The Rolliad, in Two Parts. George Ellis

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СКАЧАТЬ Shower the mix’d lard and powder o’er thy gown;

       Or in unseemly wrinkles crease that band,

       Fair work of fairer LADY KENYON’s hand.

       No!—May the pious brutes, with measur’d swing,

       Assist the friendly motion of the spring,

       While golden dreams of perquisites and fees

       Employ thee, slumbering o’er thine own decrees.

       But when a Statesman in St. Stephen’s walls

       Thy Country claims thee, and the Treasury calls,

       To pour thy splendid bile in bitter tide

       On hardened sinners who with Fox divide,

       Then may they, rattling on in jumbling trot,

       With rage and jolting make thee doubly hot,

       Fire thy Welch blood, enflamed with zeal and leeks,

       And kindle the red terrors of thy cheeks,

       Till all thy gather’d wrath in furious fit

       On RIGBY bursts—unless he votes with PITT.

      I might here, SIR LLOYD, launch into a new panegyric on the subject of this concluding couplet. But in this I shall imitate your moderation, who, for reasons best known to yourself, have long abandoned to MR ROLLE[5] “those loud and repeated calls on notorious defaulters, which will never be forgiven by certain patriots.” Besides, I consider your public-spirited behaviour in the late Election and Scrutiny for Westminster, as the great monument of your fame to all posterity. I have, therefore, dwelt on this—more especially as it was immediately connected with the origin of the ROLLIAD—till my dedication has run to such a length, that I cannot think of detaining your valuable time any longer; unless merely to request your HONOUR’s zealous protection of a work which may be in some sort attributed to you, as its ultimate cause, which is embellished with your portrait, and which now records in this address, the most brilliant exploit of your political glory.

      Choak’d by a Roll, ’tis said, that OTWAY died; OTWAY the Tragic Muse’s tender pride. Oh! may my ROLLE to me, thus favour’d, give A better fate;—that I may eat, and live!

      I am, YOUR HONOUR’s

       Most obedient,

       Most respectful,

       Most devoted, humble servant,

       THE EDITOR.

      [1] In a postscript originally subjoined to the eighth Number.

      [2] Mr. Rolle said, “he could not be kept all the summer debating about the rights of the Westminster electors. His private concerns were of more importance to him; than his right as a Westminster Elector.”

      [3] I shall give the Reader in one continued note, what information I think necessary for understanding these verses. During the six months that the Scrutiny continued in St. Martin’s, the most distinguished exhibition of Mr. Morgan’s talents was the maintenance of an argument, that Mr. Fox ought to pay half the expence of fire in the room where the Witnesses attended. The learned Gentleman is familiarly called Frog, to which I presume the Author alludes in the word croak. Mr. Rous spoke two hours to recommend Expedition. At the time the late Parliament was dissolved, he wrote two Pamphlets in favour of the Ministry. I have forgot the titles of these pamphlets, as probably the reader has too, if he ever knew them. However, I can assure him of the fact.—Mr. Collick, the Witness-General of Sir Cecil Wray, is a Hair-Merchant and Justice of Peace. Sir Cecil’s taste both for Poetry and Small-beer are well known, as is the present unfinished state of his newly-fronted house in Pall-Mall.

      [4] “This appears to be the last hair in the tail of procrastination” The Master of the Rolls, who first used this phrase, is a most eloquent speaker. See Lord Mulg. Essays on Eloquence, Vol. II.

      [5] Mr. Ridgway tells me, he thinks there is something like these words in one of the Reviews, where the ROLLIAD is criticised.

      SHORT ACCOUNT

       OF THE FAMILY OF THE

       ROLLOS, now ROLLES, FAITHFULLY EXTRACTED FROM THE RECORDS OF THE HERALD’S OFFICE.

      JOHN ROLLE, Esq. is descended from the ancient Duke ROLLO, of Normandy; ROLLO passed over into Britain, anno 983, where he soon begat another ROLLO, upon the wife of a Saxon drummer. Our young ROLLO was distinguished by his gigantic stature, and, as we learn from ODERICUS VITALIS, was slain by Hildebrand, the Danish Champion, in a fit of jealousy. We find in Camden, that the race of the ROLLOS fell into adversity in the reign of Stephen, and in the succeeding reign, GASPAR DE ROLLO was an Ostler in Denbighshire.—But during the unhappy contests of York and Lancaster, William de Wyrcester, and the continuator of the annals of Croyland, have it, that the ROLLOS became Scheriffes of Devon. “Scheriffi Devonienses ROLLI fuerunt”—and in another passage, “arrestaverunt Debitores plurime ROLLORUM”—hence a doubt in Fabian, whether this ROLLO was not Bailiff, ipse potius quam Scheriffus. From this period, however, they gradually advanced in circumstances; ROLLO, in Henry the VIIIth, being amerced in 800 marks for pilfering two manchetts of beef from the King’s buttery, the which, saith Selden, facillime payavit.

      In 7th and 8th 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 consequence is handed down to us. We have it that TIMOTHY ROLLE of Plympton, in the 8th of Queen Anne, endowed three alms-houses in said town. JEREMIAH his second son was counted the fattest man of his day, and DOROTHEA ROLLE his third cousin died of a terrible dysentery. From this period the ROLLES have burst upon public notice, with such a blaze of splendour, as renders all further accounts of this illustrious race entirely unnecessary.

      EXTRACT FROM THE DEDICATION OF THE ROLLIAD. AN EPIC POEM, IN TWELVE BOOKS.

       Table of Contents

      When Norman ROLLO sought fair Albion’s coast,

       (Long may his offspring prove their country’s boast!)

       Thy genius, Britain, sure inspir’d his soul

       To bless this Island with the race of ROLLE!

       Illustrious ROLLE! O may thy honour’d name

       Roll down distinguish’d on the Rolls of fame! Still first be found on Devon’s county polls! Still future Senates boast their future ROLLES! Since of all Rolls which in this world we see, The world has ne’er produc’d a Roll like thee. Hot Rolls and butter break the Briton’s fast, Thy speeches yield a more sublime repast. Compar’d to thine, how small their boasted heat! Nor, mix’d with treacle, are they half so sweet. O’er Rolls of parchment Antiquarians pore, Thy mind, O ROLLE, affords a richer store. Let those on law or history who write, To Rolls of Parliament resort for light, Whilst o’er our Senate, from our living ROLLE, Beam the bright rays of an enlightened soul; In wonder lost, we slight their useless stuff, And feel one ROLLE of Parliament enough. The skill’d musician to direct his band, Waves СКАЧАТЬ