Droop in soft sorrow o'er a faded flower;

O'er a dead Jack-Ass pour the pearly shower;
But hear, unmoved, of Loire's ensanguined flood,
Choked up with slain; of Lyons drenched in blood;
Of crimes that blot the age, the world, with shame,
Foul crimes, but sicklied o'er with Freedom's name;
Altars and thrones subverted; social life

Trampled to earth,--the husband from the wife,
Parent from child, with ruthless fury torn,—
Of talents, honour, virtue, wit, forlorn,
In friendless exile,-of the wise and good
Staining the daily scaffold with their blood,—
Of savage cruelties, that scare the mind,
The rage of madness with hell's lusts combined,-
Of hearts torn reeking from the mangled breast,-
They hear, and hope that ALL IS FOR THE BEST.

Fond hope! but JUSTICE Sanctifies the prayer-
JUSTICE! here, Satire, strike! 'twere sin to spare!
Not she in British Courts that takes her stand,
The dawdling balance dangling in her hand,
Adjusting punishments to fraud and vice,
With scrupulous quirks, and disquisition nice :
But firm, erect, with keen reverted glance,
Th' avenging angel of regenerate France,
Who visits ancient sins on modern times,
And punishes the POPE for CÆSAR'S crimes.*

150

160

* The Manes of Vercengetorix are supposed to have been very much gratified by the invasion of Italy and the plunder of the Roman territory. The defeat of the Burgundians is to be revenged on the modern inhabitants of Switzerland. But the Swiss were a free people, defending their liberties against a tyrant. Moreover, they happened to be in alliance with France at the time. No matter; Burgundy is since become

Such is the liberal JUSTICE which presides
In these our days, and modern patriots guides ;-
JUSTICE, whose blood-stain'd book one sole decree,
One statute, fills-"the People shall be Free!"
Free! By what means?-by folly, madness, guilt,
By boundless rapines, blood in oceans spilt ;
By confiscation, in whose sweeping toils

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The poor man's pittance with the rich man's spoils,
Mix'd in one common mass, are swept away,
To glut the short-lived tyrant of the day;-
By laws, religion, morals, all o'erthrown :—
Rouse, then, ye sovereign people, claim your own:
The license that enthrals, the truth that blinds,
The wealth that starves you, and the power that grinds!
SO JUSTICE bids.-'Twas her enlighten'd doom,
Louis, thy holy head devoted to the tomb!
'Twas JUSTICE claim'd, in that accurséd hour,
The fatal forfeit of too lenient power.

Mourn for the Man we may ;-but for the King,—
Freedom, oh! Freedom's such a charming thing!

"Much may be said on both sides."-Hark! I hear
A well-known voice that murmurs in my ear,—
The voice of CANDOUR.-Hail! most solemn sage,
Thou drivelling virtue of this moral age,
CANDOUR, which softens party's headlong rage.
CANDOUR,-which spares its foes;-nor e'er descends
With bigot zeal to combat for its friends.

190

a province of France, and the French have acquired a property in all the injuries and defeats which the people of that country may have sustained, together with a title to revenge and retaliation to be exercised in the present or any future centuries, as may be found most glorious and convenient.

CANDOUR, which loves in see-saw strain to tell
Of acting foolishly, but meaning well;

Too nice to praise by wholesale, or to blame,
Convinced that all men's motives are the same;
And finds, with keen discriminating sight,
BLACK's not so black ;-nor WHITE so very white.

"Fox, to be sure, was vehement and wrong:
But then, PITT's words, you'll own, were rather strong.
Both must be blamed, both pardon'd; 'twas just so
With Fox and PITT full forty years ago!

SO WALPOLE, PULTENEY ;-factions in all times
Have had their follies, ministers their crimes."

Give me th' avow'd, th' erect, the manly foe,
Bold I can meet-perhaps may turn his blow;
But of all plagues, good Heav'n, thy wrath can send,
Save, save, oh! save me from the Candid Friend!

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210

"BARRAS loves plunder, MERLIN takes a bribe,What then!-shall CANDOUR these good] men pro-` scribe ?

No! ere we join the loud-accusing throng,

Prove, not the facts, but, that they thought them wrong.

"Why hang O'QUIGLEY?-he, misguided man, In sober thought his country's weal might plan: And, while his deep-wrought Treason sapp'd the throne, Might act from taste in morals, all his own."

Peace to such Reasoners! let them have their Shut their dull eyes against the blaze of day; PRIESTLEY'S a Saint, and STONE a Patriot still; And LA FAYETTE a Hero, if they will.

way;

220

I love the bold uncompromising mind,
Whose principles are fix'd, whose views defined;

Who scouts and scorns, in canting CANDOUR'S spite,
All taste in morals, innate sense of right,

And Nature's impulse, all uncheck'd by art,
And feelings fine, that float about the heart :
Content, for good men's guidance, bad men's awe,
On moral truth to rest, and Gospel law.
Who owns, when Traitors feel th' avenging rod,
Just retribution, and the hand of God;
Who hears the groans through Olmütz' roofs that ring,
Of him who mock'd, misled, betray'd his King-
Hears unappall'd, though Faction's zealots preach,
Unmov'd, unsoften'd by FITZPATRICK'S Speech.*

That Speech on which the melting Commons hung, "While truths divine came mended from his tongue";

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*The speech of GENERAL FITZPATRICK, on his motion for an Address of the House of Commons to the Emperor of Germany, to demand the deliverance of M. LA FAYETTE from the prison of Olmütz, was one of the most dainty pieces of oratory that ever drew tears from a crowded gallery, and the clerks at the table. It was really quite moving to hear the General talk of religion, conjugal fidelity, and "such branches of learning". There were a few who laughed indeed, but that was thought hard-hearted, and immoral, and irreligious, and God knows what. Crying was the order of the day. Why will not the OPPOSITION try these topics again? LA FAYETTE indeed (the more's the pity) is out. But why not a motion for a general gaol-delivery of all state prisoners throughout Europe? [This was FITZPATRICK's master-speech, and extorted the applauses of PITT himself, who nevertheless resisted its arguments. BURKE said that LA FAYETTE, "instead of being termed an 'illustrious exile,' ought always to be considered, as he now was, an outcast of society; who, having no talents to guide or influence the storm which he had laboured to raise, fled like a dastard from the bloodshed and massacre in which he had involved so many thousands of unoffending persons and families ".-ED.]

How loving husband clings to duteous wife,-
How pure Religion soothes the ills of life,-
How Popish ladies trust their pious fears

And naughty actions in their chaplains' ears.--
Half novel and half sermon, on it flow'd;
With pious zeal THE OPPOSITION glow'd;
And as o'er each the soft infection crept,

Sigh'd as he whin'd, and as he whimper'd, wept ;-
E'en CURWEN* dropt a sentimental tear,
And stout ST. ANDREW yelp'd a softer "Hear!"'

240

Oh! nurse of crimes and fashions! which in vain
Our colder servile spirits would attain,
How do we ape thee, France! but, blundering still,
Disgrace the pattern by our want of skill.
The borrow'd step our awkward gait reveals:

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(As clumsy COURTENAY + mars the verse he steals.)
How do we ape thee, France!-nor claim alone
Thy arts, thy tastes, thy morals, for our own,
But to thy WORTHIES render homage due,
Their t "hair-breadth scapes" with anxious interest

view;

"Now all the while did not this stony-hearted CUR shed one tear."- Merchant of Venice. [JOHN CURWEN-member for the city of Carlisle, from 1786 till 1812. He was a skilful agriculturist, and his operations may be said to have given a new character to the business of farming. He died in 1828, aged 78.- ED.]

+ See page 72, in the note, for a theft more shameless, and an application of the thing stolen more stupid, than any of those recorded of Irish story-tellers by Joe Miller.

See Récit de mes Périls, by LOUVET; Mémoires d'un Détenu, by RIOUFFE, &c. The avidity with which these productions