Methinks I see him from the Bench arise,
His words all keenness, but all meek his eyes;
Define the good religion might produce,
Practise its highest excellence-abuse;
And with his tongue, that two-edg’d weapon, show,
At once the double worth of JOB and JOE.
Job, as some of our more learned readers may know, is a book in the Old Testament, and is used here per synechdochen, as a part for the whole. Nothing can be more natural, than the preference given to this book, on this occasion, as Sir Richard is well known in his speeches to be so admirable an auxiliary to its precepts. The person of the name of Joe, who has received so laconic a mention in the last line of the above extract, will be recognized by the critical and the intelligent, as the same individual who distinguished himself so eminently in the sixteenth century, as a writer and a wit, namely, Mr. Joseph Miller; a great genius, and an author, avowedly in the highest estimation with our learned Baronet.
The business of the composition goes on.—It is evident, however, the poet was extremely averse to quit a subject upon which his congenial talents reposed so kindly. He does not leave Sir Richard, therefore, without the following finished and most high-wrought compliment:
With wit so various, piety so odd,
Quoting by turns from Miller and from God;
Shall no distinction wait thy honour’d name?
No lofty epithet transmit thy fame?
Forbid it wit, from mirth refin’d away!
Forbid it Scripture, which thou mak’st so gay!
SCIPIO, we know, was AFRICANUS call’d,
RICHARD styl’d LONG-SHANKS—CHARLES surnam’d the BALD;
Shall these for petty merits be renown’d,
And no proud phrase, with panegyric sound,
Swell thy short name, great HILL?—Here take thy due,
And hence be call’d the’ SCRIPTURAL KILLIGREW.
The administration of baptism to adults, is quite consonant to Sir Richard’s creed; and we are perfectly satisfied, there is not a Member in the House of Commons that will not stand sponsor for him on this honourable occasion. Should any one ask him in future,—Who gave you that name? Sir Richard may fairly and truly reply, My Godfathers, &c. and quote the whole of the lower assembly, as coming under that description.
MERLIN, led, as may easily be supposed, by sympathy of rank, talents, and character, now pointed his wand to another worthy baronet, hardly less worthy of distinction than the last personage himself, namely, Sir JOSEPH MAWBEY. Of him the author sets out with saying,
Let this, ye wise, be ever understood,
SIR JOSEPH is as witty as he’s good.—
Here, for the first time, the annotators upon this immortal poem, find themselves compelled, in critical justice to own, that the author has not kept entire pace with the original which he has affected to imitate. The distich, of which the above is a parody, was composed by the worthy hero of this part of the ROLLIAD, the amiable Sir Joseph himself, and runs thus:
Ye ladies, of your hearts beware:
SIR JOSEPH’s false as he is fair.
How kind, and how discreet a caution! This couplet, independent of its other merits, possesses a recommendation not frequently found in poetry, the transcendant ornament of Truth. How far, indeed, the falshood of this respectable individual has been displayed in his gallantries, it is not the province of sober criticism to enquire. We take up the assertion with a large comprehension, and with a stricter eye to general character—