Than fly to such as might await the deed?
Thus sickness does make cowards of us all;
And thus fell resolution, arm’d by want,
Sinks, pale and coward-like, the slave of thought;
And mighty feats perform’d with knife and fork
Are left untried; so is my craving turn’d!
I lose the power of eating.——
From Rhapsodies by W. H. Ireland, London;
Longman and Rees, 1803.
[Concerning this William Henry Ireland, and his Shakespearian forgeries, it will be necessary to speak at length in some future number of Parodies, for the present it will suffice to mention that he composed a Tragedy, entitled Vortigern, which he passed off as a newly discovered work by Shakespeare. The forgery deceived some of the most learned and able critics of the day, and at length, Richard Brinsley Sheridan was prevailed upon to produce it at Drury Lane Theatre. It was only played once, on the second of April, 1796, when Mr. Kemble appeared as Vortigern, Miss Miller as Rowena, and the beautiful Mrs. Jordan as Flavia. The public, more accurate in their judgment than the critics, good humouredly laughed the piece down, and when Kemble had to speak the line:—
“And when this solemn mockery is o’er,”