But when the Poet comes to describe the character of the hero of his work, the present Member for the county of Devon, whom MERLIN points out to his illustrious ancestor, as uniting in himself all the Various merits of the worthies whose excellencies he has recorded, he seems to rise even above himself.—It is impossible to do justice to his character, without transcribing the whole, which would exceed the limits of our work; we shall therefore only give to our readers the concluding lines, because they contain characteristic observations upon other distinguished Members, most of whom have hitherto passed unnoticed:
In thee, my son, shall ev’ry virtue meet,
To form both senator and man complete:
A mind like WRAY’s, with stores of fancy fraught,
The wise Sir WATKIN’s vast extent of thought;
Old NUGENT’s style, sublime, yet ne’er obscure,
With BAMBER’s Grammar, as his conscience pure;
BRETT’s brilliant sallies, MARTIN’s sterling sense,
And GILBERT’s wit, that never gave offence:
Like WILKES, a zealot in his Sovereign’s cause,
Learn’d as MACDONALD in his country’s laws;
Acute as AUDREY, as Sir LLOYD polite,
As EASTWICKE lively, and as AMBLER bright.
The justice of [1] the compliment to SIR CECIL WRAY, will not be disputed by those who have been fortunate enough to have met with the beautiful specimens of juvenile poetry, with which some of his friends have lately indulged the public.
Johannes Scriblerus, a lineal descendant of the learned and celebrated Martinus, reads “Starling Martin’s sense,” alluding to that powerful opponent of the detestable Coalition having recommended that a bird of that species should be placed on the right of the Speaker’s chair, after having been taught to repeat the word Coalition, in order to remind the House of that disgraceful event, which had nearly established an efficient and strong government in this country: to which severe and admirable stroke of satire, the object of it clumsily and uncivilly answered, that whilst that gentleman sat in the House, he believed the Starling might be allowed to perform his office by deputy. We have, however, ventured to differ from this great authority, and shall continue to read, “Martin’s Sterling sense,” as well because we are of opinion that these words are peculiarly applicable to the gentleman alluded to, as that it does not appear probable our author should have been willing to make his poem the vehicle of an indecent sarcasm, upon a person of such eminent abilities.
The compliment to Mr. B.G. in the comparison of the purity of his language to the integrity of his conduct, is happily conceived; but that to the ingenious Mr. Gilbert, the worthy Chairman of the Committee of Supply, is above all praise, and will, we are persuaded, notwithstanding the violence of party, by all sides be admitted to be strictly just.
[1] The characteristic of Fancy, which our Poet has attributed to Sir Cecil, must not be misunderstood. It is a Fancy of the chastized kind; distinguished for that elegant simplicity, which the French call naïveté, and the Greeks αφελεια. We shall insert here two or three of the shorter specimens.
To CÆLIA (now Lady Wray) on seeing her the 8th of August, 1776, powdering her hair
EXTEMPORE.
Thy locks, I trow, fair maid,
Don’t never want this aid:
Wherefore thy powder spare,
And only comb thy hair.
To SIR JOSEPH MAWBEY, proposing, in consequence of a previous
Engagement, a Party to go a-fishing for White-Bait.