Long rioting, the reeling goddess fell
Submissive to a despot's sovereign will.
Th' aggressive warfare had long since become
A warfare of defence, and mock-alarms
Flew real through the land ;-but not of foes
Domestic-where they filed was never known.
The country bristled like a porcupine

With bayonets; for by potent spell he wrought
Upon a loyal people; and their gold,
Drawn by this mighty master of excise,
Thrice rous'd defeated Europe to sustain
Renew'd disgrace, beneath his iron hand,
To whom such erring politics gave birth :
And that this inaccessible proud isle
Has sunk not in the ruin, is the boast
Of his sole government. While prodigal
Of blood and pleasure, thousands of her sons
Have bled in vain; and millions spent in waste
Have left her well nigh bankrupt; and long hence
Millions shall rue the sorrowful effect,
And yet unwillingly admire the cause.

ON A JEALOUS COUPLE.

[From the Morning Post, Feb. 21.]

EACH jealous of the other's heart,
They'll quarrel for a feather;
They're never easy when apart,
Nor happy when together.

EPIGRAMS.

[From the Morning Herald, Feb. 21.]

C.T.

ON SEEING A FRENCH WATCH ROUND THE NECK OF A
BEAUTIFUL YOUNG WOMAN.

MA
[ARK what we gain from foreign lands;

Time cannot now be said to linger

Allow'd to lay his two rude hands

Where others dare not lay a finger.

ON

ON A QUACK.

EMPIRICUS Vows he will cure

All defects in the eyes that grow dim ;
And, a triumph more great to secure,
He commences by doucing the glim.

CAVEAT.

BULLETINS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PUBLIC LEDGER, &c.

SIR,

[Feb. 25]

WHERE party-spirit prevails, we frequently find it exerted in supporting or opposing things of very trivial moment, which at other times might have passed without much observation. Among the lesser matters of late, I have remarked an inclination, in that party who are hostile to the Ministry, to find fault with those brief reports of His Majesty's health, which the French taste of the present age has honoured by the name of Bulletins. It has been, in particular, objected, that they were frequently not sufficiently explicit, or did not clearly and intelligibly point out the exact progress of the indisposition; that the phrases made use of were of a general meaning, and not decided enough to satisfy the anxious in. quirer.

In answer to such objections, I shall not plead in favour of the physicians, that they thought themselves restricted by a sense of delicacy in their reports. They do not appear to me to require an apology of this kind; and I am apt to think, that had their patient been a person of far inferior rank, they could not have given reports of a nature much different from what we have read. All medical men, and all others whose ill fate it has been to have much sickness in their fami

હું

lies, are duly sensible how extremely difficult it is to give a satisfactory report of a patient's case at short intervals. The disorder, be it of whatever nature (I speak only of chronic or tedious disorders), frequently varies so little, one way or other, in the course of a day, that it is very difficult to make the report of one day differ perceptibly from that of the preceding. The expressions better and worse are sufficiently intelligible where they can be employed; bat in many cases they must be used with great caution, because they may only apply to one particular affection or symptom, and "not to the general state of the patient's health, or to "what I would call the totality of the disease. But in "chronic cases there is a period, and frequently a long period, when it is impossible to pronounce the patient either better or worse, so as to give his friends a decided cause for joy or regret.

Now, Sir, if to these circumstances we add the peculiar obligation felt by His Majesty's physicians, to convey no opinion but what is authorized, not only by the actual state of things, but such as could be agreed upon and confirmed in consultation, I hope we shall learn to make every allowance for their situation, instead of bringing our party-prejudices to bear upon their daily reports. Could the public have been satisfied with a weekly report, I am persuaded that, throughout the whole of this much-lamented illness, they would have received more ample satisfaction.

But, on closing this last sentence, a friend at my elbow jogs me, and wishes to know what all this has to do with the subject he was talking of? And, in truth, it is high time to come to the condition of many worthy Gentlemen, who are known by the name of Rats, and who have been loudest in their objections to the Bulletins, as not being sufficiently explicit. They say, and perhaps with justice, that if these reports had been as intelligible a month ago

as

as they are now, they would have known better what to think of the matter. Their anxiety, they say, and those perplexing doubts and apprehensions, would have been removed; or, rather, they would never have been troubled with them, and never have been obliged to vibrate from one opinion to another, doubtful on which side to lean!

To men of this description I am willing to allow some excuse for their objections; but still I do not clearly see that they have a right to blame the faculty. Politicians have often told us, that the King's speech is the speech of the Minister. We seem now to think that the King's illness is the illness of the Minister; and that these Reports have been read, not with a view to know how our beloved Sovereign was, but how Mr. Perceval was; whether the latter was likely to recover, to regain his strength, and perform those other official duties and functions, in the performance of which some Gentlemen delight to be connected with a Minister! Now if this be the view of things which these Gentlemen have been disposed to take, while we can very readily enter into their feelings, and may, from many past instances, particularly in 1789, form an opinion of their loyal anxiety, and their affectionate concern, I shall leave it to your readers to determine what portion of pity or sympathy is due to their present embarrassments, or their prospect of future disappointments.

I am, Sir, yours,

MEDICO-POLITICUS.

EPIGRAM ON BLUE BEARD.

[from the Morning Post.]

No wonder that nightly such companies press,
And for places "'t is catch as catch can:"

The reason is clear; and all must confess,
That a horse will draw more than a man.

H.:

EPIGRAM

ÉPIGRAM ON A MISER.

[From the same.].

STRANGE though it seem-a miser you will find
Most generous by far of all mankind:
Others their riches on themselves employ,
While he keeps his for others to enjoy.

THE MUSING LOVER.

[From the Morning Chronicle]

C. T.

WERE I a moon-beam," quoth a love-sick swain
Musing beneath the shadowy cope of night,
I'd steal through yonder chamber window's pane,
And on my sleeping charmer's lip alight:

"Were I a zephyr, when morn's charms invite
Her wandering footsteps o'er the dewy lawn,
Around her damask cheek and bosom white

I'd frisk in fragrance from sweet flow'rs new drawn: "Oh! were I but a kid or nice young fawn, My fondness in a thousand pranks I'd show, And lick her hand, and lie her lap upon, And follow her wherever she should go!" "Fond youth, your idle fantasies forbear," Cried Common-sense

address her as you are.”

TO LORD CASTLEREAGH,

66

ON SOME EXPRESSIONS RESPECTING HIM IN MR. WHITBREAD'S SPEECH, AS REPORTED. IN THE CHRONICLE" OF 26TH ULT.

WH

[From the same, March 1.]

"Quid immerentes hospites vexas, canis
Ignavus adversum lupos ?"

HORACE.

THEREFORE, dread Peer, thy heaviest vengeance shed
On luckless Finnerty's offending head?

Or, at St. Stephen's, in sarcastic tone,
Why vent thy anger on Burdett alone?

A nobler,