[Page] AN EPISTLE TO DR. SHEBBEARE: TO WHICH IS ADDED AN ODE TO SIR FLETCHER NORTON, IN IMITATION OF HORACE, ODE VIII. BOOK IV.
By MALCOLM MACGREGGOR, of Knightsbridge, Esq. Author of the Heroic Epistle to Sir Wm. Chambers, &c.
LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. ALMON, OPPOSITE BURLINGTON-HOUSE, PICCADILLY.
MDCCLXXVII.
[Price One Shilling and Six-pence.]
ADVERTISEMENT.
THOUGH I look upon this Poem, in point of elevation of diction and sublimity of sentiment, to be as highly heroical, as my Epistle to Sir William Chambers, yet I have not thought proper to add that epithet to it on the title-page. I am willing to wish that first production of my muse may preserve the distinction which it now possesses, of being called The Heroic Epistle, par excellence. Besides this consideration, the different ranks of the two persons, to whom these two works are addressed, require a difference to be made in this matter; and it would be unpardonable in me not to discriminate between a Comptroller of his Majesty's Works, and the Hackney Scribbler of a Newspaper; between a Placeman and a Pensioner, a Knight of the Polar Star, and a broken Apothecary.
AN EPISTLE TO DR. SHEBBEARE.
O For a thousand tongues! and every tongue
Like Johnson's, arm'd with words of six feet long,
In multitudinous vociferation
To panegyricize this glorious nation,
Whose liberty results from her taxation.1
[Page 6] O, for that passive, pensionary spirit,
That by its prostitution proves its merit!
That rests on RIGHT DIVINE, all regal claims,
And gives to George, what [...]'er it gave to James:
Then should my Tory numbers, old Shebbeare,
Tickle the tatter'd fragment of thy ear!
Then all that once was virtuous, wise, or brave,
That quell'd a tyrant, that abhorr'd a slave,
Then Sydney's, Russel's patriot fame should fall,
Besmear'd with mire, like black Dalrymple's gall,
Then, like thy prose, should my felonious verse
Tear each immortal plume from Nassau's hearse,
That modern monarchs, in that plumage gay,
Might stare and strut, the peacocks of a day.
But I, like Ansty, feel myself unfit
To run, with hollow speed, two heats of wit.2
[Page 7] He, at first starting, won both fame and money,
The betts ran high on Bladud's Ciceronè;
Since distanc'd quite, like a gall'd jade he winces,
And lashes unknown priests, and praises well-known princes.
So I, when first I tun'd th' heroic lay,
Gain'd Pownall's praise, as well as Almon's pay.
In me the nation plac'd its tuneful hope,
Its second Churchill, or at least its Pope:
Proudly I prick'd along, Sir William's squire,
Bade kings recite my strains and queens admire;
Chaste maids of honour prais'd my stout endeavour,
Sir Thomas swore "The fellow was damn'd clever."3
[Page 8] But popularity, alas! has wings,
And flits as soon from poets as from kings.
My pompous Posiscript found itself disdain'd
As much as Milton's Paradise regain'd—
And when I dar'd the Patent Snuffers handle,
To trim, with Pinchy's aid, Old England's candle,
The lyric muse, so lame was her condition,
Could hardly hop beyond a third edition.
Yes, 'tis a general truth, and strange as true,
(Kenrick shall prove it in his next Review)
That no one bard, in these degenerate days,
Can write two works deserving equal praise.
Whether the matter of which minds are made
Be grown of late mephitic and decay'd,
Or wants phlogiston, I forbear to say,
The problem's more in Doctor Priestley's way.
He knows of spirit the material whole,
For Priestley has the cure of Sh-lb—e's soul.4
Enough of souls, unless we waste a line,
Shebbeare! to pay a compliment to thine:
Which forg'd, of old, of strong Hibernian brass,
Shines through the Paris plaister of thy face,
And bronzes it, secure from shame, or sense,
To the flat glare of finish'd impudence.
Wretch! that from Slander's filth art ever gleaning,
Spite without spirit, malice without meaning:
The same abusive, base, abandon'd thing,
When pilloried, or pension'd by a King.
Old as thou art, methinks, 'twere sage advice,
That N—th should call thee off from hunting Price.
Some younger blood-hound of his bawling pack
Might sorer gall his presbyterian back.
Thy toothless jaws should free thee from the fight;
Thou canst but mumble, when thou mean'st to bite.
Say, then, to give a requiem to thy toils,
What if my muse array'd her in thy spoils?
And took the field for thee, thro' pure good-nature;
Courts prais'd by thee, are curs'd beyond her satire.5
[Page 10] Yet, when she pleases, she can deal in praise:
Exempli gratia, hear her fluent lays
Extol the present, the propitious hour,
When Europe, trembling at Britannia's power,
Bids all her princes, with pacific care,
Keep neutral distance, while she wings the war
Cross the Atlantic vast; in dread array,
Herself to vanquish in America.
Where soon, we trust, the brother chiefs shall see
The Congress pledge them in a cup of tea,
Toast peace and plenty to their mother nation,
Give three huzzas to George and to taxation,
And beg, to make their loyal hearts the lighter,
He'd send them o'er Dean T—k-r, with a mitre.
In Fancy's eye, I ken them from afar
Circled with feather wreaths, unstain'd by tar:
In place of laurels, these shall bind their brow,
Fame, honour, virtue, all are feathers now.
Ev'n beauty's self, unfeather'd, if we spy,
Is hideous to our Macaroni eye.
Foolish the bard, who, in such flimsy times,
Would load with satire or with sense his rhymes:
[Page 11] No, let my numbers flutter light in air,
As careless as the silken Goffimer.
Or should I, playful, lift the muse's scourge,
Thy cocks should lend their tails, my Cocking G—,
To make the rod. So fear not thou the song;
To whip a post, I ne'er will waste a thong.
Were I inclin'd to punish courtly tools,
I'd lash the knaves before I slapt the fools▪
Gigantic vice should on my ordeal burn,
Long ere it came to thy poor pigmy turn.
But sure 'tis best, whate'er rash Whigs may say,
To sleep within a whole skin, while one may;
For Whigs are mighty prone to run stark mad,
If credence in A—hb—ps may be had.
Therefore I'll keep within discretion's rule,
And turn true Tory of the M—d school.
So shall I 'scape that creature's tyger paw,
Which some call Liberty, and some call Law:6
[Page 12] Whose whale-like mouth is of that savage shape,
Whene'er his long-rob'd shewman bids him gape,
With tusks so strong, with grinders so tremendous,
And such a length of gullet, Heaven defend us!
That should you peep into the red-raw track,
'Twould make your cold flesh creep upon you back.
A maw like that, what mortal may withstand?
'Twould swallow all the poets in the land.
Come, then, Shebbeare! and hear thy bard deliver
Unpaid-for praises to thy pension-giver.
Hear me, like T—k-r, swear, "so help me, muse!"
I write not for preferment's golden views.
But hold—'tis on thy province to intrude:
I would be loyal, but would not be rude.
To thee, my veteran, I his fame consign;
Take thou St. James's, be St. Stephen's mine.
Hail, genial hotbed! whose prolific soil
So well repays all North's perennial toil,7
[Page 13] Whence he can raise, if want or whim inclines,
A crop of votes, as plentiful as pines.
Wet-nurse of tavern-waiters and Nabobs,
That empties first, and after fills their fobs:
(As Pringle, to procure a sane secretion,
Purges the primae viae of repletion.)
What scale of metaphor shall Fancy raise,
To climb the heights of thy stupendous praise?
Thrice has the sun commenc'd his annual ride,
Since full of years and praise, thy mother died.
'Twas then I saw thee, with exulting eyes,
A second phoenix, from her ashes rise;
Mark'd all the graces of thy loyal crest,
Sweet with the perfume of its parent nest.
Rare chick! How worthy of all court caresses,
How soft, how echo-like, it chirp'd addresses.
Proceed, I cry'd, thy full-fledg'd plumes unfold,
Each true-blue feather shall be tipt with gold;
Ordain'd thy race of future fame to run,
To do, whate'er thy mother left undone.
In all her smooth, obsequious paths proceed,
For, know, poor Opposition wants a head.
[Page 14] With horn and hound her truant schoolboys roam,
And for a fox-chace quit St. Stephen's dome,
Forgetful of their grandfire Nimrod's plan,
"A mighty hunter, but his prey was man."
The rest, at crouded Almacks, nightly bett,
To stretch their own beyond the nation's debt.
Vote then secure; the needful millions raise,
That fill the privy-purse with means and ways.
And do it quickly too, to shew your breeding,
The weazel Scots are hungry, and want feeding.
Nor need ye wait for that more plenteous season,
When mad America is brought to reason.
Obsequious Ireland, at her sister's claim,
(Sister or step-dame, call her either name)
Shall pour profusely her Pactolian tide,
Nor leave her native patriots unsupply'd. 8
Earl N—t sung, while yet but simple Clare,
That wretched Ireland had no gold to spare.
How couldst thou, simple Clare! that isle abuse,
Which prompts and pays thy linsey-woolsey muse?
Mistaken peer! Her treasures near can cease,
Did she not long pay Viry for our peace?
Say, did she not, till rang the royal knell,
Irradiate vestal Majesty at Zell?9
[Page 16] Sure then she might afford, to my poor thinking,
One golden tumbler, for Queen Charlotte's drinking.
I care not, if her hinds on fens and rocks,
Ne'er roast one shoulder of their fatted flocks,
Shall Irish binds to mutton make pretensions?
Be theirs potatoes, and be ours their pensions.
If they refuse, great North, by me advis'd,
Enact, that each potatoe be excis'd.
Ah! hadst thou, North, adopted this sage plan,
And scorn'd to tax each British serving-man,
Thy friend Macgreggor, when he came to town,
(As poets should do) in his chaise and one,
Had seen his foot-boy Sawney, once his pride,
On stunt Scotch poney trotting by his side,
With frock of fustian, and with cape of red,
Nor grudg'd the guinea tax'd upon his head.
But tush, I heed not—for my country's good
I'll pay it—it will purchase Yankee blood—10
[Page 17] And well I ween, for this heroic lay,
Almon will give me wherewithal to pay.
Tax then, ye greedy ministers, your fill:
No matter, if with ignorance or skill.
Be ours to pay, and that's an easy task,
In these blest times to have is but to ask.
Ye know, whate'er is from the public prest,
Will sevenfold sink into your private chest.
For he, the nursing father, that receives,
Full freely tho' he takes, as freely gives.
So when great Cox, at his mechanic call,
Bids orient pearls from golden dragons fall,
Each little dragonet, with brazen grin,
Gapes for the precious prize, and gulps it in.
Yet when we peep behind the magic scene,
One master-wheel directs the whole machine:
The self-same pearls, in nice gradation, all
Around one common centre, rise and fall.11
[Page 18] Thus may our state-museum long surprise;
And what is sunk by votes in bribes arise;
Till mock'd and jaded with the puppet-play,
Old England's genius turns with scorn away,
Ascends his sacred bark, the sails unfurl'd,
And steers his state to the wide western world:
High on the helm majestic Freedom stands,
In act of cold contempt she waves her hands.
Take, slaves, she cries, the realms that I disown,
Renounce your birth-right, and destroy my throne.
FINIS.
[Page] ODE TO SIR FLETCHER NORTON, IN IMITATION OF HORACE, ODE VIII. BOOK IV.
Q. HORATII FLACCI, CARMEN VIII. LIB. IV.
DONAREM pateras, a grataque commodus,
Censorine, meis aera sodalibus:
Donarem tripodas, praemia fortium
Graiorum: neque tu pessima munerum,
Ferres, divite me scilicet artium,
Q [...]as aut b Parrhasius protulit, aut Scopas;
Hic saxo, liquidis ille coloribus
Solers c nunc hominem ponere, nunc deum.
Res est aut animus deliciarum egens.
Gaudes carminibus: f carmina possumus
Donare, g & pretium dicere muneri.
Non h incisa notis marmora publicis,
Per i quae spiritus & vita redit bonis
Post mortem ducibus: k non celeres fugae,
Rejectaeque retrorsum Annibalis minae,
Non incendia Carthaginis impiae,
Ejus, qui domitâ nomen ab Africâ
Lucratus rediit, clarius indicant12
Si chartae sileant quod benè feceris
Mercedem tuleris.
Quid foret Iliae
Mavortisque m puer, si taciturnitas
Obstaret meritis invida Romuli?
Ereptum o flygius fluctibus Aeacum
Virtus, & favor, & n lingua potentium
Vatum divitibus consecrat insulis.
Dignum laude virum Musa p vetat mori,
Optatis epulis impiger Hercules:
Clarum s Tyndaridae sidus ab infimis
Quassas t eripiunt aequoribus rates:
Ornatus viridi tempora pampino
Liber u vota bonos ducit ad exitus.
FINIS.
HORACE, ODE VIII. BOOK IV. IMITATED.
MUSE! were we rich in land, or stocks,
We'd send Sir Fletcher a a gold box;
Who lately, to the world's surprize,
Advis'd his Sovereign to be wise.
The zeal of cits shou'd ne'er surpass us,
We'd make him speaker of Parnassus.
Or could I boast the mimic eye
Of b Townshend, or of Bunbury,
Whose art can catch, in comic guise,
"The manners living as they rise,"
And find it the same easy thing
To c hit a Jollux or a king;
I'd hangings weave, in fancy's loom,
For Lady Norton's dressing room. 13
But d arts like these I don't pursue,
Nor e does Sir Fletcher heed virtù.
Enough for me in these hard times,
When ev'ry thing is tax'd but rhymes,
To f tag a few of these together:
Tho' I am quite uncertain, whether
My verse will much rejoice the knight,
As g great a store as I set by't.
For verse, (I'd have Sir Fletcher know it)
When written by a genuine poet,
Has more of meaning and intent,
Than h modern acts of Parliament.
'Tis i fit and right, when heroes die,
The nation should a tomb supply;
Yet, not the votes of both the houses,
Without th' assistance of the muses,
Can give that permanence of fame
That heroes from their country claim.
And tell me pray, to our good King,
What fame our present broils can bring,
Ev'n k should the Howes (which some folks doubt)
Put Washington to total rout,
[Page 25] Unless his treasurer in an ode,
Exalt the victor to a god.
A man, I know, may get a pension
Without the muse's intervention?
Yet what are pensions to the praise
Wrapt up in l Caledonian lays?
Say, Johnson! where had been m Fingal,
But for Macpherson's great assistance?
The chieftain had been nought at all,
A non-existing non-existence.
Mac, like a n poet stout and good,
First o plung'd, then pluck'd him from oblivion's flood,
And bad him bluster at his ease,
Among the fruitful Hebrides.
A p common poet can revive
The man who once had been alive:
But Mac revives, by magic power,
The man who never liv'd before. 14
Such hocus-pocus tricks, I own,
Belong to Gallic bards alone.
My q muse would think her power enough,
Could she make some folks fever-proof;
Dub them immortal from their birth,
And give them all their heaven on earth,
Then r Doctor K—, that broad divine,
With lords and dukes should ever dine;
Post, prate, and preach, for years on years,
And puff himself in Gazetteers.
Sandwich for aye, should shine the star,
Propitious to our naval war;
Caulk all our vessels' t leaky sides,
And in the docks work double ties.
While Stormont, u grac'd with ribband green,
Keeps France from mixing in the riot,
Till w Britain's lion vents his spleen,
And tears his rebel whelps in quiet.
THE END.
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