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[Page 7]
1785. Morning Herald.
See yon sober band
Each his notes in his hand;
The Witnesses they, whom I brow-beat in vain;
Unconfus'd they remain.
On ! d—mn their bloods again!
Give the curses due
To the factious crew !
Lo ! Wedgwood too waves his §* Pitt pots on high !
Lo ! he points, where the bottoms, yet dry,
The Visage Immaculate bear !
Be Wedgwood d—mn'd, and double d—mn'd his ware.
D—mn Fix and d—mn North;
D—mn Portland's mild worth ;
D--mn Devon the good,
Double d-mn all his name ;
D-mn Fitzwilliam's blood,
Heir of Rockingham's fame.
D—mn Sheridan's wit,
The terror of Pitt;
D—mn Loughb'rough, my plague --- wou'd his bag-pipe were split !
D—mn Derby's long scroll,
Fill'd with names to the brims ;
D—mn his limbs, d—mn his soul,
D—mn his soul, d—mn his limbs.
With Starmont's curs'd din,
Hark! Carlisle chimes in,
D—mn them ; d—mn all the partners of their sin.
D—mn them, beyond what mortal tongue can tell ;
Confound, sink, plunge them all to deepest, blackest Hell!
* This simile of myself I made the other day, coming out of Westininster Abbey. Lord Uxbridge heard it. I think, however, that I have improved it here, by the turn which follows.
+ I cannot here with-hold my particular acknowledge-ments to my virtuous young friend, Mr. Pitt, for the noble manner in which he contended, on the subject of my reversion, that the most religious observance must be paid to the Royal promise. And I am personally the more obliged to him, as in the case of the auditors of the imprest the other day. he did not think it necessary to shew any regard Whatever to a Royal Parent.
++ I originally wrote this line,
But Hervey frowning, as she hears, &c.
It was altered as it now stands, by my d—mn'd Bishop of a brother, for the fake of an allusion to Virgil.
——Cynthius aurem
Vellit, et admonuit.
§ I am told, that a scoundrel of a Potter, one Mr. Wedge-wood is making 10,000 Spitting-pots, and other vile utensils, with a figure of Mr. Pitt in the bottom; round the head is to be a motto, We will spit,
On Mr. Pitt,
And other Such d—mn'd rhymes suited to the uses of the different vessels.
July 16
PROBATIONARY
We are sorry that the following composi[tion] does not come out under the immediate due [?]tion of the Rev. Author; but he affects concealment, as well in the publication as in the writing — perhaps from false modesty, or perhaps from the persuasion that his disavowal of a performance will be a leading proof of its authenticity.
IRREGULAR ODE, for Music.
By the Rev. Dr. PRETTYMAN,
The Notes, (except those wherein Latin is concerned) by
JOHN ROBINSON, Esq.
RECITATIVE, by Double Voices.
(a) Hail to the LYAR, whose all persuasive strain,
Waked by the master-touch of art,
And prompted by th' inventive brain,
(b) Winds its sly way into the easy heart.
SOLO.
(c) Hark I do hear the golden tone
Responsive now! and now alone!
Or does my fancy rove?
Reason-born conviction, hence -
And frenzy-rapt be every sense.
With the Untruth I love.
Propitious FICTION, aid the song;
Poet and priest to thee belong.
SEMI-CHORUS.
(d) By thee inspired, e'er yet the tongue was glib
The cradled infant lisp'd the nurs'ry fib;
Thy vet'ry in maturer youth,
Pleased he renounced the name of truth,
And often dared the specious to defy,
Proud of th' expansive, bold, uncovered lie.
AIR.
Propitious FICTION, hear!
And smile, as erst thy father smiled
Upon his first-born child, .
(Thy sister dear)
When, the nether shades among,
(e) Sin from his forehead sprung.
FULL CHORUS.
Grand deluder! arch-imposter!
Countervailing Orde and Foster,
Renown'd Divine!
The palm is thine:
Be thy name or sung, or bist,
Above it Stands - CONSPICUOUS FABULIST!
(a) "Hail to the Lyar."} It was suggested to me, that my friend the Doctor, had here followed the example of Voltaire, in deviating from common orthography. -
Lyar instead of Lyre, he conceives to be a reading of peculiar elegance in the present instance, as it puts the reader in suspence between an inanimate and a living initroment. However, for my own part, I am rather of opinion that this seeming misspelling arose from the Doctor's follow-ing the same well-known circumspection which he exercised in the case of Mr. Wedgwood, and declining to give his ode under his hand; preferring to repeat it to Mr. Delpini's Amanuensis, who very probably may have committed that, and similar errors in orthography.
(b) "Winds its sly way" &c } A line taken in great part from Milton The whole passage (which it may not be un-pleasing to recal to the recollection of the reader) has been closely imitated by my friend Prettyman in a former work.
"I, under fair pretence of friendly ends,
" And well-placed words of glazing courtesy'
"Baited with reasons not unplausible,
"Wind me into the easy-hearted man,
" And hug him into snares." COMUS.
(c) "Golden tone" &c.] The epithet may seem at first more proper for the instrument, but it applies here with great propriety to the sound. In the strictest sense, what is golden sound but the sound of gold? and what could arise more naturally in the writer's mind upon the present occasion?
"Frenzy-rapt" &c.} Auditis? An mè ludit amabilis Insania?
(d) "By thee inspired," &c.} In the first manuscript:
"While yet a cradled child, he conquered shame
"And lisped in fables, for the fables came.
See POPE.
(e) "Sin from his forehead sprung".}
"A goddess armed
"Out of thy head I sprang."
See MILTON'S Birth of Sin.