lowing refolution: all have been related by writers of the greatest talents, and are univerfally known.. Upon the before-mentioned principles of the Whigs was founded the interefting event which placed William on the throne; upon those principles has the prefent happy establishment been defended by the belt and ableft friends of the Constitution; upon no other can the rectitude of both be poffibly fupported. The maxims of the law of England will be found too tubborn to give way to the fpeculations of theorists, however ingenious or refpectable.

How amuling is it to contemplate the viciffitudes of thofe parties, which, under different forms, muft ever exift, while freedom animates the whole. How frequently do they infenfibly change their principles, and imperceptibly take the place of cach other. All in their turns have employed force to fupport their fentiments, when they have found their reafonings and intrigues unfuccefsful. Hence the various infurrections, whether denominated rebellion or refistance, which have disturbed the repofe of the State, from the Revolution to the prefent day, have been uniformly directed against the conftitutional authority of the Legislature before-mentioned, against the principles of the Whigs of 1680. Meanwhile, a new fet of men have arifen, who, adopting the fentiments of the Tories, though with very different views, have inferred: That, though a King of England may be bound, though the defcent of the crown may be limited by Parliament, yet, that English fubjets, living within the boundaries of the empire, claiming rights from English laws, are exempted from the authority of the English legislature.'

Had the Author condefcended to confult the writings of the Whigs, either of the period of which he is here treating, or of the prefent times, he would have found them incapable of the inconfiftencies with which he charges them; he would have found it to be their invariable principle, that the original fource of all power, and all law, refides in the Majefty of the People; and that all governors, by whatever names they are distinguished, are in reality the delegates, and (craving pardon of those courtly gentlemen who have of late been fo much offended by the word) we will add, the fervants of the People, and ACCOUNTABLE to their mafters for the important trust committed to them. It is folely on this principle of the Supremacy of the People, and on the fuppofition that their pleasure was expreffed in the voice of the Parliament which changed the fucceffion of the Crown at the Revolution, that this great tranfaction can be juftified. However trite the maxim, while there is on earth a prince, minifter, or fenator, who forgets it, let not the friends of mankind ceafe to repeat, Salus Populi eft fuprema lex.

[To be concluded in our next ]

ART

ART. XII. Speculation; or, a Defence of Mankind: A Poem. 4to. 2 s. 6 d. Printed for the Author, and fold by Dodsley. 1780.

Ta time when the rancour of party animofity feems in a

A great meature to have nonopolized the pen of fatire, it Α

is with no flight degree of fatisfaction that we find this sportive bard once more invoking the Mufe of Humour to laugh the vices and foibles of mankind out of countenance. And yet, if we may judge from the opening of his poem, he does not appear to have met, in his own eftimation at least, with that treatment from the world to which his inoffenfive reprehenfion of its vices ought to have entitled him:

Ah me! what fpleen, revenge, and hate

Thofe reprobated bards await,
Who feek by laughter to disgrace

The follies of the human race!

Howe'er by nature they're inclin'd
To pity and to love mankind,
And fain by every gentle art,
Which ridicule and mirth impart,
Their minds to virtue would entice,
And fhame the harden'd front of vice,
How cautiously foe'er they aim,

Make manners, and not men, their game,
The only meed the world beftows,

Are civil friends, and latent foes.

And wilt thou then, dear Mufe, once more
Adventure near that dangerous fhore,
Once more, alas! be doom'd to hear

The fcribbler's jeft, and coxcomb's fneer?
It must be fo, for be it known

Thou art a harden'd finner grown,

Nor all the criticising race

Can move one mufcle of thy face.

But if fome man for tafte renown'd,

Of knowledge deep, and judgment found,
One whom the monarchy of wit
Has deem'd for every fcience fit,

And letters patent has affign'd
To ftamp th' opinions of mankind,
One, who if chance he find thee trip,
Will feize at once his critic whip,
As pleas'd as SCALIGER OF BENTLEY,
And flog thee pretty near as gently,
If fuch a man for once fhould smile,
(And long to damn thee all the while)
And afk thee why," 'mid every flower
That blooms around the Aonian bower,
And every painted bud that blows
To deck th' enraptur'd poet's brows,

Some

Some devious path thou should'ft explore,
For garlands never worn before,
And defcant on a theme fo long
Il fuited to melodious fong "
Do thou rejoin-" 'twas injur'd worth
That call'd thine indignation forth;
A phrafe, which all mankind degrade,
Sought refuge in thy friendly aid;
For injur'd words, like injur'd men,
Claim fuccour from an author's pen,
And all as justly may command
The poet's lyre, as critic's wand;
Say, that of all th' ill-fated words
Great JOHNSON's Dictionary affords,
Or ever from the fruitful ftore
Of Roman and Athenian lore

Were gather'd by that grand importer,
And pounded in an English mortar,
Of all th' unfortunate expreffions
Abus'd by wights of all profeffions,
Hack'd at the bar, in pulpit tortur'd,
Or chapel of St. Stephen flaughter'd,
Not one was e'er fo bafely treated,
Of fpirit, fenfe, and meaning cheated,
Or e'er deferv'd commiferation,

Like this poor word, call'd SPECULATION.'

After giving a definition of the term according to its primitime acceptation, he proceeds to point out its prefent mifapplication and abuse:

Whatever wild fantastic dreams

Give birth to man's outrageous schemes,
Purfu'd without the leaft pretence

To virtue, honesty, or sense,

Whate'er the wretched bafely dare
From pride, ambition, or defpair,

Fraud, luxury, or diffipation,

Affumes the name of-SPECULATION.'

Of these speculators, who form, under the pencil of this admirable artist, a groupe truly grotesque, the Bull is not the leaft humorous:

Oh! how PYTHAGORAS would wonder!

And JUPITER prepare his thunder!
Think with what fury he would rush
The brokers and the bank to crush,
Could he behold, what oft' the case is,
A man, who fells old cloaths and laces,
Such as the Reader may conceive I
Have feen among the tribe of LEVI,
For goodness now, and worth renown'd,
Contract for fifty thousand pound,
Buy Scrip, Bank, Omnium, or Long Ann.
Or Lottery Tick.-If fuch a man

The

The hally fpoufe of JUNO faw

With beard prolix, and famish'd jaw,

Dare to tranfmigrate, and become
A BULL, for that enormous fum,
Would not the jealous God appal
The wretch in fome new shape, or call
The herald MERCURY at once,

To ferve him like that PHRYGIAN dunce,
That jobber in the flocks of old

Whole touch turn'd every thing to gold?
And would not MERCURY himfelf
Look fharp, and tremble for his pelf,
Soon as the ISRAELITE he found
With folemn pace go lowing round,
Contriving ev'ry bafe device

To raife the ftocks, and mend their price,
Could hear how oft' the monster tries,

To furnish us with new allies,

With peace how often to regale us—
And victories can never fail us-
How oft' a finking State he faves,
By friendly aid of winds and waves ?

Ch! treacherous BULL, from hell deriv'd,
Worfe than e'er Phalaris contriv'd,

Thou, that for curfed gold can't find
Such methods to diftrefs mankind,

And feed a nation's hopes in vain,

To fell thy bargain out again!'

In the fame file of painting are the Bear and the Lame Duck. But, perhaps, the moft exquifite picture in the whole piece is the Birth of the Taxes.

But turn, my gentle Mufe, nor deign
To dwell with that unhallow d train;
Thy kindred bards demand thy fong,
To them thy grateful notes prolong,
Who quitting BATH's ador'd retreat,
Her frolic fports, and paftimes fweet,
And purer joys which verfe infpires,
Sufpend their foft harmonious lyres,
To-day all haftening to attend

The groaning of their much-lov'd friend,
A Lad. whole exalted ftation
Demands their utmost veneration,
And whofe unmerited distress
Their pity and regret no less;

For me, I must acknowledge fairly,

I vifit at her house but rarely,

She always has fo large a crowd

Of well bred men, who talk so loud,

The twenty fifth day of November laf, at which time this poem was written.

Yet

Yet do I feel most truly for her,
And look upon her cafe with horror,

'Tis now, as the herself has reckon'd,

Five months, and upwards, fince the quicken'd,
And every moment, as 'tis faid,

Is waiting to be brought to bed;

Poor foul! what forrow and vexation

She fuff'red through the whole gestation!
And now but very ill fuftains

The thought of her approaching pains;
So many children fhe has had,

And most of them turn'd out so bad,
Have quarrell'd with her dearest neighbours,
And marr'd her honest tenants labours,
Their darken'd dwellings fill'd with ftrife,
And grudg'd them every joy of life,

Kept fuch a prodigal retinue,
Their wages eat up her revenue,
And all at fuch a shameful rate
Encreas'd the debt on her eftate,
The thoughts of adding to the number
Deprive her of her balmy flumber;
The fame MAN-MIDWIFE who, I hear,
Attended at her Couche last year,
Speaks like a fenfible phyfician,
And shakes his head at her condition;
A ftubborn acrimonious humour,
Which daily haftens to confume her,
Corrupts her pancreatic juices,
And choler without end produces,
And when upon her brain 'tis pitch'd,
'Twill make her talk like one bewitch'd;
That when, in hopes fome good to do her,
The Doctor puts a question to her,
And thinks, perhaps, that change of diet
Might help to keep her fpirits quiet,
Or purgatives her heat affwage,
She'll fly into a dreadful rage,
And all the answer fhe'll bettow
Is-Aye, Aye, Aye, or No, No, No.

Such fymptoms make her friends begin
To think there's fomething wrong within,
That needs must take before the fummer
The ufe of all her members from her,
Which in a broken conftitution
Muft foon bring on her diffolution.

Then fay, Oh! fay, ye learned leeches,
Whofe fashionable doctrine teaches
That infants bear no mark nor fign
Of things for which their mothers pine,
And evils which affli&t the parent
Are never in the child inherent,

Say,