Oh! teach them not to read a prayer, They might not leave a place to spare The poor, who toil at plough or spade, Let them be ignorant till dead, Sept. 5. And then be d-d. DUNCE. ON GENERAL W-T-K'S TWO CORPORALS, AT BUENOS AYRES. [From the Morning Post.] INSTEAD of the thundering cannon's dread shock, To tumble the roof on the floor, Had fam'd Uncle Toby but read the dispatch, And cried-" Corporal Trim! to assail a door's latch Sept. 19. MARTINUS SCRIBLERUS. THE RETORT COURTEOUS ΤΟ AN OVERBEARING GENERAL, WHO WAS ONCE A PRIVATE SOLDIER, AND WHO GAVE A PETULANT ANSWER TO A CIVIL REMONSTRANCE. 66 I'm a Soldier"-angry Milo cried. PORTSMOUTH. AN WHEN AN ANTITACTIC EPIGRAM. [From the Morning Post.] HEN Crd descants on his knowledge of war, His tactics and skill that he glean'd from afar; We listen and gape, and suppose him Eugene, Till into a convent he's cautiously seen, And then we confess all the truth of th' expression, Not always divested of what are`call'd fears. ABRAHAM NEWLAND, ESQ. [From the Morning Chronicle.] G. THE resignation of this celebrated character is an event of some importance in the literary world. Although not a very voluminous writer, few men have illustrated a greater variety of subjects. As a commentator, he exceeds the most industrious names in Dutch, German, or English lore; and it may be said, with confidence, that no man of late years has published a work without hoping to profit by some of his notes. It is not therefore sufficient, or becoming, to dismiss the resignation of such a man in a single paragraph. Especial honour is due to a name which no human being ever contemplated without respect, and which thousands have repeated as the passport to wealth and happiness. Of Mr. Newland's family we know but little.His progenitor was a Mr. Cash, descended from the Bullion family. The name of Cash was changed to Newland some years ago, when the Guinea trade began to decline, in which the family had long dealt. In surveying the services Mr. Newland has rendered to English literature, there is no branch in which he has so eminently excelled as in political history and political discussion. In this respect, instead of a present of plate from the Bank, we should have expected to hear that he had been dignified by the choicest honours in the gift of Government. But Governments are said to be ungrateful. The light which his able notes have thrown upon, many subjects of political importance is too well known to require our feeble testimony. In the first proposal, and ultimate execution, of measures which, looking merely at the propriety of them, we should have thought hopeless-in the framing of bills and acts of parliament-in sanctioning questions of war or peace, negotiations, subsidies, expeditions, and all the et cætera of modern legislation and official wisdom, he has been considered as the grand, though sometimes imperceptible, instrument. It seems to be universally allowed, that, without his aid, the minds of many honest representatives could never have been made up, nor their understandings enlightened in such a manner as to bring them to a vote. Indeed, the numbers whom he has taught to see things in a new light, to comprehend what appeared unintelligible, and to support what they could not sanction, nor defend by unassisted reason, exceeds all calculation. Justice compels us to say thus much of the important services of Mr. Newland, because there appears in certain persons an unwillingness to allow him due praise, and because they who owe their all to him, and who know there is nothing respectable in their character but what he bestowed, affect to talk with indifference of their best benefactor. Our readers may remember, that it was but lately, that a gentleman * who knows the truth of all we have advanced, and who could have written a much better panegyric than *Rather remarkable for his Rosɛy colour.-EDIT. VOL. XI. N ourselves, ourselves, had his head been as full of the subject as his heart, openly declared, nay, and vowed to G—d, that he knew not of one instance in which the abilities of our author had been employed!". Perhaps Mr. Newland's modesty may have in some degree obscured his services. What he has done, has too often been done confidentially; and this has been no inconsiderable advantage to the ungrateful, some of whom have been known to attribute that to deliberation, conviction, argument, or conscience, which was entirely owing to the manuscript notes with which our author was in the habit of illustrating certain objects of discussion. It was an equal proof of his modesty, that, although one of the most promising men in the kingdom, he never aspired to any of those honours which he enabled others to acquire. He had a considerable share of what is called parliamentary interest; and on that account it is, perhaps, wonderful that he never was appointed to conduct an army or a fleet. But with such extensive influence it would yet be more wonderful if he had had the good fortune to escape censure; and the impartiality which has dictated this encomium obliges us to add, in this place, that he dabbled rather too much in elections; and that some of his writings, on these occasions, were little better than libels on the good sense and honesty of the people of this country. One other objection seems to attach to his character; and we shall dismiss it here, rather than recur to the most unpleasant part of our duty. He was an eager promoter of marriages among the upper ranks, and this, no doubt, with the honest intention of preventing the evils and temptations of celibacy; but, to whatever cause it might be owing, we certainly never heard of any marriage in which he alone was consulted that did not prove unhappy. Although the humblest man in his own person and conduct, conduct, such was his extreme popularity, that every one was proud of his correspondence; a circumstance rather unfortunate than wonderful. For such was his knowledge of heraldry, that he probably created more gentlemen and esquires in a year, than the College, by its tedious process, can create in teni. His merit, as to matters of taste, has sometimes been called in question, but perhaps unjustly. He has never, indeed, leaned much to poetry; but in music and painting he distinguished himself by his liberality. He was the first to raise the salaries of the theatrical performers far beyond what is on record in the history of the stage; and this perhaps may have brought upon him the suspicion just alluded to. Certain it is, he has sometimes contributed to make rich actors, when he could not make good ones. In the knowledge of architecture he excelled. No man built faster; which occasioned the late Dr. Johnson to say of Mr. Newland's customers, that "their palaces rose like exhalations." One of them, it is well known, expended 40,000l. upon a house, from the small salary of 8ool. a year*, and was to expen as much more if the person who furnished the materials had not been obliged to stop payment. Nor is it in single houses only that Mr. Newland's talents have been displayed. The greater part of the new buildings at Margate and Brighton have been laid out by his influence. The religion of a man of his eminence will naturally be an object of inquiry. He is supposed to be principally attached to the established church, the dignitaries of which have ever bowed with reverence to his name. With the dissenters he has for many years had little connexion, although they do not affect Among the best judges in the race of life, we have understood, that this gentleman was not considered as a good TROTTER.-EDIT. |