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forehead, and say if you are not brow-
beaten to the ground. Its outlines,
extending miles and miles horizon-
tally and perpendicularly, enclose a
vast space deeply channelled by tor-
rents of thought, or roughened and
ridged by the convulsions of patriotic
anguish. A million of vexed spirits
are there "contracted in one brow"
of care.
As you approach the region
betwixt the eyes, the deep tracks and
wrinkles of anxious concern, disap-
pointment, and grief, increase, till
the dark convolutions of valleys and
ridges, immediately above the nose,
seem another Switzerland, that land
of liberty, and consequently of Whigs.
But how are ye to stand the wither
ing flash of these huge orbs-these
two great living lakes of eyes-half a
nation at once looking through them?
In what dark, stern, reproachful gaze
they are fixed! Fire and darkness are
mingled in them. The very light in
them is darkness.

Allowing that an individual can see
about fifteen minutes into the future
(a Tory cannot see five seconds before
him)-consider what a reach of vision
these multiplied and magnifying or-
gans of Giant Whig must have in that
direction. No wonder he can foretell
the issue of every measure as soon as
'tis entered upon, for he actually fore-
sees it. He has far more than the se-
cond sight.*

The nose-that nose which is a thousand times more acutely sensitive than the best scent dog's; which can detect from the greatest distance the faintest effluvia of a fault-comes next to be described; and next again comes the mouth, particularly the tongue: A tongue which lies

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Whose thunders so often threaten to
split the very frame of the Constitu-
tion; whose words are so mighty that
only very large ears can give them ad-
mission. But ere we can address our-
selves to a task so daring as the de-
scription of these, we must be allowed
a little respite, and time to invoke some
I intend to imprecate
superior aid.
the assistance of that exquisite por-
trait painter, Dr Morris, your friend.

In my next lecture on heads, after treating at great length of the prodigious organs of smell, taste, and speech of our subject-(as for the ear, see the description of Dionysius')—I shall gratify the audience, or rather spectators, by some curious and important calculations respecting him. I shall endeayour, among other things, to ascertain how many scavengers it would require, working a given time, to scrape his tongue, he being somewhat foulmouthed:"--How many barbers it would take to shave his head, in the event of his being seized with a fit of madness, and so requiring the application of a blister :-How many thousand yards of flannel would be necessary to make him a warm comfortable night-cap; or in the event of his death, in how many months all the weavers in Yorkshire could weave him shroud.t

a

The third lecture I intend to devote exclusively to the craniological peculiarities of Giant Whig. The operations for the determining of all the

Our visions, and dreams, and soothsayings ought to be collected into a volume, or rather volumes. As they are rather of a sombre hue-the fall, the ruin of the country, the extinction of mental light, the annihilation of liberty and security, the spoliation of wealth, &c. &c. being their subjects, the work ought to be bound in black boards, spotted with white tears. As an appropriate supplement to it, "The Afflicted Man's Companion," "The Crook of the Lot," and Hervey's "Meditations amongst the Tombs," ought to be added. What mournful luxury it would be to sit under a yew in the doleful groves of Whiggism, and pore over so woful, and yet so consoling a book. On second thought, I conceive that the substance of the work now proposed should be inserted under the article Prophesy, in the New Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica. What ample materials the modern Apocalypse, viz. the Edinburgh Review, would afford of itself!

+ Blackwood's Magazine for February 1818, see.

craniological questions will be conducted by a gentleman who assisted in the late survey of this island; so that the elevations of the bumps, the depths of the cavities, and the relative situations of all, will be most accurately ascertained. The craniological map of the whole head will be given, beautifully engraved by W. and D. Lizars. There may be some ill-natured enough to reckon, that were the cranium of Giant Whig dug through,

"Before their eyes in sudden view" would 66 appear

"The secrets of the hoary deep-a dark abyss,

"Where length, breadth, and height, "And time and place, are lost; where eldest night,

"And chaos, ancestors of nature, hold
"Eternal monarchy, amidst the noise
"Of endless wars, and by confusion stand.".

And that not a vestige of brain would be found.

This I have heard impudently asserted, and that on the ground of Giant Whig being greatly inconsistent, contradictory, and even occasionally outrageous, in his conduct and language. It should, however, be considered, that Giant Whig's temper and sanity have been tried more than any man's. And would not a constant state of chagrin, disappointment, and mortification, injure the soundest brain? If he has betrayed symptoms of wandering, ought he not rather to be pitied and soothed than laughed at?

hibition is over, and he who would see In the mean time, however, the exthe show again must pay another fare. N. B. The charge is double to see the pollar monster fed.

POLITO.

NOTE FROM MR MULLION, ENCLOSING AN ESSAY ON THE STATE

OF THE NATION.

DEAR MR EDITOR,

I WISH you had laid aside your veil, and come up to the Parliament House the morning the news of Mr Tierney's great defeat arrived-I mean the defeat of his motion for a committee to enquire into the state of the nation. Faces were long, and arms reversed, all along that great parade of whiggery, and the muffled drums of demi-sedition played something not unlike a dead march to their ancient bearers. I, for my part, entered into friendly conversation with one of the most moderate and sensible whigs that walks the boards. We talked over the matter quietly and calmly, and parted as usual without being able to agree in any one point either of premises or conclusion. My friend, Mr S. on my quitting him, said, “You have said just nothing to the purpose.”—I did not quite like this, so on returning home, I threw together upon paper the substance, so far as my memory would serve me, of what I had said, resolving within myself, that you and your readers should act as umpires upon this occasion between the Whig and the Tory. In order to ensure you impartiality, I may mention that, in spite of his political opinions, my friend is almost as great an admirer of your Miscellany as myself. He is one of the few eminent individuals of that sect who think it possible to be sincere without being cruel. He hates the persecuting spirit with which his brethren treat dissenters like yourself.

Yours sincerely,

STATE OF THE NATION.

A FOREIGNER, unacquainted with the
customs and forms of the English se-
nate, and especially if he were a
philosophical foreigner,-would be a
good deal surprised to find how little
the substance of that parliamentary
proceeding, which is technically deno-
minated 66
an inquiry into the state of
the nation," corresponds in dignity,
or in extent and compass, with the
grandeur of its title. The title would

MORDECAI MULLION.

lead him to expect from the senators, a solemn and ceremonial inquest upon the total condition of the people whom they represented; an estimate of their whole economy, financial, martial, agricultural, and commercial; an estimate of their international relations, and of their internal state, with respect to laws and morals; a survey of the national institutions-both as to their grounds and their tendency; a

final verdict delivered upon the state of the country, as compared with its state at some former period, so as to furnish reasonable data for determining whether, upon the whole, the people be progressive or improgressive: and the whole process conducted as radically as the researches of a philosopher, and as rigorously as the self-examination of a religious penitent. To these magnificent anticipations derived from the name, he would find a ludicrous contrast in the thing. An inquiry into the state of the nation uniformly turns out to be an inquiry into the state of parties. The party in opposition are anxious at intervals to try their strength, more especially in the first session of a new parliament. Much strength may possibly have been gained through the extensive changes made by a general election in the composition of the house: some, they are apt to flatter themselves, may have accrued to them from impressions favourable to themselves, produced by the course of events, and their own wisdom or eloquence upon the minds even of old members. At the same time they are aware that a question of inferior magnitude, or one which (like the Catholic question) is by general agreement a privileged question upon which a plenary indulgence is granted to tender consciences and tender intellects, cannot serve as a test question for determining the several proportions of strength. A question is, therefore, chosen of the largest possible compass, and pretty nearly co-extensive with an inquiry into things in general," by way of drawing from parliament a verdict upon the total merits of each party. It takes the shape of an inquiry into the state of the nation, rather upon negative grounds than positive, rather because it excludes all local and minor questions, than because it is seriously designed to embrace the widest and most national. It is in fact a watchword, by which the forces on either side are instructed to prepare for action; a signal flying from the masthead, by which the commander-inchief makes known his intention to lay himself on board the enemy. And the appropriate interest connected with the occasion is a martial interest, and our anxieties the same as those with which we await the issue of a battle. Looking at the question in this light, we may consider Mr Tierney as hav

ing sustained one of the most conspicuous defeats, and the present administration as having achieved one of the most brilliant and decisive victories which our parliamentary annals record. A few weeks ago, as our readers are aware, Mr Tierney, (the leader of opposition) made a motion "that the house do resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, to consider of the state of the nation." Each side of the house mustered in unusual strength; five hundred and thirty-five members voted; and four members of Grenville politics sheered off, it seems, without voting. The result was-that the number of those who voted with ministers more than doubled (viz. by one) the number of those who voted with Mr Tierney. Old soldier as this gentleman is in parliamentary tacticswe cannot but suspect, that on this occasion he was surprised and confounded by the result. That he miscalculated his strength is indeed evident from his having made the motion at all; for he could not design to emblazon, in the way he has done, the strength of administration; and most undoubtedly, if he had even resolved upon the motion at any risk, for the sake of parading his forces, and that he might ascertain who was with him and who against him, he would not, under any anticipation of so total a defeat, have allowed himself to put the issue upon that foundation which he did; for in the opening of his speech, having spoken very favourably of the composition of the present House of Commons-as comprehending "a larger proportion of men connected with no party than he (who had sate and voted in so many houses) had ever before remembered," he drew a natural inference, that such a house "would vote without reference to either side;-that they would weigh measures and not men." Miscalculate, therefore, Mr Tierney did, we may be assured, from some cause or other; possibly from the successes which his party has had once or twice this session in skirmishes upon local questions. Manifest it is, that he miscounted his own strength, or miscounted the probable attendance on the opposite side. During this session (as appeared from a pretty plain hint of Lord Castlereagh) the ministerial party have been very slack in attendance; and possibly the assembly might not be

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much interfere with the popularity of government, and at present it is wholly extinct. Upon the whole therefore, as far as it is possible for an English ministry to be so, we believe that the present ministry are and will continue to be popular. How have they become so? What is the tenure upon which they keep their hold upon the national regard? This is an interesting question: it will be the same question, presented under another aspect, if we ask how it is that their opponents have become unpopular? This we shall attempt briefly to answer; premising that, by their opponents we mean the old opposition or Fox party. The character and manners of the first Lord Holland were not English, nor acceptable therefore to the English nation. But of him we do not purpose to speak: the public feeling might suffer a slight prejudice as respected his son from a previous knowledge and dislike of the father. But that prejudice, if it ever existed, soon relented before the splendid powers of Charles Fox: and, at a boyish age, we may affirm that Charles Fox was popular. How came it that he and his party, composed of so many brilliant men, have since become so irredeemably unpopular that no changes of public affairs have ever restored them to any national favour? Chiefly, as we believe, from three causes :

1. The first great shock given to the reputation of the Fox party was it's coalition with the party of Lord North. During the reign even of Charles the Second there had been no case of equal public profligacy. Of all the graces which can adorn and recommend a public disputant, that which is most effectual to win esteem and to disarm opposition is the grace of sincerity and zeal. To see a man earnestly contending for what he believes to be the truth is always an affecting spectacle: and we are all ready to pardon, on the single consideration that he is in earnest,much of intemperance-much angermuch ignorance-much even of error. Liberties, which we should else repel with indignation, we tolerate by way of doing homage to the spirit of conscientious zeal which we believe to prompt them. To be in earnest, in short, and deeply in earnest so as to forget one's self, and to be swallowed up in the single consideration of the truth, is the most potent and captivating elo

quence. Commensurate with the love we bear to sincerity is the reaction of disgust upon finding that we have been duped by counterfeit semblances of sincerity. Of this disgust the Fox party, upon the coalition with their opponents, became the immediate object; and the consequences were the more fatal, because those were the most deeply offended who had given their warmest sympathies to that party, and because the offence was not of a nature to be healed, all manifestations of zeal and generous warmth seeming afterwards in that party but a subtler hypocrisy. What little character the party might have left was sacrificed in its second apostacy when it coalesced with the Grenvilles. Indeed, by that time the Fox party had sunk so low in the public opinion, that it was upon the infatuated partners in its guilt that the weight of public indignation settled; to the Grenvilles it was fatal, and to all their hopes of future popularity; for they had slight talents to depend upon, and rested only upon the opinion held of their integrity. On the triple brass of the Foxites all moral indignation it was felt would be flung away.

2. The second cause of the unpopularity of the Fox party will be found in the dissoluteness of life and morals which characterised its most conspicuous members. This is a grave charge, and not easily discussed in our days. For its truth, however, we appeal to the recollections connected with the private history of Devonshirehouse, and to the whole tenor of private anecdote. Among the most distinguished members of the party there was a general licentiousness of opinion and of action; a disregard of external decorum; and a recklessness even of appearances. No sacrifices were made to the institutions of the land; none to place and authorised dignity; none to the temper of the English people. The vices of the opposition, as they were of foreign growth, put on for the most part a face of foreign audacity. On this head, however, it is for the next age to speak more plainly.

3. But that which eclipsed all other offences of the Fox party-that which is the main cause of its unpopularity and which has made its unpopularity hopeless and immedicable-is its total want of patriotic feeling and its habit of sympathising with the worst ene

mies of England. Here lay the con-summation and the crown of all its offences. The two former blots upon its escutcheon might possibly have been washed out: much may be effected with the lower classes, and with all classes something, by a fervent concern for the national welfare, and never was there such an opportunity presented to any party of redeeming its former offences in the opinion of its country as was offered to the Fox party in 1803 on the opening of the war with Bonaparte. By that time the course of events had united the patriotic all over the world: and to men of all parties, who had any eye to the public good, there was no course left but one. The voice of duty left nothing to the deliberative will of the individual, but imposed upon all men a stern monotony of principle and of conduct. The Fox party, however, which had always shewed a bluntness of sensibility in relation to what affected the national honour or welfare, grew colder in their patriotism, as the appeals to their patriotism became more urgent and passionate. About the beginning of the Peninsular war in 1808, when a last golden opportunity was offered to that party of recantation, its sympathy with France became keener than most men's patriotism. At this time the cause of England, from being the cause of Europe, had been exalted into the cause of human nature. At the same time, and in due proportion to the exaltation of the cause, did the rancorous hatred of it increase among the Foxites: their leader was now dead: but his spirit still reigned amongst them, or a spirit equally estranged from all magnanimous feeling. Before this time, it had shocked all men of English feelings to see an English duchess connected with the Fox party (herself a woman originally of amiable nature) cherishing and patronising all manner of French vermin-carrying about, for instance, a hound (Gen. Boyer) who publicly boasted in every English company, that with ten thousand Frenchmen he would take military possession of England; whilst the polite Foxites stood by and listened and, instead of braining him with an English fan, bowed and admitted that his arguments were very plausible. had shocked all true Englishmen to

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