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 c
 
 CRITICISMS 
 
 ON T H JS 
 
 R O L L I A D. 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, 
 CORRECTED and ENLARGED. 
 
 I, O N D O N: 
 
 j?RINTED FOR JAMES RIDGWAY, OPPOSITE 
 
 SACKVILLE-STREET, PICCADILLY* 
 
 MDCCLXXXV.
 
 / 7 ^^ 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 npHE Criticisms on the Rolliad, 
 in their original form, excited fuch a 
 general curiofity, that three fpurious edi* 
 tions have already been fold, independent- 
 ly of their publication in various of the 
 Daily Papers, and Monthly Magazines. 
 Such a marked teftimony in their favour, 
 cannot but be peculiarly flattering to us. 
 We therefore thought it incumbent on us 
 in return, to exert our utmoft endeavours 
 in rendering them, as far as our judgment 
 will diredt us, yet more w^orthy of that at- 
 tention w^ith which they have been ho- 
 noured, imperfedl as they fell from us 
 through a channel, that did not feem ne- 
 ceflarily to demand any very great degree 
 of precifion. 
 
 In the prefent edition fbme few paffage* 
 
 have been expunged; others foftened ; 
 
 many enlarged ; more correded : and two 
 
 whole numbers^ with the greater part of 
 
 A 2 a third.
 
 IV ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 a third, are altogether new. A poetico- 
 profaicalDedlcationto Sir Lloyd Kenyon 
 has alfo been added ; and an Appendix is 
 now given, confifting of Mifcellaneous 
 Pieces, to which the Criticifms incident- 
 ally refer. 
 
 It ^fn-ay perhaps give offence to fbme 
 very chaftized judgments, that in this our 
 authentic edition, we have fubjoined notes 
 on a profefled commentary. Some fhort 
 explanations, however, appeared occafion- 
 ally neceflary, more efpecially as the fub- 
 jeds of Political Wit in their very nature 
 are fugitive and evanefcent. We only fea;^ 
 that our illuftrations have not been fuf- 
 ficiently frequent, as we have privately 
 been afked to what ** Mr. Hardinge's 
 Arithmetic" in the Dedication alluded -, fb 
 little imprcffion was made on the public 
 by the learned Gentleman's elaborate cal- 
 culation of the Orations fpoken, and the 
 time expended in the difcuffion of the 
 Weftminiler Scrutiny ! Indeed, we have 
 known perfons even ignorant, that Sir 
 Lloyd Kenyon voted for his flables. 
 
 3 - This
 
 ADVERTISEMENT* V 
 
 This Edition has further been orna- 
 mented with a Tree of the Genealogy, and 
 the Arms, Motto, and Creft, of the Roll OS, 
 now RoLLES ; for an explication of which 
 we beg leave to refer the reader to page ix. 
 The Genealogy is likewife given at full 
 length from the Morning Herald, where 
 it was originally publifhed, and was pro- 
 bably the foundation of the ROLLIAD. It 
 is therefore inferted in its proper place, be- 
 fore the firft extract from the Dedication 
 to the Poem, which immediately preceded 
 the firft Numbers of the Criticisms. 
 
 A D V E R-
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 TO T H 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 /^ N E very large impreflion of the fol- 
 lowing work being already fold, and 
 the demand for it daily increafing, it is 
 now a fecond time fubmitted to the Public, 
 revifed and corrected from the many literal 
 errors, which, with every precaution, will 
 too often deform a firft edition ; elpecial- 
 ly when circumftances render an early pub- 
 lication necefTary, 
 
 In the prefent edition fome few altera- 
 tions have been made, but none of any 
 confiderable magnitude; except that the 
 Appendix of Mifcellaneous Pieces is here 
 fuppreffed. This- has been done, in fome 
 degree, for the conveniency of binding 
 this firft part of the Criticisms on the 
 RoLLiAD with the fecond and third parts, 
 
 now
 
 Vni ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 now {liortly to follow -, but more indeed, 
 in confequence of a defign, which we at 
 prefent entertain, of printing mofi: of thofe 
 pieces with other productions of the fame 
 Authors in one odavo volume, under the 
 title of Political Miscellanies. 
 
 As the bulk and matter of the book arc 
 thus diminiflied, the price alfo is propor- 
 tionally reduced. Where the Criti- 
 cisms feem to require any elucidation from 
 the contents of the former Appendix, ex- 
 tracts are now given at the bottom of the 
 page inftead of the references in our former 
 Edition. 
 
 This flight change we flatter ourfelves 
 will not be difapproved by the Public; and 
 we hope, that they will not receive with 
 a lefs degree of favour the intimation here 
 given of the Mifcellaneous Volume, which 
 will probably be publifhed in the courfe of 
 the enfuing winter. 
 
 Expla-
 
 Explanation of the Frontispiece 
 and Title-Page. 
 
 T^HE Frontispiece reprefents Duke 
 RoLLo, with his Sword and Ducal 
 Coronet lying by his fide. It is Aippofed 
 to be a ftriking likenefs, and was copied 
 from a painting in the Window of a 
 Church at Rouen in Normandy. From 
 this illuftrious Warrior fprings a Tree of the 
 Genealogy of the RoLLos, nowRoLLES. 
 The moft eminent of this great Family a- 
 lone are noticed. The particulars of their 
 Jiiftory may be found in page xxvii and xxviii. 
 
 The Title-Page exhibits the Arms, 
 Motto, and Creft of the Family. The 
 Arms are. Three French Rolls, Or, be- 
 tween two Rolls of Parchment, Proper, 
 placed in form of a Cheveron on a Field 
 Argent The Motto is "Joue'z bien voire 
 Role, or, as we have fometimes feen it fpelt 
 Rolle, The Creft, which has been lately 
 changed by the prefent Mr. Rolle, is a 
 half-length of the Mailer of the Rolls, like 
 a Lion demi-rampant with a Roll of Parch- 
 ment inftead of a Pheon's Head between 
 his Paws. B
 
 JDEDICATlONi 
 
 To Sir lLoVD KfeNYON, Bart. 
 MASTER OF THE ROLLS, &c. &c. Sec, 
 
 MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOURj 
 
 IT was originally my intention to have 
 dedicated the CRttiCisMS on the RoL- 
 JLiAD, as the RoLliad itfelf is dedicated 
 to the illuftrious charaler, from whofe 
 hereditary name the Poerri derives it*s titles 
 and *, as I fome time fince apprized the 
 public, I had adlually obtained his permif- 
 fion to lay this little work at his feet. No 
 fooner, however, was he made acquainted 
 with my after-thoUght of inicribing my 
 book to YoifR Honour, butj with the li- 
 berality, which ever mark$ a great mind^ 
 he wrbte to me of bis own accord, declar- 
 ing his compleat acquiefcence in the. pro* 
 prietyofthe alteration. For if I may take 
 the liberty of tranfcribing his own ingeui- 
 
 in PoftfgriptOFiainally fabjoined to the 8th Number, 
 B 2 OUS
 
 XU DEDICATION. 
 
 ous at>d itiodefl expreffion, "I am my- 
 felf," -faid he, * but a Jimple Rolle ; Sir 
 ** Lloyd Kenyon is a Majler of Roils.*' 
 
 Great Rollo's heir, whofe cough, whnfe laugh, whofe 
 
 groaii, , . . 
 
 The' Antasus EdMund has fo oft o'efthi'own ; 
 Whofe cry of " queftion" filenc'd Charles's fenfe. 
 That cry, more powerful'than Pitt's eloquence; 
 .Ev.'it he^ thus high iirglor^y, as in birth. 
 Yields willing way. to thy fuperioi; worth. 
 
 Indeed, if I had riot been fo happy as 
 to receive this cxprefs fandion of Mr. 
 RoLtE's concurrence, I iTiould neverthe- 
 lefs have thought myfelf juflified in pre- 
 fuming it from the very diftinguifhed tefti- 
 lAonyj, which he has lately borne to your 
 merits," by talcing a derrii- rampant of your 
 HONOUR for his creftj a circumftance, in 
 my opiilion, fo higlily Complimentary td 
 Ybu^ onoUr, that Twas ftudiousfo havd' . 
 it as ekteilfively krioWri as poffible. I have 
 therefore given directions to my Publifher, 
 to.exliibit your portrait, with the Roll^~ 
 Arms and Motto, by way of Vignette in 
 the Title Page ; that, difplayed, as I tr uft 
 
 it
 
 DE D IC AT I O H/' Xiii 
 
 it will be at the Window of every Book- 
 feller in Great-Britain, it may thus attra(St 
 the admiration of the nioft .incurious, as 
 they pa fs along the Greets. This folici- 
 tude, to difFufe the knowledge of your 
 perfon, as widely as your fame, may pof- 
 libly occafion fome little diftrefs to your 
 modefty ; yet permit me to hope. Sir 
 Lloyd, - that the motive will plead my 
 pardon ; and, perhaps, even win the ap- 
 probation -of your fmile ; if you can be 
 fuppofed to fmile without offence to the 
 gravity of that nature, which feems from 
 your very birth to have marked you for a 
 Judge. 
 
 Behold the' EHgraver*s mimic labours trace 
 
 The fober image of that fapient face : 
 
 See him, in each, peculiar charm exaft. 
 
 Below dilate it, and" above contraiSl ; 
 
 For Nature thus, inverting her defigri. 
 
 From vulgar ovals hath dilHnguifli'd thine: 
 
 Sec him each mcer character fupply. 
 
 The pert no-meaning puckering round the eye. 
 
 The mouth in plaits precife demurely clos'd, 
 
 Each order'd feature, and eadi line compbs'd. 
 
 Where WifJom fits a-fquat, in ftarch difguife. 
 
 Like Dulnefs couch.'d, to catch U5i by furprifc. 
 ' And
 
 XIV 
 
 ftEDltATIoi^i 
 
 And now he fpreads around thy pomp of wig> 
 In owl-like pride of legal honours big ; 
 That wig, which once of curl on curl profufe. 
 In well-kept buckle ftifF, and fmugly fprace, 
 Deck'd the plain Pleader ; then in nobler tafte. 
 With well-friz'd bufh the' Attorney-General grac'd| 
 And widely waving now with ampler flow. 
 Still with thy titles and thy fame Ihall grow* 
 Behold, Sir Lloyd, and while with fond delight 
 Tlie dear refemblance feafts thy partial fight. 
 Smile, If thou canft ; and, fmiling, on this book 
 Caft tho glad omqn of one favouring look* 
 
 But it is on public grounds, that I prin- 
 cipally. wiHi to vindicate my choice oi 
 YOUR HONOUR for my Patron. Th^ 
 RpLLiAD, 1 have reafon to believe, owed 
 its exiftence to the * memorable fpeech of 
 the Member for Devonfhire on the firft 
 difcuffion of the Weftminfler Scrutinyj 
 when he fo emphatically proved himfelf 
 the genuine defcendant of Duke Rollo j 
 and in the noble contempt which he 
 
 Mr. Rolle faid, " he could not be kept all the fummer 
 debating about the rights of the Weftminfter Eleftorsi 
 His private concerns were of more importance to him> 
 than his right as a Weftminfter Eleftor.'* 
 
 avOweo,
 
 DEDICATION* XV 
 
 avowed, for the boafted rights of Eled:6r&| 
 feemed to breathe the very foul of hi^ 
 great progenitor, who came to extirpate 
 the liberties of EngUfhmen with the fword^ 
 It muft be rernembered, however, that 
 youR HONOUR miniftered the occafipi^ to 
 his glory. Yon, Sir Lloyp, liave ever 
 been reputed the immediate Author of the 
 Scrutiny. Your opinion is faid to have 
 been privately confulted f the framhig of 
 the Return ; and your public defence of 
 the High-Bailiff's proceeding, notorioufly 
 furnifhed Mr. Roll e, and the other friends 
 of the Mmifter, with all the little argu- 
 ment, which they advanced againft the 
 objeded exigency of the Writ. You taught 
 them to reverence that holy thing, the 
 Confcience of a Returning Officer, above 
 all Law, Precedent, Analogy, Public Ex- 
 pediency, and the popular Right of Re- 
 prefentation, to which our Forefathers er- 
 roneoufly paid religious refpedt, as to thq 
 mofl facred franchife of our Conflitution, 
 You prevailed on them to manifeft an im^ 
 partiality Angularly honourable; and to 
 prefer the fandity pf this fingle Confcience, 
 
 to
 
 XVJ I&EOICATION. 
 
 to a round dozen of the moft immaculate 
 ^onfciences, chofen in the pureft poffible 
 jTianner from their own pure Houfe of 
 Commons, 
 
 Thine is the glorious meafure ; thine alone : 
 
 Thee, Father of the Scrutiny, we own. 
 
 Ah! without thee, what treafurcs had. we loft. 
 
 More worth, than twenty Scrutinies would coft ! 
 
 To* inftruft the Veftry, and convince the Houfe, 
 
 What Law from Murphy ! what plain fenfe from 
 
 Rous! 
 What fwit from Mulgrave ! from Dundas, what 
 
 truth ! 
 What perfect virtue from the Virtuous Youth ! 
 
 ^ What deep refearch from A R DEN the profound ! .. 
 What argument from Bearcroft ever found ! 
 By MuN caster what generous offers made ; 
 
 ' By Hardinge, what arithmetic djfplay'd ! 
 And, oh! what rhetoric, from Mahon that bftokej 
 What printed fpeeches, which he never fpoke ! 
 Ah ! without thee, what worth, neglefled long, 
 Jlad wanted ftill its deareft meed of fong ! 
 fn vain high-blooded Rolle, unknown to fame. 
 Had boaftcd ftill the honours of his name : 
 In vain had exercis'd his noble fpleen 
 pnBxTRKE and Fox theRoLLiAD had not been. 
 
 4 But,
 
 C>EDICATlOK, Xvii 
 
 But, alas 1 Sir Lloyd, at the very mo- 
 ment, whil& I am writing, intelligence has 
 reached me, that the Scutiny is at an end. 
 Your favourite meafure is no more. The 
 child of your afrcd:ion has met a fudden 
 and a violent fate. I truft, however, that 
 '* the Ghoft of the departed Scrutiny" (in 
 the bold but beautiful language of Mr. 
 Dun das) will yet haunt the fpot, where it 
 was brought forth, where it was foftered^ 
 and where it fell . Like the Ghoft of Ham- 
 let it fhall be a perturbed fpirit, though it 
 may not come in a queftionable fhape. It 
 fhall fleet before the eyes of thofe to whom 
 it was dear, to admonifh them,^ how they 
 rufh into future dangers ; to make known 
 the fceret of its private hoards -, or to con- 
 fefs to them the fins of its former days, 
 and,. to implore their piety, that they 
 would give peace to its fliadc, by making 
 juft reparation. Perhaps too, it may fomer 
 times vifit the murderer, like the ghoft of 
 Banquo, to dafh his joys. It cannot in- 
 deed rife up in its proper form to pud; him, 
 from his feat, yet it may aflume fome other 
 Q formidable
 
 XVUl DEDICATION, 
 
 formidable appearance to be his eternal 
 tormentor. Thefe, however, are but vi- 
 lionary confolations, while every, loyal bo- 
 fom muft feel fubftantial aiflidion from 
 the late iniquitous vote, tyrannically com- 
 pelling the High-Bailiff to make a return 
 after an -.enquiry of nine months onlyj 
 efpecially when you had fo lately armed 
 him with all power neceffary to make his 
 enquiry effecflual. 
 
 * Ah ! how ftiall I the' unrighteous vote bewail ? 
 Again corrupt Majorities prevail. 
 
 Poor Corbett's Confciente, tho' a little loth, 
 Muft blindly gape, and gulp the' untafted oath ; 
 If he, whofe confcience never felt a qualm. 
 If Grojan fail the good-man's doubts to calm. 
 No more fhall Morgan, for his fix months hire. 
 Contend, that Fox fliould fhare the' expence of fire ; 
 
 Whol 
 
 * I {h.^l^ive the Reader in one continued note, what 
 information I think nccefTary for underftanding thefe verfes; 
 During the fix months that the Scrutiny continued in St. 
 Martin's, the moft diftinguifh'd exhibition of Mr. Morgan's 
 taler>ts was the maintenance of an argument, that Mr. 
 Fox ought to pay half the expence of fire in the room 
 where the Witnefles attended. The learned Gentlerrtan 
 is familiarly called Frog, to which I prefume the Author 
 
 alludes
 
 DEDICATION'. XIX 
 
 Whole Seflions (hall he croak, nor bear away 
 The price, that paid the filence of a day : 
 No more, till Collick fome new ftory hatch. 
 Long-winded Rous for hours ftiall praife Difpatch ; 
 Collick to Wigs and Warrants back ihall flink. 
 And Rovs, a Pamphleteer, re-plunge in ink : 
 Murphy again French Comedies (hall fteal. 
 Call them his own, and garble, to conceal j 
 Or, pilfering ftill, iand patching without grace 
 His thread-bare fhreds of Virgil out of place. 
 With Drefs, and Scenery, Attitude, and Trick, 
 Swords, Daggers, Shouts, and Trumpets in the nick. 
 With Ahs! and Ohs ! Str.rts, Paufes, Rant, and Rage, 
 Give a new Grecian Daughter to the Stage : 
 But, Oh, Sir Cecil ! Fled to (hades again 
 From the proud roofs, which here he rais'd in vain. 
 He feeks, unhappy ! with the Mufe to cheer 
 His rifing griefs, or drown them in fmall-beer ; 
 
 alludes in the word croak. Mr. Rous fpoke two hours to 
 recommend Expedition. At the time the late Parliament 
 was diflblved, he wrote two Pamphlets in favour of the 
 Miniftry. 1 have forgot the titles of thefe Pamphlets, as 
 probably the Reader has too, if he ever knew them. How- 
 ever, 1 can affure him of the fadl. Mr. Collick, the 
 Witnefi-Gcneral of Sir Cecil Wray, is a Hair-Merchant 
 and Jullice of Peace. Sir Cecil's tafte both for Poetry 
 and Sma!l-Beer are well known, as is the prefent unfinilhed 
 ftaie of his newly-fronted houle in Fall- Mall. 
 
 C z Alas !
 
 XX DEDICATION, 
 
 Alas ! the Mufc capricious flies the hour 
 "When moft we need her, and the Beer is four : 
 Mean time Fox thunders faftion uncontrol'd, 
 Crown'd with frefh laurels, from new triumphs bold. 
 
 Thefe general evils arifing from the ter- 
 mination of the Scrutiny, your honour, 
 I doubt not, will fincerely lament in com- 
 mon with all true lovers of their King and 
 Country. But in addition to thefe, you. 
 Sir Lloyd, have particular caufe to re- 
 gret, that * " the laft hair in this tail of 
 procraftination" is plucked. I well know, 
 what eager anxiety you felt to eftabliili the 
 fuffrage, which you gave, as the delegate of 
 your Coach-horfes : and I unafFedtedly con- 
 dole with you, that you have loft this 
 great opportunity of dlfpilaying your un- 
 fathomable knowledge and irreiiftible logic 
 to the confufion of your enemies. Plow 
 learnedly would you have quoted the me- 
 morable inftance of Darius, who was 
 eledled King of Perfia by the cafting vote 
 
 * *' This appears to be the laft hair in the tail of pro-- 
 craftination." The Mafter of the Rolls, who firft ufed 
 this phrafe, is a moft eloquent fpeaker. See Lord Mulg. 
 Effdvs on Elocjuence, Vol. IJ. 
 
 of
 
 DEDICATION. XXi 
 
 of his Horfe ! Though indeed the merits 
 of that election have been lince impeach- 
 ed, not from any alledged illegality of the 
 vote itfelf, if it had been fairly given ; but 
 becaufefome jockeyihip has been fufpedled, 
 and the voter, it has been iliid, was bribed 
 the night before the election ! Hov7 ably 
 too would you have applied the cafe of Cali- 
 gula's horfe, who was chofen Conful of 
 Rome ! For if he was capable of being 
 elected, (you would have faid) a fortiori ^ 
 there could have been no natural impedi- 
 ment to his being an ele6lor; fince omnt 
 majus continet inje mintM, and the truft is 
 certainly greater to fill the firft offices of 
 the ilate, than to have one iliare among 
 many in appointing to them. Neither can 
 I fuppofe that you would have omitted fo 
 grave and weighty an authority as Captain 
 Gulliver, who, in the courfc of his voy- 
 ages, difcovered a country, where Horfes 
 difcharged every Duty of Political Society. 
 You might then have pafled to the early 
 hiftory of our own ifland, and have ex- 
 patiated on the known veneration in which 
 horfes were held by our Saxon Ancellors ; 
 
 who.
 
 Xxn DEDICATION. 
 
 who, by the way, are fuppofed alfo to have 
 been the founders of Parliaments. You 
 might have touched on their famous ftand- 
 ard ; digreffed to the antiquities of the 
 White Horfe, in Berkfhire, and other fimj- 
 lar monuments in different counties j and 
 from thence have urged the improbability, 
 that when they inftituted elections, they 
 fhould have negleded the rights of an 
 animal, thus highly efteemed and almoft 
 fandified among them. I am afraid in- 
 deed, that with all your Religion and 
 Loyalty, you could not have made much 
 ufe of the White Horfe of Death, or the 
 White Horfe of Hanover. But for a bonne 
 bouchey how beautifully might you have 
 introduced your favourite maxim of ubl 
 ratio i ibi jus! and to prove the reafon of 
 the thing, how convincingly might you have 
 dcfcanted, in an elegant panegyric on the 
 virtues and abilities of horfes, from Xanthus 
 the Grecian Conjuring Horfe, whofe pro- 
 phecies are celebrated by Homer, down to 
 the Learned Little Horfe over Weflminfter 
 Bridge 1 with whom you might have con- 
 cluded, lamenting that, as he- is not an 
 2 Eledor,
 
 DEDICATION. XXIU 
 
 Eledor, the Veftry could not have the 
 affiftance of one, capable of doing fo much 
 more juftice to the queflion than yourfelf! 
 Pardon me. Sir Lloyd, that I have 
 thus attempted to follow the fuppofed 
 courfe of your oratory. I feel it to be 
 truly inimitable. Yet fuch was the im- 
 preffion made on my mind by fome of 
 YOUR Honour's late reafonings refpcdting 
 the Scrutiny, that I could not withfland 
 the involuntary impulfe of endeavouring, 
 for my own improvement, to attain fome 
 faint likenefs of that wonderful pertinency 
 and cogency, which I fo much admired ia 
 the great original. 
 
 How fhall the neighing kind thy deeds requite. 
 
 Great Yahoo Champion of the Houyhnhnm's right? 
 
 In grateful memory may thy dock-tail pair, 
 
 Unharm'd convey thee with fure-footed care. 
 
 Oh 1 may they gently pacing o'er the Hones 
 
 With no rude fiiock annoy thy batter'd bones, 
 
 Crufti thy judicial cauliflow'r, and down 
 
 Shower the mix'd lard and powder o'er thy gown. 
 
 Or in unfeemly wrinkles creafe that band. 
 
 Fair work of fairer Ladt Kbnyon's hand. 
 
 No!
 
 XXIV D. D I C A T I O N^ 
 
 No I May le- plows, b^Htes, wich meafur'd fwlag, 
 Affift the fjrieii^^ly ij\otipB 0/ tbL,e fpriag, 
 
 '. While gQl4?a dfeams ot perquifttes and fees 
 Enipl^y Jhef j^ flujmbering o'er thine own decrees. 
 5iit when a S^tefmaain St. Stephen's walls 
 Thy Count;-y claims thee, and the Treafury calls. 
 To pour thy fplendld bife Iq. bitter tide 
 On hardened Sinners who with Fox divide. 
 Then may they rattling on in jnnibling'trot 
 With itage and jolting nvake thee doubly hot. 
 Fire thy Welch blood, enflamed with zeal and leeks, 
 
 . . And kindle the red terrora of thy cheeks, 
 Tiji all tl?y gatliier'd. wrath in fyrioits ^t 
 Qa RiGaY bui^fla-r-unlefs he votes with Pitt. 
 
 I might here. Sir Lloyd, launch into 
 a new panegyric on the fubje6fe of this con- 
 cluding cQUfJet. But in this I fhall imi- 
 tate your moderation, who for reaibns befl 
 known tp. youffelf, have lo0g abandoned 
 to Mr. RonLE. * '* thofe loud and repeat- 
 ed calls Oft notorious defauheis, which will 
 never be forgiven by certain patriots.'* 
 Befides, I eonlider your public-ipirited be- 
 haviotir in the late Election and Scrutiny 
 
 * Mr. Ridgway tells me, he thiuks there is fomething 
 like thefe words in one of the Reviews, where the Rol- 
 Had is criticifed. , 
 
 for
 
 DEDICATION. XXV 
 
 for Weftminfter, as the great monument 
 of your fame to all pofterity. I have, 
 therefore, dwelt on this, more efpecially 
 as it was immediately connedted with the 
 origin of the Rolliad till my dedication 
 has run to fuch a length, that I cannot 
 think of detaining your valuable time any 
 longer ; unlefs merely to requeft your 
 Honour's zealous protedlion of a work 
 which may be in fame fort attributed to 
 you, as its ultimate caufe, which is em- 
 bellifhed with your portrait, and which 
 now records in this addrefs, the moft bril- 
 liant exploit of your political glory. 
 
 Choak'd by a Roll, 'tis faid, that Otway died ; 
 Otwav the Tragic Mufe's tender pride. 
 Oh ! may my Roue to me thus favour'd give 
 A better fatej that I may eat, and live! 
 
 I am, Your Honour's 
 Mofl obedient. 
 Mod refpedtful, 
 Moft devoted, humble fervant. 
 
 The editor. 
 D SHORT
 
 SHORt' ACCOUNT 
 R L L OS, NOW R O L L E S, 
 
 '*" rTTfTI^PXLV EXtRACTED FROM THE 
 
 viirjH fix ,o.tJ( 
 
 UEGCRDSof the HERALD'S OFFICE. 
 
 JopN RoLLE, Efq; is defccndcd from 
 the ancient Duke Rollo, of Normandy; 
 RoLLo pafTed over into Britain, anno 983, 
 where he foon begat another Rollo, upon 
 the wife of a Saxon drummer. Our young 
 RoLLO was diftinguifhed by his gigantic 
 ftature, and, as we learn from Odericus 
 Vita LIS, was flain by Hildebrand, the 
 Danifh Champion, in a fit of jealoufy. 
 We find in Camden, that the race of the 
 RoLLos fell into adverfity in the reign of 
 Stephen, and in the fucceeding reign, 
 Caspar de Rollo was an Oftler in 
 Denbighfhire. But during the unhappy 
 contefts of York and Lancafter, WiUiam 
 de Wyrcefter, and the continuator of the 
 annals of Croyland have it, that the Rollos 
 became ScherifFes of Devon, " Scheriffl 
 Devonienfes Rolli fueruni" and in an9- 
 ther pafTage, " arreftavertmt Debitor es 
 D 2 plurimi
 
 [ xxViii ] 
 
 pJu*-ime Rollorum" hence a doubt iii 
 Fabian, whether this Rollo was not 
 Bailiff, iffe potius quam Scheriffits. From 
 this period, however, they gradually ad- 
 vanced in circumftances ; Rollo, in Henry 
 tlic VIHthi being amerced in 806 marks-fdr 
 pilfering two manchetts of beef from the 
 King's buttery, the which, faith Selden, 
 fa ci Hi me payavit. 
 
 In 7th and 5th of Phil, and Mar. three 
 
 Rollos indeed were gibetted for piracy, 
 
 and from that date the family changed the 
 
 final O' of the name into an E. In the 
 
 latter annals of the Rollos, now Rolles, 
 
 but little of confequence is handed down 
 
 to us. We have it that Timothy Rolle 
 
 of Plympton, in the 8th of Queen Anne, 
 
 endowed three alms-houfes in faid town. 
 
 Jeremiah his fecond Ton was counted the 
 
 fatteft man of his day, and Dorothea 
 
 Rolle his third coufm died of a terrible 
 
 dyfentcry. -From this period the Rolles 
 
 have burft upon public notice, with foch 
 
 a blaze of fplendour, as renders all further 
 
 .accounts of this illuftrious race entirely 
 
 unneceflary. c 
 
 EX-
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE DEDICATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 R O L L I A D, 
 
 A N 
 
 EPIC POEM, 
 
 IN TWELVE BOOKS. 
 
 "TX THEN Norman Rollo fought fair Albion's coaft, 
 (Long may his oifispring prove their country's 
 boaft !) 
 Thy genius, Britain, fure infpir'd his foul 
 To blefs this ifland with the race of Rolle. 
 Illuflrious RoLLE ! O may thy honour'd name 
 Roll down diftinguifh'd on the Rolls of fame ! 
 Still firft be found on Devon's county polls'} 
 Still future Senates boaft their future Rollbs ! 
 Since of all Rolls which in this world we fee. 
 The world has ne'er produc'd a Roll like thee. 
 Hot Rolls and butter break the Briton's fall. 
 Thy fpeeches yield a more fublime repaft. 
 Compar'd to thine, how fmall their boaflcd hvat ! 
 Nor, mix'd with treacle, are they half fo fweet. 
 O'er Rolls of parchment Antiquarians pore. 
 Thy mind, O Roi-le, affords a richer ftore. 
 Let thofe on law or hiftory who write. 
 To Rolls of Parliament refort for light, 
 
 WhiJft
 
 [ 30 ] 
 
 Whilft o*er our Senate, from our living Rolle 
 Beam the bright rays of an enlighten 'd foul ; 
 In wonder loft, we flight their ufelefs ftuff. 
 And feel one RotLE of Parliament enough. 
 The fkill'd mufician to direft his band. 
 Waves high a Roll of paper in his hand ; 
 When Pitt would drown the eloquence of BuRKr, 
 You feem the Rolle beft fuited to the work; 
 His well-train'd band, obedient know their cue. 
 And cough and groan in unifon with you. 
 Thy god-like anceftor, in valour tried. 
 Still bravely fought by conqu'ring William's fide ; 
 In Britifh blood he drench'd his purple fvvord. 
 Proud to partake the triumphs of his lord : 
 So you, with zeal, fupport through each debate. 
 The conqu'ring William of a later date j 
 Whene'er he fpeaks, attentive ftill to chear 
 The lofty nothings with a friendly *' hear,'* 
 And proud your leader's glory to promote. 
 Partake his triumph in a faithful vote. 
 Ah ! fure while Coronets like hailftones fly. 
 When Peers are made, the Gods alone know why. 
 Thy hero's gratitude, O Rolle, to thee, 
 A ducal diadem might well decree ; 
 Great Rollo's title to thy houfe rellore, "^ 
 
 Let E ufurp the pl.ice of O no more. ^ 
 
 Then Roll E himfclf fliouldbe whatRoLLO was before. * 
 
 C R I-
 
 CRITICISMS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 R O L L I A D, 
 
 * Cedite Romani Scrlptores, cedlte GraecL" 
 
 NOTHING can be more confonant 
 to the advice of Horace and Arifto- 
 tle, than the condudt of our author through- 
 out this poem. The a(ftion is one, entire, 
 and great event, being the procreation of 
 a child on the wife of a Saxon Drummer. 
 The Poem opens with a moft laboured and 
 mafterly defcription of a Storm. Rollo's 
 flate of mind in this arduous fituation is 
 finely painted : 
 
 Now RoLLO ftorms more loudly than the wind. 
 Now doubts and black defpair perplex his mind ; 
 Hopelefs to fee his veflel fafely harbour'd. 
 He hardly knows his ftarboard from his larboard ! 
 
 That
 
 ^ [ 3^ ] 
 
 That a hero in diftrefs fliould not know 
 his right hand from his left, is moft natural 
 and afFedlingi in other hands, indeed, it 
 would not have appeared fufficiently poeti- 
 cal, but the technical expreffions of our 
 author convey the idea in all the blaze of 
 metaphor. The ftorm at length fublides, 
 and RoLLO is fafely landed on the coafl of 
 SufTex. His firft exploit, like that of 
 ^neas, is deer-ilealing. He then fcts out 
 in the difguife of a SulTex Smuggler, to 
 obtain intelligence of the country and its 
 inhabitants : 
 
 Wrapt in a clofe great-coat, he plods along ; 
 A feeming Smuggler, to deceive the throng. 
 
 This expedient of the Smuggler's Great- 
 coat, we mufl acknowledge, is not quite 
 fo Epic, as the veil of clouds, with which 
 Minerva, in the OdyfTey, and Venus in 
 the i^neid, furround their refpedive heroes. 
 It is, however, infinitely more natural, and 
 gains in propriety, what it lofes in fubli- 
 mity. Thus difguifed, our adventurer ar- 
 rives at the Country-houfe of Dame Ship- 
 ton, a lady of exquifite beauty, and firfl; 
 
 Concubine
 
 f 33 I 
 
 Concutliie to the tlfurper Harold. Her 
 likenefs (as we all know) is Hill preferved 
 at the wax-work in Fleet-ftreet. To this 
 lady RoLLO difcovers himfelf, arid is re* 
 ceived by her in the moft hofpitable man- 
 ner. At fupper, he relates to her, with 
 ^f^a'f modefty, his former adions, and his 
 defigii of conquering England ; in which' 
 (ch'arrhed with the grace which he eats and 
 fells rtories) fhe promifes to aflift him, and 
 they fet off together for London. In the 
 third book Dame Shipton, or as the 
 author ftyles her, Shiptonia, propofes a 
 party to the puppet-fhew^ on the walk 
 they are furprized by a {hower, and retire 
 under Temple-bar, where Shiptonia for- 
 gets her fidelity to" Harold. We are forry 
 to obferve, that this incident is not fuf- 
 iiciently poetical, nor does Shiptonia part 
 with her chaftity in fo folemn a manner as 
 Dido in the ^neid. In the opening of the 
 fourth book likewile, we think our author 
 Inferior to Virgil> whom he exacftly copies, 
 and in fome places tranflates > he begins 
 in this manner : 
 
 E But
 
 34 J 
 
 Bu* now (for thus it was decreed above) 
 ShIptonia falls exceffively in love; 
 In every vein, great Rollo's eyes and fame. 
 Light up, and then add fuel to the flame ! 
 His words, his beauty, ftick within her breaff. 
 Nor do her cares afl*ord her any reft. 
 
 Here we think that Virgil's " haerent 
 infixi pedtore vultus verbaque," is ill tranf* 
 lated by the profaic word Jlkk, We muft 
 confefs, however, that from the defpair 
 and death of Shiptonia, to the * battle of 
 Haflings, in which Rollo kills with his 
 own hand the Saxon Drummer, and carries 
 off his wife, the Poem abounds with beau- 
 tiful details. But the iixth book, in which 
 
 It appears from the Genealogy of the RoUos, that 
 Duke RoLLO came to England more than 60 years before 
 the Battle cf Haflings ; though the Poet reprefents him as 
 the principal hero in that memorable engagement. But 
 fuch deviations from hiftory are among the common 
 licenfes of poetry. Thus Virgil, for the fake of a beau- 
 tiful Epifode, makes Dido live in the time of JEnezs, 
 whereas (he lived in reality 200 years before the Trojan 
 war ; and if authbrity more in point be defired, Mr. Cum- 
 i)erland wrote a Tragedy, called the Battle of Haftings, 
 in which there was not a fingle event, except the death of 
 Harold, that had the flighted foundation in hiilorical 
 fijft, or eyen probability.- 
 
 HoLLa
 
 C 35 ] 
 
 RoLLO almoft defpairlng of fuccefs, de- 
 fcends into a Night Cellar to confult the 
 illuftrious Merlin on his future deftiny, 
 is a mafler-piece of elegance. 
 
 In this book, as the Philofopher's magic 
 lantern exhibits the characters of all Rol- 
 Lo's defcendants, and even of all thofe 
 who were to a6l on the lame ftage with 
 the Marcel lus of the piece, the prefent 
 illuftrious Mr. Rolle, we mean to feleft 
 in our next number fome of the moft ftrik- 
 ing pafTages of this inexhauftible Magazine 
 pf Poetry ! 
 
 E a N*
 
 [ 36 3 
 
 N II, 
 
 OU R author, after giving an account 
 of the immediate defcendants of 
 RoLLo, finds himfelf confiderably embar-r 
 raffed by the three unfortunate Rollos *, 
 whom hiftory relates to have been hanged. 
 From this difficulty. however, he relieves 
 himfelf, by a contrivance equally new and 
 arduous, viz. by verifying the bill of irj.r 
 didment, and inferting in it a flaw, ;by 
 which they are faved from condemnatloo, 
 3ut in the tranfadlions of thofe early times, 
 however dignified the phrafeology, and en- 
 livened by fancy, there is little to amaze 
 and lefs to intereft; let us haftcn, there* 
 fore, to thofe charaders about whom, not 
 to be folicitous, is to want curiofity, and 
 whom not to admire, is to want gratitude 
 to thofe characters, in fhort, whofe 
 fplendour illuminates the prefent Houfe of 
 Commons. 
 
 See the Genealogy, p. 27, 28. 
 
 Pf
 
 37 ] 
 
 Of thefe, our author's principal favourite 
 appears to be that amiable * young Noble- 
 man, whofe Diary we have all perufed 
 with fo much plcafure. Of him he 
 fays, 
 
 Superior to abule. 
 
 He nobly glories in the name of Goose ; 
 Such Geefe at Rome from the perfidious Gaul, 
 J*xeferv'd the TreasVy-Bench and Capitol, &c. &c# 
 
 In the defcription of Lord Mahon, our 
 author departs a little from his wonted 
 gravity, 
 
 -This Quixote of the Nation, 
 
 Beats his own Windmills In gefticulatlon, 
 
 liO Jlrike, i\oi plea/ct his utmoft force he bends, 
 
 ^nd all his fenfe is at his fingers ends, &c. Scz. 
 
 But the mofl: beautiful effort of our au- 
 |hqr's genius, (if we except only the cha- 
 racter of IV{r. RoLLE himfelf ) is cor>taincd 
 in the defcription of Mr. Pitt 
 
 f Lor4 Graham^
 
 [ 3? ] 
 
 Pert without fire, without experience fage. 
 
 Young with more art than Shelburne glean*d from age. 
 
 Too proud from pilfer 'd greatnefs to defcend. 
 
 Too humble not to call Dundas his friend, 
 
 Jn folemn dignity and fullen ftate. 
 
 This new Oftavius rifes to debate ! 
 
 Mild and more mild he fees each placid row 
 
 Of Country Gentlemen with rapture glow j 
 
 He fee, convuls'd with fympathetic throbs. 
 
 Apprentice Ppers and deputy Nabobs I 
 
 Nor Rum Contraftors think his ipeech too long. 
 
 While words, like treacle, trickle from his Tongue I 
 
 G Soul congenial to the Souls of Rolles I 
 
 Whether you tax the luxury of Coals, 
 
 Or vote fome nece/Tary Millions more. 
 
 To feed an Indian friend's exhaufted ftore. 
 
 Fain weuld I praife (if I like thee could praife) 
 
 Thy matchlefs virtues in congenial lays. 
 
 3uty. Ah ! too weak, &;c. S^c. 
 
 This apology, however, is like the 
 nolo epifcopari of Bifliops ; ' for our au-. 
 thor continues his panegyric during about 
 one hundred and fifty lines more, after 
 which he proceeds to a tafk (as he fays) 
 more congenial to his abihties, and paints 
 
 in fmooth confedionary ftile. 
 
 The fimpering fadnefg of his Mulgrave's fmile. 
 
 c Fron)
 
 [ 39 ] 
 
 From the character of this nobleman wc 
 ihall only fcle(5t a part of one couplet, 
 which, tends to elucidate our author's afto- 
 nifhing powers in imitative harmony, 
 
 *' within his lab'ring throat 
 
 The Ihrill Ihriek ftruggles with the harfli hoarfe note." 
 
 As we mean to excite, and not to fatisfy 
 at once the curiofity of our readers, wc 
 fliall here put a period to our extracts for 
 the prefent. We cannot, however, con- 
 clude this effay, without obferving, that 
 there are very few lines in the whole work 
 which arc at all inferior to thofe we have 
 feled:ed for the entertainment of our 
 readers. 
 
 N=
 
 C 40 1 
 
 N III. 
 
 IN proof of the aflurance with which 
 we concluded ourlaft number, we fhall 
 now proceed to give the charader of Sir 
 Richard HiiiL. 
 
 . _j:OuT Readers, probably,, are well ac* 
 quainted with- the W9rthy Baronet's pro- 
 mifcuous quotations from the Bible and 
 Rochefter; . and they may poffibly rememt 
 ber (if they -were awake, when they read 
 them) fome. elegant verfesj v/hich he Re- 
 peated in the Houfe of Commons, and 
 afterwards inferted in the public papers, 
 as the production of a fleeplefs Night. We 
 know not, however, if they may fo eafily 
 recall to mind his remarkable declaration, 
 both of his Loyalty and Religion, in the 
 prettily-turned phrafe, '* that indeed he 
 loved King George very well, but he 
 loved King Jesus better." But as our 
 Poet has alluded to it, we thought it ne- 
 ceffary to mention it; and for the fame 
 
 reafon
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
 reafon to add, that like Lord Mahon, 
 Major Scott, Mr. Atkinson, Mr. 
 Wilkes, and Captain J. Luttrell, 
 he writes his own fpeeches for the public 
 Reporters. We (liould alfo have been 
 happy to have enlivened our commentary 
 with Ibme extracts from the controverfy, 
 at which our Author glances; we mean 
 the anfwer of Sir Richard to Mr. Madan, 
 on the dodrine of Polygamy ; a fubjedl, 
 which the tenour of our Baronet's reading 
 in his two favourite books, peculiarly 
 qualified him to handle with equal plea- 
 fantry and orthodoxy. Bit all ourinduftry 
 to procure his pamphlet, unfortunately 
 proved ineffedual. We never faw more 
 of it than the title-page, which we former- 
 ly purchafed, in the lining of a trunk, at 
 the corner of St. Paul's Church-yard. 
 
 We are confcious, that thefe Introdu<5lory 
 explanations mufl feem doubly dull, to 
 Readers impatient for fuch exquilite poetry 
 as the RoLLiAD. They appeared, how- 
 ever, andifj-cnfible to the due underftand- 
 F , .!*?? ing
 
 [ 4J ] 
 
 ing of the verfcs, which we (hall now give 
 without further preface. 
 
 Brother of Rowland, or, if yet more dear. 
 
 Sounds thy new title, Coulin of a Peer ; 
 
 Scholar of various learning, good or evil, 
 
 Alike what God infpir'd, or what the Devil ; 
 
 Speaker well flcill'd, what no man hears, to write j 
 
 Sleep-giving Poet of a Heeplefs night j 
 
 Polemic, Politician, Saint, and Wit, 
 
 Now ladling Madan, now defending Pitt j 
 
 Thy praife fliall Jive till time itfelf be o'er. 
 
 Friend of King George, thp' of King Jesus more! 
 
 The folemnity of this opening is well 
 fuited to the dignity of the occalion. The 
 heroes of Homer generally addrefs each 
 other by an appellative, marking their 
 affinity to fome illuftrious perfonage. The 
 Grecian poet, itmuflbe confefled, in fuch 
 cafes, ufes a patronymic, expreffive of the 
 genealogy; as P elides, Macides, Laertiades; 
 but it is not abfolutely neceffary to obferve 
 this rule. For, * M*Pherfon, a poet with 
 whom our author is moll: likely to be inti- 
 
 Mr. M'Pherfon is faid .to be one of the principal 
 writers on the fide of the prefent adminiflradon. 
 
 mately
 
 t 43 ] 
 
 mately acquainted, makes his hero Finga!^ 
 addrefs OfTian by the title of " Father of 
 Ofcar." It (hould feem therefore to be 
 fufficientj if in addreffing a great man, 
 you particularife any celebrated character 
 of the family who may be fuppofed to re- 
 fled: honour on his connections *, and the 
 Reverend Rowland Hill was certainly 
 the moft celebrated of our worthy Baronet's 
 relations, before the late creation of Lord 
 Berwick, on which the next line hap- 
 pily touches. 
 
 Our author Teems very fond of Mr 
 
 DUNDAS, 
 
 Whofe exalted foul 
 No bonds of vulgar prejudice controul* 
 Of (hame unconfcious in his bold career, 
 He fpurns that honour, which the weak revere; 
 For true to public Virtue's patriot plan. 
 He loves the Minijltr and not the Man ; 
 Alike, the Advocate of North and Wit, 
 The friend of ShblbuRne, and the guide of PitT* 
 His ready tongue with fophillries at will. 
 Can fay, unfay, and be confident ftill { 
 This day can cenfure, and the next retraft* 
 In fpeech extol, and iligmatize in a^ } 
 
 F 3 Tom
 
 [ 4+ ] 
 
 Torn and re-turh ; whole hours at Hastings bawl. 
 Defend, praife, thank, a#ront him, and recall. 
 By bppofition, he his King fhall court ; 
 And damn the Peoplfe's caufe by his fupport. 
 He like feme Angel, fent to fcourge mankind. 
 Shall deal forth plagues, in charity defign'd. 
 The Weft he would have ftarv'd j yet, ever good. 
 But meant to fave the' effufion of her blood : 
 And if, from fears of his Controul releaft 
 He loofes Rapine now, to fpoil the Eaft ; 
 'Tis but to fire another Sykes to plan 
 Some new ftarvation-fcheme for Hindoftan ; 
 Secure, to make her fiouriih, as before. 
 More populous, by lofing myriads more. 
 
 Our author here feems to underftand thd 
 famous flarvation-fcheme of Mr. Dundas, 
 as literally defigned to produce an adual 
 famine in America, though undoubtedly 
 from the iiioft benevolent motives imagin- 
 a-ble. But tliis is contradicted by a * late 
 writer, who appears to be perfeiftly con- 
 verfant with the language and purpofes of 
 our prefent riien in power. ** Starvation 
 (fays he) is not fy nonymous wi'tli famine ; 
 for Mr. Dundas mod certainly could not 
 
 Key to Parliamentary DebatfeS, publilhed by Debrett. 
 
 8 intend
 
 [ 45 1 
 
 ihtend to produce a famine in America, 
 which is the granary of the Weft-Indies, 
 and of a great part of Europe. The word 
 Starvation (continues he) was intended by 
 Mr. Dundas to exprcfs a fcheme of his 
 own, by which he meant to prevent iht 
 Americans from eating when they were 
 hungry, and had food within their reach ; 
 thereby infuring tteir redudion without 
 blood-fhed." However both authors agree 
 that Mr. Dundas propofed to ftarve the 
 Americans (whatever was to be the mode 
 of doing it) in mere cbmpaffion, to fave 
 them from the horrors of throat-cutting. 
 How finely too does the Poet trace thc- 
 fame charitable difpofition in the late 
 meafures of Mr. Dundas and his Colleagues 
 'at the Board of Controul ! Factious men 
 have faidi that the Indian politics of the 
 new Comrniflioners have a dire(5t tendency, 
 beyond any former fyftem, to encourage 
 every kind of peculation and extortion. 
 But what kind Mr. Dundas would peculiar- 
 ly wifli to encourage, can admit of no 
 doubt from his known partiality to ftarv- 
 ing any body, but himfelf. And how, 
 
 indeed.
 
 [ 46 J 
 
 xadeed, can the profperity of the Eaft he 
 better confulted than by fome new ftarva- 
 tion-fcheme ; fuch as was contrived and 
 executed by certain humane individuals in 
 the year 1770, with the moll falutary 
 event? For, notwithftanding one-third of 
 the inhabitants of Bengal were then fvvept 
 away by the famine, the province, in ccn- 
 fequence, is now become more populous 
 than ever. This may a little difturb all 
 vulgar notions of caufe and effed: ; but the 
 writei: above*mentioncd proves the fad by, 
 the teftimony of Major Scott. 
 
 There ~ are many more lines relating to 
 Mr. Dundas. But as this Gentleman's 
 chara(fler is fo perfectly underftood by the 
 public, we Ihall rather feledl a Ihort cata- 
 logue of fome among the inferior Minif- 
 terial Heroes, who have hitherto been lefs 
 frequently defcribed. 
 
 Drake, whofe cold rhetoric fregczfis in i:s courfe. 
 Banks the precipe, and fluent Wilberforce, 
 With either Phipps, a fcribbling, prattling pair ! 
 And ViLLERS, comely with the flaxen hair ; 
 The gentle Grewville's ever-grinning Son, 
 'And ihe dark brow of folemn Hamilton, 
 
 Thefc
 
 [ 47 ] 
 
 Thefe miniatures, as we may call them, 
 prefent us with very ftriking likenefles of 
 the living originals; moll: of whom arc 
 feen to as much advantage in this fmall 
 fize, as they could poflibly have been, had 
 they been taken at full length. How 
 happy is the allufioh to Mr. Drake's* 
 well-known fpeech, which in the metaphor 
 of our poet, we may flile, a beautiful icicle 
 of the moft "tranfparent eloquence ! How 
 juft too, and yet how concife is the de- 
 fcription of the literary and parliamentary 
 talents, fo equally polTefTed by Brother 
 Charles and Brother Harry, as Lord 
 Mulgrave affedionately calls them. We 
 muft, however, obferve, that in the Ma- 
 nufcript of the Roll i ad, obligingly com- 
 municated to us by the Author, the line 
 appears to have been firft written, 
 
 Refplcndent Phipps, who ftjines our lefler Bear ; 
 
 the noble head of this illuftrious family 
 having been called the Great Bear. But 
 
 ' Behold, Sir, another feature of the procraflinating 
 fyflem. Not fo the Athenian Patriots Sir, the Romans 
 Sir, I have loft the clue of my arguraicnt Sir, I will fit 
 down," 
 
 this
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
 this was corred:ed, probably in confequence 
 of the Poet having difcovered, Hke Mr. 
 Herfchel, that the fplendor, which he long 
 attributed to a (ingle conftellation, or (if we 
 may depart a little from critical nicety in our 
 figure) to a fingle ftar, in reality flowed frem 
 the united rays of two. We have nothing 
 further to add on this pafTage, only that the 
 charader of Villers feems to be drawn 
 after the Nireus of Homer; who, as the 
 Commentators remark, is celebrated in the 
 catalogue of warriors, for the handfomeft 
 man in the Grecian army, and is never men- 
 tioned again through the whole twenty- 
 four books of the Iliad. 
 
 NMV.
 
 [ 49 ] 
 
 N IV. 
 
 A New edition (being the nineteenth) 
 of this univerfally admired poem, 
 having been recently publi{hed, the in- 
 genious author has taken that opportunity 
 to introduce fome new lines on an occafion 
 perfe(flly congenial to his mufe, and in the 
 higheft degree interefting to the public, 
 namely, the late Fafl and Thankfgiving ; 
 together with the famous difcourfe preach- 
 ed in celebration of that day by that illuf- 
 trious orator and divine, the Reverend Mr, 
 Secretary Prettyman. This epi- 
 Tode, which is emphatically termed by 
 himfelf in his prefatory addrefs to this lafl 
 edition, his Epifode Parfonic, feems to 
 have been written perfectly con amove, and 
 is confidered by critics as one of the hap- 
 pieft effufions of the diftlnguiflied genius 
 from whofe high-rapped fancy it originat- 
 ed. It confifts of nine-and-forty Hnes, of 
 which, without farther exordium, we (haH 
 fubmit the following extrads to the in- 
 G fpe<^ion.
 
 [ 50 ] 
 
 fpedlon, or, more properly fpcaking, the 
 admiration of our readers. He fets out 
 with a moft fpirited compliment to Dr. 
 PRETTYMAN. The two firft lines are 
 confidered by critics as the mofl fuccefsful 
 example of the alliterative ornament upon 
 record. 
 
 Prim Preacher, Prince of Priefls, and * Prince's Prlfl ; 
 Pembroke's pale pride in Pitt's pracordia plac'd. 
 *Thy merits all Ihall future ages fcan. 
 And Prince be loll in Parson Prettyman. 
 
 The teauty of the hiftorical allufion to 
 Prince Prettyman, need not be pointed 
 out to our reader 55 5 and the prefage that 
 the fame of this Royal perfonage fhall be 
 loft and abforbed in the riling reputation of 
 tlic ingenious divine, is peculiarly happy 
 and well turned. The celebrated paf- 
 fage of Virgil, 
 
 " Tn Marcelltfs eris :" 
 
 is fiippofed to have been in the Poet's re- 
 collection at the moment of his conceiving 
 this paflage, no< that the 
 
 The Doftor is Chaplaip to his Majefty.**-He was bre^ 
 
 .at Pembroke^hall, in Cambridge. 
 
 Ob
 
 [ s> ] 
 
 * Oh miferande puer l'* 
 
 in the preceding line, is imagined to have 
 excited any idea of JVJr. Pitt, 
 
 Our author now purfues his Hereto the 
 pulpit, and there, in imitation of Homer, 
 who always takes the opportunity for giv- 
 ing a miiuite dqfcription of his perfonce, 
 ,V;hen they are on the very verge of enters 
 jng,upon an engagement, he gives a labour- 
 ed, but animated detail of the Doctor's 
 perfonal manners and deportment. Speak- 
 ing of the penetrating countenance for 
 which the Dodtor.is diftinguilhed, he fays, 
 
 Aitcus could boaft an hundred eyes, 'tis true, -^ 
 
 The Doctor looks an hundred ways with two ; > 
 Gimlets they are, and bore you through and through. } 
 
 This is a very elegant and clafljc com- 
 pliment, and (hews clearly what a decided 
 advantage our Reverend Hero pplTefles over 
 the celebrated 0(pSa,X[XQSisXog of antiquity, 
 Addifon is juftly famops in the literary 
 world, for the judgment with which he 
 G 2 feleds
 
 [ 5 ] 
 
 fclcdls and applies familiar words to great 
 occafions, as in the inftances : 
 
 *' The great, the important day, 
 
 ** ^ig with the fate of Cato and of Rome." 
 
 ** The fun grows dim with age, &q. &c.'* 
 
 This is a very great beauty, for it fares 
 with ideas, as with individuals j we arc 
 the more interefted in their fate, the better 
 we are acquainted with them. But how 
 inferior is Addifon in this refpedt to our 
 author ? 
 
 Gimlets they are, &c. 
 
 There is not fuch a word in all Cato ! 
 How well-known and domeftic the image [ 
 How fpecific and forcible the application ! 
 Our author proceeds : Having defcribed 
 very accurately the ftile of the Doctor's 
 hair-drefling, and devoted ten beautiful 
 lines to an eulogy upon the brilliant on the 
 little finger of his right hand> of which 
 he emphatically fays : 
 
 No veal putrefcent, no dead whiting's eye. 
 In the true water with this ring could vie 5 
 
 he
 
 [ 53 ] 
 
 he breaks out into the following mofl in- 
 Ipirited and vigorous apollrophc 
 
 Oh ! had you fcen his lily, lily hand. 
 
 Stroke his fpare cheek, and coax his fnow-white band : 
 
 That adding force to all his pow'rs of fpeech, 
 
 This the proteftor of his facred breech ; 
 
 That point the way to Heav'n's cceleftial grace. 
 
 This keeps his fmall-clothes in their proper place. 
 
 Oh i how the comely preacher you had prais'd. 
 
 As now the right, and now the left he rais'd ! ! I 
 
 Who does not perceive, in this defcrip- 
 tion, as if before their eyes, the thin 
 figure' of emaciated divinity, divided be- 
 tween religion and decorum; anxious to 
 produce fome truths, and conceal others; 
 at once concerned iox fundamental points 
 of various kinds; ever at the bottom of 
 things Who does not fee this, and fee- 
 ing, who does not admire ? The notes that 
 accompany this excellent epifode, contain 
 admirable inftances of our author's pro- 
 found knowledge in all the literature of 
 our cftabliflied religion ; and we are forry 
 
 that
 
 - [ 54 ] 
 
 that our plan will not fufFer us to produce 
 them, as a full and deci.five proof that his 
 learning is perfectly on a level with his 
 genius, and his divinity quire equal to his 
 poetry. 
 
 N'
 
 [ 55 ] 
 
 ON Monday laft, the twentieth edi- 
 tion of this incomparable poem made 
 its appearance : and we may fafely venture 
 to predict, that fhould it be followed by 
 an hundred more, while the fertile and 
 inexhauftible genius of the author continues 
 to enrich every new edition with new 
 beauties, they will not fail to run through, 
 with the fame rapidity that the former 
 have done; fo univerfal is the enthufiafm 
 prevailing among the genuine lovers of 
 poetry, and all perfons of acknowledged 
 tafte, with refped: to this wonderful and 
 unparalleled production. 
 
 What chiefly diftingui(hes this edition, 
 and renders it peculiarly interefting at the 
 prefent moment, is the admirable defcrip- 
 tion contained in it of the newly-appointed 
 India Board j in which the charadlers of 
 the members compofing it are moft hap- 
 pily, though perhaps fomewhat fevei:ely, 
 contrafted with thofe to whom the fame 
 J high
 
 . [ S6 ] 
 
 high office had been allotted by a former 
 adminiftration. 
 
 That the feelings of the public arc irt 
 unifbn with thofe of our author upon this 
 occafion, is fufficiently apparent from the 
 frequent Panegyrics with which the public 
 papers have of late been filled, upon the 
 characters of thefe diftinguifhedperfonages. 
 In truth, the fuperiority of our prefent 
 excellent admlniftratlon over their oppo- 
 nents, can in no inftance be more clearly 
 demonftrated, than by a candid exami- 
 nation of the comparative merits of the 
 perfons appointed by each of them to pre- 
 fide in this arduous and important depart* 
 ment. 
 
 Our author opens this comparifon by 
 the following elegant compliment to th&- 
 accompliflied Nobleman, whofe fituaticn, 
 as Secretary of State, entitles him to a 
 priority of notice, as the eminence of his 
 abilities will ever enfure him a due fuperio- 
 rity of weight in the deliberations of the 
 board. 
 
 Sydney,
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
 Sydnby* whom all the pow'rs of rhetorick grace, 
 Coniliilent Sydney fills Fitzwilliam's place ^ 
 O, had by nature but proportion'd been 
 His ftrength of genius to his length of chin. 
 His mighty mind in fome prodigious plan. 
 At once with eafe had reach'd to Indoftan I 
 
 The idea conveyed in thefe lines, of the 
 poflibility of a feature in the human face 
 extending to fo prodigious a diftance as the 
 Eaft-Indies, has been obje<5led lo as fome- 
 what hyperbolical. But thofe who are 
 well acquainted with the perfon, as well 
 as the characfter of the noble lord alluded 
 to, and who are unqueftionably the beft 
 judges of the extent of the compliment, 
 will certainly be of a different opinion. 
 Neither indeed is the objedlion founded in 
 truth, but muft have arifen merely from 
 the pafTage not having been properly un- 
 derilood. It by no means fuppofes his 
 Lordfhip to have literally a chin of fuch 
 prepofterous dimenQons, as muft be ima- 
 gined, for the purpofe of reaching to the 
 Eaft-Indies ; but figuratively fpeaking, only 
 purports, that if his Lordfhip's mental 
 faculties are co-exten(ive with that dif- 
 H tinguifhed
 
 [ S8 ] 
 
 tinguiihed feature of his face, they may 
 readily embrace, and be competent to the 
 conlideration of the moft diftant objects. 
 The meaning of the author is fo obvious, 
 that this cavil probably originated in wil- 
 ful mifapprehenfion, with a view of de- 
 trading from the merit of one of the moft 
 beautiful paiTages in the whole poem. 
 
 What reader can refufe his admiration 
 to the following lines, in which the lead- 
 ing features of the characters are fo juftly, 
 ftrongly, and at the fame time fo concifely 
 delineated? 
 
 Acute obfervers, who with flcilful ken 
 Defcry the charafters of public men,' 
 Rejoice that pow'r and patronage fhould pafs 
 From jobbing Montague, to fare Dundas ; 
 Exchange with pleafure, Elliot, Lew'sham, North, 
 For MuLG rave's tried integrity and worth ; 
 And all muft own, that worth completely tried. 
 By turns experienc'd upon every fide. 
 
 How happy is the feledlion of epithets 
 in thefe lines ! How forcibly defcriptive 
 
 of
 
 C 59 ] 
 
 of the character to which they are applied ! 
 In the fame ftrain he proceeds : * 
 
 Whate'er experience Gregory might boaft. 
 Say, is not Walsingham himfelf a hoft ? 
 His grateful countrymen, with joyful eyes. 
 From Sackville's afhes fee this Phojnixrifej 
 Perhaps with all his matter's talents bleft. 
 To fave the Eaft as he fubdu'd the Weft. 
 
 The hiflorical allufion is here judicioufly 
 introduced ; and the pleafing profpedl hint- 
 ed at, of the fame happy ilTue attending 
 our affairs in the Eaftern, that has already 
 crowned them in the Weftern world, muft 
 afford peculiar fatisfadtion to the feelings 
 of every Britifh reader. 
 
 The next character is mofl ingeniouOy 
 defcribed, but like a former one, contain- 
 ing fome perj'onal allulions, requires, ia 
 order to be fully under Itood, a more inti- 
 mate acquaintance with the exterior quali- 
 fications of the gentleman in queftion, than 
 can have fallen to the lot of every reader. 
 All who have had the pleafure of feeing 
 him, however, will immediately acknow- 
 ledge the refemblance of the portrait. 
 
 H 2 See
 
 [ 6o 3 
 
 See next advance, in kndwlng Fletcher's fteac^y 
 A youth, who boafts no common fhare of head ; 
 What plenteous ftores of knowledge may contain 
 The fpacious tenement of Grenville's brain ! 
 Nature, in all her difpenfations wife. 
 Who form'd his head-piece of fo vaft a fize. 
 Hath riot, ^tis true, negledled to bellow 
 Its due proportion to the part below ; 
 And hence we reafon, that, to fcrve the flate. 
 His top and bottom may have equal weight. 
 
 Every reader will naturally conceive, 
 that in the defcription of the principal 
 perfon of the board, the author has exert- 
 ed the whole force of his genius, and he 
 will not find his expectations difappointed ; 
 he has referved him for the laft, and has 
 judicioully evaded difgracing him by a 
 comparifon with any other, upon the prin- 
 ciple, no doubt, quoted from Mr. Theo- 
 baldj by that excellent critic, Martinus 
 Scriblerus. 
 
 " None but himfelf can be his parallel." 
 
 Double Falsbhoob* 
 
 As he has drawn this charadcr at confi- 
 dcrabk length, we iliall content ourfelves 
 
 with
 
 C 6i ] 
 
 with felefling fome few of the moft ftrlk- 
 ing paflages, whatever may be the difficulty 
 of felcding where ahnoft the whole is 
 equally beautiful. The grandeur of the 
 opening prepares the mind for the fublime 
 fenfations fuitable to the dignity of a fub- 
 je6l fo exalted. 
 
 Above the reft, majcftically great. 
 Behold the infant Atlas of the ftate. 
 The matchlefs miracle of modern days. 
 In whom Britannia to the world difpiays 
 A fight to make furrounding nations ftare ; 
 A kingdom trufted to a fchool-boy*s care. 
 
 It is to be obferved to the credit of our 
 author, that although his political prin- 
 ciples are unqueftionably favourable to the 
 prefcnt happy government, he does not 
 fcruple, with that boldnefs which ever 
 chara<^erifes real genius, to animadvert 
 with freedom on perfons of the moft elevat- 
 ed rank and ftation -, and he has according- 
 ly interfperfed his commendations of our 
 favorite young Minifler with much excel- 
 lent and reafonable counfel, fore-warning 
 him of the dangers to which he is by his 
 5 dtuation
 
 C 6i 3 
 
 iituation expofed. After having mention- 
 ed his introduclion into public life, and 
 concurred in that admirable panegyric of 
 his immaculate virtues, made in the Houfe 
 of Commons by a noble Lord already cele- 
 brated in the poem, upon which he has 
 the following obfervation ; 
 
 As MULGRAVE, who fo fit. 
 
 To chaunt the praifes of ingenuous Pitt ? 
 The nymph unhackney'd and unknown abroad. 
 Is thus commended by the hackney'd bawd. 
 The dupe enraptur'd, views her fancied charms. 
 And clafps the maiden mifchief to his arms. 
 Till dire difeafe reveals the truth too late : 
 O grant my country, Heav'n, a milder fate ! 
 
 He attends him to the high and diflin- 
 guifhed ftation he now fo ably fills, and in 
 a nervous ftrain of manly eloquence, de- 
 fcribes the defefts of character and conduct 
 to which his fituation and the means by 
 which he came to it, render him peculiar- 
 ly liable. The fpirit of the following lines 
 is remarkable : 
 
 Oft in one bofom may be found allied, 
 Excefs of meannefs, and excefs of pride : 
 
 Oft
 
 I 63 ] 
 
 Oft may the Statefman, in St. Stephen's brave. 
 Sink in St. James's to an abjeft flave ; 
 Ereft and proud at Weftminfter, may fall 
 Proftrale and pitiful at Leadenhall ; 
 In word a giant, though a dwarf in deed. 
 Be led by others while he feems to lead. 
 
 He afterwards with great force defcribcs 
 the lamentable ftate of humiliation into 
 which he may fall from his prefent pinnacle 
 of greatnefs, by too great a fubferviency to 
 thofe from whom he has derived it, and 
 appeals to his pride in the following beau- 
 tiful exclamation ; 
 
 Shall Chatham's offspring bafely beg fupport, 
 
 !Now from the India, now St. James's court; 
 
 With pow'r admiring Senates to bewitch. 
 
 Now kifs a Monarch's now a Merchant's breech ; 
 
 And prove a pupil of St. Omer's fchool. 
 
 Of either kinson. At. or Jen. the tool? 
 
 Though cold and cautious criticifm may 
 perhaps flare at the boldnefs of the con- 
 cluding line, we will venture to pronounce 
 it the moft mafterly flroke of the fublimc 
 ts> be met with in this, or any other poem- 
 It
 
 [ ^4 ] 
 
 It may be juflly faid, as Mr. Pope has fo 
 happily expreffed it 
 
 < To fnatch a grace beyond the reach of art." 
 
 Essay on Criticism, 
 
 As we defpair of offering any thing equal 
 to this lofty flight of genius to the reader 
 of true tafte, we (hall conclude with re- 
 commending to him the immediate perufal 
 of the whole poem, and in the name of an 
 admiring public, returning our heart-felt 
 thanks to the wonderful author of this in- 
 valuable work. 
 
 N*.
 
 [ ^Jj 1 
 
 N- VI. 
 
 r'Sr our two lad: numbers we were happy 
 to give our readers the earlieft relifli of 
 thofe additional beauties, with which the 
 nineteenth and twentieth impreflions of the 
 RoLLiAD are enriched. And thefe inter- 
 polations we doubt not have been fufficient- 
 ly admired for their intrinlic merit, even 
 in their detached ftate, as We gave them. 
 But what fuperior fatisfadion muft they 
 have afforded to thofe, who have read them 
 in their proper places ! They are parts of a 
 whole, and as fuch wonderfully improve 
 the effedt of the general defign, by an 
 iigreeable interruption of profaic regularity. 
 
 This may appear to fome but a paradoxi- 
 t^l kind of an improvement, which is fub- 
 VediVe of order. It muft be remembered, 
 however, that the defcent of Rollo to 
 the night-cellar, was undoubtedly fuggeft- 
 ed by the delcent of ^Eneas to hell in the, 
 ^Xth Book of Virgil -, an4 every claftical 
 1 Critic
 
 [ ] 
 
 Critic knows, what a noble contempt of 
 order the Roman Poet fludioufly difplays 
 in the review of his countrymen. From 
 Romulus he jumps at once to Auguflus ; 
 gets back how ^, he caii to Numa; goes 
 ftraight forward to Brutus; takcsa fliort 
 mn to Camillus; makes a long ilride to 
 Julius Caefar and Pompey ; from Cato re- 
 treats again to the Gracchi and the Scipios ; 
 and at lall: arrives in a beautiful zigrzag at 
 Marcellus, with whom he concludes. And 
 this muft be right, becaufe it is in Virgil, } 
 
 A fimilar confufion, therefore, has now 
 been judicioufly introduced by our Author 
 in the Sixth Book of the Rolliad. He 
 BrR fingles out fome of the great ftatefmen 
 of. the'prefent age; then carries us to 
 church, to hear Dr. Prettyman preach be- 
 fore the Speaker and the pews; and next 
 ihews us, all that Mr. Dundas means tq 
 let the public know, of the new India? 
 Board iT-that is to fay, tlie Members, of 
 whom it is compofed. He now proceeds, 
 where a dull Genius would probably havp 
 begun, with an accurate defcription of the 
 
 Houfe
 
 [ 67 1 
 
 Houfe of Commons, preparatory to tbc 
 exhibition of Mr. Rolle, and fome other 
 of -our political heroes, on that theatre of. 
 their glory. Maps of the country round 
 Troy have been drawn from the Iliad; 
 and we doubt not, that a plan of St. 
 Stephen's might now be delineated with' 
 the utmofb accuracy from the RotxiAD. 
 
 Merlin firfl: ufhcrs Duke Rollo into 
 the Lobby ; marks the fituation of the 
 two entrances ; one in the front, the other 
 communicating laterally with the Court of 
 Requefts ; and points out the topography 
 of the fire-place and the box. 
 
 in which 
 
 Sits Pearson, like a pagod in his niche} 
 The Gomgom Ps arson, whofe fonorous lungs 
 With *' Silence! Room there!" drown an hundred 
 tongues. 
 
 This paflage is in the very fpirit of pro-* 
 phecy, which delights to reprefent things 
 in the moft: lively manner. We not only 
 fee, but hear Pearfon in the execution of 
 his office. The language too, is truly 
 I 2, prophetic}
 
 [ ^8 J 
 
 prophetie i unintelligible, perhaps, to thofe 
 to whom it is addreffed, but perfedly dear, 
 full, and forcible to thofe who live in the 
 time of the accomplishment. Duke RoL^ 
 LO might reafonably be fuppofed to ftar* 
 ^t the barbarous \yords *^ Pagod'* and 
 ** Qomgow;" but we, who know one to 
 fignify an Indian Idol, and the other an 
 Indian Inftrument of mufic, perceive at 
 once the: peculiar propriety with which 
 fuch images are applied to an officer of a 
 Houfe of Commons, fo completely Indian 
 as the prefent. A writer of lefs judgment 
 would have contented himfelf with com- 
 paring Pearfon iimply to a 
 
 Statue in his nicha- ._ 
 
 and with calling him a Stentor, perhaps, 
 in the next line : but fuch unappropriated 
 fimilies and metaphors could not fatisfy 
 the nice tafte of our author. 
 
 The defcription of the Lobby alfo fur- 
 
 nilhes an opportunity of interfperling a 
 
 palTage of the tender kind, in praife of the 
 
 Pomona who attends there with oranges. 
 
 vrr Our
 
 I h 1 
 
 Our poet calls her Hucsteria, and, by 
 a dexterous ftroke of art, compares her to 
 Shiptonia, whofe amours with Rollo form 
 the third and fourth books of the Rol- 
 
 LIAD. 
 
 Behold the lovely wanton, kind and fair. 
 
 As bright Shiptokia, late thy amorous care ! 
 
 Mark how her winning fmiles, and witching eyes. 
 
 On yonder unfledg'd orator flie tries ! 
 
 Mark, with what grace fhe offers to his hand 
 
 The tempting orange, pride of China's land ! 
 
 This gives rife to a panegyric on the 
 medical virtues of oranges, and an oblique 
 cenfure on the indecent pra(5tice of our 
 young Senators, who come down drunk 
 from the eating-room, to fleep in the 
 gallery. 
 
 O! take, wife youth, the'Hefperlan fruit, ofufe 
 Thy lungs to cheriflx with balfamic juice. 
 With this thy parch'd roof moiften ; nor confume 
 Thy hours and guineas in the eating-room. 
 Till, fiill of claret, dawn with wild upr&ar 
 You rel, and ftretch'd along the gallery, fnore. 
 
 From this the poet naturally Hides into 
 general caution againil tlie vice of drunk- 
 
 ennefs.
 
 cnnefs, which he more particularly en- 
 forces, by the inftance of Mr. Pitt's late 
 peril, from the farmer at Wandfworth. 
 
 Ah ! think, what danger on debauch attends : 
 
 Let Pitt, once drunk, preach temp'rance to his friends j 
 
 How, as he wandcr'd darkling o'er the plain. 
 
 His reafon drown'd injENKiNsow's champaignc, 
 
 A ruftic's hand, but righteous fate withftood. 
 
 Had fhed a Preinier's for a robber's blood, > 
 
 We have been thus minute in tracing 
 the tranlitions in this inimitable pafTage, 
 as they difplay, in a fuperior degree, the 
 wonderful ikill of our poet, who could 
 thus bring together an orange-girl, and the 
 prefent pure and immaculate Minifter ; a 
 connexion, which, it is more than pro- 
 bable, few of our readers would in any-t 
 wife have fufpeited. 
 
 -Ex fumo dare lucem 
 
 Cogitat, ut fpeciofa dehihc miracula pronxat. 
 
 From the Lobby we are next led into 
 
 the feverai committee-rooms, and other 
 
 offices adjoining 3 and among the refl. 
 
 Merlin, like a noble Lord, whofe diary 
 
 . ; i waa
 
 f 7' 3 
 
 was fome time fincc printed, *' takes ocGa< 
 fion to infpedt the water-clofets," 
 
 Where oifTerings, worthy of thofe altars, lie, 
 - Speech, letter, narrative, remark, reply; 
 
 With dead-born taxes, innocent of ill, 
 , With cancell'd claufes of the India bill ; 
 There pious North cote's meek rebukes, and hwc 
 The labour'd nothings of the Scrutineer ; 
 And reams on reams of trals, that without pain, 
 Inceflant fpring from Scott's prolific brain. 
 Yet wherefore to this age fhould names be known, 
 "But heard, and then forgojtten in their own > 
 Turn, then, my fon, &c. &c. 
 
 This palTage will probably furprife many 
 of our readers, who muft have difcovered 
 our author to be, as every good and wife 
 man muft be, firmly attached to the pre- 
 fcnt fyftem. It was natural for Dante to 
 fend his enemies to hell; but it feeras 
 flrange that our poet fhould place the 
 writings of his own friends and fellow- 
 labourers in a water-clofet. It has indeed 
 been hinted to us, that it might arife from 
 envy, to find fome of them better reward- 
 ed for their exertions in the caufc, than 
 himfelf. But though great minds have 
 
 fome-
 
 E 7 ] 
 
 fometlmes been fubjed: to tbis p^ffion, we 
 cannot fuppofc it to have influenced the 
 author of the Holljad in the prefent in- 
 ftance. For in that, cale we doubt not he 
 would have fliewii more tendernefs to his 
 fellow - fufferer, the oufortunate Mr. 
 NoRTHCOTE, who, after liicrificing his 
 time, degrading his profeffion, and hazard- 
 ing his ears twice or thrice cvry week, for 
 thefe two^or three years paft, has at length 
 confefled his patriotifm w^ary of employ- 
 ing his talents for the good of his country, 
 without receiving the reward of his labours. 
 To confefs the truth, we ourielves think 
 the'apparent iingularity of the poet's con- 
 duit on this OGcafion, may be readily 
 afcribed to that independence of fuperior 
 genius, which we noticed in our laft num- 
 ber. We die re remarked, with what be- 
 coming, freedom he fpoke to the Minifler 
 himfelf; and in thepaiiage now before us, 
 we may find traces of the fame fpirit, in 
 the allufions to the coal-tax, gauze-tax, 
 and ribbon-tax, as well as the unexampled 
 alterations ^nd correclionsof the celebrated 
 Jadia-bill. Why then Ibould it appear 
 2 extra-*
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
 extraordinary, that he fhould take the fame 
 liberty with two or three brother-authors, 
 which he had before taken with their 
 mafiier ; and without fcruple intimate, what 
 he and cver3^one elfc muft think of their 
 produ(3:ions, notwithftanding he may pof- 
 fefs all poflible charity for the good inten- 
 tion of their endeavours ? 
 
 We cannot difmifsthefe criticifms, with- 
 out obferving on the concluding lines, how 
 happily our author, here again, as before 
 by the mention of Shiptonia, contrives to 
 recall our attention to the perfbnages more 
 immediately before us. Merlin and Duke 
 
 ROLLO 1 
 
 K N^
 
 [7^ ] 
 
 N VIL 
 
 WE come now to the SanSlum Sanc^ 
 torum, the Holy of Holies, where 
 the glory of political integrity fhines vifibly, 
 iince the (hrine has been purified from Lord 
 J. Cavendish, Mr. Foljambe, Mr. 
 Coke, Mr. Baker, Major Hartley, 
 and the reft of its pollutions. To drop 
 our metaphor, after making a minute fur- 
 vey of the Lobby, peeping into the Eat- 
 ing-room, and infpedling theWater-clofets, 
 we -are at length- admitted into the Houfe 
 itfelf. The tranfition here is peculiarly^ 
 grand and folemn. Merlin, having cor- 
 redted himfelf for wafting fo much time on 
 infignificant objedls, 
 
 (Yet wherefore to this age ftiould names be known. 
 But heard, and then forgotten in their own ?) 
 
 immediately dire(5ts the attention of Rollo 
 to the doors of the houfe, which are re- 
 prefented in the vifion, as opening at that 
 moment to gratify the hero's curiofity; 
 
 then
 
 C 7J 3 
 
 then the prophet fuddenly cries out. In ths 
 language of ancient Religion, 
 
 . " Procul, 6 procul efte profani I 
 
 Turn then, my fon, where to thy hallow'd eye 
 Yon doors unfold Let none profane be nigh ! 
 
 It feems as if the poet, in the preceding 
 defcriptions, had purpofely ftooped to a- 
 mufe himfelf with the Gomgom Pearfon, 
 Hucfteria, Major Scott, Mr. Northcote, 
 and the Reverend author of the Scrutineer, 
 that he might rife again with the more 
 ftriking dignity on this great occafion. 
 
 Merlin now leads Rollo to the centre 
 of the Houfe, 
 
 Conventus trahit in medios, turbamque fonantem. 
 
 He points out to him the gallery for 
 ilrangers to fit in, and members to deep 
 in ; the bar below, and the clock above. 
 Of the clock he obferves. 
 
 When this fliall point the hour of queftion come. 
 Mutes fhall find voice, and Orators be dumb. 
 
 K 2 This,
 
 t 76 ] 
 
 This, if in lengthen'd parle the night they pafj. 
 
 Shall furnifh ftlll his opening to Dun das ; 
 
 To Pitt, when' ** hear-hims" flag, fhall oft fupply 
 
 The chear-trap trick of ftale apology ; 
 
 And, ftrange to tell ! in Nature's fpite, provoke 
 
 Hot Arden once to blunder at a joke. 
 
 The beauty of thefe lines will be inilantly 
 perceived by all , who have witnefTed the 
 debates; as they cannot but have remark- 
 ed, ho\^. perpeiually *' the late hour of 
 /^/'/*' occupies the exordiums of Mr, 
 DuNDAS, after eleven o'clock ; and how 
 frequently it is introduced by Mr. Pitt as 
 a hint, for what is colled cbear'mg, when- 
 ever his arguments and invedtives are re- 
 ceived by his young friends with the un- 
 parliamentary compliment of facred file.nee. 
 The miracle of a jeft from Mr. Arden, 
 happened on the dccafion of fome Refolu- 
 tions having pafTed between the hours of 
 Jix znd /even in the morning; for which 
 reafon the Attorney-General facetioufly 
 contended, that they were entitled to no 
 refpedt, " as the houfe was then 2Xjixs and 
 /evens,'' Any approximation to wit in de- 
 bate, being perfe^^ly unufual with this gen- 
 tleman.
 
 C 77 3 
 
 tieman, however entertaining his friends 
 ma/ think him in private, our author very 
 properly diflinguiOies this menfiorable at- 
 tempt by the lame k^ud of admiration, 
 with which poets commonly qiention fome 
 great prodigy as for inftance, of a cow's 
 Ipeakin^ 
 
 ^g 
 
 pecudefque locutas. 
 
 Infandum ! 
 
 We hope none of our readers will attribute 
 to us the moft diftant intention of any in- 
 vidious comparifon. 
 
 The table, mace, &c. are next defcrib- 
 cd, but thefe we Ihall pafs over in filence, 
 that we may get where mcft who enter 
 
 the Houfe of Commons, wilh to get to 
 
 the Treasury-Bench, 
 
 Where fit the gowned clerks, by antientrule. 
 This on a chair, and that upon a Ilool ; 
 Where fland^ the well-pil'd table, cloth'd in green j 
 Thsre on the left the Treasury-bench is feen. 
 No fattin covering decks the' unfightly boards; 
 No velvet cufhion holds the youthful Lords : 
 And claim illullrious Tails fuch fmall regard? 
 Ah ! Tails too tender for a feat fo hard. 
 
 ^ Thia
 
 [ 78 ] 
 
 This paflage touches on a fubje(5l of 
 much offence to the young friends of the 
 minifter ; we mean the barbarous and Go- 
 thic appearance of the benches in the Houfe 
 of Commons. The Treafury-bench itfelf 
 looks no better than a firft form in one of 
 our public fchools : 
 
 No fattin covering decks the' unfightly boards. 
 No velvet cuftiion holds the youthful Lords. 
 
 The above couplet ftates with much ele- 
 gance the matter of complaint, and glances 
 with equal dexterity at the proper remedy. 
 The compofition is then judicioufly varied. 
 The whole art of the poet is employed to in- 
 terefl our paffions in favour of the neceflary 
 reform, by expoftulatory interrogations and 
 interjedtions the moft affedingly pathetic. 
 And who can read the former, without 
 feeling his {cnCe of national honour mofl 
 deeply injured by the fuppofed indignity; 
 or who can read the latter, without melt- 
 ing into the moft unfeigned commifcration 
 for the adtual fufFerings to which the youth- 
 ful Lords are at prefent expofed ? It muft^ 
 
 doubtlefs.
 
 [79 3 
 
 doubtlefs, "be a feafonable relief to the 
 minds of our rcLjders, to be informed, that 
 Mr. Pitt (as it has been faid in fome of 
 the daily papers) means to propofe, for 
 one article of his Parliamentary Reform, 
 to cover the feats in general with crimfon 
 fattin, and to decorate the Treafury-bench, 
 in particular, with cufhions of crimfon 
 velvet ; one of * extraordinary dimenfions 
 being to be appropriated to Mr. W. 
 Grenville. ^ 
 
 The epithet *' tender" f n the lafl: line we 
 were at firft difpofed to coiifider as merely 
 iynonymous with ^ ^youthful J* BmI a friend, 
 to whom we repeated the pafTage, fufpccl- 
 ed that the word might bear fomc more 
 cmphatical fenfe; and this conjecture in- 
 deed fecms to be eftabliihed b^von J doubt, 
 by the original reading h\ the manufcript, 
 which, as we before faid, has been com- 
 municated to us, 
 
 ** Alas ! that flcfli, fo late by pedants fcarr'd, 
 ** Sore from the rod, fhould fuffer feats fo hard !*' 
 
 For a defcrlption of this young gentleman's perfon, 
 banx tof to bottom, fee N* V. 
 
 , Wc
 
 [ 80 ] 
 
 We give thefe verfes, not as admitting 
 any comparifon with the text, as it now 
 flands, but merely by way of commentary, 
 to illuftrate the Poet's meaning. 
 
 From the Treafury-bench, we afccnd 
 one flcp to the India-Bench. 
 
 There too, in place advanc'd, as in command, 
 
 ** Above the beardlefs rulers of the land, 
 
 * On a bare bench, alas ! exalted fit, 
 
 ** The pillai^ of Prerogative and Pitt ; 
 
 ** Delights of Afia, ornaments of man, 
 
 * Thy Sovereign's Sovereigns, happy Hindoftan.'* 
 
 The movement of thefe lines is, as the 
 fubjed; required, more elevated than that 
 of the preceding : Yet the prevaiHng fenti- 
 ment excited by the defcription of the 
 Treafury-bench, is artfully touched by our 
 author, as he pafles, in the Hemiflich, 
 
 On a bare bench, alas ! " > 
 
 which is a beautiful imitation of Virgil's 
 
 ' Ah ! filice in nuda- 
 
 The pompous titles fo liberally beftow- 
 
 cd on the Bengal squad, as the fenny^ 
 
 8 /e/s
 
 . t Si ] 
 
 iefs hireliiigs of oppoiition afFed to call 
 them, are truly in the Oriental tafte ; and 
 we doubt not, but every friend to the pre- 
 fent happy government, will readily agree 
 in the juftice of ftiling them " pillars of 
 prerogative and Pitt, delights of Alia, and 
 ornaments of man." Neither, we are af- 
 fured, can any man of any party objedt to 
 the laft of their high dignities, ** Sovereigns 
 of the Sovereign of India i" fince the Com- 
 pany's well-known fale of Shah Allum to 
 his own Vifier, is an indlfputable proof of 
 their fupremacy over the Great Mogul. 
 
 As oiir author has been formerly accufed 
 of plagiarifm, we muft here in candour 
 confefs, that he feems, in his defcription 
 of the India-bench) to have had an eye to 
 Milton's account of the devil's throne; 
 which, however, we are told, much ex- 
 ceeded the pofhble fplendour of any India- 
 bench, or even the magnificence of Mr* 
 Haflings himfclfi 
 
 High on a throne of royal ftate, which far 
 Outihone the wealth of Ormus^ or of Ind;
 
 [ Si ] 
 
 Ot where the gorgeous Eall, with lavifli handj 
 Show'rs on her King, barbaric pearl and gold ; 
 Satan exalted fate. 
 
 This concluding fthfafe, our readers will 
 obferve, is exactly and literally copied by 
 oiir author. It is alfo worthy of remark, 
 that as he calls the Bengal fquad. 
 
 The Pillars of Prerogative and Pitt, 
 
 So Milton calls Beelzebub, 
 
 A Pillar of State : 
 
 Though, it is certain, that the expreflion 
 here quoted may equally have been fug- 
 gefted by one of the Perfian titles *, faid 
 
 to 
 
 The following is copied from the Morning Chronicle 
 of Oftober 5, 1784. 
 
 Mr. HASTINGS'S Persian Titles, as engraved upon 
 a Seal, A if-ue I'ranjlation. 
 
 Nabob Governor-General Haftings, Sauh, 
 Pillar of the Empire, 
 The fortunate in War, Hero, 
 The nioil princely offspring of the Loins, 
 
 Of the King of the Univerfe, 
 
 The Defender of the Mahomedan Faith, 
 
 And Afylum of the World, &c. &c. &c. &c. 
 
 1'ranjlathn
 
 [ 83 ] 
 
 to be engraved on a feal of Mr. Hadings, 
 where we find the Governor General ftiled, 
 ** Pillar of the Empire." But we fhall leave 
 Jt to our readers to determine, as they may 
 think proper, on the moH: probable fource 
 of the metaphor, whether it were in reality 
 derived from Beelzebub or Mr. Bailings. 
 
 Tranjiation ef a Perjian Infer if t ion engrwven on a ^iffge 
 fine Ruby, being the titles either given to, or ajfumed by 
 M>'f' Hastings. 
 
 *^ Royal and Imperial Governefs^ 
 
 *' The elegance of the age, 
 
 ** The moll exalted Bilkifs, 
 
 ** Tl^e Zobajde of the Palaces, 
 
 * The moft heroic princefs, 
 
 " Kilby Marian Haftiqgs, Sa-^hy, &c. &c." 
 
 N. B. Wiyh the Muffulmans, 5/7a//} fignifles the perr9a 
 called in the Bible Hiftory the Queen of Sheba; and Zo~ 
 '^aide was a favourite wife of Mahomed ; and when they 
 wifh to pay the highell compliments to a lady, they com- 
 pare her to Bilkifs and Zobaide, who poHeiied the miH 
 galled beauty, and perfeAioi^ of every kind. 
 
 fc ^ N'-
 
 [ 84 3 
 
 N VIIL 
 
 FROM the above general compliment 
 to the India-bpnch, the poet, in the 
 perfon of Merlin, breaks out into the fol- 
 lowing animated apoftrophe to fome of 
 the principal among our Lcadenhall-ftreef 
 povernors : 
 
 All hail ! ye virtuous patriots without blot. 
 The minor Kinson and the major Scott : 
 And thou, of name uncouth to Britilh ear. 
 From Norman fmugglers fprung LeMesurierj 
 Hail Smiths j and Wraxall, unabafli'd to talk, 
 Tho' none will liften ; hail too. Call and Palk : 
 Thou, B'ARWELl, 'ift and good, whofe honourMname. 
 Wide, as the Ganges rolls, fhall live in fame. 
 Second to Hastings : and, Vansittart, thou, 
 A fecond Hastings, if the Fates allow. 
 
 The bold but truly poetical apocope, by 
 which the MeiTrs. At-kinfon and Jen-kin- 
 fon, are called the two kinfons, is already 
 familiaf" to the public. The minor Kin- 
 fon, or Kinfon the lefs,' is obvioufly Mr, 
 Atkinfon -, Mr. Jenkinfon being confefTed- 
 ' " - 1
 
 [ 85 ] 
 
 ly greater than Mr. Atkinfon, or any other 
 man, except o^E, in the kingdom. -The 
 antithefis of the Major Scott to the minor 
 Kinfon, feems to afcertain the fenfe of the 
 word Major, as fignifying in this place the 
 greater ^ it might mean alfo the elder ^ or 
 it might equally refer ^o the military rank 
 of the gentleman intended. This is a 
 beautiful example of the figure fo much 
 admired by the antients under the name of 
 the Paronomafia, or Pun. They who rca- 
 colledl the light in which our authpr be- 
 fore reprefented Major Scott, as a pamph- 
 leteer, fit only to furnifli a water-cloiet, 
 may poffibly wonder to find him here men- 
 tioned as THE GREATER ScOTT ; but 
 
 whatever may be his literary talents, he 
 xnuft be acknowledged to be truly great, 
 and worthy of the confpicuous place here 
 afllgned him, if we confider him in his 
 capacity of agent to Mr. Haftings, and of 
 confequence chief manager of the Bengal 
 Squad ', and it mud be remembered, that 
 this is the charader in which he is here 
 introduced. The circumftance of Mr. Le 
 Mefurier's origin from Norman Smugglers, 
 '4., ha
 
 [ 86 3 
 
 jbas been crroneoufly fuppofed by fomc 
 critics to be defigned for a reproach -, but 
 they could not poffibly have fallen into this 
 miftake, if they had for a moment re fled:-.- 
 cd t:hat it is addreiTed by Merlin to Rol^ 
 xo, who was himfelf no more than a Nor^ 
 man pirate. Smuggling and piracy in 
 heroic times were not only efteemed not 
 infamous, but abfolutely honourable. The 
 Smiths, Call and Palk of our poet, refemble 
 the 
 
 Alcandrumqtie, Hallumque, Noemonaque, Prytanimque, 
 
 of Homer and Virgil ; who introduce thofe 
 gallant warriors for the fake of a frnooth 
 verfe, and difpatch them at a ftroke with- 
 out the dijdindion of a fingle epithet. Our 
 poet too has more profefTedly iqiitated Vir- 
 gil in the lines refpeding Mr. Vanfittart^ 
 pow a candidate to fucceed Mr. Haftings, 
 
 And, Vansittart, thou 
 
 A fecond Hastings, if the fates allow, 
 
 Si qua fata afpera rumpas, 
 
 Tu Marcellus eri^ ! 
 
 The palTage however is, as might be 
 hoped from the genius of our author, ob- 
 
 yioufly
 
 [ 87 ] 
 
 viouily improved in the imitation ; as it in- 
 volves a climax, moft happily exprefTed. 
 Mr. Barwell has been panegyrized in the 
 lines immediately foregoing, as fecond to 
 Haftings -, but of Mr. Vanfittart it is pro- 
 phefied, that he w^ill be 2l fecond Haftings i 
 fecond indeed in time, but equal perhaps 
 in the diftinguifhing merits of that great 
 and good man, in obedience to the Court 
 of Diredors, attention to the interefts of 
 the Company in preference to his own, 
 abflinence from rapacity and extortion, 
 juftice and policy toward the princes, and 
 humanity to all the natives of Hindoftan. 
 The ingenious turn on the words, fecond 
 to Haftings^ and a fecond Haftings, would 
 have furnished matter for whole pages to 
 the Dionyfius's, Longinus's, and Quinti- 
 lians of antiquity, though the afFe<fled de- 
 licacy of modern tafte may condemn it as 
 quibble and jingle. 
 
 The poet then hints at a moil ingenious 
 propofal for the embellifhment of the India- 
 bench, according to the new plan of Par- 
 liamentary Reform; not by jfitting it up 
 
 like
 
 i 88 ] 
 
 like the Treaftiry - bench, with velvet 
 cufhions, but by ere(5ting for the aceom- 
 modation of the Leadenhall worthieSj the 
 ivory bed, which was lately prefented tQ^ 
 her Majefty by Mrs* Haftings. 
 
 O that for you, in Oriental Hate, 
 
 At eafe reclin'd to watch the long debate* 
 
 Beneath the gallery's pillar'd height were fpread 
 
 (With the Queen's leave) your Warren's ivoxy bed t 
 
 The pannels of the gallery too, over the 
 canopy of the bed, are to be ornamented 
 with fuitable paintings. 
 
 Above, in colours warm with mimic life> 
 The German hufband of your Warren's wife 
 His rival's deeds (hould blazon ; and dilplay. 
 In his bleft rule the glories of your fwayi 
 
 What fingular propriety, what ftriking 
 beauty muft the reader of taile immediate- 
 ly perceive in this choice of a painter to 
 execute the author's defign ! It cannot be 
 doubted but Mrs. Haflings would exert all 
 her own private and all Major Scott's pub- 
 lic influence with every branch of the 
 Legiflature, to btain fo illuflrious a job 
 
 for
 
 C 89 ] 
 
 for the man to whofe afFedlon, or to whofe 
 want of afFedion, (he owes her prefent for- 
 tunes. The name of this artifl is ImhoiFj 
 but though he was once honoured with 
 Royal Patronage, he is now beft remem- 
 bered from the circumftance, by which 
 our author has diftinguiflied him, of his 
 former relation to Mrs. Haftings. 
 
 Then follow the fubjeds of the paint- 
 ings, which are feleded with the ufual 
 judgment of our poet. 
 
 Here might the tribes of Rohilcund expire. 
 
 And quench with blood their towns, that fink in fire ; 
 
 The Begums there, of pow'r, of wealth forlorn. 
 
 With female cries their haplcfs fortune mourn. 
 
 Here hardly refcu'd from his guard, CHkvT Sing 
 
 Aghaft fhould fly ; there Nvndcomar fliould fwing j 
 
 Happy fbr him ! if he had borne to fee 
 
 His country beggar'd of the laft rupee ; 
 
 Nor call'd thofe laws, O Hastings, on thy head. 
 
 Which, mock'd by thee, thy flaves alone fliould dread. 
 
 Thefe flories, we prefume, are too pub- 
 lic to require any explanation. But if our 
 readers (hould wi(h to be more particular- 
 
 M ly
 
 [ 90 ] 
 
 ly acquainted with them, they will find 
 them in the * Adventures of Robinfon 
 Crufoe, commonly called the Reports of 
 the Seled: and Secret Committees, with 
 Appendixes of Letters, Minutes, and Nar- 
 ratives written by Mr. Ilaftings himfelf : 
 Or they may confult the Hiftory of 
 Alexander the Great, contained in Major 
 John Scott's narrative of the admin iftraticn 
 of Mr. Haftings. Though we would rather 
 refer them to the latter work, as in our 
 opinion it is one of the moft fatisfadlory de- 
 fences ever publiflied ; and proves to de- 
 monftration, that Mr. Haftings never com- 
 mitted a lingle a(5t of injuftice or cruelty, 
 but he conftantly obtained forty or fifty 
 lacks for the Company or himfelf That 
 an enquiry into pafl: abufes is an impolitic 
 order j becaufe ** much valuable time muft 
 '* be loft, and much odium incurred by 
 *' the attempt :' and therefore Mr. Haft- 
 ings of courfe ought not to have been cen- 
 fured at all, unlefs he had been cenfured 
 hjbre he had done any thing to deferve 
 
 * We have the higheft law authority for this title ; a 
 fvell as for calling Mr. JHaftings Alexander the Great. 
 
 it,
 
 t 91 ] 
 
 it. That it was right for Mr. Haftings to 
 keep up the good old cuftom of receiving 
 prefents, in defiance of a pofitive law; 
 becaufe his predeceiTors had received as 
 large fums when they were authorized by 
 cuftom; and not prohibited by any law. - 
 That Mr. Haflings was juftified in dif- 
 obeying the orders of the Directors, be- 
 caufe he could nootherwife have convinced 
 the Country Powers of his fuperiority over 
 his Mafters, which was, and is, abfoiutely 
 neceffary that, though it may be quef- 
 tioned if Nundcomar was legally condemn- 
 ed, it was proper to execute him, in order 
 to fhew the juftice and impartiality of the 
 Judges in hanging the natives, whom they 
 were fent efpecially to protect. That a 
 Treaty of Peace betv/een two nations is of 
 no force, if you can get one of the indivi- 
 duals who officially figned it, to confent 
 to the infraftion of it together with many 
 other pofitions, equally juil and novel, 
 both in Ethics and Politics. 
 
 But to return to our Poet. Merlin now 
 
 drops his apoftrophe, and eulogizes the 
 
 M % India-
 
 C 9i ] 
 
 India-bench in the third perfon for the 
 bleflings of Tea and the Commutation Tax, ' 
 The following paflage will fhew our author 
 to be, probably a much better Grocer than 
 Mr. Pitt ; and perhaps little inferior to the 
 Tea-Purchafer's Guide, 
 
 What tongue can tell the various kinds of Tea r 
 ' Of Blacks and Greens, of Hyfoji and Bohea ; 
 With Singlo, Congou, Pekoe, and Souchong ; 
 Cowllip the fragrant. Gun-powder 'the ftrong: 
 And more, all heathenifli alike in name. 
 Of humbler fome, and fome of nobler fame. 
 
 The prophet then compares the break- 
 fafts of his own times with thofe of ours : 
 attributes to the former the intradiable* 
 fpirit of that age ; and from the latter fer- 
 vently prays, like a loyal fubje6l, for the 
 perfect accomplishment of their natural cf- 
 feds J that they may relax the nerves of 
 Englifhmen into a proper ftate of fubmiffion 
 to the fuperior powers. We lliall infert 
 the lines at length. 
 
 On mighty beef, bedew'd with potent ale. 
 Our Saxons, rous'd at early dawn, regale ; 
 
 An4
 
 C 93 ] 
 
 And hence, a fturdy, bold, rebellious race. 
 
 Strength in the frame, and fpirit in the face. 
 
 All facred right of Sovereign Povy'r defy. 
 
 For Freedom conquer, or for Freedom die. 
 
 Not fo their fons of manners more polite; 
 
 How would they ficken at the very fight ! 
 
 O'er Chocolate's rich froth, o'er CoiFee's fume. 
 
 Or Tea's hot tide their noons Ihall they confume. 
 
 But chief, all fexes, every rank and age. 
 
 Scandal and Tea, more grateful, fhall engage j 
 
 In gilded roofs, befide fome hedge in none. 
 
 On poljlh'd tables, or the cafual ftone. 
 
 Be Bloom reduc'd ; and Pitt no more a foe, 
 
 Ev'n Pitt, the fayourite of the fair ihall grow; 
 
 Be but Mundungut cheap ; on light and air 
 
 New burthens gladly fhall our peafants bear. 
 
 And boil their peaceful kettles, gentle fouls ! 
 
 Contented, if no tax be laid on coals. 
 
 Aid then, kind Providence, yon' generous Bench, 
 
 With copious draughts the thirfty realm to drench ; 
 
 And oh ! thy equal aid let Preston find. 
 
 With * muJly-fnAjeet and mouldy-frejh combin'd. 
 
 To palfy h^lf our ifle : 'till, wan, and weak. 
 
 Each nerve unftrung, and bloodlefs every cheek. 
 
 Head anfwering head, and noddling thro' the ftreet. 
 
 The deftin'd change of Britons is complete/ 
 
 The Tea-dealers aflure us, that Mr. Prkston's/iv^^ 
 tnd frejb Teas contain a great part of theOT/?j and mouldy 
 (fheils, which the Trade rejedled, 
 
 TMng,
 
 [ 94 ] 
 
 Things without will, like India's feeble brood. 
 Or China's fhaking Mandarines of wood. 
 So may the Crown in native luftre fliine. 
 And Britilh Kings re-fume their right divine. 
 
 We have been thus prolix in giving the 
 whole of this quotation, as we think it 
 glances very finely at the true policy, why 
 it is expedient to encourage the universal 
 confumption of an article, which fome 
 factious people have called a pernicious 
 luxury. And our readers, we are perfuad- 
 ed, will agree with us, when we decidedly 
 pronounce this as good a defence of the 
 Commutation Tax, as we have yet feen. 
 
 We muft obferve however that our au- 
 thor is probably indebted to the extenfive 
 information of Lord Sydney, for the hint of 
 the following couplet : 
 
 In gilded roofs, befide fome hedge In none. 
 On polifh'd tables, or the cafual ftone. 
 
 The Secretary of State in the difcuflion^f 
 the above-mentioned tax, very ably calcu- 
 lated the great quantity of tea confumed 
 under hedges by vagrants, who have no 
 houfes ; from which he moft ingenioufly 
 argued to the juftice and equity of laying 
 the impbft on perfons who have houfes, 
 
 whether they coufume it or not. 
 
 We
 
 [ 9S ] 
 
 We fhall conclude this number, as the 
 Poet concludes the fubjcd:, with fome 
 animated verfes on Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt. 
 
 Crown the froth'd Porter, flay the fatted Ox, 
 And give the Britifli meal to Britifti Fox. 
 But for an Indian minifter more fit. 
 Ten cups of pureft Padrae pour for Pitt, 
 Pure as himfelf; add fugar too and cream. 
 Sweet as his temper, bland as flows the ftream 
 Of his fmooth eloquence ; then crifply nice 
 The muffin toaft, or bread and butter flice. 
 Thin as his arguments, that mock the mind. 
 Gone, ere you tafte, no relifh left behind. 
 Where beauteous Brighton overlooks the fea, 
 Thefe be his joys : and Steele (hall make the Tea. 
 
 How neat ! how delicate ! and how un- 
 cxpe6led is the allufion in the laft couplet ! 
 Thefe two lines alone include the fubftance 
 of whole columns, in the miniflerial papers 
 of laft fummer, on the fober, the chafle, the 
 virtuous, the edifying manner in which the 
 Immaculate Young Man palled the recefs 
 from public bulinefs^ not in riot and de- 
 bauchery, not in gaming, not in attendance 
 on ladies^ either modeft or immodeft, but 
 in drinking Tea with Mr. Steele, at the 
 Caftle in Brighthelmflone. Let future 
 ages read and admire ! 
 
 I N^
 
 t 96 1 
 
 N IX. 
 
 IN every new edition of this incompar- 
 able poem, it has been the invariable 
 practice of the author, to take an oppor- 
 tunity of adverting to fuch recent circum- 
 ftances, as have occurred fince the original 
 publication of it, relative to any of the il- 
 luftrious charadters he has celebrated. The 
 public has lately been afTured, that the 
 Marquis of Graham is elected Chancellor 
 of the Univerfity of Glafgovi^ and has pre- 
 fented that learned body with a complete 
 fet of the engravings of Piranefi, an emi- 
 nent Italian artift ; of which, we are happy 
 to acquaint the Dilettanti, a few remain- 
 ing fets are to be purchafed at Mr. Alder- 
 man Boydell's printfhop, in Cheapfide, 
 price twelve pounds twelve {hillings each. 
 An anecdote refledting fo much honour 
 upon one of the favourite charadcrs f our 
 author, could not pafs unnoticed in the 
 R0LLIAD5 and accordingly, in his laft edi- 
 tion.
 
 [ 97 ] 
 
 thn, we iii>d the following eomplimentary 
 lines tipon the fubje(5k: 
 
 If right the Bard, wholfe numbers Cwetily Rov/, 
 That all our knowledge is ourfelves to know ; 
 A fage like Graham, can the world produce. 
 Who in full fenate calTd himfelf a goofe? 
 The' admiring Commons, from the high-born youth. 
 With wonder heard this undifputed truth ; 
 xulting Glafgow claim*d him for her own. 
 And plac'd the prodigy on Learning's throne. 
 
 He then alludes to the magnificent pre- 
 fent above-mentioned, and concludes in 
 that happy vein of alliterative excellence^ 
 for which he is fo juflly admired 
 
 With gorgeous gifts from gen'rous Graham grac'd,. 
 Great Glafgow grows the granary of tafte. 
 
 Our readers will doubtlefs rccolIe(ft, that 
 this is not the firft tribute of applaufe paid 
 to the diftinguifhcd merit of the public- 
 fpirited young Nobleman in queftion. In 
 the firft edition of the poem, his character 
 was drawn at length, the many fervices he 
 has rendered his country were enumerated, 
 and wc have lately been alTured by oar 
 N worthy
 
 - t 98 3 
 
 worthy friend and correfpondent, Mr. Mal- 
 colm McGregor, the ingenious author of 
 the Heroic Epiftle to Sir William Cham- 
 bers, arid other valuable poems, that the 
 following fpirited verfes, recording the 
 ever-memorable cifcumftance'of his Lord- 
 ship's having procured for the inhabitants 
 of the Northern extremity of our Ifland, 
 the ineftimable privilege of exempting their 
 pofteriors from thofe ignominious fymbols 
 of flavcry, vulgarly denominated breeches, 
 are adually univerfally repeated with en- 
 thufiafm, throughout every part of the 
 Highlands of Scotland 
 
 Thee, Graham! thee, the frozen Chieftains blefs. 
 Who feel thy bounties thro* theif fav'rite drcfs! 
 By thee they view their refcu'd country clad 
 In the bleak honours of their long- loft plaid ; 
 Thy patriot zeal has bar'd their parts behind 
 To the keen whiftlings of the wint'ry wind ; 
 While Lairds 'the dirk, while lallcs bag-pipes prize. 
 And oat-meal cake the want of bread fupplies; 
 The fcurvy fltin, while fcaly fcabs enrich, 
 Whije contaft gives, and brimftone cures_ the itch. 
 Each breeze that blows upon thofe brawny parts. 
 Shall wal;e thy lov'd remembrance in their hearts ; 
 
 And
 
 C 99 3 
 
 And while they frefhen from the Northera blafl. 
 So long thy honour, name, and praife fhall laft, 
 
 We need not call to the cccolledtion of 
 tbe^ clafllcal reader, 
 
 Dum juga mentis aper, fluvios dum pifcis amablt. 
 Semper honos, nomenque tuum laudefque manebunt. 
 
 And the reader of tafle will not hefitate 
 to pronounce, that the copy has much im- 
 proved upon, and very far furpailed the 
 original. In thefe lines we alfo find the 
 moft llriking. inflances of the beauties of 
 alliteration ; and however fome faftidious 
 critics have affed:ed to undervalue this ex- 
 cellence, it is no fmall triumph to thofe of 
 a contrary fentiment to fin-d, that next to 
 our own incomparable author, the moft 
 exalted genius of the prefent age has not 
 difdained to borrow the afliftance of this 
 ornament, in many pafTnges of the beauti- 
 ful dramatic treafure with which he has 
 recently enriched the ftage. Is it necef- 
 fary for us to add, that it is the new tragedy 
 of the Carmehte to which we allude ? A 
 tragedy, the beauties of which, we will 
 N 2 Venture
 
 # 
 
 venture confidently to affert, will be ad- 
 mired and felt, when thofe of Shakfpeare, 
 Pryden, Otway, Southerne, and Rowe, 
 ihall be no longer held in eftimation. As 
 examples of alliterative beauty, we Ihall 
 feleft the following : 
 
 The hand of Heav'n hangs o'er me and my houfe. 
 To their untimely graves feven fons fwept off. 
 
 Again- 
 
 So much for tears the' twenty years they flow. 
 They wear no channels in a widow's cheeks. 
 
 The alternate alliteration of the fecond 
 line, in this inftance, feems an improve- 
 ment upon the art, to the whole mjerlt of 
 which Mr. Cumberland is himfelf un- 
 queflrionably entitled. 
 
 Afterwards we read, 
 
 ~ Treafiires hoarded up. 
 
 With carking care, and a long life of thrift. ' 
 
 la additfon to the alliterative merit, wc 
 cannot hqre fail to admire- the judicioufly 
 
 feledled
 
 ielefted epithet of " carking' -, and the two 
 Jines immediately following, although no 
 example of that merit, fliould not be 
 omitted : 
 
 Now, without interefl, or redemption fwallow'd. 
 By the devouring bankrupt waves for ever. 
 
 How flriking is the comparifon of the 
 ocean, to a bankrupt fwallowing without 
 intereft or redemption, the property of his 
 unfortunate creditors ? Where fhall we 
 find a fimile of equal beauty, unlefs fome 
 may poiTibly judge the following to be fo, 
 which is to be found in another part of the 
 fame fublime work, of two perfons weep- 
 ing 
 
 We will fit. 
 
 Like fountain flatues, face to face oppos'd. 
 And each to other tell our griefs in tears. 
 Yet neither utter word 
 
 Our readers, we trufl, will pardon our 
 having been diverted from the tafk we have 
 undertaken, by the fatisfad:ion of dwelling 
 on a few of the many beauties of this juft- 
 ly popular and univerfally admired tragedy, 
 
 which
 
 [ ie2 ] 
 
 which in our humble opinion infiniteljr 
 furpaiTes every other theatrical compofition, 
 being^in truth an aflemblagc of every pof- 
 fible dramatic excellence : nor do we be- 
 lieve, that any produdion, whether of 
 ancient or modern date, can exhibit a more 
 uncommon and peculiar feledion of lan- 
 guage, a greater variety of furprifing inci- 
 dents, a more rapid fucceffion of extraordi- 
 nary difcoveries, a more curious colledtion 
 of defcriptions, fimllies, metaphors, images, 
 ftorms, fliipwrecks, challenges, and vifions, 
 or a more mifcellaneous and ftriking pidurc 
 of the contending pailions of love, hatred, 
 piety, madnefs, rage, jealoufy, remorfe, 
 and hunger, than this unparalleled per- 
 formance prefents to the admiration of the 
 enraptured fpedtator. Mr. Cumberland has 
 been reprefented, perhaps unjuftly, as par- 
 ticularly jealous of the fame of his cotern- 
 poraries, but we are perfuaded he will not 
 be offended when, in the rank* of modern 
 writers, we place him fecond only to the 
 inimitable author of the Rolliad. 
 
 . To
 
 C I03 ] 
 
 To return from the digreflion into which 
 a fubje^t fo fedacing has involuntarily be- 
 trayed us. The reader will recoiled:, that 
 in our laft we left Merlin gratifying the 
 curiofity of Rollo, with a view of that 
 AfTembly of which his Defcendant is one 
 day deftined to become fo conlpicuous an 
 ornament. After having given the due 
 preference to the India-Bench, he proceeds 
 to point out to him others of the mofl: dif- 
 tinguifhed fupporters of the prefent virtuous 
 Adminiflration. Having already mention- 
 ed the moft: confidential friends of the 
 Minifter, he now introduces us to the ac- 
 quaintance of an adive young Member, 
 who has upon all occafions been pointedly 
 fevere upon the noble Lord in the blue 
 ribbon, and who is remarkable for never 
 having delivered his fentiments upon any 
 fubje(5t, whether relating to the Eaft-Indics, 
 the Reform of Parlianient, or the Weft- 
 minfter Eledion, without a copious dif- 
 fertation upon the principles, caufcs, and 
 condudt of the American war. 
 
 Lo! Bkaufoy rifes, friend to foft repofe ; 
 Whofe gentle acccuts prompt the houfe to dofe :
 
 [ 1^4 J 
 
 KJs cadence juft, a general flcep provokes, 
 , Almaft as quickly as Sir Richard's jokes. 
 Thy fl ambers. North, he ftrives in vain to break. 
 When all are lleeping thou wotild'ft fcarce awake ; 
 Though fronv. his lips fevere inveflives- fell. 
 Sharp as the acid he delights to fell. 
 
 In explanation of the laft line. It may 
 be, perhaps, neceflary to apprife our read- 
 ers, that this accomplifhed orator, although 
 the elegance of his di6lion, and fmooth- 
 nefs of his manner, partake rather of the 
 properties of oil, is in his commercial ca- 
 pacity, a dealer in vinegar. The fpeaker 
 alluded to, under the name of Sir Rich- 
 ard, is probably the fame whom our au- 
 thor, upon a former occafion, ftiled 
 
 Sleep-giving poet of a fleeplefs night. 
 
 The limits of our plan will not allow 
 us to enlarge upon the various beauties with- 
 which this part of the work abounds -, we 
 cannot, however, omit the pathetic de- 
 fciption of the Speaker's fituation, nor thcA 
 admirable comparifon of Lord Mahon 
 preying on his patience, to the vulture de- 
 vouring
 
 [ loj ] 
 
 vouring the liver of Prometheus. The 
 neceflity of the Speaker's continuing in the 
 chair while the Houfe fits, naturally re- 
 minds our author of his favourite Virgil : 
 
 fedet setemumque fedebit 
 
 Infelix Thefeus 
 
 There Cor ne wall fits, and, oh unhappy fate ! 
 - Muft fit for ever through the long debate ; 
 Save, when compell'd by Nature's fovereign will. 
 Sometimes to empty, and fometimes to fill. 
 Painful pr-eminence ! he hears, 'tis true. 
 Fox, North, and Burke, but hears Sir Joseph too* 
 
 Then follows the iimile 
 
 Like fad Prometheus, faften'd to his rock. 
 In vain he looks for pity to the clock ; 
 In vain th* effetls of ftrength'ning porter tries. 
 And nods to Bellamy for frefli fupplies ; 
 While vulture- like, the dire Mahon appears, 
 And, far more favage, rends his foft'ning ears. 
 
 O N^
 
 [ io6 ] 
 
 N X. 
 
 AMONGST the various pretenfrons 
 to critical approbation, which are 
 to be found in the excellent and never--- 
 fufficiently to be admired produdion, which 
 is the objed: of thefe comments, there h 
 one that will ftrike the claffical obferver 
 as peculiarly prominent and praife- worthy; 
 nfimely, the uncommon ability fhewn by 
 the author, in the felecSion of his heroes. 
 The perjhnce tEat are introduced in the 
 courfe of this poem, are charafters that 
 fpeak for the.mfelves. The very mention 
 of their names, is a fummons to approba- 
 tion ; and the relation o^ their hiflory> if 
 given in detail, would prove nothing mor^e 
 than a lengthened panegyric. Who that 
 has heard of the names of a Jenkinfon, 
 a Robinfon, or a Dundas, has not in the 
 fame breath heard alfo what they are ? 
 Tlxi is the fecret of our author's fcience 
 and 'excellence. It is \his that enables him 
 
 to
 
 [ 07 3 
 
 
 
 to omit the dull detail of introductory ex- 
 planation, and to faften upon' his bufinefi.-, 
 if one may ufe the ejipreflion, flap-da(h, 
 and at once. 
 
 Semper ad eventum fcftinat, et in"medias res, 
 
 Non fecus ac notas auditprem rapit. Hor. 
 
 Homer bimfelf yields, in this refpel:, to 
 our author; for who would not perceive 
 tiic evident injuftice done to the modern 
 bard, if we were to place the wifdom of 
 an Ulyfles on any competition with the ex- 
 perience of a Pitt; to mention the bully 
 Ajax, as half fo genuine a bully, as the 
 bully Thurlow j if we were to look up- 
 on Neftor as having a quarter of the in- 
 terefting circumlocution of the ambiguous 
 Nugent; to confider Achilles as polfefled 
 of half the anger of a Rolle; or to 
 fuppole for a moment, that the famous 
 woloLq-uyaq of antiquity, could run nearly 
 fo taft in a rage, as the member for Devon 
 in a fright; to conceive the yellow-haired 
 Paris to have had half the beauty of the 
 ten times more yellow-haired Villiersj 
 
 O 2 to
 
 [ io8 ] 
 
 to look upon Agamemnon as in any degree 
 fo ditatonal to his chiefs as the high- 
 minded Richmond -, to confider the 
 friendlhip of Patroclus, as pofTefled of a 
 milUonth portion of the difmterefted at- 
 tachment of a Dundas; to have any con- 
 ception that the choftn band of Theilalian 
 Myrmidons, were to be any way compar- 
 ed, in point of implicit fubmiffion, to the 
 ftill more dextroufly chofen band of the 
 Minifter in the Britifh Houfe of Commons. 
 Or -but there is no end to fb invidious a 
 comparifon ; and we will not expofe poor 
 Homer, to the farther mortification of 
 purfuing it. 
 
 Merlin proceeds in his relation, and 
 fixes upon an object that will not, we be- 
 lieve, prove any difgrace to our author's 
 general judgment of feledlion^ namely, 
 that worthy Baronet, and univerfally ad- 
 mired wit. Sir Richard Hill, of whom 
 it may be truly faid. 
 
 Pariter pietate jocifque, 
 
 EgregiHs, 
 
 He
 
 I 109 ] 
 
 He looks upon him as an individual 
 meriting every diftindtion, and has thought 
 proper therefore, in the laft edition of the 
 Roll IAD, though the Baronet had been 
 * flightly touched upon before, to enlarge 
 what was then faid, into a more particular 
 defcription. Speaking of Sir Richard's 
 ilyle of elocution, our author obferves 
 
 With quaint formality of facred fmut. 
 
 His rev'rend jokes fee pious Richard cut. 
 
 Let meaner talents from the Bible dra,w 
 
 Their faith, their morals Thefe, and Thofe their law ; 
 
 His lively genius finds in holy writ 
 
 A richer mine of unfufpcded wit- 
 
 What never Jew, what never Chriftian taught. 
 
 What never fir'd one feftary's heated thought. 
 
 What not e*en f Rowland dream'd, he faw aloae. 
 
 And to the wondering fenate iirfl made known ; 
 
 How bright o'er mortal jokes the Scripture: fhine 
 
 Refplendent Jefl-book of bon-mots divine. 
 
 This defcription will be readily felt, and, 
 we truft, not lefs cordially admired, by all 
 thofe who may have enjoyed the pleafure 
 of auricular evidence to Sir Richard's 
 
 See N III. 
 f The Reverend Rowland HiLL,brotherof Sir Richard. 
 
 8 oratory.
 
 C no ] 
 
 oratory. The thought of converting the 
 Bible into a jeji bookf is, we believe, 
 quite new ; and not more original in itfelf, 
 than chara<3:eriftically juil in its application 
 to the fpeaker. We all know that SauT 
 affe<5ted infanityfor the fake of religion, in 
 the early periods of our holy faith ; and 
 why fo great an example fhould not be 
 imitated in later times, we leave it to the 
 prophane to fhew. 
 
 We know not whether it is worth ob- 
 -ierving, that the eloquence of this illuflri- 
 ous family is not confined to Sir Richard 
 alone ; but that his brother inherits the 
 fame gift, and if poflible", in a greater de- 
 gree. It is faid, there is an intention of 
 diverting this latter gentleman of his clerical 
 robe, and bringing him into the fenate, as 
 the avowed competitor of our modern 
 Cromwell. If this happy event Should 
 luckily take place, we fhall literally fee 
 the obfervation then realifed, that the Mi- 
 niftry will give to their wicked e;iemies, 
 on the other fide of the Houfe, what they 
 have fo long wanted ancj 4eferved, 
 
 A
 
 [ " ] 
 
 A Renv/and for their Oliver.'* 
 
 This, however, by the way. Our author 
 re fumes his fubjed: with the following 
 fpiritcd apoflrophe : -r 
 
 Methinks I fee him from the Bench arlfe, 
 His words afl keennefs, bat ajl meek his eyeS; 
 Define the good religion might produce, 
 T^rkSici Its higheft excellence aBafe'j 
 And with his tongue, that two-edgM weapofl, fliew. 
 At once, the double worth of Job and Joe. 
 
 yo^, as fome of our more learned readers 
 may know, is a book in the Old Tefta* 
 ment, and is ufed here per fynechdacherif 
 as a part for the whole. Nothing can be 
 more natural, than the preference given to 
 this book, on this occalion, as Sir Richard 
 is well known In his fpeeches to be Iq 
 admirable an auxiliary to its precepts. The 
 perfon of the name of Joe, who has re- 
 ceived fo laconic a mention in the laft line 
 of the above cxtrad;, will be recognifed by 
 the critical and the intelligent, as the fame 
 individual who dillinguiflied himfelf fo 
 eminently in the fjxteenth century, as a 
 writer and a wit, namely, Mr. Jofeph 
 Miller; a great genius, and an author, 
 
 avowedly
 
 [ 112 ] 
 
 avowedly In the higheft eftlniatlon with 
 our learned Baronet. 
 
 The bufinefs of the compofitlon goes 
 on. It is evident, however, the poet was 
 extremely averfe to quit a fubjed: upon 
 which his congenial talents repofed fo 
 kindly. He does not leave Sir Richard, 
 therefore, without the following finifhed 
 and mofl high-wrought compliment : 
 
 With wit fo various, piety fo odd, 
 
 Quoting by turns from Miller, and from God ; 
 
 Shall no diftindion wait thy honour'd name ? 
 
 No lofty epithet tranfmit thy fame ? 
 
 Forbid it wit, from mirth refin'd away ! 
 
 Forbid it Scripture, which thou mak'ft fo gay ! 
 
 Scipio, we know, was Africanus call'd, 
 
 Richard ftyl'd Long -Shanks Charles furnam'd 
 
 The Bald; 
 Shall thefe, for petty merits be renowned, , 
 And no proud phrafe, with panegyric found. 
 Swell thy fliort name, great HiLLi Here take thy 
 
 due. 
 And hence be call'd the Scriptural Killigrew. 
 
 The admlniftration of baptifm to adults, 
 is quite confonant to Sir Richard's 
 
 creed ;
 
 [ "3 ] 
 
 creed j and we are perfectly fiitisfiedi there 
 is not a Member in the Houfe of Com- 
 mons, that will not (land fponfor for him 
 on this honourable occafion* Should any- 
 one aft him in future, who gave you that 
 oame ? Sir Richard may fairly and truly 
 reply. My Godfathers, &c. and quote the 
 whole of the lower affembly, as coming 
 
 under that defcription. 
 
 Merlin, led, as may be eafily fiippofed, 
 
 by fympathy of rank, talents, and cha- 
 
 T^OiQr, now pointed his wand to mother 
 
 worthy baronet, hardly lefs worthy of dif- 
 
 tincftion than the lafl: perfonage himfelfj 
 
 namely. Sir Joseph Mawbev. Of him 
 
 the author fets out with laying* 
 
 Let this, ye wife, be eyer underftood. 
 Sir Joseph is as witty as he's good. - 
 
 Here, fdr the firft time, the anriotators 
 upon this immortal poem, find thcmfclves 
 compelled, in critical jufticc to own, that 
 the author has not kept entire pace with 
 the original which he has afFe<5ted to imi- 
 tate. The diftich, of which the above is 
 a parody,, was compofed by the worthy 
 P hero
 
 [ "4 ] 
 
 hero of this part of the Rolli /,thc 
 amiable Sir Jofeph himfelf, and runs thus : 
 
 Ye ladies, of your hearts beware : 
 Sir Joseph's falfe as he is fair. 
 
 How kind, and how difcreet a caution ! 
 This couplet, independent of its other 
 merits, poirefTes a recommendation not 
 frequently found in poetry, the tranfcendent 
 ornament of Truth. How far, indeed, the 
 fahhood of this refpedlable individual has. 
 been difplaycd in his gallantries, it is not 
 the province of fober criticifm to enquire. 
 We take up the affertion with a large com- 
 prehenfion, ^nd with a flri<fter eye to gene- 
 ral chara6ler 7 
 
 Sra Joseph's falfe as lie is fair.- 
 
 Is it necefTary to challenge, what no one 
 will be abfurd enough to give a contra- 
 dl^lion to fo acknowledged a truth ? Or is 
 it necefTary to ftate to the fafhionable reader, 
 that whatever may be the degree of Sir 
 Jofeph's boafted falfliood, it cannot fur- 
 plafs the fairnefe of his complexion ? The 
 4 pofition.
 
 [ U5 ] 
 
 pofition, therefore, is what logicians call 
 convertible : nothing can equal his falOiood 
 but his fairnefs ; nothing his fairnefs but 
 his fahhood, Incomparable ! 
 
 Proceeding to a defcription of his elo- 
 quence, he fays, 
 
 A fty of pigs, though all at once it fqueaks. 
 Means not fo much as Maw bey when he fpeaks ; 
 And hift'ry ffkys, he never yet had bred 
 A pig with fuch a voice, or fuch a head ! 
 Except, indeed, when he eflays to joke ; 
 And then his wit is truly pig-in -poke, 
 
 Delcribing Sir Jofeph's acquilitions as a 
 fcholar, the author adds. 
 
 His various knowledge I will ftill maintain. 
 He is indeed a knowing man in grain. 
 
 Some commentators have invldioufly 
 fuggefted, that the lad line of this couplet 
 fliould be printed thus. 
 
 His is indeed a knowing man In grain. 
 
 aligning as their reafon, that the phrafe 
 
 in grain evidently alludes to bran, with 
 
 P ^ which
 
 [ ii6 3 
 
 which Sir Jofeph's little grunting common- 
 wealth is fupported i and for the difcreet 
 an,d prudent purchafe of which our worthy- 
 baronet is famous. 
 
 Our author concludes his defcription of 
 this great fenator with the following dif- 
 tich : 
 
 Such adaptation ne'er was feen beforCj, 
 His trade a hog is, and his wit a boar. 
 
 It has been propofed to us to amend the 
 fpelling of the lafh word, thus, bore \ this 
 improvement, however, as it was called, 
 we rcjed: as a calumny. 
 
 Where the beauty of a pafTage is pre- 
 eminently fblking as above, we wafte not 
 criticifm in ufelefs efforts at emendation. 
 
 The writer goes on. He tells you he 
 cannot quit this hiftory of wits, without 
 faying fomething of another individual j 
 whom, however, he defcribes as every 
 way inferior to the two laft mentioned, 
 but who, neverthelefs, poiTefles fome pre- 
 tenfions to a place in the Rolliad. The 
 
 individual
 
 [ "7 ] 
 
 individual alluded to, is Mr. George 
 Selwyn. The author defcribes him as 2. 
 man polTefled of 
 
 A plenteous magazine of retail wit 
 Vamp'd up at leifure for fome future hit ; 
 Cut for fuppos'd occafions, like the trade. 
 Where old new things for every ^ape are made ! 
 To this aflbrtment well prepar'd at home, i 
 
 No human chance unfitted e'er can come: 
 No accident, however llrange or queer. 
 But meets its ready, well-kept comment here. 
 The wary beavers thus their ftores increafe. 
 And fpend their winter on their fummer's greafe. 
 
 The whole of the above defcription will 
 doubtlefs remind the claffic reader of the 
 following beautiful paflage in the Tufculan 
 Queftions of Cicero: NeJ'cio quomodo inhccret 
 in jnent'tbus quaft Jceculoriim quoddam augu- 
 rium futurorum idque in maximis ingeniis 
 altillimifque animis exijiit maxime et apparet 
 facillime This will eafily account for the 
 fyilem of previous fabrication fo well known 
 as the charader of Mr. Selwyn's jokes. 
 Speaking of an accident that bcfei this 
 gentleman in the wars, our author proceeds 
 thus: 
 
 Of
 
 [ "8 3 
 
 Of old, when raea from fevers made cfcape. 
 They facrific'd a Cock to ^sculape : 
 Thus, Love's hot fever now for ever o'er. 
 The prey of amorous malady no more, 
 Selwyk remembers what his tutor taught. 
 That old examples ever ftiould be fought 1 
 And, gaily grateful, to his furgeon cries, 
 * I've given to you the Ancient Sacrifice." 
 
 The delicacy with which this hiflorical 
 incident is pourtrayed, would of itfelf have 
 been fufficient to tranfmit bur author's 
 merit to pofterity : and with tho above e;^'- 
 trad: we ihall fini(h the prefent number of 
 our commentaries. 
 
 N=
 
 [ 119 ] 
 
 N^ XL 
 
 TH E next perfon ainong the adherents 
 of the Miniller, whom Merlin 
 now points oat to the notice of Rollo, is 
 Sir Samuel Hannay, Baroaet, a^name 
 recolled:ed with great gratitude in the 
 Houfe : for there are few Members in it to 
 wbom he has not been ferviceable. This 
 worthy chara<Ser indeed has done more to 
 difprove Martial's famous afiertibn, 
 
 Non cuicunque datum eft habere nafum, 
 
 than any individual upon record. 
 The author proceeds 
 
 But why, ffly Hannay, does the ling'ring Mufe 
 
 The tribute of a line to thee refufe ? 
 
 Say, what diftinftion moft delights thine car. 
 
 Or Philo-Pill, er Fhilo-Minijler ? 
 
 Oh ! may'ft thou none of all thy titles lack. 
 
 Or Scot, or Statefman, Baronet, or Quack ; 
 
 For what is dueto him, whofe conftant view is 
 
 Preventing private, or a public lues ? 
 
 Who,
 
 [ I20 ] 
 
 Who, that read the above defcription, 
 do not during the firft impreffion of it, 
 fuppofc that they fee the worthy Baronet 
 once more the pride of front advcrtife- 
 ment once more difpenfing difregard and 
 obhvion amongfl: all his competitors ; and 
 making your Leakes, your Lockyers, and 
 your Velnos, 
 
 hide their diminifh'd heads. ^ 
 
 In the pafTages which immediately fol-^ 
 low, the poet goes on to felicitate the 
 community upon the probable advantages 
 to be derived to them from the junction of 
 this illuftrious perfonage with our imma- 
 culate Minifter. He divides his congra- 
 tulations into two parts. He iirfl conli- 
 ders the confequences of the union, as they 
 may afFedl the body perfonal ; and fecond- 
 ly, as they may concern the body politic* 
 Upon the former fubjett, he fays, 
 
 .This famous pair, in happy league combin'd. 
 No rifques fhall man from wand'ring beauty find i- 
 For, fhould net chafte example fave from ill. 
 There's ftill a refuge in the other's pill. 
 
 With
 
 [ III J 
 
 With a fketch equally brief and mafterly 
 as the above, he defcribes his hopes on the 
 other branch of his divifion. 
 
 The body politic no more fhall grieve 
 The motley ftains that dire corruptions leave; 
 No dang'rous humours fliall infell: the ftate. 
 Nor rotten Members hallen Britain's fate. 
 
 Our author who, notwithftanding his 
 fual and charadteriftic gravity, has yet not 
 unfrequently an obvious tendiency to the 
 (portive, condefcends now to take notice 
 of a rumour, which in thefe times had 
 been univerfally circulated, that Sir 
 Samuel had parted with his fpecific, and 
 difpofed of it to a gentleman often men- 
 tioned, and always with infinite and due 
 refpe<5t in the Roll i ad, namely Mr. 
 Dundas. Upon this he addreiTes Sir 
 Samuel with equal truth and good humour 
 in the following couplet : 
 
 Then (hall thy med'dne boaft its native bent. 
 Then fpread its genuine blefllng to prevent. 
 
 Our readers cannot but know, it was 
 
 by the means of a noftrum, emphatically 
 
 CL . called
 
 [ 122 ] 
 
 called a Specific^ that Mr. Dundas fo long 
 contrived to prevent the conftitutional lues 
 of a Parliamentary Reform. The author, 
 however, does not profefs to give implicit 
 credit to the fadl of Sir Samuel's having 
 ungratefully difpofed of his favourite recipe, 
 the happy fource of his livelihood and 
 fame; the more fo, as it appears that Mr. 
 Dundas had found the very vjovdjpecific, 
 fufficient for protradting a dreaded political 
 evil on the three feveral inftances of its 
 application. Under this impreflion of the 
 thing, the poet ftrongly recommends Sir 
 Samuel to go on in the. profecution of his 
 original profefTion, and thus expreffes his 
 wifli upon the octafion, with the corre(5t 
 tranfcript of which we fhall clofe the hiilory 
 of this great man : 
 
 In thofe fnug corners by thy flcilldifplay'd. 
 
 Where Nature's tribute modeftly is paid ; 
 
 Or near fain'd Temple bar may fome good dame, -. 
 
 I 
 
 Herfelf paft fport, but yet a friend to game, 
 Difperfe thy bills, and eternize thy fame. 
 
 Merlin
 
 [ 123 ] 
 
 Merlin now calls the attention of our 
 hero to a man whom there is little doubt 
 this country will long remember, and ftill 
 lefs, that they will have abundant reafon 
 for fo doing, namely, Mr. Secretary 
 Orde. It may feem odd by what latent 
 afTociation our author was led to appeal 
 next to the Right Honourable Secretary, 
 immediately after the defcription of a Qiiack 
 Dodor; but let it be recollecled in the 
 firfl: place, to the honour of Sir Samuel 
 Hannay, that he is, perhaps, the only 
 man of his order that ever had a place in 
 the Britilh Houfe of Commons ; and in 
 the fecond, that there are fome leading 
 circumftances in the character of Mr. 
 Orde, which well intitle him to rank un- 
 der the vecy fame defcription as the worthy 
 Baronet himfelf. We all know that the 
 moft famous of all phyficians, Le Medecin 
 malgr} My is reprefentcd by Moliere, as 
 a man who changes the feat of the heart, 
 and reverfes the intire pofition of the vital 
 parts in the human body. Now let it be 
 allced, has not Mr. Orde done this moft 
 completely and eiFedually with refpe<S to 
 0^2 the
 
 the general body of the State ? Has he 
 not transferred the heart qf the Empire ? 
 Has he not changed its circulation, and 
 ahered the fituation of the vital part of the 
 whole, from the left to the right, from 
 the one fide to the other, from Great- 
 Britain to Ireland ? Surely no one will 
 deny this ; and therefore none will be now 
 ignorant of the natural gradation of thought, 
 by which our author was led, from the 
 contemplation of Sir Samuel Hannay, to the 
 charader of Mr. Orde. 
 
 We know not whether it be worth re- 
 marking, that the term Le Medecin nialgre 
 hit has been tranflated into Engli{h with 
 the ufual incivility of that people to every 
 thing foreign, by the uncourtly phrafe of 
 Mock Do5lor. We truft, however, that 
 no one will think it applicable in this in- 
 terpretation to Mr. Orde, as it is pretty 
 evident he has difplayed no mockery in his 
 State pradlices, but has performed the 
 character of Moliere's Medecin, even be- 
 yond the notion of the original; by hav- 
 ing effeded, in fad and fober truth, tp 
 
 3 the
 
 the full as corapletc a change in the pofi- 
 tion of the Ccsur de r Empire, as the lively 
 fancy of the Dramatift had imputed to his 
 phyfician, with refpeA to the human body, 
 in mere Ipeculative joke. 
 
 With a great many apologies for fo long 
 a note, we proceed now to the much more 
 pleafant part of our duty that of tranfcrib- 
 ing from this excellent compofition ; and 
 proceed to the defcription of Mr. Orde's 
 perfon, which the Poet commences thus : 
 
 Tall and ereft, unmeaning, mute, and pale. 
 O'er his blank face no gleams of thought prevail ; 
 Wan as the man in claffic ftory fam'd, 
 "Who told Old Priam that his Ilion flam'd ; 
 Yet foon the time will come when fpeak he ihall. 
 And at his voice another Ilion fall ! 
 
 The excellence of this defcription con- 
 iifts as that of a portrait always muft, in a 
 moft fcrupulous and inveterate attention to 
 
 likenefs. Thofe who know the original, 
 
 will not queftion the accuracy of refem- 
 blance on this occafion. The idea con- 
 veyed in the lad line. 
 
 And
 
 [ "6 ] 
 
 And at his. voice another Ilion fall, 
 
 is a Iplrited imitation of the fuiinus 'Troes, 
 fuit Ilium, of Virgil, and a moft flatef- 
 man-like anticipation of the future fate of 
 England. 
 
 The author now takes an opportunity of 
 fhewing the profundity of his learning in 
 Britifh hiftory. He goes on to fay, 
 
 C-ffiSAR, we know, with an>ious effort try'd. 
 
 To fwell, with Britain's name, his triumph's pride : 
 
 Oft he effay'd, but ftill eflay'd in vain ; 
 
 Great in herfelf, flie mock'd the menac'd chain. 
 
 But fruitlefs all for what was Cesar's fword 
 
 To thy all-conquering /peeches, mighty Orde ! ! ! .^ 
 
 Our author cannot fo far refift his claffical 
 propenlity in this place, as to refrain from 
 the following alluhon ; which, however, 
 mufl be confelTed at leaft, to be applied 
 with juilice. 
 
 Ah TH ion's lyre, they fay, could raife a town; 
 Orde's elocution pulls a Nation down. 
 
 He proceeds with equal fpirit and erudi- 
 tion to another circumftance in the earlier 
 
 periods of Englifh hiflory, 
 
 The
 
 [ 127 ] 
 
 The lab'rlng bofom of the teeming North 
 Long pour'd, in vain, her valiant offspring forth ; 
 For Goth or Vandal, once on Britifli fliore, 
 Relax'd his nerve, and conquer'd ftates no more. 
 Not fo the Vandal of the modern time. 
 This latter offspring of the Northern clime ; 
 He, with a breath, gives Britain's wealth away. 
 And fmiles, triumphant, o'er her fetting ray. 
 
 It will be necefTary to obferve here, that 
 after much enquiry and very laborious 
 fearch, as to the birth-place' of the Right 
 Honourable Secretary (for the honour of 
 which, however difficult now to difcover, 
 Hibernia's cities' will doubtlefs hereafter 
 contend) we found that he was born in 
 Northumberland j which, added to 
 other circumftances, clearly eftablilhes the 
 applicability of the defcription of the word 
 ,Goth^ &c. and particularly in the lines 
 where he calls him the 
 
 Vandal of the modern time. 
 
 The latter offspring of the Northern clime. 
 
 Having inveftigated, with an acumen 
 and minutenefs feldom incident to genius, 
 and very rarely met with in the fublimer 
 
 poetry.
 
 [ 128 ] 
 
 poetry, all the circumflances attending an 
 event which he emphatically defcribes as 
 the Revolution of feventeen hundred and 
 eighty-five, he makes the following addrefs 
 to the Englifh : 
 
 No more, ye Engiifli, high in claffic pride, 
 The phrafe uncouth of Ireland's fbns deride; 
 For fay, ye wife, which moft performs the fool. 
 Or he who /peaks t or he who <5* a Bull. 
 
 The Poet catches fire as he runs ; 
 
 Poetica furgit 
 
 Tempeftas. 
 
 He approximates nw to the magnifi- 
 cent, or perhaps more properly to the 
 mania of Poetry, and, like another Caf- 
 fandra, begins to try his fkill at prophecy ; 
 like her he predicts truly, and like her,- 
 for the prefent at leaft> is not, perhaps, 
 
 very implicitly credited. He proceeds 
 
 thus: ' 
 
 *Rapt into future times, the Mufe furveys. 
 
 The rip'ning wonders of fucceeding days : 
 
 Sees Albion proftrate, ail her fplendour gone ! 
 
 In ufelefs tears her priftine date bemoan ; ; . fc^, 
 
 Sees the fair fources of her pow'r and pride. 
 
 In purer channels roll their golden tide j 
 
 Sees
 
 [ 1^9 ] 
 
 Sees her at once of wealth and honour fhorn. 
 No more the nations' envy, but their fcorn j 
 A fad example of capricious fate. 
 Portentous warning to the proud and great : 
 Sees Commerce quit her defolated ifle. 
 And feek in other climes a kinder foil ; 
 Sees fair lerne rife from England's flame. 
 And build on Britlfh ruin, Irifh fame. 
 
 The Poet in the above paflage, is fup- 
 pofed to have had an eye to Juno's ad- 
 drefs to ^olus in the firft book of the 
 JEntid, 
 
 Gens' inimica mihi Tyrrhenum navlgat xquor 
 I/t'um in Italiam portans, Filos que Penatei. 
 
 R N^
 
 [ J30 ] 
 
 N XIL 
 
 T^ HO UGH we have at length nearly 
 exhaufled the beauties of that part 
 of our author's work, in which the cha- 
 racters of the leading Members of the 
 Houfe of Commons are fo poetically and 
 forcibly delineated ; we fhall find, how- 
 ever, that the genius of the poet feems ta 
 receive freili vigour, as he approaches the 
 period of his exertions, in the illuftrious 
 Mr. RoLLE. What can be more fublime 
 or pidturefque than the following defcrip- 
 tion ? 
 
 Ereft in perfon, fee yon Knight advance. 
 With trufly 'Squire, who bears his Ihield and lance;. 
 The Quixote Howard ! Royal Wind for's pride. 
 And Sancho Panca Powney by his fide: 
 A monarch's champion, with indignant frown 
 And haughty mien, 'he cafts his gauntlet down j 
 Majeftic fits, and hears, devoid of dread, 
 " The dire Philippicks whizzing refund his head. 
 Your venom'd fhafts, ye fons of Faftion /pare ; 
 Howevei: keen, they cannot enter there. 
 
 And
 
 I 13' .] 
 
 And how well do thefe lines, immediately 
 fucceeding, defcribe the manner of fpeak- 
 ing, which chara<5i:erizes an orator of fuch 
 conliderable weight and authority <' 
 
 lie /peaks, he fpeaks ! Sedition's chiefs around. 
 With unfeign'd terror hear the folemn found ; 
 While little Powney chears with livelier notei 
 And flxares his triumph in a filent vote. 
 
 Some have ignorantly objedled to this as 
 an inftance of that figure for which a neigh- 
 bouring kingdom is fo generally celebrated, 
 vulgarly diflinguifhed by the appellation of 
 a JB//; erroneoully conceiving a lilent vote 
 to be incompatible with the vociferation 
 htre alluded to : thofe, however, who have 
 attended parliamentary debates, will in- 
 form them, that numbers who moft loud- 
 ly exert themfelves, in what is called chear^ 
 ing fpeakers, are not upon that account 
 entitled to be themfelves confidered as 
 fuch. Our author has indeed done in- 
 juftice to the worthy member in quellion, 
 by claffing him among the number of 
 mutes, he having uniformly taken a very ac- 
 tive part in all debates relating to the mi- 
 R 2 litia;
 
 [ 132 ] 
 
 litia; of which truly conllltutional body, 
 lie is a moft refpedable Pillar, and one pf 
 the mofl: confpicuous ornaments. 
 
 It is unqueftionably the higheft praife 
 we can beftow upon a member of the Bri- 
 tifh Houfe of Commons, to fay, that he is 
 a, faithful reprefentative of the people, and 
 upon all occafions fpeaks the real fentiments 
 of his conftituents ; nor can an honeft am- 
 bition to attain the firft digryities of the 
 fl'ate, by honourable means, be ever im- 
 puted to him as a crime. The following 
 encomium, therefore, muft be apknow- 
 ledged to have been jullly merited by a 
 noble Lord, whofe independent and dif- 
 interefled condu(5l has drawn upon him the 
 cenfures of difappointed faction. 
 
 The Noble Convert, Berwick's honour'd choice. 
 That faithful echo of the people's voice. 
 One day, to gain an Irifh title glad. 
 For Fox he voted fo the people badj 
 'Mongft Etigli/h Lords ambitious grown to fit. 
 Next day the people bade him vote for Pitt ; 
 To, join the ftream, our Patriot nothing loth, 
 )' turns difCreetly gave his voice to both.
 
 C '2i 1 
 
 The title of Noble Convert, which was 
 beftowed upon his Lordihip by a Speaker 
 of the degraded Whig faction, is here moft 
 judicioufly adopted by our Author, imply-. 
 ing thereby that this denomination, in- 
 tended, no doubt, to convey a fevere re- 
 proach, ought rather to be confidered as a 
 fubjed: of panegyric : this is turning the 
 artillery of the enemy agaixift themfelves 
 
 ** Neque lex eft juftior ulla, &c." 
 
 In the next charadler introduced, fome 
 perfons may. perhaps objedt to the feeming 
 impropriety of alluding to a bodily defeft ; 
 efpeciallyone which hasbeen the confequence 
 of a mgft cruel accident ; but when it is 
 coniidered, that the mention of the per- 
 fonal imperfe(ftion is made the vehicle of 
 an elegant compliment to the fupcrior 
 qualifications of the mind, this objection, 
 though founded in liberality, will natural- 
 ly fall to the ground^ 
 
 The circumftance of one of the Reprc- 
 fentatives of the firil city in the world 
 J^aving loft his leg, while bathing in the
 
 E 134 3 
 
 fea, by the bite of a (hark, is well known ; 
 nor can the dexterity with wbiGh he avails 
 himfelf of theufe of an artificial one, have 
 efcaped the obfervation of thofe who have 
 fecn him in the Houfe of Commons, any 
 more than the remarkable humility with 
 which he is accuftomed to introduce his 
 very pointed and important obfervations 
 tipon the matters iii deliberation before 
 that auguft alTembly. 
 
 "One moment's time might I.prefume to beg ?" 
 Cries modeft Watson, on his wooden leg ; 
 That leg, in which fuch wond'rous art is Ihowri, 
 It almoft feems to fervehim lifcd hi^ <5wn ; 
 bh! had thfe rtroitft(?r, who fbi' bi^alcfaft eat 
 That lucklefs limK, his rioblei' noddll^ met, 
 Thfe bdft of workmen, nor the befl of wood. 
 Had fcarce fupply'd him with a head fo goodi 
 
 To have afferted that neither the utmoft 
 extent of human fkill, nor the greateft 
 perfection in the materials, could have 
 been equal to an undertaking fo arduous, 
 would have been a fpecics of aduktron fo 
 fulfome, as to have fliocked the known 
 priodtfty of the worthy magiftrate -, but the 
 
 forcible
 
 C us 3 
 
 forcible manner in which the difficulty of 
 fupplying fo capital a iofs Is exprefl'ed, con- 
 v.eys, with the utmofl: delicacy, a hand- 
 fome, and, it raijfl be confefTed, a mod 
 jqilly merited compliment to the Alder- 
 man's abilities. 
 
 . The imitation of celebrated writers is 
 recommended by Longinus, and has, as 
 our readers muft have frequently obferyed, 
 been pra<5lifed with great fuccefs, by our 
 author ; yet we cannot help thinking that 
 he has puflied the precept of ihis great 
 critic fomewhat too far, in having conde- 
 fcended to copy, may we venture to fay 
 with too much fervility, a genius fo much 
 inferior to himfelf as Mr. Pope. We allude 
 to the following lines : 
 
 Can I Newhaven, Ferguson forget, 
 While Roman fpirit charms, or Scotdfh wit ? 
 Macdonald, fhining a refulgent ftar. 
 To light alike the fenate and the bar ; 
 And Ha R LEY, conftant to fupport the throne. 
 Great follower of its interefb, and his own. 
 
 The fubftitutlon of Scottijh for Attic, in 
 the fecond line, is unqueftionably an im- 
 prove-
 
 t '36 3 
 
 provement, fince however Attic wit may 
 have been proverbial in ancient times, the 
 natives of Scotland are fo confefledly dif- 
 tinguifhed among modern nations for this 
 quality, that the alteration certainly adds 
 confiderable force to the compliment. 
 But however happily and juflly the cha- 
 racters are here defcribed, we cannot think 
 this merit fufficient to counterbalance the 
 obje6lion we have prefumed to {uggti^:, 
 and which is principally founded upon the 
 extreme venerati6n and high refped: wc 
 entertain for the genius of our author. 
 
 Mr. Addifon has obferved, that Virgil 
 falls infinitely fhort of Homer in the cha- 
 rafters of his Epic Poem, both as to their 
 variety and novelty, but he could not with 
 juftice have faid the fame of the author of the 
 RoLLiAD j and we will venture to afiert, 
 that the fingle book of this Poem, now 
 under our confideration, is, in this refped:, 
 fuperior to the whole, both of the Iliad 
 and the ^^Eneid together. The characters 
 fucceed each other with a rapidity that 
 5 fcarcely
 
 [ 137 ] 
 
 fcarcely allows the reader time to admire 
 and feel their feveral beauties. 
 
 Galway and Gideon, in themfelves a hoft. 
 Of York and Coventry the fplendid boaft ; 
 Whitbread and Onoley, pride of Bedford's vale. 
 This fam'd for felling, that for fa\ing ale ; 
 And Nancy Poulett, as the morning fair. 
 Bright as the fan, but common as the air ; 
 Inconftant nymph ! who ftill with open arms. 
 To ev'r/ Minifter devotes her charms. 
 
 But when the Poet comes to defcribe the 
 charaderof the hero of his work, the pre- 
 fent Member, for the county of Devon, 
 whom Merlin points out to his illuftrious 
 anceftor, as uniting in himfelf all the vari- 
 ous merits of the worthies whofc excellen- 
 cies he has recorded, he fecms to rife even 
 above himfelf. It is impoflible to do 
 juftice to his charafter, without tranfcrib- 
 ins: the whole, which would exceed the 
 limits of our work ; we fhall therefore only 
 give to our readers the concluding lines, 
 becaufe they contain chara(3:eriftic obferva- 
 tions upon other diflinguiflied Members, 
 
 S mofl
 
 mofl of whom have hitherto pafled un- 
 noticed. 
 
 In thee, my fon, (hall ev'ry virtue meet. 
 To form both fenator and man complete ; 
 A mind like Wray*s, with llorcs of fancy fraught. 
 The wife Sir Watkin's vaft extent of thought; 
 Old Nugent's ftyle, fublime, yet ne'er obfcure. 
 With Bamber's Grammar, as his confcience pure ; 
 Brett's brilliant fallies, Martin's filling fenfe. 
 And Giijbert's wit, that never gave offence: 
 Like Wilkes, a zealot in his Sovereign's caufe, 
 Learn'd as Macdonald in his country's laws; 
 Acute as AuBRsr, as Sir Lloyd pblite, 
 AsEastwicke lively, andas Ambler bright. 
 
 The jufticc of * the compliment to Sir 
 Cecil Wray, will not he difputed by 
 
 thofe 
 
 * The charafteriftic of Fancy, which our Poet has 
 attributed to Sir Cecil, mull not be mifunderftgod. It 
 is a Fancy of the chaftized kind ; diftinguiflied lor that ele- 
 gant fimplicity, which th'e French call nai'vete, and the 
 Qrecks fXft. We fhall infert here two or three of the 
 fliorter fpecimens. 
 
 ToQm.\.ih, {now Ladjf Wray) on feeing her tht %th / 
 Augufi, 1776, ptTMdering her Hair. 
 
 E X T E' M P O R E. 
 
 Thy locks, I trow, fair maid. 
 
 Don't never want this aid : 
 
 I Wherefore
 
 [ 139 ] 
 
 thofe who have been fortunate enough to 
 have met with the beautiful fpecimens of 
 juvenile poetry, with which fome of his 
 friends have lately indulged the public. 
 
 Johannes ScribUrus, a lineal defcendant 
 af the learned and celebrated Martinus, 
 reads ** Starling Martin's fenfe," alluding 
 to that powerful opponent of the deteftable 
 Coalition having recommended, that a bird 
 
 Wherefore thy powder fparcj 
 And only comlt thy hair. 
 
 fo Sir Joseph Mawbey, propofing, in conj'equence vf a 
 previous Engagement, a Party to go afijhingfor White- Bait. 
 
 Worthy Sir Joe, we all are wifliing. 
 You'll come with us a White-Bait filhing. 
 
 4 Thought on New Milk fome Time toward the Spring / 
 the Tear 1 773. 
 
 Oh ! how charming is New Milk ! 
 Sweet as fugar 1 fmooth as filk ! 
 
 An Idka oh a Peck of Coals, 
 
 ^ I bay my Coals by pecks, that we 
 May have ^tmfrejh andyr/ry&, d'ye fee. 
 
 S 2 of
 
 [ MO ] 
 
 of that fpecies {hould be placed on the 
 right of the Speaker's chair, after having 
 been taught to repeat the word Coalition, 
 in order to remind thehpufc of that dif- 
 graceful event, which had nearly eftablifh- 
 ed- an efficient and ftrong government in 
 this country : to which fevere and admir- 
 able ftroke of fatire, the objed: of it 
 clumfily and uncivilly anfwered, that whilft 
 that gentleman fat in the houfe, he be- 
 lieved the Starling might be allowed to 
 perform his office by deputy. We have, 
 however, ventured to differ from this 
 ^reat authority, and fhall continue to read, 
 ''Martin's Sterling fenfe," as well be- 
 caufe we are of opinion that thefe words 
 are peculiarly applicable to the gentleman 
 alluded to, as that it does not appear pro- 
 bable our author ffiould have been willing 
 to make his poem the vehicle of an inde- 
 cent farcafm, upon a pcrfon of fuch emi- 
 nent abilities. 
 
 The compliment to Mr. B. G. in the 
 comparifon of the purity of his language, 
 to the integrity of his condu(ft, is happily 
 
 con-
 
 C '4' 3 
 
 conceived ; but that to the Ingenious Mr, 
 Gilbert, the worthy Chairman of the Com- 
 mittee of Supply, is above all praife, and 
 will, we are perfuaded, notwithftanding 
 the violence of party, by all fides be admit* 
 ted to be flridly juft. 
 
 N*
 
 C 14^ ] 
 
 N XIII. 
 
 AFTER concluding the review of the 
 Minifterialifts with the young Mar- 
 cellus of the Poem, the illuftrious Mr. 
 RoLLE ; our author direds the attention 
 of Duke Rollo to the Oppofition-bench. 
 He notices the cautious filence of Merlim 
 relative to that fide of the Houfe, and 
 rather inquifitively afks the reafon ; on 
 which the Philofopher (a little unphilofo- 
 phically, we muft confefs) throws himfelf 
 into a violent paflion, and for a long time 
 is wholly incapable of articulating a fylla- 
 ble. This is a common fituation in poets 
 both ancient and modern, as in Virgil and 
 Milton; 
 
 Ter conata loqui, &c. 
 
 Thrice Hfe effay'd, and thrice in fpite of fcorn 
 
 Tears, Aich as angels weep, burft forth, &c. 
 
 but we will venture to aJfTert, that it was 
 rviE|ver painted in a manner half fo lively, 
 as by the author of the Rolliad. 
 
 Thrice
 
 [ J43 1 
 
 Thrice he eflay'd, bat thrice in vaih cffay'd ; 
 
 His tongue, throat, ^eeth, and lips, refus'd their aid ? 
 
 Till now the ftifled breath a paflage broke ; 
 
 He gafp'd, he gap'd but not a word he fpoke. 
 
 How aGcurately, and learnedly has the 
 poet enumerated' all the organs of fpeech, 
 which feparately and jointly rcfufe to exe- 
 cute their refpedtive offices ! How fuperidr 
 is this to the limple cleaving of the tongue 
 to the palate, the ffox faucibus bdefit of 
 Virgil. For as Quintilian obferves, a de- 
 tail of particulars is infinitely better than 
 .any general expreffion, however ftrong. 
 Then the poor Prophet obtains a little re- 
 miflion of his paroxyfm; he begins to 
 breathe convulfively he gafped-, he opens 
 his mouth to its utmoft extent-^/6^ gaped-, 
 our expedlations are raifed, but alas ! he 
 ftill continues unable to utfer not a word 
 be fpoke. Surely nothing' can be more 
 natural in point of truth, than all the cir- 
 cumftances of this inimitable defcriptlon , 
 nothing more artful in point of effedl, than 
 the fufpence and attention which it begets 
 in the mind of the reader ! 
 
 At
 
 [ 144 ] 
 
 At length, however. Merlin recovers 
 his voice ; and breaks out into a ftrain of 
 moft animated invedtive, infinitely fuperior 
 to every thing of the kind in Homer ; 
 though the old Grecian muft be acknow- 
 ledged not to want fpirit in the altercations 
 or fcolding-matches of his Heroes and Gods. 
 The Prophet begins, as a man in any great 
 emotion always muft, at the middle of a 
 verfe ; 
 
 Tattefdemalions, 
 
 Scald-miferables, Rafcals, and Rafcalions, 
 Buffoons, Dependants, Parafites, Toad-eaters, 
 Knaves, Sharpers, Black-Iegs,PaImers, Coggers, Cheaters, 
 Scrubs, Vagrants, Beggars, Mumpers, Ragamuffins, 
 Rogues, Villains, Bravos, Defperados, Ruffians, 
 Thieves, Robbers, Cut-throats, See. Sec. &c. 
 
 And in this manner he proceeds, with 
 fingle appellatives of reproach, for ten or 
 twelve lines further; when, his virtuous 
 indignation a little fubfiding, or his 
 Did:ionary failing, he becomes more cir- 
 cumlocutory 3 as for inftance. 
 
 Burglarious Scoundrels, that again would fteal 
 The Premier's Plate, and Chancellor's Great Seal; 
 
 Of
 
 [ '45 i 
 
 Of public Murderers, Patrons, and Allies* 
 Hirelings of France, their country's enemies, Scd 
 
 which ftyle he continues for more than 
 twenty lines. 
 
 We are truly forry, that the boundaries 
 of our plan would not allow us to prefent 
 our readers with the whole of this finiflied 
 palTage in detail ; as it furnifhes an indif- 
 putable proof, that, however the Greek 
 language may have been celebrated for its 
 copioufnefs, it muft yield in that refpet to 
 the Englifh. For if we were to colled: all 
 the terms of infamy bandied about *', from 
 iEfchines to Demofthenes, and from De- 
 mofthenes back again to iEfchinesj and if 
 to thefe we fliould add in Latin the wholq 
 torrent of calumny poured by Cicero on 
 Antony and Pifo j though the ancient ora- 
 tors were tolerably fluent in this kind of 
 eloquence, they would, all together, be 
 found to fall very fliort of our poet, {hackled 
 as he is with rhyme, in the force no lefs 
 than the variety of his objurgatory epithets. 
 
 More particularly in their two famous orations, which 
 are entitled * On the Crown." 
 
 T At
 
 [ 146 ] 
 
 At the fame time it muft not be concealed, 
 that he poflefled one very confiderable 
 advantage in the rich repofitories of our 
 minifterial news- papers. He has culled 
 the flowers, fkimmed the cream, and ex- 
 tracted the very quinteflence of thoie elegant 
 produdlions v/ith equal induftry and fuccefs. 
 Indeed, fuch of our readers as are conver- 
 fant with the Morning Poft and Public 
 Advertifer, the White-Hall, the St. James's, 
 and in fliort, the greater part of the even- 
 ing prints, will immediately difcover the 
 paflage now before us to be little more 
 than a cento. It is however fuch a cento 
 as indicates the man of genius, whom puny 
 fcribblers may in vain endeavour to imitate 
 in New Rolliads. 
 
 It is poflible, Merlin might even have 
 gone on much longer : but he is interrupt- 
 ed by one of thofe difturbances which 
 frequently prevail in the Houfe of Com- 
 mons. The confufion i^s finely defcribed 
 in the following broken couplet : 
 
 Spoke I fpoke ! SIrr-Mr. Speaker Order there ! 
 I rife fpoke ! Queftion ! Queftion ! ChAir ! Chair I 
 Chair ! 
 
 This
 
 C '47 ] 
 
 This incident is highly natural, and in- 
 troduced with the greateft judgment, as it 
 give,s another opportunity of exhibiting 
 Mr. RoLLE, and in actuation, where he 
 always appears with confpicuous pre-emi- 
 nence. 
 
 Great Rollo look'd, amaz'd ; nor without fears. 
 His hands applied by inflind to his ears : 
 He look'd, and lo ! amid the wild acclaim 
 Difcera'd the future glor-y of his name; 
 O'er -this new Babel of the noify croud. 
 More fierce than all, more turbulent, more loud. 
 Him yet he heard, with thundering voice contend, 
 *' Him firft, him lad, him midft, him without end.'* 
 
 This concluding line our author has conde- 
 Icended to borrow from Milton ; but how 
 appodte and forcible is the application ! 
 How emphatically does it exprefs the noble 
 perfeverance with which the Member for 
 Devonfhire has been known to perfifl: on 
 thefe occafions, in oppolition to the Speaker 
 himfclf. 
 
 RoLLO, however, is at length wearied, 
 
 as the greateft admirers of Mr. Rolle 
 
 T 2 have
 
 [ 148 ] 
 
 have fometimes been, with the triumphs 
 of his illuftrious defcendant. 
 
 But RoLLO, as he clcs'd his ears before. 
 Now tired, averts his eyes, to fee no more. 
 Obfervant Merlin, while he turn'd his head. 
 The lantern fhifted, and the vifion fled. 
 
 To iinderftand this laft line, our reader 
 muft recoiled:, that though the charaders 
 introduced in this vifion are preternaturally 
 endowed with feeming powers of fpeech,' 
 yet the forms or iliadows of them are fliewn 
 by means of a magic lantern. < 
 
 Having now concluded our obfervations 
 upon this part of the Poem we fliall clofe 
 them with lemarking, that as our author 
 evidently borrowed th idea of this vilion, 
 in which the charadier of future times are 
 defciibed, from Virgil, he has far furpafTed 
 his original j. and as his defcription of the 
 prefent Houfe of Commons, may not im- 
 probably have called to his mind the Pan- 
 daemonium of Milton, we do not fcruple 
 to affert, that in the execution of his de- 
 fjgn, that great mafter of the fubiime has 
 fallen infinitely fhort of him. 
 
 8 N^
 
 [ H9 ] 
 
 N XIV. 
 
 OU R readers may poflibly think, that 
 verfes enough have been already de- 
 voted to the celebration of Mr. Rolle ; 
 the Poet however is not of the fame opi- 
 nion. To crown the whole, he now pro- 
 ceeds to commemorate the column which 
 is fhortly to be eredled on the fpot, where 
 the Member for Devonshire formerly went 
 to fchool, application having been made to 
 Parliament for leave to remove the fchool 
 from its prefent fituation ; ^nd a n>otion 
 being intended to follow, for appropriating 
 a fum of money to mark the fcene and re- 
 cord the fadt of Mr. Rolle's education, 
 for the fatisfadtion of pofterity, who might 
 otherwife have been left in a flate of un- 
 certainty, whether this great man had any 
 education at all. 
 
 Merlin firft fliews Rollo the fchool. 
 The tranlition to this obje<5l from the pre- 
 fent
 
 fent Houfe of Commons is eafy and obvi- 
 ous. Indeed, the ftriking fimilarity be- 
 tween the two vilions is obferved by Rol- 
 Lo' in the following pafTage : 
 
 The Hero fees, thick-Avarmxng round the place. 
 
 In bloom of early youth, a bufy race ; 
 
 Propria qua marihus, with barbarous found. 
 
 Syntax znd.pro/ody his ear confound. 
 
 " And fay (he cries) Interpreter of fate, 
 
 ** Oh ! fay, is this fome jargon of debate? 
 
 ** What means the din, and what the fcene, proclaim ; 
 
 *' Is this another viiion, or the fame ? 
 
 *' For truft me, Prophet, to my ears, my eyes, 
 
 ** A fecond Houfe of Commons feems to rife." 
 
 Merlin however reiSlifies the miflake of 
 the good Duke : and points out to him his 
 great defcendant, in the fhape of a lubber- 
 ly boy, as remarkably mute on this occa- 
 iion, as we lately found him in the Houle, 
 
 More fierce than all, more turbulent, more loud. 
 
 The flagellation of Mr. Rolle fucceeds, 
 which, as Merlin informs RoLLO, is his 
 daily difcipline. The fight of the rod, 
 which the Paedagogue flourifhes with a de- 
 gree of favage triumph over the expofed, 
 
 and
 
 [ >5i ] 
 
 and bleeding youth, awakens all the feel- 
 ings of the anceftor. 
 
 Stay, monfter, flay ! he cries in hafty mood. 
 Throw that dire weapon down behold my blood ! 
 
 We quote this couplet the rather, becaufe 
 it proves our author to be as good a Critic 
 as a Poet. For the laft line is undoubted- 
 ly a new reading of Virgil's, 
 
 Projice tela manu, Sanguis meus ! 
 
 And how much more fpirited is this inter- 
 pretation, 
 
 behold my blood ! 
 
 than the commonly received conftrudtion 
 of the Latin words, by which they arc 
 made to fignify fimply, ** O my fon !" and 
 that too, with the affiftance of a poetical 
 licence. There is not a better emendation 
 in all the Virgilius Reftauratu5 of the learn- 
 ed Martinus Scriblerus. 
 
 On the exclamation of Rollo, which 
 wehaVejuft quoted, the Prophet perceiv- 
 ing that he has moved his illuflrious 
 
 vifitor
 
 [ "5^ ] 
 
 vifitor a little too far, adminifters every 
 Gonfolation, 
 
 ** Thy care difoiifs (the Seer replied, and fmii'd) 
 
 ** Tho' rods awhile may weal the facred child, 
 
 ** In vain ten thoufand * Busbies fhould employ 
 
 * Their pedant arts his genius to deftroy ; 
 
 ** In vain at either end thy RollA aflail, 
 
 ** To learning proof alike at head and tail.'* 
 
 Accordingly this afTurance has Its proper 
 efFedt in calming the mindof the Duke. 
 
 - But the great topic of comfort, or we 
 fhould rather "fay of exultation to him, i^ 
 the prophecy of the column, with which 
 Merlin concludes his fpeech : 
 
 Where now he fuffers, on this hallow'd land, 
 A Column, public Monument, fhall Hand : 
 And many a Bard around the fculptur'd bafe. 
 In many a language his renown ftiall trace ; 
 In French, Italian, Latin, and in Greek : 
 'That all, whofe curious fearch this fppt Ihall feek. 
 May read, and reading tell at home, return'd ; 
 How much great Rolle was flogg'd, how little learn'd. 
 
 * Dr. Bufby, formerly mailer of Weflminfter fchool, 
 was famous for his confumption of birch. Me run ufea 
 his name here by the fpirit of prophecy. 
 
 What
 
 [ '53 ] 
 
 What a noble, and what a juft charafler of 
 the great Rolle is contained in the laft 
 line ! A mind tinctured with modern pre- 
 judices may be at a lofs to difcover the 
 compliment. But our author is a man of 
 erudition, and draws his ideas from antient 
 learning, even where he employs that learn- 
 ing, like * Erafmus and the admirable 
 Creichton, in praife of ignorance. Our 
 claffical readers therefore will fee in this 
 portrait of Mr. Rolle, the living re- 
 femblance of the antient Spartans ; a people 
 the pride of Greece, and admiration of the ' 
 world, who are peculiarly diftinguiihcd'fti 
 hiftory for their fyftematic contempt of the 
 fine arts, and the patience with which they 
 taught their children to bear floggings. 
 
 The School now vaniflies, and the Co- 
 lumn rifes, properly adorned with the in- 
 fcriptions, which the philofopher explains. 
 But as we have been favoured with corredl 
 copies of theinfcriptions themfelves, which- 
 were fcledted from a much greater number 
 
 Erafmus wrote an Encomium of Folly, with abundant 
 wit nd learning. For Creichtpn fee the AdveoXurei:. 
 
 -U compofq<i
 
 [ '54 ] 
 
 compofed by our univerfities, we fhall here 
 defert or Poet, and prefent the public 
 with the originals. 
 
 Tjbe two firft are in Greek ; and agree- 
 ably to the ufual flyle of Greek inicriptions, 
 relate the plain fad: in {hort and fimple, 
 but elegant and forcible phrafeology. 
 
 -P.h TO V^opy.ir,t; h;vov fopnx, Sccv^x Tf EbXif, 
 
 The word AeQicvt^tiv is rot to be found in 
 our Lexicons; but we prefume, that it 
 means ** to Ipeak the dialed: of Devon- 
 {hire ;" from Ab^covix, which is <jreek for 
 Devon^iire. Accordingly, we have fo 
 rendered it in a tranflation, which we have 
 attempted for the benefit of country gen- 
 tlemen and the ladies. 
 
 The Senates wonder, Rolle * of mighty tongue. 
 Here firft his Devonfhire unlearn'd, when young. 
 
 H w fimple, yet how full is the expreilion 
 of this diftich 1 How perfc611y does it agree 
 with the notion, which our Poet has in- 
 
 The literal Englifh is *' vehement mouth of oratory. ^^ 
 
 culcated.
 
 C '55 ] 
 
 culcated, of Mr. Rolle ! He was em- 
 ployed at fchool not to learn but to un- 
 learn ; his whole progrefs, was like a crab's, 
 backward. 
 
 There is a beauty in the Greek which 
 it is impoffible to preferve in Englifh ; the 
 word which we have tranflated ** unkarnedy^ 
 is in the impcrfedl tenfe : and in the nicety 
 of that accurate language implies, that the 
 ad:ion was begun, but not compleated^ 
 that Mr. Rolle made fome proficiency in 
 unlearning his Devonfhirc; but had not 
 effedlually accomplifhed it during his flay 
 at the fchool. 
 
 The other Greek infcription has fome- 
 thing more ingenious, from a feeming 
 paradox in the turn of it : 
 
 ricti; <nroli PAAAIAAHX, oaaa^rt^ u%y , ijuadtr. 
 
 He, who to learning nothing owes. 
 
 Here RojLLE, a boy, learn'd all he knows. 
 
 By which concluding word " knowst* we 
 
 muft certainly undcrftand acquired know- 
 
 U 2 ledge
 
 [ '56 , ] 
 
 ledge only; fince Mr. Rolle has been 
 celebrated by our Poet in the moft im- 
 equivocal manner, as may be feen in the 
 twelfth number of our Criticifms, for his 
 great natural faculties. The fenfe of this 
 laft Epigram will then be merely, that the 
 Member for Devonfhire had no particle of 
 acquired knowledge ; but is an avloh^ot^clog^ 
 a felf-taught fcholar, a character fo much 
 admired in antient times. The Latin in- 
 fcription is as follows : 
 
 Hie ferulae dextram, hie, virgis caedenda magiflri, 
 
 Nuda dedit patiens tergora Rolliades. 
 At non RoLLiADEN domuerunt verbera; non, quas 
 
 Nercio quid gravius praemonuere, minae. ^ 
 Ah ! quoties ilium seqqalis mirata corona eft 
 
 Nee lacrymam in paenis rumpere, nee gemitum ! 
 Ah ! quoties, cum fupplicio jam incumberet, ipli 
 
 * Qrbilio cecidit vifta labore manus ! 
 I, puer ; I, forti tolerando pedlore plagas, 
 
 -^mula RoLLiAD-ffi nomin^difce fequi. 
 
 Here to the ferule Rolle his hand refign'd. 
 Here to the rod he bar'd the parts behind ; 
 
 * A great flogger of antiquity, 
 
 ' Memini quae flagofum mihi parvo 
 
 Or^7/a diftare. Hor. 
 
 Sut
 
 t 157 ] 
 
 But him no ftrlpcs fubdu'd, and hira no feat' 
 
 Of menac'd wrath in future more fevere. 
 
 How oft the youthful circle wond'ring faw 
 
 That pain from him nor tear, nor groan could draw ! 
 
 How oft, when ftill unmov'd, he long'd to jerk. 
 
 The mafter's wearied hand forfook the work ! 
 
 Go, boy ; and fcorning rods, or ferules, aim ^ 
 
 By equal worth to rival Rolle in fame. 
 
 The beauty of thefe lines, we prefume, is 
 too obvious to require any comment. We 
 will confidently affirm, that they record as 
 glorious an example of patience as any to 
 be found in all the Hiftory of the Flagel- 
 lants, though the ingenious M. De Lolme 
 has extended the fubjed into a handfomc 
 Quarto. 
 
 The Italian infcription is a kind of fhort 
 dialogue, in which the traveller is in- 
 troduced demanding the name of the per- 
 fon to whom the pillar is ereded. 
 
 A chi ii fta quefta colonna ? Al Rolle ; 
 Che di parlar apprefe in quefto loco 
 Greco e Latino n6, ma Inglefe un poco. 
 Bafta cosi. Chi non fa il refto, e folie. 
 
 This
 
 C 158 ] 
 
 This abrupt conclufion we think very fine. 
 It has however been cenfured as equivocal. 
 Some critics have urged, that the fame turn 
 has in hd: been applied equally to men 
 greatly famous and greatly infamous : to 
 Johannes Mirandula, and Colonel Chartres ; 
 and in the prefent cafe, fay thefe cavillers, 
 it may be conftrued to fignify either that 
 the reft is too well known to require re- 
 petition, or that there is nothing more to 
 be known. But the great charad;er of Mr. 
 RoLLE will at once remove all ambiguity. 
 
 The French infcrlption was furniflied by 
 Mr. RoLLE himfelf on the day of his 
 election. The idea was firft exprefTed by 
 him in Englifh, and then done into French 
 verfe by the * Dutch Dancing-mafter at 
 Exeter, to whom Mr. Rolle is indebted 
 
 for 
 
 .* Mynheer Hoppingen Van Caperagen, who foon after 
 the publication of our firft authentic Edition, fent the fol- 
 lowing letter to Mr. Ridgway : 
 
 D' Exeter, ce i8 Jvril, 1785. 
 
 * Je fuis fort etonne, Monfieur, que vous ayez eu la 
 
 hardiefle d'admettre dans '* La Critique de la Rolliade,'^ 
 
 una accufation centre moi qui n'eft nullement fondee, et 
 
 qui tend a me nuire dans I'efprit de tous les amateurs des 
 
 beaux
 
 [ 'J9 ] 
 
 for his extraordinary proficiency in that 
 fciencc. 
 
 Ne pouvoir point parler amon chlen jereproche; 
 Moi, j'acquis en ces lieux le don de la parole : 
 Je vais done, & bien vite, a Londres par le coche, 
 Fairc entendre au Senat, que je fuis un vrai Rolle. 
 
 The par le coche feems to be an addition of 
 the Dancing-mafter, who was certainly no 
 very great poet, as appears by his ufe of 
 feminine rhymes only, without any mix- 
 ture of mafculine ; an irregularity perfedly 
 inadmiffible, as all our polite readers muft 
 know, in the nicety of French profody. 
 
 beaux arts. Sachez, Monfieur, que je me fuis ddnne la 
 peine de traduire mot a mot la celebre infcription, de mon 
 digne elevc et proiefteur, Mr. Rolle i quejen'y ai rien 
 ajoute, et que dans le vers ou il eft queftion du cache, votrc 
 Critique n*auroit du voir qu'une preuve de I'economiede 
 mon {\i{6it.Mecette. Quant aux rimes fcminines qi^e I'au- 
 teur me rcproche avec tant d'aigreur, je vous dirai qu'il 
 n'y a rien de male dans Tefprit de Mr. RolUf et que j'aurois 
 bjefle fa delicatefle en m'y prenant autrement ; d'ailleurs 
 je me moquedes ufages, et je ne veuxpas que mes vers fau- 
 tent a clochepied, comme ceux des poetes Francois, qui 
 n'entendent rien a la dance. Je ne doute pas que vous 
 approuviez mon fentiment la delFus, et que vous me faf- 
 f^ez rendre juftice fur I'objet de ma plainte : en attendant, 
 je vous prie de croire que je fuis, avec le plus vif attache- 
 men t, 
 
 Monlieur, votre tres obciflant ferviteur, 
 
 HoppiNGEN Van Cafbragen." 
 
 1 We
 
 [ i6o ] 
 
 We fhall fubjoin for the entertainment of 
 our readers an infcription in the parifh 
 fchool at Rouen, which was written about 
 9. century fincc on the original Rollo. 
 
 Ici RoLLON, feffe foir & matin, 
 - Beaucoup foufFrit, point n'apprit de Latin. 
 
 Aux fiers combats bien mieux joua fon role : 
 
 Tuer des gens lui parut chofe drole. 
 
 Femme epoufa, plus douce que fatin, 
 Et, par bonheur, deja veuve & catin 5 
 
 D'elle recut un fib ^ la v . r-Ie. 
 
 Ainfi, Lefteur, naquit le premier RolleI 
 
 But to return to our author. After the , 
 vilion of the column. Merlin proceeds 
 in a {hort fpeech to intimate to Rollo, 
 that higher honours yet await his defcendan^ 
 in the Houfe of Lords, 
 
 Where Rolle fhall be, what Rollo was before. 
 
 This, as may be naturally fuppofed, ex- 
 cites the curiofity of the Duke; but Mer- 
 lin declares, that it is not permitted him 
 to reveal the glories of the Upper Houfe. 
 The hero muft firft fulfil his fates, by 
 mortally wounding the Saxon Drummer, 
 whom Providence {hall infpire in his laft 
 
 nloments for this particular purpofe. 
 
 Ere
 
 I i6i ] 
 
 "Bk yet thou know, what higher honours wait 
 Thy future race, accomplifli thou thy fate. 
 When now the braveft of our Saxon train 
 ' Beneath thy conquering arms fJiall prefs the plain ; 
 What yet remains, his voice divine in death 
 Shall tell, and Heav'en for this fhall lengthen out hii 
 breath. 
 
 Which laft line is rnofl happily lengthened 
 out into an alexandrine, to make the found 
 an echo to the fenfe. The paufe too after 
 the words ** fhall tell," finely marks the 
 fudden catches and fpafmodic efforts of a 
 dying man. Some extra^ls from the Drum- 
 mer's prophecies have already- been given 
 to the public; and from thefe fpecimens 
 of his loquacity with a thruft in quartc 
 through his lungs, our readers will proba- 
 bly fee the propriety with which the im- 
 mediate hand of Heaven is here introduced. 
 The moft rigid critic will not deny that 
 here is truly the 
 
 Bignus vindice nodus, 
 
 which Horace requires to juftlfy the intcr- 
 pofition of a Divinity. 
 
 X Wc
 
 [ i6i ] 
 
 We are now come to the concluding 
 fines of the fixth book. Our readers are 
 probably acquainted with the commonly- 
 received fuperftition relative to the exit of 
 Magicians, that they are carried away by 
 Devils. The poet has made exquifite ufe 
 of this popular belief, though he could not 
 help returning, in the laft line to his favourite 
 Virgil. Clallical obfcrvcrs will immediate- 
 ly perceive the allufion to 
 
 > Revocare gradiim, fuper^fque evadere ad auras 
 
 Hie labor, hoc opus eft ; 
 
 in the defcription of Pvollo's re-afcent 
 from the night - cellar into the open 
 
 air. 
 
 The Prophet forefeeing his inftant end, 
 
 ' At once, farewell" he faid. But, as he kid. 
 Like mortal bailiffs to the fight array 'd. 
 Two fiends advancing feiz'd ; and bore away 
 To their dark dens the much-refilling prey : 
 While RoLLo nimbly clamber'd in a fright, 
 Tho' fteep, and difficult the way, to fight. 
 
 And thus ends the fixth book of the RoL- 
 
 tiAD, which we have chofen for the fub- 
 
 I jecl
 
 [ i63 ] 
 
 je6l of the First Part of our Criti- 
 cisms. In the fecond part, which is now 
 going on in the Morning Herald, where 
 the firft draughts of the prefent numbers 
 were originally publiflied, we {liall purfue 
 our Commentary through the Houfe of 
 Peers ; and in a third part, for which \ye 
 are now preparing and arranging materials, 
 it is our intention to prefent our, readers 
 with a feries of anecdotes from the politi- 
 cal hiflory of our miniftry, which our 
 author has artfully contrived to interweave 
 in his inimitable poem. 
 
 And here, while we are clofing this firft 
 P^rt, we cannot but congratulate ourfelves, 
 that we have been the humble inftruments 
 of firft calling the attention of the learned 
 to this wonderful effort of modern genius, 
 the fame of which has already exceeded 
 the limits of this ifland, and perhaps may 
 not be circumfcribed by the prefent age ; 
 which, wc have the beft reafon to believe, 
 will very ftiortly diffufe the glory of our 
 prefent Rulers in many and diilant quarters 
 of the globe; and which may not im- 
 probably defcend to exhibit them in their 
 X 2 true
 
 [ i'54 ] 
 
 true colours to remote pofterlty. That we 
 indeed imagine our Criticifms to have con- 
 tributed very much to this great popularity 
 of the RoLLiAD, we will not attempt to 
 conceal. And this perfuafion (hall animate 
 us to continue our endeavours with re^ 
 doubled appHcation, that we may complete, 
 as early as poffible, the defign, which we 
 have fome time fince formed to ourfelves, 
 and which we have now fubmitted to the 
 Public; happy, if that which is yet to 
 come, be received with the fame degree of 
 favour as this, which is now finifhed, fo 
 peculiarly experienced even in its Jlod im-s 
 perfect condition, 
 
 FINIS,
 
 ^his Day is puhUJhed, 
 
 By JAMES RIDGWAY, 
 
 (Printed the fame fize, and intended ^s a companion to 
 the authentic edition of the'RoLMAD) 
 
 A Genuine and authentic Edition of the -PROBA- 
 TIONARY ODES, for the Office of Poet Lau- 
 REAT to his Majefty, as originally written by the cele- 
 brated Lift of Poetical Candidates, which follow ; 
 namely. 
 
 Sir C. Wray, Bart. 
 
 Rt. Hon. Lord Mulgrave, 
 
 and brothers 
 Sir J. Mawbey, Bart. 
 Sir Rd. Hill, Bart. 
 Rev. Mr. Mafon, B. D, 
 J. Macpherfon, Efq; 
 P. Arden, Efq; 
 JM. Wraxall, Efq; 
 Sir G. P. Turner, Bart. 
 M. A. Taylor, Efq; 
 Major J. Scott 
 Rt. Hon. H. Dundas 
 Themoft noble the Marquis 
 
 of Graham 
 
 Rev. J. Warton, D. D. 
 
 Rt. Hon. Lord Vifcount 
 Mountmorres 
 
 Rt. Hon. Edward Lord 
 Thurlow, Lord High 
 
 - Chancellor of Great- 
 Britain, &c. &c. 
 
 Monfieur Le Mefurier, 
 Merabre du Parlemeat 
 d'Angletere 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Mafon 
 
 Sir George Howard, Knt. 
 
 Dr. Markham, Archbifliop 
 of York, 
 
 AND 
 
 The Rev. Thomas Warton, B. D. 
 
 With Seignior Delpini's ingenious Reafons for bellow- 
 ing the Laureatlhip on the latter Gentleman ; with Tef- 
 timonials of the Merits of the various Candidates, by 
 
 Mifs Hannah Moore 
 Jonas Han way, Efq; 
 Mr. Bofwell 
 Dr. Burncy 
 
 Dr. Stratford, 
 Mrs. G. A. Bellamy 
 Ld. Monboddo 
 G. Hardinge, Efq; 
 
 Lord George Gordon, and Wan en Haftings, Efq; 
 
 To which Is added, 
 
 A Preliminary Difcourfe, by Sir John Hawkins, 
 Knight, late Chairman of the Middlefex Quarter Seffions, 
 Author of a new Hillory of Mufic, the Complete Angler, 
 and various Addrefles to Grand Juries, &c. &c. Price 
 js. 6d. fewed. 
 
 RIDG-
 
 R I D G W A Y's 
 
 Abstract of the Budget, 
 
 Or Ways and Means for 1785 : 
 
 Giving tlie Particulars of every Claufe in the Als pafTed 
 Jn the laft Seffion of Parliament ; the Forms of Warrants 
 to be nfed in future by Attornies at Law ; the Schedule to 
 the Medicine Ad, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 By a GENTLEMAN in the Temple. 
 
 Price IS. ftitched, anfl is. 6d. bound, the feme as the 
 Court Calendar, 
 
 A Caution to the Public. 
 
 A S Fidelity and Accuracy are the exclufive Merits 
 of a Publication like the prefent, James Ridgv/ay 
 thinks it his Duty to inform the Public, that this is 
 the only true and corre6l Abstract yet publiflied of 
 the New Taxes. Kearsley's Tax-Tables fc- 1 785, 
 are full of the mofl dangerous OmiJ/ions and Adifrepre- 
 fentatiom. In one Aft alone, the Tables pafs by in 
 total Silence, no lefs than Fifteen Claufes ; among which 
 are, very near all the Regulations of the A61 in Quef- 
 tiori. In the fame Adl too, Mr. Kearsley has laid 
 on the Subject an Original Tax of his own, for which 
 he has not the moft diltant Authority from theLegifla- 
 ture. For the Particulars of thefe, and many firhilar 
 Errors in the refl of the Tax-Tables, the Public are 
 refpc^fully referred to a Poftfcript fubjoined to this 
 Edition of the prefent Work, the Superiority of 
 which, James Ridgway flatters hrmfclf will be 
 immediately manifeft on the moft curfory Comparifon, 

 
 
 
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