Читать книгу The Rolliad, in Two Parts - George Ellis - Страница 17

From the above general compliment to the India-bench, the poet, in the person of Merlin, breaks out into the following animated apostrophe to some of the principal among our Leadenhall-street Governors:

All hail! ye virtuous patriots without blot, Rollo

The minor KINSON and the major SCOTT:

And thou of name uncouth to British ear,

From Norman smugglers sprung, LE MESURIER;

Hail SMITHS; and WRAXALL, unabash’d to talk,

Tho’ none will listen; hail too, CALL and PALK;

Thou, BARWEL, just and good, whose honour’d name,

Wide, as the Ganges rolls, shall live in fame,

Second to HASTINGS: and, VANSITTART, thou,

A second HASTINGS, if the Fates allow.

The bold, but truly poetical apocope, by which the Messrs. At-kinson and Jen-kinson, are called the two kinsons, is already familiar to the public. The minor Kinson, or Kinson the less, is obviously Mr. Atkinson; Mr. Jenkinson being confessedly greater than Mr. Atkinson, or any other man, except One, in the kingdom.—The antithesis of the Major Scott to the minor Kinson, seems to ascertain the sense of the word Major, as signifying in this place the greater; it might mean also the elder; or it might equally refer to the military rank of the gentleman intended. This is a beautiful example of the figure so much admired by the ancients under the name of the Paronomasia, or Pun. They who recollect the light in which our author before represented Major Scott, as a pamphleteer, fit only to furnish a water-closet, may possibly wonder to find him here mentioned as THE GREATER SCOTT; but whatever may be his literary talents, he must be acknowledged to be truly great, and worthy of the conspicuous place here assigned him, if we consider him in his capacity of agent to Mr. Hastings, and of consequence chief manager of the Bengal Squad; and it must be remembered, that this is the character in which he is here introduced. The circumstance of Mr. Le Mesurier’s origin from Norman Smugglers, has been erroneously supposed by some critics to be designed for a reproach; but they could not possibly have fallen into this mistaste, if they had for a moment reflected that it is addressed by MERLIN to ROLLO, who was himself no more than a Norman pirate. Smuggling and piracy in heroic times were not only esteemed not infamous, but absolutely honourable. The Smiths, Call and Palk of our poet, resemble the

Alcandrumque, Haliumque, Noëmonaque, Prytanimque,

of Homer and Virgil; who introduce those gallant warriors for the sake of a smooth verse, and dispatch them at a stroke without the distinction of a single epithet. Our poet too has more professedly imitated Virgil in the lines respecting Mr. Vansittart, now a candidate to succeed Mr. Hastings.

———And, VANSITTART, thou

A second HASTINGS, if the fates allow.

———Si quâ fata aspera rumpas,

Tu Marcellus eris!

The passage however is, as might be hoped from the genius of our author, obviously improved in the imitation; as it involves a climax, most happily expressed. Mr. Barwell has been panegyrized in the lines immediately foregoing, as second to Hastings; but of Mr. Vansittart it is prophesied, that he will be a second Hastings; second indeed in time, but equal perhaps in the distinguishing merits of that great and good man, in obedience to the Court of Directors, attention to the interests of the Company in preference to his own, abstinence from rapacity and extortion, justice and policy towards the princes, and humanity to all the natives, of Hindostan. The ingenious turn on the words second to Hastings, and a second Hastings, would have furnished matter for whole pages to the Dionysius’s, Longinus’s, and Quintilians of antiquity, though the affected delicacy of modern taste may condemn it as quibble and jingle.

The poet then hints at a most ingenious proposal for the embellishment of the India-bench, according to the new plan of Parliamentary Reform; not by fitting it up like the Treasury-bench, with velvet cushions, but by erecting for the accommodation of the Leadenhall worthies, the ivory bed, which was lately presented to her Majesty by Mrs. Hastings.

O that for you, in Oriental state,

At ease reclin’d to watch the long debate,

Beneath the gallery’s pillar’d height were spread

(With the QUEEN’s leave) your WARREN’s ivory bed!

The pannels of the gallery too, over the canopy of the bed, are to be ornamented with suitable paintings,

Above, In colours warm with mimic life,

The German husband of your WARREN’s wife

His rival deeds should blazon; and display.

In his blest rule, the glories of your sway.

What singular propriety, what striking beauty must the reader of taste immediately perceive in this choice of a painter to execute the author’s design! It cannot be doubted but Mrs. Hastings would exert all her own private and all Major Scott’s public influence with every branch of the Legislature, to obtain so illustrious a job for the man to whose affection, or to whose want of affection, she owes her present fortunes. The name of this artist is Imhoff; but though he was once honoured with Royal Patronages he is now best remembered from the circumstance by which our author has distinguished him, of his former relation to Mrs. Hastings.

Then follow the subjects of the paintings, which are selected with the usual judgment of our poet.

Here might the tribes of ROHILCUND expire,

And quench with blood their towns, that sink in fire;

The Begums there, of pow’r, of wealth forlorn,

With female cries their hapless fortune mourn.

Here, hardly rescu’d from his guard, CHEYT SING

Aghast should fly; there NUNDCOMAR should swing;

Happy for him! if he had borne to see

His country beggar’d of the last rupee;

Nor call’d those laws, O HASTINGS, on thy head,

Which, mock’d by thee, thy slaves alone should dread.

These stories, we presume, are too public to require any explanation. But if our readers should wish to be more particularly acquainted with them, they will find them in the [1]Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, commonly called the Reports of the Select and Secret Committees, with Appendixes of Letters, Minutes, and Narratives written by Mr. Hastings himself. Or they may consult the History of Alexander the Great, contained, in Major John Scott’s narrative of the administration of Mr. Hastings. Though we would rather refer them to the latter work, as in our opinion it is one of the most satisfactory defences ever published; and proves to demonstration, that Mr. Hastings never committed a single act of injustice or cruelty, but he constantly obtained forty or fifty lacks for the Company or himself—That an enquiry into past abuses is an impolitic order; because “much valuable time must be lost, and much odium incurred by the attempt;” and therefore Mr. Hastings of course ought not to have been censured at all, unless he had been censured before he had done any thing to deserve it—That it was right for Mr. Hastings to keep up the good old custom of receiving presents, in defiance of a positive law; because his predecessors had received as large sums when they were authorized by custom, and not prohibited by any law—That Mr. Hastings was justified in disobeying the orders of the Directors, because he could no otherwise have convinced the Country Powers of his superiority over his Masters, which was, and is, absolutely necessary—that, though it may be questioned if Nundcomar was legally condemned, it was proper to execute him, in order to show the justice and impartiality of the Judges in hanging the natives, whom they were sent especially to protect—That a Treaty of Peace between two nations is of no force, if you can get one of the individuals who officially signed it, to consent to the infraction of it—together with many other positions, equally just and novel, both in Ethics and Politics.

But to return to our Poet. MERLIN now drops his apostrophe, and eulogizes the India-bench in the third person for the blessings of Tea and the Commutation Tax. The following passage will show our author to be, probably, a much better Grocer than Mr. Pitt; and perhaps little inferior to the Tea-Purchaser’s Guide.

What tongue can tell the various kind of Tea?

Of Blacks and Greens, of Hyson and Bohea;

With Singlo, Congou, Pekoe, and Souchong:

Couslip the fragrant, Gun-powder the strong;

And more, all heathenish alike in name,

Of humbler some, and some of nobler fame.

The prophet then compares the breakfasts of his own times with those of ours: attributes to the former the intractable spirit of that age; and from the latter fervently prays, like a loyal subject, for the perfect accomplishment of their natural effects; that they may relax the nerves of Englishmen into a proper state of submission to the superior powers. We shall insert the lines at length.

On mighty beef, bedew’d with potent ale,

Our Saxons, rous’d at early dawn, regale;

And hence a sturdy, bold, rebellious race,

Strength in the frame, and spirit in the face,

All sacred right of Sovereign Power defy,

For Freedom conquer, or for Freedom die.

Not so their sons, of manners more polite;

How would they sicken at the very sight!

O’er Chocolate’s rich froth, o’er Coffee’s fume,

Or Tea’s hot tide their noons shall they consume.

But chief, all sexes, every rank and age,

Scandal and Tea, more grateful, shall engage;

In gilded roofs, beside some hedge in none,

On polish’d tables, or the casual stone.

Be Bloom reduc’d; and PITT no more a foe, Ev’n PITT, the favourite of the fair shall grow: Be but Mundungus cheap; on light and air New burthens gladly shall our peasants bear, And boil their peaceful kettles, gentle souls! Contented—if no tax be laid on coals. Aid then, kind Providence, yon’ generous bench, With copious draughts the thirsty realm to drench; And oh! thy equal aid let PRESTON find, With [2]musty-sweet and mouldy-fresh combin’d, To palsy half our isles: ’till wan, and weak, Each nerve unstrung, and bloodless every cheek, Head answering head, and noddling thro’ the street. The destin’d change of Britons is complete; Things without will, like India’s feeble brood, Or China’s shaking Mandarins of wood. So may the Crown in native lustre shine, And British Kings re-sume 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 consumption of an article, which some factious people have called a pernicious luxury. And our readers, we are persuaded, will agree with us, when we decidedly pronounce this as good a defence of the Commutation Tax, as we have yet seen.

We must observe however that our author is probably indebted to the extensive information of Lord Sydney, for the hint of the following couplet:

In gilded roofs, beside some hedge in none,

On polish’d tables, or the casual stone.

The Secretary of State in the discussion of the abovementioned tax, very ably calculated the great quantity of tea consumed under hedges by vagrants, who have no houses; from which he most ingeniously argued to the justice and equity of laying the impost on persons who have houses, whether they consume it or not.

We shall conclude this number, as the Poet concludes the subject, with some animated verses on Mr. FOX and Mr. PITT.

Crown the froth’d Porter, slay the fatted Ox,

And give the British meal to British Fox.

But for an Indian minister more fit,

Ten cups of purest Padrae pour for PITT,

Pure as himself; add sugar too and cream,

Sweet as his temper, bland as flows the stream

Of his smooth eloquence; then crisply nice

The muffin toast, or bread and butter slice,

Thin as his arguments, that mock the mind,

Gone, ere you taste—no relish left behind.

Where beauteous Brighton overlooks the sea,

These be his joys: and STEELE shall make the Tea.

How neat! how delicate! and how unexpected is the allusion in the last couplet! These two lines alone include the substance of whole columns, in the ministerial papers of last summer, on the sober, the chaste, the virtuous, the edifying manner in which the Immaculate Young Man passed the recess from public business; not in riot and debauchery, not in gaming, not in attendance on ladies, either modest or immodest, but in drinking Tea with Mr. Steele, at the Castle in Brighthelmstone. Let future ages read and admire!

[1] We have the highest law authority for this title; as well as for calling Mr. Hastings Alexander the Great.

[2] The Tea-dealers assure us, that Mr. PRESTON’s sweet and fresh Teas contain a great part of the musty and mouldy chests, which the Trade rejected.

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