Читать книгу The Rolliad, in Two Parts - George Ellis - Страница 11

In proof of the assurance with which we concluded our last number, we shall now proceed to give the character of SIR RICHARD HILL.

Our Readers, probably, are well acquainted with the worthy Baronet’s promiscuous quotations from the Bible and Rochester; and they may possibly remember (if they were awake, when they read them) some elegant verses, which he repeated in the House of Commons, and afterwards inserted in the public papers, as the production of a sleepless Night. We know not, however, if they may so easily recal to mind his remarkable declaration, both of his Loyalty and Religion, in the prettily-turned phrase, “that indeed he loved King GEORGE very well, but he loved King JESUS better.” But as our Poet has alluded to it, we thought necessary to mention it; and for the same reason to add, that like Lord MAHON, Major SCOTT, Mr. ATKINSON, Mr. WILKES, and Captain J. LUTTRELL, he writes his own speeches for the public Reporters. We should also have been happy to have enlivened our commentary with some extracts from the controversy, at which our Author glances; we mean the answer of Sir Richard to Mr. Madan, on the doctrine of Polygamy; a subject, which the tenour of our Baronet’s reading in his two favourite books, peculiarly qualified him to handle with equally pleasantry and orthodoxy. But all our industry to procure his pamphlet unfortunately proved ineffectual. We never saw more of it than the title-page, which we formerly purchased in the lining of a trunk, at the corner of St. Paul’s Church-yard.

We are conscious, that these introductory explanations must seem doubly dull, to Readers impatient for such exquisite poetry as the ROLLIAD. They appeared, however, indispensible to the due understanding of the verses, which we shall now give without further preface.

Brother of ROWLAND, or, if yet more dear

Sounds thy new title, Cousin of a Peer;

Scholar of various learning, good or evil,

Alike what God inspir’d, or what the Devil;

Speaker well skill’d, what no man hears, to write;

Sleep-giving Poet, of a sleepless night;

Polemic, Politician, Saint, and Wit,

Now lashing MADAN, now defending PITT;

Thy praise shall live till time itself be o’er,

Friend of King GEORGE, tho’ of King JESUS more!

The solemnity of this opening is well suited to the dignity of the occasion. The heroes of Homer generally address each other by an appellative, marking their affinity to some illustrious personage. The Grecian poet, it must be confessed, in such cases, uses a patronymic, expressive of the genealogy; as Pelides, Æacides, Laertiades; but it is not absolutely necessary to observe this rule.—For, [1]M‘Pherson, a poet with whom our author is most likely to be intimately acquainted, makes his hero, Fingal, address Ossian by the title of “Father of Oscar.” It should seem therefore to be sufficient, if in addressing a great man, you particularise any celebrated character of the family who may be supposed to reflect honour on his connections; and the Reverend ROWLAND HILL was certainly the most celebrated of our worthy Baronet’s relations, before the late creation of Lord BERWICK, on which the next line happily touches.

Our author seems very fond of Mr. DUNDAS,

Whose exalted soul

No bonds of vulgar prejudice controul.

Of shame unconscious in his bold career,

He spurns that honour, which the weak revere;

For, true to public Virtue’s patriot plan,

He loves the Minister, and not the Man; Alike the advocate of NORTH and Wit, The friend of SHELBURNE, and the guide of PITT, His ready tongue with sophistries at will, Can say, unsay, and be consistent still; This day can censure, and the next retract, In speech extol, and stigmatize in act; Turn and re-turn; whole hours at HASTINGS bawl, Defend, praise, thank, affront him, and recal. By opposition, he his King shall court; And damn the People’s cause by his support. He, like some Angel sent to scourge mankind, Shall deal forth plagues—in charity design’d. The West he would have starv’d; yet, ever good, But meant to save the effusion of her blood: And if, from fears of his Controul releast He looses Rapine now, to spoil the East; ’Tis but to fire another SYKES to plan Some new starvation-scheme for Hindostan; Secure, to make her flourish, as before, More populous, by losing myriads more.

Our author here seems to understand the famous starvation-scheme of Mr. DUNDAS, as literally designed to produce an actual famine in America, though undoubtedly from the most benevolent motives imaginable. But this is contradicted by a [2]late writer, who appears to be perfectly conversant with the language and purposes of our present men in power. “Starvation (says he) is not synonymous with famine; for Mr. Dundas most certainly could not intend to produce a famine in America, which is the granary of the West-Indies, and of a great part of Europe. The word Starvation (continues he) was intended by Mr. Dundas to express a scheme of his own, by which he meant to prevent the Americans from eating when they were hungry, and had food within their reach; thereby insuring their reduction without blood-shed.” However, both authors agree that Mr. Dundas proposed to starve the Americans (whatever was to be the mode of doing it) in mere compassion, to save them from the horrors of throat-cutting. How finely too does the Poet trace the same charitable disposition in the late measures of Mr. Dundas and his Colleagues at the Board of Controul! Factious men have said, that the Indian politics of the new Commissioners have a direct tendency, beyond any former system, to encourage every kind of peculation and extortion. But what kind Mr. Dundas would peculiarly wish to encourage, can admit of no doubt, from his known partiality to starving—any body, but himself. And how, indeed, can the prosperity of the East be better consulted, than by some new starvation-scheme; such as was contrived and executed by certain humane individuals in the year 1770, with the most salutary event! For, notwithstanding one-third of the inhabitants of Bengal were then swept away by the famine, the province, in consequence, is now become more populous than ever. This may a little disturb all vulgar notions of cause and effect; but the writer above-mentioned proves the fact, by the testimony of Major Scott.

There are many more lines relating to Mr. Dundas. But as this gentleman’s character is so perfectly understood by the public, we shall rather select a short catalogue of some among the inferior Ministerial Heroes, who have hitherto been less frequently described.

DRAKE, whose cold rhetorick freezes in its course,

BANKS the precise, and fluent WILBERFORCE,

With either PHIPPS, a scribbling, prattling pair;

And VILLERS, comely, with the flaxen hair;

The gentle GRENVILLE’s ever-grinning Son,

And the dark brow of solemn HAMILTON.

These miniatures, as we may call them, present us with very striking likenesses of the living originals; most of whom are seen to as much advantage in this small size, as they could possibly have been, had they been taken at full length. How happy is the allusion to Mr. DRAKE’s[3] well-known speech; which, in the metaphor of our poet, we may style a beautiful icicle of the most transparent eloquence! How just too, and yet how concise, is the description of the literary and parliamentary talents, so equally possessed by Brother CHARLES and Brother HARRY, as Lord Mulgrave affectionately calls them. We must, however, observe, that in the Manuscript of the ROLLIAD, obligingly communicated to us by the Author, the line appears to have been first written,

Resplendent PHIPPS who shines our lesser Bear;

the noble head of this illustrious family having been called the Great Bear. But this was corrected probably in consequence of the Poet having discovered, like Mr. Herschel, that the splendor which he long attributed to a single constellation, or (if we may depart a little from critical nicety in our figure) to a single star, in reality flowed from the united rays of two. We have nothing further to add on this passage, only that the character of VILLERS seems to be drawn after the Nireus of Homer; who, as the Commentators remark, is celebrated in the catalogue of warriors, for the handsomest man in the Grecian army, and is never mentioned again through the whole twenty-four books of the Iliad.

[1] Mr. M‘Pherson is said to be one of the principal writers on the side of the present administration.

[2] Key to Parliamentary Debates, published by Debrett.

[3] “Behold, Sir, another feature of the procrastinating system. Not so the Athenian Patriots—Sir, the Romans—Sir, I have lost the clue of my argument—Sir, I will sit down.”

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