Though ruler now of many a distant clime, "He left behind him neither an house, nor an acre of land, by which to be remembered," says Clarendon, when speaking of the Earl of Carlisle; and it may very truly be applied to the Earl of **. * The fatal effects of that infamous job, which sent "that poor wretch ******* (as his Royal Master was wont to call him) to India, may one day be felt by this country very severely. A man, who was not competent to take care of himself, was certainly not the properest person to take care of many millions of turbulent souls, who are kept subject to this country by very slender, and very artificial means. And cleanse of former acts the Ethiop stain, And leave a mighty plunder to his heir; 'The end is answered of his eastern reign, And no one sure has reason to complain. But hold, methinks I hear the reader say, Old Hd to be sure is rather mean, But why should this offend your muse's spleen? This noble Lord's transaction with one Edm-ds, a Surgeon, of which an account was published in the Book, and where the fair fame of the descendant of the Plantagenets was rather roughly handled by the Son of Esculapius, is supposed to have had something to do with the appointment he now holds in I-a. Yh has faults, and Lr too a few, But why consider bad reports as true? Ch loves play, as all have known long since, But then he is L-d Std to the Prince; And F-e and Ht both are mighty Peers, So be more prudent, and consult your fears: To lash the great no poet should aspire. Fain, gentle reader, would I change my strain, Nor leave the courtier reason to complain; The scourge of satire I would fain resign, And turn to panegyric every line': In gentle numbers eulogize the great, How good by nature, and how blest by fate. Though rough my numbers, and my verse uncouth; * This poem has been written entirely for the sake of example, and not from any private pique.-I may truly say of the noble persons mentioned in it (as Achilles does in the Iliad), "The distant Trojans never injured me.” To bare each villain to the face of day, And probe his fame by satire's* piercing ray ; Enough-of fools and knaves a plenteous store Remains behind-but I can sing no more: Each knavet, each fool so tallies with his brother, That half the household just reflects the other. But were there one of rank above the rest, In form-in manner-and in mind the best; Graceful in mein, by nature formed to please, Each word melodious, and each motion ease * Be it remembered that many, "Safe from the bar, the pulpit, and the throne, "Grove nods at grove, each alley has a brother, "And half the platform just reflects the other."- -Porn. [ 22 ] In youth, his soul with spotless honour graced, Adorned with genuine feeling, wit, and taste; He strove with promise fair to sooth thy lot; And give thy tortured land a happier hour. And hailed the rising Sun's benignant ray; And hoped, and vainly* hoped, their feuds would cease, The Irish Catholics may now say from experience,-" O put not your trust in Princes, nor in any child of mar, for there is no help in them." |