late opinions of the Great Man, I am tempted to transmit it to you, as an earnest of what will be the settled sentiment of posterity.

I am, &c.

Ρεπμίλλειος,

WHEN Chatham's son had rais'd himself to power

Upon the people's shoulders-full possess'd
Of all his father's spirit-full of plans,
Which youthful zeal and patriotic love
Had form'd, to vindicate the people's rights;
And full of eloquence, worthy the cause,
With public hope rais'd to the topmost pitch :-
Most did he thenceforth labour to preserve,
His promises-or place?-What pledge of his
Did he redeem?-How did his honour meet
That vital question to the human heart,
Detested human traffic? His feign'd voice,
Omnipotent when seconded by will,
Flash'd not conviction on his venal friends;
And annually he counted out the House-
Defeated-but content at the defeat.
Did he with better faith profession make
To those who should be nearer, dearer, still,
Our fellow-subjects, fellow Christians too,
Though not within the pale-to set them free
From thraldom-free to serve their God and ours,
To serve their King and Country as ourselves?
They yielded up their birthright for the boon,
On credit, and receiv'd the cold embrace
Of Union, like a forc'd reluctant bride :-
But for the rest his suretyship was nought.
"But he resign'd his place to save his word."
He did; and soon, repentant of the act,
He pluck'd him by the nose who kept it warm,
And thrust him off the stool-on any terms
Of forfeiture, to fix himself again.
How did he prove sincere his boasted love
Of radical Reform?-He wish'd the cause
Sincerely well; -—but wish'd to put it off
Till a convenient season. What decay'd

Or

LINES ON THE LATE MR. PITT.

Or morbid member of the commonweal,
Did he regenerate? What corrupted part
O' th' body politic discharge and cleanse?
Or what excrescence touch with caustic knife?
His gross corruption, like a stagnant pond,
Engender'd the horseleech, that sucks the blood,
The best blood of the land. Was hand of his
Once rais'd to sweep the noisome beast away?
Was Freedom cherish'd in his faithless heart,
His first-espous'à ? Did not the harlot Lust
Of Power supplant her, that she scarcely drew,
With oft suspended animation-breath?

"He serv'd in troublous and seditious times,
And bit and bridle found for stiffen'd necks
Best fitted, little need of slacken'd reins."
But long he sway'd before those troublous times;
And he the chief conspirator of all,

Whose mal-administration conjur'd up

The evil spirit, if it ever rose.--

"Nay-but he sat the pilot at the helm,

His country's bark safe guiding through the storm
On which the Dæmon rides, all Europe else
Involving in one universal wreck.”.

Ay, that were praise beyond the power of words,
And all his faults were venial were it true.
But other honours flutter'd in his eye

Than glorious safety, when his martial mind
Inflam'd for war;-when suppliant for peace,
But suppliant in vain, the Frenchman left
Our hostile shores. The feeble foe at once
He hop'd to crush; and all the mighty spoil,
Already portion'd, gloss'd the shameful deed.
But, forc'd into the fight, the Frenchman fought.
His cause was new. He never fought before
For Freedom; and he never fought so well.
He gather'd strength and confidence.
In years of Revolution still remain'd
Inseparably attach'd, whatever shape
The ruling power assum'd. Till Liberty
Her equilibrium lost, licentious grew
And wayward; and, in cruelty and blood,

Success

141

Ja

Long

Long rioting, the reeling goddess fell
Submissive to a despot's sovereign will.
Th' aggressive warfare had long since become...
A warfare of defence, and mock-alarms
Flew real through the land;-but not of foes
Domestic where they fled was never known.
The country bristled like a porcupine

With bayonets; for by potent spell he wrought
Upon a loyal people; and their gold,
Drawn by this mighty master of excise,
Thrice rous'd defeated Europe to sustain
Renew'd disgrace, beneath his iron hand,
To whom such erring politics gave birth :
And that this inaccessible proud isle
Has sunk not in the ruin, is the boast
Of his sole government. While prodigal
Of blood and pleasure, thousands of her sons
Have bled in vain; and millions spent in waste
Have left her well nigh bankrupt; and long hence
Millions shall rue the sorrowful effect,

And yet unwillingly admire the cause.

ON A JEALOUS COUPLE.

EA

[From the Morning Post, Feb. 21.]

ACH jealous of the other's heart,
They'll quarrel for a feather;
They 're never easy when apart,
Nor happy when together.

C. T.

EPIGRAMS.

[From the Morning Herald, Feb. 21.]

ON SEEING A FRENCH WATCH ROUND THE NECK OF A

BEAUTIFUL YOUNG WOMAN.

ARK what we gain from foreign lands;

MA

Time cannot now be said to linger

Allow'd to lay his two rude hands

Where others dare not lay a finger.

ON

BULLETINS.

ON A QUACK.

EMPIRICUS vows he will cure

All defects in the eyes that grow dim;
And, a triumph more great to secure,
He commences by doucing the glim.

143

CAVEAT.

BULLETINS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PUBLIC LEDGER, &c.

SIR,

[Feb. 25.]

WHERE party-spirit prevails, we frequently find it exerted in supporting or opposing things of very trivial moment, which at other times might have passed without much observation. Among the lesser matters of late, I have remarked an inclination, in that party who are hostile to the Ministry, to find fault with those brief reports of His Majesty's health, which the French taste of the present age has honoured by the name of Bulletins. It has been, in particular, objected, that they were frequently not sufficiently explicit, or did not clearly and intelligibly point out the exact progress of the indisposition; that the phrases made use of were of a general meaning, and not decided enough to satisfy the anxious inquirer.

In answer to such objections, I shall not plead in favour of the physicians, that they thought themselves restricted by a sense of delicacy in their reports. They do not appear to me to require an apology of this kind; and I am apt to think, that had their patient been a person of far inferior rank, they could not have given reports of a nature much different from what we have read. All medical men, and all others whose ill fate it has been to have much sickness in their fami

lies, are duly sensible how extremely difficult it is to give a satisfactory report of a patient's case at short intervals. The disorder, be it of whatever nature (I speak only of chronic or tedious disorders), frequently varies so little, one way or other, in the course of a day, that it is very difficult to make the report of one day differ perceptibly from that of the preceding. The expressions better and worse are sufficiently intelligible where they can be employed; but in many cases they must be used with great caution, because they may only apply to one particular affection or symptom, and not to the general state of the patient's health, or to what I would call the totality of the disease. But in chronic cases there is a period, and frequently a long period, when it is impossible to pronounce the patient either better or worse, so as to give his friends a decided cause for joy or regret.

Now, Sir, if to these circumstances we add the peculiar obligation felt by His Majesty's physicians, to convey no opinion but what is authorized, not only by the actual state of things, but such as could be agreed upon and confirmed in consultation, I hope we shall learn to make every allowance for their situation, instead of bringing our party-prejudices to bear upon their daily reports. Could the public have been satisfied with a weekly report, I am persuaded that, throughout the whole of this much-lamented illness, they would have received more ample satisfaction.

But, on closing this last sentence, a friend at my elbow jogs me, and wishes to know what all this has to do with the subject he was talking of? And, in truth, it is high time to come to the condition of many worthy Gentlemen, who are known by the name of Rats, and who have been loudest in their objections to the Bulletins, as not being sufficiently explicit. They say, and perhaps with justice, that if these reports had been as intelligible a month ago

as