lousy of superior wealth and power. It is a burning thirst for place. It has its birth and breath and being in the worst elements of the human heart. It is suggested and fed by the meanest and wildest passions of our nature. The Radical is a malcontent from first to last, and systematically opposes every measure of Government, good or bad. "The hope to please him, vain on every plan, Himself should work that wonder, if he can !" The man who is discontented with himself, with his fellow-creatures and with his God, is sure to turn a Radical; as bad poets turn into bitter critics, and bad wine into vinegar. All deists, atheists and misanthropists are by nature, Radicals. Observe that portion of the Press which professes to be the organ of the Radical party-it is decidedly infidel and churlish. The Radical writers are never so well pleased as when they have an opportunity of attacking the clergy, or of 46 Sapping a solemn creed with solemn sneer." Bishops and Kings are their greatest horror. If Tories think the highest religious or political Potentates can do no wrong, the Radicals go to the opposite extreme and maintain that they can do no right. They pretend to think that it is only people who are out of place and without power who can possess any real virtue. To be a Minister of State is to want a human heart. Thus Lord Castlereagh, if we were to believe the Radicals, had nothing in common with the rest of mankind. He was the personification of vice. "A monster of such hideous mien As to be hated need but to be seen." Carlisle and Cobbett and Orator Hunt and Thelwall are the Gods of the Radicals. They have an instinctive hatred of every thing respectable and gentleman-like. A greasy head is with them synonymous with an honest heart, and nothing shocks them so much as a certain Tory nobleman's ambrosial curls. A clean and well dressed wig is the severest charge which they can bring against him. They prefer Vauxhall and Wapping to Almack's and St. James's. They find something fresh, racy and natural in the smell of filthy aprons and the aspect of fat citizens, but they faint with disgust at Mr. Rowland's "oderiferous attempts to please." They have a fancy for unwashed faces and iron forks. This is why they are so inveterate against Mr. Croker, who has insisted on the propriety of an elegant table and a decent mode of discussing our meals. A Radical is essentially vulgar. He is an animal rarely admitted into well-carpeted drawing-rooms or glittering saloons. When by an odd chance he gains admittance into refined circles, he is known by his ungainly and clownish air, and his anti-social manners. He is uncomfortable and out of his element, and longs for an opportunity to vent his spleen within the range of kindred ears. The only way to conquer a Radical is to bribe him largely, and then you change his nature, or rather you allow him to display it in its original colours. Mr. Southey was a Radical until he got his Laureate wreath, his pension and his butt of malmsey. There is no instance on record of a Radical who kept on his mask after arriving at the summit of power. Those of the present Ministry who were once esteemed hot Radicals are now cool Whigs. They are very well satisfied with things as they are. They now say, "let well alone." It is only the disappointed place-hunters who keep up the cry of Annual Parliaments and Universal Suffrage. The Radicals have a vast advantage over the Tories in the greater plausbility of their cause and the sympathy of the great mass of mankind. If a man tells the mob that they are entitled to share the wealth and power of their rulers, it does not require much logic to convince them that he is right. By artful appeals to the passions and prejudices of the populace, who are always ready to suppose their superiors in the wrong, a demagogue of the lowest order may make the very stones of Rome to rise and His object is not to suggest better plans of government, abstractedly so considered, but to effect any change by which he bemeft himself and open a way to his own ambition. When unable from adverse circumstances to gain an individual triumph, it is some satisfaction to him, to embarrass and foil his superiors. Very few Radicals really fancy that their wild theories of government could be practically beneficial to mankind; but having acthing to lose, they feel that it is as well to avail themselves, by whatever means, of a chance of gain. In the inevitable confusion and uproar of such a revolution as they contend for, they calculate upon acquiring that ascendancy which is denied them in a regular form of government. They think with Satan-that it is Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." VOL. II. THE SEPARATION. I. I ne'er shall know one moment's mirth When thou art from my side, I then shall view the cheerless earth My soul may feel full many a care No joy can smile for me! II. Ah, sweet one, e'en when thou wert nigh And fate had less of fear, Thy radiant features in mine eye, Thy light laugh in mine ear; 'Tis strange how fitfully a crowd Of thoughts have crossed my brain, That made thy fairy form, a cloud, Thy voice, a sound of pain. III. The dreary darkness of despair My wayward bosom now! IV. Amid the gay deceitful throug Whose smiles insult the sad, I soon shall know each bitter wrong Oh! 'tis a fearful thing to feel And yet this wild and weary state To mix with those I scorn and hate, To dream that thou while distant far May'st smile on fashion's train, Who'll watch thee as men watch the star That lights them o'er the main. VI. Though reason bids me trust thy truth, Will tremble for thy guileless youth |