trade. 190Ah! foolish boy, whom fly you?—Once a weekThe KING from Windsor deigns these scenes to seek.Young GALLOWAY too is here, in waiting still.Our coasts let RICHMOND visit, if he will;There let him build, and garrison his forts, 195If such his whim:—Be our delight in courts.What various tastes divide the fickle town!One likes the fair, and one admires the brown;The stately, QUEENSB’RY; HINCHINBROOK, the small;THURLOW loves servant-maids; DUNDAS loves all. 200O’er MORNINGTON French prattle holds command;HASTINGS buys German phlegm at second-hand;The dancer’s agile limbs win DORSET’s choice;Whilst BRUDENELL dies enamour’d of a voice:’Tis PEMBROKE’s dearest pleasure to elope, 205And BILLY, best of all things, loves—a trope;My BILLY I: to each his taste allow:Well said the dame, I ween, who kiss’d her cow.Lo! in the West the sun’s broad orb disp lay’dO’er the Queen’s palace, lengthens every shade: 210See the last loiterers now the Mall resign;E’en Poets go, that they may seem to dine:Yet, fasting, here I linger to complain.Ah! ROSE, GEORGE ROSE! what phrenzy fires your brain!With pointless paragraphs the POST runs wild; 215And FOX, a whole week long, is unrevil’d:Our vouchers lie half-vamp’d, and without endTax-bills on tax-bills rise to mend and mend.These, or what more we need, some new deceitPrepare to gull the Commons, when they meet. 220Tho’ scorn’d by BILLY, you ere long may findSome other Minister, like LANSDOWNE kind.He ceas’d, went home, ate, drank his fill, and thenSnor’d in his chair, ’till supper came at ten. 224
Formosum pastor Corydon, ardebat Alexin,Delicias domini; nec, quid speraret habebat,Tantum inter dènsas, umbrosa cacumina, fagosAssiduè veniebat; ibi hæc incondita solusMontibus et sylvis studio jactabat inani.
O crudelis Alexi! nihil mea carmina curas;Nil nostri miserere: mori me denique coges.Nunc etiam pecudes umbras et frigora captant;Nunc virides etiam occultant spineta lacertos;Thestylis et rapido fessis messoribus æstuAllia serpyllumque herbas contundit olentis.
At mecum raucis, tua dum vestigia lustro,Sole sub ardenti resonant arbusta cicadis.Nonnè fuit melius tristes Amyrillidis irasAtque superba pata fastidia? Nonnè MenalcanQuamvis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus esses,O formose puer, nimiùm ne crede colori.Alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur.Sum tibi despectus; nec qui sim quæris, Alexi:Quam dives pecoris nivei, quam lactis abundans.Mille meæ Siculis errant in montibus agnæ:
Lac mihi non æstate novum, non frigore desit.Canto, quæ solitus, si quando armenta vocabat,Amphion Dircæus in Actœo Aracyntho.Nec sum adeò informis: nuper me in littore vidi,Cum placidum ventis staret mare: non ego Daphnim,Judice te, metuam, si nunquam fallat imago.
O tantum libeat mecum tibi sordida ruraAtque humilis habitare casas, et figere cervos,Hædorumque gregem viridi compellere hibisco.Mecum unà in Sylois imitabere Pana canendo.
Pan primus calamos cerâ conjungere pluresinstituit;———————————Pan curat oves, oviumque magistros.Neu te pœniteat calamo trivisse labellum.Hæc eadem ut sciret, quid non faciebat Amyntas?
Est mihi disparibus septem compacta cicutisFistula, Damætas dono mihi quam dedit olim,Et dixit moriens: “te nunc habet ista secundum.”Dixit Damætas: invidit stultus Amyntas.
Prætereà duo—nec tutâ mihi valle repertiCapreoli, sparsis etiam nunc pellibus albo,Bina die siccant ovis ubera; quos tibi servo.Jampridem a me illos abducere Thestylis orat,Et faciet; quoniam sordent tibi munera nostra!
Huc ades, O formose puer. Tibi lilia plenisEcce ferunt nymphæ calathis: tibi candida NaïsPallentis violas, et summa papavera carpensNarcissum et florem jungit bene olentis anethi.Tum casiâ, atque aliis intexens suavibus herbisMollia luteolâ pingit vaccinia calthâ.
Ipse ego cana legam tenerà lanugine mala,Castaneasque nuces, mea quas Amaryllis amabat:Addam ceroa pruna; honos erit huic quoque pomoEt vos, O lauri carpam, et te, proxima myrtusSic positæ, quoniam suaves miscetis odores.
Rusticus es, Corydon! nec munera curat AlexisNec, si muneribus certes, concedat Iolas.Eheu! quid volui misero mihi? Floribus AustrumPerditus et liquidis immissi fontibus apros.Quem fugis, ah! demens? habitârunt Di quoque sylvas,Dardaniusque Paris. Pallas, quas condidit, arcesIpsa colat: Nobis placeant ante omnia sylvæ.
Torva leæna lupum sequitur lupus ipse capellam,Florentem cytasum sequitur lasciva capella;Te Corydon, O Alexi: trahit sua quemque voluptas.Me tamen urit amor: quis enim modis adsit amori.Aspice! aratra jugo referunt suspensa juvenci,Et sol crescentis discedens duplicat umbras:Ah! Corydon, Corydon, quæ te dementia cepit?Semiputata tibi frondosâ vitis in ulmo est.Quin tu aliquid saltem, potius quorum indiget usus,Viminibus, mollique paras detexere junco?Invenies alium, si te hic fastidit, Alexin.
Ver. 29 and 32 allude to a pamphlet on the Irish Propositions, commonly called the Treasury Pamphlet, and universally attributed to Mr. Rose. This work of the Honourable Secretary’s was eminently distinguished by a gentleman-like contempt for the pedantry of grammar, and a poetical abhorrence of dull fact.
Ver. 42. For a long account of Sir Richard Hill’s harvest-home, and of the godly hymns and ungodly ballads, sung on the occasion, see the newspapers in Autumn, 1784.
Ver. 49. Justice to the minister obliges us to observe, that he is by no means chargeable with the scandalous illiberality above intimated, of reducing the income of the Secretaries of the Treasury to the miserable pittance of 3000l. a year. This was one of the many infamous acts which to deservedly drew down the hatred of all true friends to their king and country, on those pretended patriots, the Whigs.
Ver. 66. We know not of what forgeries Mr. Rose here boasts.Perhaps he may mean the paper relative to his interview withMr. Gibbon and Mr. Reynolds, so opportunely found in an obscuredrawer of Mr. Pitt’s bureau. See the Parliamentary debates of 1785.
Ver. 71. Alludes to a couplet in the LYARS, which was written before the present Eclogue.
Ver. 78. TheReply to the Treasury Pamphletwas answered, not byMr. Rote himself, but by Mr. George Chalmers.
Ver. 88. The following digression on his Majesty’s love of the fine arts, though it be somewhat long, will carry its apology with it in the truth and beauty of the panegyric. The judicious reader will observe that the style is more elevated, like the subject, and for this the poet may plead both the example and precept of his favourite Virgil.
————sylvæ sint Consule dignæ.
Ver. 91 and 92. Since the death of Ramsay, Sir Joshua Reynolds isnominallypainter to the king, though his Majesty sits only to Mr. West.
Ver. 93. This line affords a striking instance of our Poet’s dexterity in the use of his classical learning. He here translates a single phrase from Horace.
Judicium subtilevidendis artibus illud.
When he could not possibly apply what concludes,
Bœtum in crasso jurares æere natum.
Ver. 95. Our most gracious Sovereign’s comparative estimate of Messrs. Whitehead and Warton, is here happily elucidated, from a circumstance highly honourable to his Majesty’s taste; that, whereas he thought the former worthy of two places, he has given the latter only the worst of the two. Mr. Fauquier is made Secretary and Register to the order of the Bath, in the room of the deceased Laureat.
Ver. 107. We suspect the whole of this passage in praise of his Majesty, has been retouched by Mr. Warton, as this line, or something very like it, occurs in his “Triumphs of Isis,” a spirited poem, which is omitted, we know not why, in his publication of his works.
Ver. 149. Our readers, we trust, have already admired the several additions which our poet has made to the ideas of his great original. He has here given an equal proof of his judgment in a slight omission. When he converted Amyntas into Lord Uxbridge, with what striking propriety did he sink upon us the epithet ofstultus, orfoolish; for surely we cannot suppose that to be conveyed above in the term ofsimplepeer.
Ver. 156. In the manuscript we find two lines which were struck out; possibly because our poet supposed they touched on a topic of praise, not likely ta be very prevalent with Mr. PITT, notwithstanding what we have lately heard of his “Atlantean shoulders.” They are as follows:
Yet strong beyond the promise of their years,Each in one night would drain two grenadiers.
Ver. 181. The orders of the Board of Controul, relative to the debts of the Nabob of Arcot, certainlyappeardiametrically opposite to Mr. Dundas’s Reports, and to an express clause of Mr. Pitt’s bill. Our author, however, like Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas, roundly asserts the consistency of the whole.
Ver. 189. This unfortunate slip of the Honourable Secretary’s constitutional logic happened in a debate on the Irish Propositions. Among the many wild chimeras of faction on that memorable occasion, one objection was, that the produce of the French West-Indian Islands might be legally smuggled through Ireland into this country. To which Mr. Rose replied, “That we might repeal all our acts in perfect security, because the French King had lately issued an arrêt which would prevent this smuggling.”
Ver. 216. We flattered ourselves that this line might have enabled us to ascertain the precise time when this eclogue was written. We were, however, disappointed, as on examining the file of Morning Posts for 1784, we could not find a single week in which Mr. FOX is absolutely without some attack or other. We suppose therefore our author here speaks with the allowed latitude of poetry.
* * * * *
This Eclogue is principally an Imitation of the third Bucolic of Virgil, which, as is observed by Dr. Joseph Warton, the Brother of our incomparable Laureat, is of that Species called Amœbœa, where the Characters introduced contend in alternate Verse; the second always endeavouring to surpass the first Speaker in an equal number of Lines, As this was in point of Time the first of our Author’s Pastoral Attempts, he has taken rather more Latitude than he afterwards allowed himself in the rest, and has interspersed one or two occasional Imitations from other Eclogues of the Roman Poet.
In Downing-street, the breakfast duly set,As BANKS and PRETTYMAN one morn were met,A strife arising who could best supply,In urgent cases, a convenient lie;His skill superior each essay’d to prove 5In verse alternate—which the Muses love!While BILLY, listening to their tuneful plea,In silence sipp’d hisCommutationTea,And heard them boast, how loudly both had ly’d:The Priest began, the Layman thus reply’d! 10
PRETTYMAN.Why wilt thou, BANKS, with me dispute the prize?Who is not cheated when a Parson lies?Since pious Christians, ev’ry Sabbath-day,Must needs believe whate’er the Clergy say!In spite of all you Laity can do, 15One lie from us is more than ten from you!
BANKS.O witless lout! in lies that touch the state,We, Country Gentlemen, have far more weight;Fiction from us the public still must gull:They think we’re honest, as they know we’re dull! 20
PRETTYMAN.In yon Cathedral I a Prebend boast,The maiden bounty of our gracious host!Its yearly profits I to thee resign,If PITT pronounce not that the palm is mine!
BANKS.A Borough mine, a pledge far dearer sure, 25Which in St Stephen’s gives a seat secure!If PITT to PRETTYMAN the prize decree,Henceforth CORFE-CASTLE shall belong to thee!
PITT.Begin the strain—while in our easy chairsWe loll, forgetful of all public cares! 30Begin the strain—nor shall I deem my timeMispent, in hearing a debate in ryhme!
PRETTYMAN.Father of lies! By whom in EDEN’s shadeMankind’s first parents were to sin betray’d;Lo! on this altar, which to thee I raise, 35Twelve BIBLES, bound in red Morocco, blaze.
BANKS.Blest powers of falsehood, at whose shrine I bend,Still may success your votary’s lies attend!What prouder victims can your altars boast,Than honours stain’d, and fame for ever lost? 40
PRETTYMAN.How smooth, persuasive, plausible, and glib,From holy lips is dropp’d the specious fib!Which whisper’d slily, in its dark careerAssails with art the unsuspecting ear.
BANKS.How clear, convincing, eloquent, and bold, 45The bare-fac’d lie, with manly courage told!Which, spoke in public, falls with greater force,And heard by hundreds, is believ’d of course.
PRETTYMAN.Search through each office for the basest toolRear’d in JACK ROBINSONS’s abandon’d school; 50ROSE, beyond all the sons of dulness, dull,Whose legs are scarcely thicker than his scull;Not ROSE, from all restraints of conscience free,In double-dealing is a match for me.
BANKS.Step from St. Stephen’s up to Leadenhall, 55Where Europe’s crimes appear no crimes at all;Not Major SCOTT, with bright pagodas paid,That wholesale dealer in the lying trade;Not he, howe’er important his design,Can lie with impudence surpassing mine. 60
PRETTYMAN.Sooner the ass in fields of air shall graze,Or WARTON’s Odes with justice claims the bays;Sooner shall mackrel on the plains disport,Or MULGRAVE’s hearers think his speech too short;Sooner shall sense escape the prattling lips 65Of Captain CHARLES, or COL’NEL HENRY PHIPPS;Sooner shall CAMPBELL mend his phrase uncouth,Than Doctor PRETTYMAN shall speak the truth!
BANKS.When FOX and SHERIDAN for fools shall pass,And JEMMY LUTTRELL not be thought an ass; 70When all their audience shall enraptur’d sitWith MAWBEY’s eloquence, and MARTIN’s wit;When fiery KENYON shall with temper speak,When modest blushes die DUNDAS’s cheek;Then, only then, in PITT’s behalf will I 75Refuse to pledge my honour to a lie.
PRETTYMAN.While in suspence our Irish project hung,A well-framed fiction from this fruitful tongueBade the vain terrors of the City cease,And lull’d the Manufacturers to peace: 80The tale was told with so demure an air,Not weary Commerce could escape the snare.
BANKS.When Secret Influence expiring lay,And Whigs triumphant hail’d th’ auspicious day,I bore that faithless message to the House, 85By PITT contriv’d the gaping ’squires to chouse;That deed, I ween, demands superior thanks:The British Commons were the dupes of BANKS.
PRETTYMAN.Say, in what regions are those fathers found,For deep-dissembling policy renown’d; 90Whose subtle precepts for perverting truth,To quick perfection train’d our patron’s youth,And taught him all the mystery of lies?Resolve me this, and I resign the prize.
BANKS.Say, what that mineral, brought from distant climes, 95Which screens delinquents, and absolves their crimes;Whose dazzling rays confound the space betweenA tainted strumpet and a spotless Queen;Which Asia’s Princes give, which Europe’s take;Tell this, dear Doctor, and I yield the stake. 100
PITT.Enough, my friends—break off your tuneful sport,’Tis levee day, and I must dress for Court;Which hath more boldly or expertly lied,Not mine th’ important contest to decide.Take thou this MITRE, Doctor, which before 105A greater hypocrite sure never wore;And if to services rewards be due,Dear BANKS, this CORONET belongs to you:Each from that Government deserves a prize,Which thrives by shuffling, and subsists by lies. 110
IMITATIONS.Ver. 6. Amant alterna Camenæ.Ver. 10. Hos Corydon, illos referebat in ordine Thyrsis.Ver. 29. Dicite—quandoquidem in molli consedimus herbâVer. 61. Ante leves ergo pas entur in æthere cerviEt freta destituent nudos in littore pisces—Ver. 89. Die quibus in terris, &c.Ver. 104. Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites.Ver. 105. Et vitulà tu dignus et hic.
NOTES. Ver. 17. Our poet here seems to deviate from his general rule, by the introduction of a phrase which appears rather adapted to the lower and less elevated strain of pastoral, than to the dialogue of persons of such distinguished rank. It is, however, to be considered, that it is far from exceeding the bounds of possibility to suppose, that, in certain instances, the epithet of “Witless,” and the coarse designation of “Lout,” may be as applicable to a dignitary of the church, as to the most ignorant and illiterate rustic.
Ver. 62. The truth of this line must be felt by all who have read the lyrical effusions of Mr. Warton’s competitors, whose odes were some time since published, by Sir John Hawkins, Knight. The present passage must be understood in reference to these, and not to the Laureat’s general talents.
Ver. 85. The ingenious and sagacious gentleman, who, at the period of the glorious revolution of 1784, held frequent meetings at the Saint Alban’s Tavern, for the purpose of bringing about an union that might have prevented the dissolution of parliament; which meetings afforded time to one of the members of the proposed union to concert means throughout every part of the kingdom, for ensuring the success of that salutary and constitutional measure, which, through his friend Mr. B—ks, he had solemnly pledged himself not to adopt. How truly does this conduct mark “the statesman born!” ———— Dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirit?
Ver. 98. It must be acknowledged that there is some obscurity in this passage, as well as in the following line,
“Which Asia’s princes give, which Europe’s take:”
and of this, certain seditious, malevolent, disaffected critics have taken advantage, and have endeavoured, by a forced construction, to discover in them an unwarrantable insinuation against the highest and most sacred characters; from which infamous imputation, however, we trust, the well-known and acknowledged loyalty of our author’s principles will sufficiently protect him.
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Mr. WILKES and Lord HAWKESBURY alternately congratulate each other on his Majesty’s late happy Escape, The one describes the Joy which pervades the Country: the other sings the Dangers from which our Constitution has been preserved. Though in the following Eclogue our Author has not selected any single one ofVirgilfor a close and exact Parody, he seems to have had his Eye principally upon the Vth, or theDaphnis, which contains the Elegy andAPOTHEOSISofJulius Cæsar.
The Session up: the INDIA-BENCH appeas’d,The LANSDOWNES satisfied, the LOWTHERS pleas’d,Each job dispatch’d:—the Treasury boys depart,As various fancy prompts each youthful heart;PITT, in chaste kisses seeking virtuous joy, 5Begs Lady CHATHAM’s blessing on her boy;While MORNINGTON, as vicious as he can,To fair R—L—N in vain affects the man:With Lordly BUCKINGHAM retir’d at STOWE,GRENVILLE, whose plodding brains no respite know, 10To prove next year, how our finances thrive,Schemes new reports, that two and two make five.To plans of Eastern justice hies DUNDAS;And comley VILLARS to his votive glass;To embryo tax bills ROSE; to dalliance STEELE; 15And hungry hirelings to their hard-earn’d meal.A faithful pair, in mutual friendship tied,Once keen in hate, as now in love allied(This, o’er admiring mobs in triumph rode,Libell’d his monarch and blasphem’d his God; 20That, the mean drudge of tyranny and BUTE,At once his practis’d pimp and prostitute),Adscomb’s proud roof receives, whose dark recessAnd empty vaults, its owner’s mind express,While block’d-up windows to the world display 25How much he loves a tax, how much invites the day.Here the dire chance that god-like GEORGE befel,How sick in spirit, yet in health how well;What Mayors by dozens, at the tale affrighted,Got drunk, address’d, got laugh’d at, and got knighted; 30They read, with mingled horror and surprise,In London’s pure Gazette, that never lies.Ye Tory bands, who, taught by conscious fears,Have wisely check’d your tongues, and sav’d your ears,—Hear, ere hard fate forbids—what heavenly strains 35Flow’d from the lips of these melodious swains.Alternate was the song; but first began,With hands uplifted, the regenerate man.