 | The political dramatist, in November, 1795 |  |
THE POLITICAL DRAMATIST.
IN NOVEMBER, 1795.
The House was up; the long debate was o'er;And Addington was vocal now no more;
Nor voice, nor vote along the benches crept,
And Corn-committees bak'd their bread, and slept;
Somnus and Ceres no sage members scorn,
But own the poppy grows among the corn.
His friends from idle terrors to release,
Pitt cast faint gleams of visionary peace;
Pleas'd with the distant ray some grew content,
And Wilberforce, retracting, bow'd assent.
O'er emigration's dreadful sacrifice,
And pious drops o'er gallant Sombreuil shed;
(Burke was not there; and Wyndham shook his head.)
Before him rose to sullen dreary view
Misguided plans in treachery's darkest hue,
The Quiberonian Bay, and sacred Isle,
Misnam'd of God, where heav'n will never smile.
While Moira, whose commanding course is run,
In journies often, but in perils none,
Surveys his trophies with Rinaldo's air,
Breaks through th'inchanted forest in despair,
Low-murm'ring quits Southampton's armed street,
And lays his fame at pious Godfrey's feet.
See all the public papers for the last ten or twelve months, filled with accounts of Major General the Earl of Moira's travels from Southampton to Downing Street, and from Downing Street to Southampton, almost every other day, during his long command of the armament encamped near Southampton, at that time supposed to be destined for the coast of France. The noble Earl has since resigned his command, and broke his staff, without having done, or even attempted, any thing.
For mobs and crowds unthinking Bedford sigh'd;
Nor saw where, hov'ring o'er th'accursed tomb,
Glar'd the red crest of Orleans through the gloom.
The sullen moody violence of Grey,
Soften'd by love, in raptures died away:
While Erskine, o'er his Hampstead bending down,
Like Him of Lincoln, look'd o'er half the town,
Wond'ring with lawyer's leer and selfish end,
What new-hatch'd treason he must next defend.
Grant was compos'd, nor sought the applause of youth,
In reason's strength, in soberness of truth;
Such as from Fox unwilling praise might draw,
For warmth of eloquence, and soundest law.
William Grant, Esq. member for Windsor, King's Counsel, &c. &c. It is much to be wished, that this very able and learned Gentleman would deliver his sentiments in Parliament more frequently.
When sacrilege and murder throng'd the way,
Rose, as one man, to vindicate the laws,
And felt the hour. The royal temple shook;
No heart of adamant unmov'd could look,
When ruffians dar'd invade with maniac force
The life o'th' building!!!—
While Beaufort's disappointed mansion mourn'd
And Copenhagen bloodier sighs return'd.
October 29, 1795. When his Majesty, in passing to and from the Parliament House, was grossly, daringly, and most wickedly attacked, and in personal danger of his life. See the Reports of Parliament on the Subject.
Beaufort's Buildings in the Strand, and Copenhagen House, at Islington, two chief and noted resorts of the turbulent and desperate Anarchists of the time.
Home, unobserv'd, The Dramatist retir'd:
Signs for the name I place; the name I hate,
That without virtue is, or would be, great.
The shackles of a wayward bride he wore;
For since divine Cecilia was no more,
He deem'd, inclin'd to ogle and to toy,
Husbands have pains, but bachelors no joy.
Sunk in his chair, within his troubled soul
Strange thoughts in mix'd tumultuous movements roll;
Fram'd for all uses, but to see or hear,)
And sums receiv'd, but to no reck'ning brought,
And shares theatric, bought or to be bought;
Of works and memoirs from the Gallic shore
By unsex'd females, and the dubious Moore;
And of the War's neat sketch, that Auckland drew,
Trick'd off with gracious diplomatic dew,
Dispers'd with care through senates to the throne,
Half cabinetted sense, and half his own;
And D'Ivernois's strong page, with pointed force
That marks the bound of Gallia's brief resource,
With assignats exhausted o'er and o'er,
Yet hesitating still to plunder more.
See “Some remarks on the apparent circumstances of the war, in the Fourth week of October 1795.” The production of a person accustomed to think, to speak, and to write, and all with great ability.
“A cursory view of the Assignats and remaining resources of French Finance, (September 6, 1795.) Drawn from the debates of the Convention, by F. D'Ivernois, Esq.” A work of much importance, and which should be read with attention, and with some allowance for the warmth of the Writer.
Of public pleasure and of public good:
And schools for each, and scholars at his door;
Nor portico, nor learned grove he sought;
In squares he preach'd, in theatres he taught.
With random wit he any thing could hint,
In verse, in dialogue, in speech, in print,
In handbills, resolutions, toasts, and clubs,
With statesmen, players, pimps, or dukes, or grubs.
Chief on the stage unrivall'd; in that cause
None, but the thinking, e'er withheld applause;
Nor half, nor whole Menander, as some deem,
Vice is the prompter of his subtle scheme.
At will he gathers all his various fame,
By Bacchus arm'd against the tint of shame:
Rich his conception, ready is his phrase,
And his the speaker's, his the poet's praise;
Round him the Muses strew their flagrant flow'rs
From Heliconian springs, and never fading bow'rs.
From these The Dramatist now turns with scorn,
For other conquests, other empire born.
Codes and Digests of direst anarchy;
How mobs, in act a senate's power to wrest,
Headless or headed, serve a patriot best:
The charts of aberration next are seen,
What stars are fix'd, what meteors light the scene
With momentaneous glare; what spells so proud
With blear illusion cheat a spungy crowd:
And embryo forms of departmental strife,
Rough sketch'd with Gallic pencil from the life:
Insult with folly leagued, and pert grimace,
Mock consuls, regal robes, and taudry lace;
The trappings of that nameless monstrous fry,
Spawn or abortion of democracy,
Got by the demon of the dark divan
'Twixt sleep, lust, blood, and rapine, as it ran.
The Executive Directory of France, Council of Ancients, Council of Five Hundred and all their trumpery, and their approaching tyranny.
Spectres arose and groan'd their earthly doom;
Leagued in damnation could no concord hold;
Their jargon new, their crimes were understood,
All foul, all guilty of their country's blood;
Fresh from the depths of that unholy ground,
Where life and common sin one tomb have found.
Before the Dramatist they held a glass:
“Such things are but occasional and pass;
“Unaw'd he cried; “they stamp a glorious cause:”
The Fiends, so Hell had order'd, glar'd applause.
“But say, what unheard terrors yet reside
“In Anarchy's pavilion dark and wide?
“Broad is the curtain; nor yet half unroll'd;
“'Twill other lands and chosen isles enfold:
“Perhaps,”—(the griesly shadows flitted fast,
And o'er the Hall of Themis seem'd to cast
Vapour adust from their sulphureous home:)
“Stephen with Satan may divide his dome:
“Goes it not so? the fire may beautify:
“Another phœnix may with Gallia's vie:
“And with new saints my Lauderdale repose.”
The Fiends fled grimly pleas'd; a dizzying pain
Entranc'd the Dramatist's disorder'd brain,
Till all his earthly powers confounded lie
O'erstrain'd in that infernal colloquy;
But short his rest: the Dramatist awoke,
And from his quivering lips deliberate accents broke:
“Since all that genius, all that wit can give,
“Or sovereign Nature's high prerogative;
“All that approving taste may best ensure,
“Fancy's gay blossom, or the fruit mature;
“The stores of memory, and the treasur'd wealth
“Of classic moments in laborious stealth;
“Or readiest elocution's easy flow,
“Thoughts that enchain attention, words that glow,
“And paint the changeful manners of the age,
“To list'ning senates, or the enraptur'd stage;
“Cast round my name but ineffectual rays,
“Or bless with dry sterility of praise;
“Must bear the impress of an honest heart.
“Scorn'd, though admir'd, mid flaming tempests cast,
“No laurel saves me from the public blast,
“But struck and circumscrib'd in all my rage,
“I stand the sad Bidental of my age.
The word Bidental in Roman writers signifies a place or person struck with lightning. It was usual to inclose the place, and erect an altar on the spot, that all persons might avoid it.
“By human Hackneys dragg'd from street to street;
“With metaphors confound their rambling minds,
“Of unfledg'd tempests and of infant winds:
“Better go mount the tribunitian chair,
“Hurl wildest doctrines through the wildest air,
“With sophistry that fits the phrenzied crew,
“Lank, haggard, lean, in black rebellion's hue,
“Till cymbals seem through fancy's ear to ring
“In dismal tones around a suffering king.
In the ancient sacrifices offered to the bloody idol of Moloch, it was customary to clash the cymbals and other instruments, to overpower the cries and groans of the agonizing victims.
“So thought the Poet, who was Charles's friend;
“Yet at the lightning of his awsul spear
“Rebellion crouch'd, and Anarchy could fear.
“But soft: my tripping tongue through frailty slips;
“Why come state-truths thus mended from my lips?
“Courage; in vain they shield the sacred door:
“Things shall be new; mere party is no more;
“Nor trifles now, nor sounds the soul employ;
“All that Metellus guards, a Cæsar shall destroy.
“What planet look'd thus sparely on my birth,
“Cold, though benign; and on my baby brow
“Shed damps of death I never felt till now.
“Substance within, nor semblance will they find
“Of virtuous purpose or the upright mind:
“In all I urge, the House alone will hear
“The high-wrought diction, or the witsevere;
“Stage-admiration!—All obtain some grace,
“All from their purpose find excuse or praise.
“On scraps and shreds in commentating rant?
“There is a clock; I wish my Lord could see
“How ill long speeches and short sight agree:
“Curse on his words; conviction still attends,
“And proves bad means proportion'd to bad ends.
“Shall mitred Horsley teach, in eastern way,
“Subjects are made for nought but to obey?
“Shall Reeves with Druid faith and potent rod,
“Involve alone the spirit of the God
“In Britain's central tree, all branches broke;
“Then seek for shade beneath the leaf-lorn oak?
“Shall Wyndham, boldest in the Sovereign's cause,
“Call for a vigour stronger than the laws?
“Yet all in virtuous meaning seek defence:
“I never deviate into honest sense.
“And leave myself and England to repose.
“To curb fell Anarchy and all her train;
“Fir'd with the brand of some Arch-Calvin's rage,
“Or hail'd by Reason, children of her age;
“Not whiten'd with the sanctimonious foam;
“Blood must distain the lintel of their dome;
“The lamb they fain would strike for Gallic guests
“In other passovers, and other feasts:
“Gaunt with discomfiture they now advance,
“And wield addresses, and would wield the lance.
“The good alone are free! Pitt's virtue springs
“To shield the peasant, and the throne of kings.
The Druids believed, that the spirit of their Deity resided in the trunk or stem of the sacred oak, which grew in the midst of the forest of Mona. The allusion here is to the celebrated simile of the Constitutional tree, and its branches, in the Pamphlet published in October 1795, entitled “Thoughts on the English Government,” which the House of Commons have declared to be a libel on the Constitution, &c.
Read the Bill against Treason, and the Bill for effectually preventing Seditious Meetings and Assemblies; and consequently for preventing (and I trust effectually) the overthrow of the lawful and established government of these kingdoms, and of that high and paramount authority, vested in the King, the Lords and the Commons, in Parliament assembled.
“Why hail the guardian of the law and truth?
“If thus he lift Britannia's regal state,
“His fame shall be as permanent, as great!
“His be the guidance of the public light;
“Hyperion's steeds, in marshall'd order bright,
“Advancing roll along the orb of day,
“Through various signs, with temperate boldness tried,
“Pause in the Balance, through the Scorpion glide;
“The wand'ring fires observe; with Freedom trace
“The limits of that consecrated space;
“And just to empire's delegating source,
“Absolve the destin'd round of his ethereal course.”
Here ceas'd the Dramatist; and struggling sighs
Burst from his soul, and fears began to rise:
For now, triumphant in the eastern world,
Old England's standard Elphinstone unfurl'd;
High trophies of confirm'd dominion wait
In orient splendor on Britannia's state;
And while all toil she scorns, all danger braves,
O'er Hope's fam'd Cape her bloodless ensign waves .
In November 1795 arrived the glorious intelligence of The Surrender of the Cape of Good Hope to the arms of Great Britain, under Admiral Sir G. K. Elphinstone, K. B. and the Generals Craig and Clark, without the effusion of blood. See the Gazette, published on the occasion by the Ministry, who, it is firmly expected, will, in the name of Great Britain, greet this invaluable and most important fortress with an Esto Perpetua!
| The political dramatist, in November, 1795 | |