The Spirit of the Public Journals: Being an Impartial Selection of the Most ...

THE

SPIRIT

OF THE

PUBLIC JOURNALS,

FOR 1811.

EXTEMPORE, UPON RECENT DESERTIONS. [From the Morning Post, Jan. 8.]

ÆSAR is sick; but all the Seers declare

CASA

The fever 'll fly, and leave him free as air :

What numbers throng to prove their Monarch's Shield!

The fever rages still-they quit the field,

And, meanly thirsting after place and pow'r,
Desert their Master in his trying hour!
Trembling for fear his Royal course is run,
They pay their homage to the Rising Sun.-
Such is the gratitude that Princes find!
And such the baseness of the human mind!

WM. THOS. F-G-D.

THE AUTHOR OF THE BERNE BEAR* TO HIS

MUSE,

IN DEFENCE OF HIS TALE AGAINST THE UNMERITED

CHARGE OF REPUBLICANISM.

[From the Morning Chronicle, Jan. 11.]
Facit indignatio versum.

MUSE! though our Bear has not one feature
Resembling any human creature ;

Malice, whate'er we say, or do,

Is torturing four legs into two.

Nay, worse!-She swears, O Nymph Pierian!
Thy vot'ry is an Oliverian :

Though ardent to defend the Throne,
He wars with those bad men alone,
Who in affliction's mournful hour
Usurp their Sovereign's sacred pow'r;
And will (if these corrupted times
Be suffer'd to abet their crimes)
Rob it of many a precious gem,
Ere they restore the Diadem

}

To Him, on whom, by grace divine,
Its lustre unimpair'd should shine;
To Him! on whom they heap disgrace,
To fortify themselves in Place;
Leaving no dirty work undone,-
To set the Mother 'gainst the Son!

Till thrown down Ruin's yawning steep
Shall then an injured nation sleep?
Or let this "foul unnat'ral" strife
Prey like a vulture on her life?
No! Holland wakes her jealous fears,
And Grenville to her aid appears,
And thunders in th' usurpers' ears;

While Whitbread's patriot strains o'erwhelm
Those pilots who still grasp the helm,

And there for no one reason sit,
But that they are the dregs of Pitt.

TWELFTH-NIGHT, 1811.

[From the same.]

MIRTH'S festive crew assemble to partake

The merry joke, and year-revolving cake;
The sportive feats the Muse shall now relate,
Of Kings, Queens, Doctors, Knaves; and what their fate.
The Prude this night her character forswears,

A Hussey pert and Madame Flirt appears.
The Quaker prim as Bang-up Dick we view,
And Member of the Four-in-Hand!- A Jew
Next follows, who illuminates the old,"
His spectaclsh ish coot, and made of cold!

The

CONSULTATION: EXTRAORDINARY.

The Dame, prolific in her wanton feats,
The Lawyer, in the Monarch's throne, now seats.
But Majesty to revelry gives place;

He sets example, and each pair embrace!

The clock strikes twelve, the King his throne descends,
The hour gives warning, and the feast now ends !
The merry Revellers, more festive grown,

A Regent seek to fill the empty throne!
His rights inquire, and by Majority
Depute to him-Supreme Authority;
He, conscious of their loyalty and loves,
An able and indulgent ruler proves!

From our young friends may we example take,
From principle, not fear-a Regent make!
Like them invest him with dominion wide,
A potent ruler and a faithful guide.

May next Twelfth-Night no other fill the throne
Than that dear King, which in our hearts we own;
His Son a royal delegate, and we

A happy people, blest with liberty!

So shall the joys of this revolving night

To us give gladness, and to him-his right!

Hastingleigh Rectory, Kent,

אן

January 5, 1811.

CHARLES.

CONSULTATION EXTRAORDINARY.

[Froni the Morning Herald, Jan. 10.]

N the course of the last three days certain Politicophysico characters have been consulted apart by persons in the maintenance of high authority, on the necessity of some anodyne to be administered to John Bull, under the alarming symptoms of his present disorder! The senior recommended the trial of another sleeping dose, which generally abated his fever. The two next in rank recommended simple emollients only, for an alterative, as a nausea had arisen on John's stomach, and his tongue exhibited rather a rough coat, from too long an adherence to the same diurnal doses. A fourth,

VOL. XV.

fourth, of bolder practice (the said compounds having lost their effect), would immediately prescribe a lumping bolus of Convalescence, which, if skilfully administered in John's usual broth, might operate as an dstringent, and prove a salutary bracer to the Constitution! The fifth begged to defer his opinion, as in all complicated cases of a political tendency he never ventured to write until he had first consulted-his Wife. An open Consultation is expected this day, when John's case will be taken into their joint and most mature consideration; for, although two of the Physico politico may not be able to attend personally, they have promised in that case to send their Proxies, conformably to the rules of the Highest Practice!

FOUR-IN-HAND EDUCATION? A SONG.
To the popular Tune of " Derry Down.”

[From the Morning Chronicle, January 11.]

LD Squaretoes, my father, who deeply would think,
Dispatch'd me to College, where I learn'd to drink;
And as my degrees were from drinking to drenching,
I soon gain'd preferment in wrangling and wenching.
Derry down.

Thus prosper'd my learning, when honest old dad
Thought fit to pop off, for the good of his lad:
With estates unmolested, and money in plenty,
My race I commenc'd, when of age-two-and-twenty.
Derry down.
'Tis just four years since, in which space I bave shown
How quickly the hoards of my sage dao have flown;
Nay more, my outgoings receipts have confounded,
And now for the ready last acre 's impounded.

Derry down.
Well, what of all that? I've acquired high fame;
I wench, drink, and drive, I can horse-race and game';
With Richman I spar; a coalheaver can drub, Sir;
But, above all, I'm rank'd of the Four-in-Hand Club, Sir.
Derry down.

TWELFTH NIGHT.

With slouch'd hat, inquiries of bailiffs to check,
A quid in my mouth, a silk wipe round my neck;
A drab coat so long, with each hand tuck'd in pocket,
No cabbage allowing-ensures Snip the docket,

Derry down. Thus array'd, four-in-hand, I support the game still, Here's at you, old Buxton, dash off for Salt Hill;

To the back-bone I'm blood, for there's nought in the land, Sir,

So worthy renown as our Club-Four-in-Hand, Sir.

Derry down.

So a fig for the schools and Minerva's stale rays,
Give me my mail-coach and my four harness'd bays ;
With them I defy all that 's sapient or civil,

I'm prime to bang-up, though my mark be the devil!

Derry down. T W. H. C. L.