Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

And the Marshal must have them-pray, why should we not,

[blocks in formation]

ONE day the Chinese Bird of Royalty, Fum,
Thus accosted our own Bird of Royalty, Hum,
In that Palace or China-shop (Brighton-which is it?)

As the last and, I grant it, the worst of our loans to Where FUM had just come to pay HUM a short visit.—

him,

Ship off the Ministry, body and bones to him?
There's not in all England, I'd venture to swear,
Any men we could half so conveniently spare;
And, though they 've been helping the French for
years past,

We may thus make them useful to England at last.
C-STL-R―GH in our sieges might save some disgraces,
Being used to the taking and keeping of places;
And Volunteer C-NN-NG, still ready for joining,
Might show off his talent for sly undermining.
Could the Household but spare us its glory and pride,
Old H-DF-T at horn-works again might be tried,
And the Ch-f J-ST-CE make a bold charge at his
side!

While V-NS-TT-RT could victual the troops upon tick,
And the Doctor look after the baggage and sick.

Nay, I do not see why the great R-G-NT himself Should, in times such as these, stay at home on the

shelf:

Though through narrow defiles he's not fitted to pass, Yet who could resist if he bore down en masse ?

And, though oft, of an evening, perhaps he might prove, Like our brave Spanish Allies, "unable to move;" Yet there's one thing in war, of advantage unbounded, Which is, that he could not with ease be surrounded!

In my next, I shall sing of their arms and equipment. At present no more but-good luck to the shipment!

LORD WELLINGTON AND THE MINISTERS. 1813.

So, gently in peace Alcibiades smiled,

While in battle he shone forth so terribly grand, That the emblem they graved on his seal was a child, With a thunderbolt placed in its innocent hand. Oh, WELLINGTON! long as such Ministers wield Your magnificent arm, the same emblem will do; For, while they're in the Council and you in the Field, We've the babies in them, and the thunder in you!

To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle. SIR,-In order to explain the following fragment, it is necessary to refer your readers to a late florid description of the Pavilion at Brighton, in the apart

Near akin are these Birds, though they differ in nation; (The breed of the HUMS is as old as creation,) Both full-craw'd Legitimates-both birds of prey, Both cackling and ravenous creatures, half way 'Twixt the goose and the vulture, like Lord C-s

[blocks in formation]

Quoth the Bird, "yes-I know him-a Bonze, by his phiz

And that jolly old idol he kneels to so low
Can be none but our round-about godhead, fat Fo!"
It chanced, at this moment, the Episcopal Prig
Was imploring the P- -E to dispense with his
wig,'

Which the Bird, overhearing, flew high o'er his head,
And some TOBIT-like marks of his patronage shed,
Which so dimm'd the poor Dandy's idolatrous eye,
That while FUM cried "Oh Fo!" all the Court cried
"Oh fie!"

But, a truce to digression.-These Birds of a feather Thus talk'd, t' other night, on State matters together▬▬▬▬E just in bed, or about to depart for 't, (The P His legs full of gout, and his arms full of "I say, HUM," says FUM-FUM, of course, spoke Chinese,

Under B

- ;)

But, bless you, that 's nothing-at Brighton one sees
Foreign lingoes and Bishops translated with ease-
"I say, HUм, how fares it with Royalty now?
Is it up? is it prime? is it spooncy—or how?"
(The Bird had just taken a Flashman's degree
-E, Y
TH, and young Mas-
ter L
"As for us in Pekin".
here a devil of a din
From the bed-chamber came, where that long Man-
darin,
C-STL-R-GHI (whom Fuм cal's the Confucius of
prose,)

Was rehearsing a speech upon Europe's repose,
To the deep, double-bass of the fat idol's nose!

1 In consequence of an old promise that he should be 1 The character given to the Spanish soldier, in Sir John allowed to wear his own hair, whenever he might be ele Murray's memorable despatch vated to a bishoprick by his R-1 H

[ocr errors]

(Nota Bene.-His Lordship and L-V-RP-L come,
In collateral lines, from the old Mother HUM,-
C-STL-R-GH A HUм-bug-L-V-RP-L a HUM-drum.)
The speech being finish'd, out rush'd C-STL-R-GH,
Saddled HUM in a hurry, and whip, spur, away!
Through the regions of air, like a Snip on his hobby,
Ne'er paused till he fighted in St. Stephen's lobby.

*

Look down upon BEN-see him dunghill all o'er,
Insult the fallen foe that can harm him no more.
Out, cowardly spooney!-again and again,
By the fist of my father, I blush for thee, BEN.
To show the white feather is many men's doom,
But, what of one feather?-BEN shows a whole Plume

EPISTLE FROM TOM CRIB TO BIG BEN. Concerning some foul play in a late Transaction.'

"Ahi, mio Ben!"-Metastasio.2

WHAT! BEN, my old hero, is this your renown?
Is this the new go?-kick a man when he's down!
When the foe has knock'd under, to tread on him
then-

By the fist of my father, I blush for thee, BEN!
"Foul! foul!" all the lads of the fancy exclaim—
CHARLEY SHOCK is electrified-BELCHER spits
flame-

And MOLYNEUX-ay, even BLACKY, cries "Shame!" Time was, when JOHN BULL little difference spied "Twixt the foe at his feet and the friend at his side; When he found (such his humour in fighting and eating,)

TO LADY HOLLAND,

On Napoleon's Legacy of a Snuff-box. GIFT of the Hero, on his dying day,

To her, whose pity watch'd, for ever nigh; Oh! could he see the proud, the happy ray, This relic lights up on her generous eye, Sighing, he'd feel how easy 't is to pay

A friendship all his kingdoms could not buy.

CORRESPONDENCE.

Between a Lady and a Gentleman, upon the Advantage of (what is called) "having Law on one's Side."

"Legge aurea,

S' ei piace, ci lice."

THE GENTLEMAN'S PROPOSAL.

His foe, like his beef-steak, the sweeter for beating-COME, fly to these arms, nor let beauties so bloomy But this comes, Master BEN, of your cursed foreign notions,

Your trinkets, wigs, thingumbobs, gold lace, and lotions;

To one frigid owner be tied;

Your prudes may revile, and your old ones look gloomy,

But, dearest! we've Law on our side.

Your noyaus, curacoas, and the devil knows what(One swig of Blue Ruin' is worth the whole lot!)-Oh! think the delight of two lovers congenial, Your great and small crosses-(my eyes, what a

brood!

A cross-buttock from me would do some of them good!)

Which have spoil'd you, till hardly a drop, my old porpoise,

Of pure English claret is left in your corpus;
And (as JIM says) the only one trick, good or bad,
Of the fancy you 're up to, is fibbing, my lad!
Hence it comes,-BOXIANA, disgrace to thy page!
Having floor'd, by good luck, the first swell of the age,
Having conquer'd the prime one, that mill'd us all
round,

[blocks in formation]

Whom no dull decorums divide;

Their error how sweet, and their raptures how venial, When once they've got Law on their side!

"T is a thing that in every King's reign has been done,

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

HORACE, ODE XXII. LIB. I.
Freely translated by Lord Eld—n.

THE man who keeps a conscience pure (If not his own, at least his Prince's,) Through toil and danger walks secure,

Looks big, and black, and never winces! "No want has he of sword or dagger, Cock'd hat or ringlets of GERAMB; Though Peers may laugh, and Papists swagger, He does not care one single d-mn! Whether 'midst Irish chairmen going, Or, through St. Giles's alleys dim,

[blocks in formation]

The noble translator had, at first, laid the scene of these imagined dangers of his man of conscience among the papists of Spain, and had translated the words " quæ loca fabulosus lambit Hydaspes' thus-" The fabling Spaniard licks the French;" but, recollecting that it is our interest just now to be respectful to Spanish catholics (though there is certainly no earthly reason for our being even commonly civil to Irish ones,) ho altered the passage as it stands at present.

'Mid drunken Sheelahs, blasting, blowing, No matter 't is all one to him.

'For instance, I, one evening late,

Upon a gay vacation sally,
Singing the praise of Church and State,
Got (God knows how) to Cranbourne-Alley
When lo! an Irish Papist darted

Across my path, gaunt, grim, and big-
I did but frown, and off he started,

Scared at me without my wig!

2 Yet a more fierce and raw-boned dog
Goes not to mass in Dublin City,
Nor shakes his brogue o'er Allen's Bog,
Nor spouts in Catholic Committee !

Oh! place me 'midst O'ROURKES, O'TOOLES,
The ragged royal blood of TARA ;
Or place me where DICK M-RT-N rules,
The houseless wilds of CONNEMARA ;-

4 Of Church and State I'll warble still,

Though even DICK M-RT-N's selfshould grumble;
Sweet Church and state, like JACK and JILL,
So lovingly upon a hill-

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

Leave old Magna Charta to shift for itself,

And, like G-DW-N, write books for young masters and misses,

Oh! it is not high rank that can make the heart

merry,

Even monarchs themselves are not free from mis

hap;

Though the Lords of Westphalia must quake before

Jerry,

Poor Jerry himself has to quake before Nap

HORACE, ODE XXXVIII. LIB. I.

A FRAGMENT.

Translated by a Treasury Clerk, while waiting Dinner for the Right Hon. G-rge R―se.

Persicos odi, puer, apparatus:
Displicent nexæ philyra coronæ.
Mitte sectari Rosa quo locorum
Sera morctur.

Boy, tell the Cook that I hate all nick-nackeries,
Fricassees, vol-au-vents, puffs, and gim-crackeries,-
Six by the Horse-Guards !—old Georgy is late-
But come-lay the table-cloth-zounds! do not wait,
Nor stop to inquire, while the dinner is staying,
At which of his places Old R-SE is delaying!!

ΤΟ

Moria pur quando vuol, non è bisogna mutar ni faccia ni voce per esser un Angelo. 2

DIE when you will, you need not wear
At heaven's court a form more fair

Than Beauty here on earth has given;

the inseparability of Church and State, and their (what is called) "standing and falling together," than this ancient apologue of JACK and JILL. JACK, of course, represents the State in this ingenious little allegory,

JACK fell down,

And broke his Crown,

And JILL came tumbling after.

I cannot help calling the reader's attention to the peculiar ingenuity with which these lines are paraphrased. Not to mention the happy conversion of the wolf into a papist (seeing that Romulus was suckled by a wolf, that Rome was 1 The literal closeness of the version here cannot but be founded by Romulus, and that the Pope has always reigned admired. The translator has added a long, erudite, and at Rome,) there is something particularly neat insupposing flowery note upon Roses, of which I can merely give a spe "ultra terminum" to mean vacation-time; and then the cimen at present. In the first place, he ransacks the Rosemodest consciousness with which the noble and learned rium Politicum of the Persian poet Sadi, with the hope of translator has avoided touching upon the words "curis ex-finding some Political Roses, to match the gentleman in the peditus" (or, as it has been otherwise read, causis expedi-text-but in vain: he then tells us that Cicero accused Vertus") and the felicitous idea of his being "inermis" when res of reposing upon a cushion "Melitensi rosa fartum," "without his wig," are altogether the most delectable spe- which, from the odd mixture of words, he supposes to be a cimens of paraphrase in our language.

[blocks in formation]

kind of Irish Bed of Roses, like Lord Castlereagh's. The
learned clerk next favours us with some remarks upon a
well-known punning epitaph on fair Rosamond, and ex-
presses a most loyal hope, that, if "Rosa munda" mean "a
Rose with clean hands," it may be found applicable to the
Right Honourable Rose in question. He then dwells at
some length upon the "Rosa aurea," which though de
scriptive, in one sense, of the old Treasury Statesman, yet,
as being consecrated and worn by the Pope, must, of course,
not be brought into the same atmosphere with him. Lastly,
in reference to the words "old Rose," he winds up with
the pathetic lamentation of the poet,
46 consenuisse Rosas."
The whole note, indeed, shows a knowledge of Roses that
is quite edifying.

2 The words addressed by Lord Herbert of Cherbury, to

5 There cannot be imagined a more happy illustration of the beautiful nun at Murano-See his Life.

Keep but the lovely looks we seeThe voice we hear-and you will be An angel ready-made for heaven!

ON A SQUINTING POETESS. To no one Muse does she her glance confine, But has an eye, at once, to all the nine!

IMPROMPTU.

[blocks in formation]

1 This is a bon-mot, attributed, I know not how truly, to the PR-NC S8 of W-L-8. I have merely versified it.

THE TORCH OF LIBERTY.

I SAW it all in Fancy's glass-
Herself the fair, the wild magician,
That bid this splendid day-dream pass,
And named each gliding apparition.

"T was like a torch race-such as they
Of Greece perform'd, in ages gone,
When the fleet youths in long array,
Pass'd the bright torch triumphant on

I saw the expectant nations stand
To catch the coming flame in turn-
I saw, from ready hand to hand,
The clear but struggling glory burn.
And, oh! their joy, as it came near,
"T was in itself a joy to see-
While Fancy whisper'd in my ear

"That torch they pass is Liberty!"

And each, as she received the flame,
Lighted her altar with its ray,
Then, smiling to the next who came,
Speeded it on its sparkling way.

From ALBION first, whose ancient shrine
Was furnish'd with the fire already,
COLUMBIA caught the spark divine,
And lit a flame like ALBION's-steady

The splendid gift then GALLIA took,
And, like a wild Bacchante, raising
The brand aloft, its sparkles shook,

As she would set the world a-blazing.

And, when she fired her altar, nigh

It flash'd into the redd'ning air So fierce, that ALBION, who stood high, Shrunk, almost blinded by the glare!

Next, SPAIN so new was light to her-Leap'd at the torch; but, ere the spark She flung upon her shrine could stir,

"T was quench'd and all again was dark

Yet no-not quench'd-a treasure worth So much to mortals rarely dies.Again her living light look'd forth,

And shone, a beacon, in all eyes.

Who next received the flame?--Alas!
Unworthy NAPLES-shame of shames
That ever through such hands should pass
That brightest of all earthly flames!

Scarce had her fingers touch'd the torch,
When, frighted by the sparks it shed,
Nor waiting e'en to feel the scorch,
She dropp'd it to the earth-and fled.
And fallen it might have long remain'd,
But GREECE, who saw her moment now,

« ForrigeFortsæt »