The Rolliad, in Two Parts. George Ellis

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СКАЧАТЬ 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.

      * * * * *

       NUMBER IX.

      In every new edition of this incomparable poem, it has been the invariable practice of the author, to take an opportunity of adverting to such recent circumstances, as have occurred since the original publication of it relative to any of the illustrious characters he has celebrated. The public has lately been assured that, the Marquis of Graham is elected Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, and has presented that learned body with a complete set of the engravings of Piranesi, an eminent Italian artist; of which we are happy to acquaint the Dilettanti, a few remaining sets are to be purchased at Mr. Alderman Boydell’s printshop, in Cheapside, price twelve pounds twelve shillings each. An anecdote reflecting so much honour upon one of the favourite characters of our author, could not pass unnoticed in the ROLLIAD; and accordingly, in his last edition, we find the following complimentary lines upon the subject:

      If right the Bard, whose numbers sweetly flow,

       That all our knowledge is ourselves to know;

       A sage like GRAHAM, can the world produce,

       Who in full senate call’d himself a goose?

       The admiring Commons, from the high-born youth,

       With wonder heard this undisputed truth;

       Exulting Glasgow claim’d him for her own,

       And plac’d the prodigy on Learning’s throne.

      He then alludes to the magnificent present abovementioned, and concludes in that happy vein of alliterative excellence, for which he is so justly admired—

      With gorgeous gifts from gen’rous GRAHAM grac’d,

       Great Glasgow grows the granary of taste.

      Our readers will doubtless recollect, that this is not the first tribute of applause paid to the distinguished merit of the public-spirited young Nobleman in question. In the first edition of the poem, his character was drawn at length, the many services he has rendered his country were enumerated, and we have lately been assured by our worthy friend and correspondent, Mr. Malcolm M’Gregor, the ingenious author of the Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers, and other valuable poems, that the following spirited verses, recording the ever-memorable circumstance of his Lordship’s having procured for the inhabitants of the Northern extremity of our Island, the inestimable privilege of exempting their posteriors from those ignominious symbols of slavery, vulgarly denominated breeches, are actually universally repeated with enthusiasm, throughout every part of the highlands of Scotland—

      Thee, GRAHAM! thee, the frozen Chieftains bless,

       Who feel thy bounties through their fav’rite dress;

       By thee they view their rescued country clad

       In the bleak honours of their long-lost plaid;

       Thy patriot zeal has bar’d their parts behind

       To the keen whistlings of the wintry wind;

       While Lairds the dirk, while lasses bag-pipes prize,

       And oat-meal cake the want of bread supplies;

       The scurvy skin, while scaly scabs enrich,

       While contact gives, and brimstone cures the itch,

       Each breeze that blows upon those brawny parts,

       Shall wake thy lov’d remembrance in their hearts;

       And while they freshen from the Northern blast,

       So long thy honour, name, and praise shall last.

      We need not call to the recollection of the classical reader,

      Dum juga montis aper, sluvios dum piscis amabit,

       Semper honos, nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt.

      And the reader of taste will not hesitate to pronounce, that the copy has much improved upon, and very far surpassed the original. In these lines we also find the most striking instances of the beauties of alliteration; and however some fastidious critics have affected to undervalue this excellence, it is no small triumph to those of a contrary sentiment to find, that next to our own incomparable author, the most exalted genius of the present age, has not disdained to borrow the assistance of this ornament, in many passages of the beautiful dramatic treasure with which he has recently enriched the stage. Is it necessary for us to add, that it is the new tragedy of the Carmelite to which we allude?—A tragedy the beauties of which, we will venture confidently to assert, will be admired and felt, when those of Shakespeare, Dryden, Otway, Southerne, and Rowe, shall be no longer held in estimation. As examples of alliterative beauty, we shall select the following:—

      The hand of heav’n hangs o’er me and my house,

       To their untimely graves seven sons swept off.

      Again—

      So much for tears—tho’ twenty years they flow,

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