The Age Reviewed A Satire: In two parts: Second edition, revised and corrected [by Robert Montgomery] |
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Will Britain's letter'd scum by thee amend?—
Will indistinctive arts a nation bless,
As when they labour'd more, and studied less,
Content with manual craft to toil for meed,
No lore to puzzle, and no book to read?—
Self-loving turncoat, wail thy well-cloked sin,
Tear the light veil, and see it lurk within;
One kick aroused him—and he woke an ass!
“Turncoat,” is a very plain word to apply to the imperative importance of Mr. Orator Brougham; nevertheless, he himself will admit the justice of its application. At the onset of his political career, he was one of Pitt's most slavish idolaters; but self-interest soon converted his homage into traducive apostacy, and he has now long been one of his vituperative calumniators. A rich sample this, of patriotic fervour!—but, there is some comfort for Mr. Brougham; he is by no means a solitary apostate; and, with his genius, apostacy itself is very pardonable in the eyes of some people.
Εν παντα δε νομον, ευθυγλωσσος ανηρ προφερει,Παρα τυραννιδι, χωποταν ο
Λαβρος στρατος, χωταν πολιν οι σοφοι
Τηρεωντι.
—Πινδ. Pyth. II. 157, 160.
Pindar was not half so good a politician as Mr. Brougham: the straight forward principles are too barren to feed the craving appetites of modern ambitious intriguers. However, had Mr. Brougham employed his talents in undeviating principle, he would have slid down to posterity more gracefully than he can do with his present character; notwithstanding his tender trash about the “ignorance of the people,” his pamphlets, and his out-pourings in the Edinburgh Review.
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