Such was the grand, the glorious cause that now Oh, 'twas not then the time for tame debates, And coolly plan how Freedom's boughs should shoot, How well I love thee, and how deeply hate All tyrants, upstart and Legitimate Yet, in that hour, were France my native land, I would have followed, with quick heart and hand, To snatch my country from that damning doom,— That deadliest curse that on the conquered waits— To dash them down again more shatteringly! All is not in this high-wrought strain, which we like as well as the War Eclogues of Tyrtæus, or the Birth-day Odes (which seem also to have broke off in the middle) of Mr. Southey. Mr. Thomas Brown the Younger, is a man of humanity, as Mr. Southey formerly was he is also a man of wit, which Mr. Southey is not. For instance, Miss Biddy Fudge, in her first letter, writes as follows: By the bye though at Calais, Papa had a touch He exclaim'd, "Oh mon Roi!" and, with tear-dropping eye, "Ma foi, he be right-'tis de Englishman's King; * Somebody (Fontenelle, I believe) has said, that if he had his hand full of truths, he would open but one finger at a time; and I find it necessary to use the same sort of reserve with respect to Mr. Phelim Connor's very plainspoken letters. The remainder of this Epistle is so full of unsafe matter of fact, that it must, for the present at least, be withheld from the public. + To commemorate the landing of Louis le Desiré from England, the impression of his foot is marked out upon the pier at Calais, and a pillar with an inscription raised opposite to the spot." A a And dat gros pied de cochon-begar, me vil say Dat de foot look mosh better, if turn'd toder way." Mr. Phil. Fudge, in his dreams, thinks of a plan for changing heads. Good Viscount S-dm-th, too, instead Of his own grave, respected head, So while the hand sign'd Circulars, The head might lisp out, "What is trumps?" The shop, the shears, the lace, and ribbon, To give the P-ce the shopman's brains, Or here is another proposal for weighing the head of the State; Suppose, my Lord,-and far from me To treat such things with levity— 'Stead of a speech, which, all can see, is We were to try how heavy he is. The Pe, God bless him! gains a few. With bales of muslin, chintzes, spices, I see the Easterns weigh their Kings;— But, for the R-g-t, my advice is, We should throw in much heavier things: Which, though not spices, serve to wrap them; "Prodigious!"-in, of course we'd clap them- In which, with logical confusion, And never comes to a conclusion: Who loves so, in the House of Lords, Unto their wigs in whisp'ring goes, That you may always know him by Entitled, "Reasons for my Ratting:" But we stop here, or we shall quote the whole work. We like the political part of this jeu d'esprit better, on the whole, than the merely comic and familiar. Bob Fudge is almost too suffocating a coxcomb, even in description, with his stays and patés; and Miss Biddy Fudge, with her poke bonnet and her princely lover, who turned out to be no better than a manmilliner, is not half so interesting as a certain Marchioness in the Twopenny Post Bag, with curls" in the manner of Ackermann's dresses for May, and her yellow charioteer." Besides, Miss Biddy's amour ends in nothing. In short, the Fudges abroad are not such fat subjects for ridicule as the Fudges at home. They do not cut up so well in the cawl; they do not tallow so in the kidneys:" but as far as they 'go, Mr. Brown, Junior, uses the dissecting knife with equal dexterity, and equally to the delight and edification of the byestanders. CHARACTER OF LORD CHATНАМ. 1807. LORD CHATHAM's genius burnt brightest at the last. The spark of liberty, which had lain concealed and dormant, buried under the dirt and rubbish of state intrigue and vulgar faction, now met with congenial matter, and kindled up a flame of sacred vehemence" in his breast. It burst forth with a fury and a splendour that might have awed the world, and made kings tremble. He spoke as a man should speak, because he felt as a man should feel, in such circumstances. He came forward as the advocate of liberty, as the defender of the rights of his fellow-citizens, as the enemy of tyranny, as the friend of his country, and of mankind. He did not stand up to make a vain display of his talents, but to discharge a duty, to maintain that cause which lay nearest to his heart, to preserve the ark of the British constitution from every sacrilegious touch, as the highpriest of his calling, with a pious zeal. The feelings and the rights of Englishmen were enshrined in his heart; and with their united force braced every nerve, possessed every faculty, and communicated warmth and vital energy to every part of his being. The whole man moved under this impulse. He felt the cause |