Reviews record this epidemic crime, Then leave, ye wise, the lyre's precarious chords The cobbler-laureats (1) sing to Capel Lofft! (2) There lives one druid, who prepares in time 'Gainst future feuds his poor revenge of rhyme; Racks his dull memory, and his duller muse, To publish faults which friendship should excuse: If friendship's nothing, self-regard might teach More polish'd usage of his parts of speech. (1) I beg Nathaniel's pardon: he is not a cobbler; it is a tailor, but begged Capel Lofft to sink the profession in his preface to two pair of panta-psha-of cantos, which he wished the public to try on; but the sieve of a patron let it out, and so far saved the expense of an advertisement to his country customers. Merry's "Moorfields whine" was nothing to all this. The "Della Cruscans" were people of some education, and no profession; but these Arcadians (Arcades ambo"-bumpkins both) send out their native nonsense without the smallest alloy, and leave all the shoes and smallclothes in the parish unrepaired, to patch up Elegies on Enclosures and Pæans to Gunpowder. Sitting on a shopboard, they describe fields of battle, when the only blood they ever saw was shed from the finger; and an "Essay on War" is produced by the ninth part of a “poet." "And own that nine such poets made a Tate." Pratt too Did Nathan ever read that line of Pope? and, if he did, why not take it as his motto?-[Sce antè, p. 61, note 8.-P. E.] (2) This well-meaning gentleman has spoiled some excellent shoemakers, and been accessary to the poetical undoing of many of the industrious poor. Nathaniel Bloomfield and his brother Bobby have set all Somersetshire singing; nor has the malady confined itself to one county. (who once was wiser) has caught the contagion of patronage, and decoyed a poor fellow named Blackett into poetry; but he died during the operation, leaving one child and two volumes of Remains utterly destitute. The girl, if she don't take a poetical twist, and come forth as a shoemaking Sappho, may do well: but the " tragedies" are as rickety as if they had been the offspring of an Earl or a Seatonian prize poet. The patrons of this poor lad are certainly answerable for his end; and it ought to be an indictable offence. But this is the least they have done; for, by a refinement of barbarity, they have made the (late) man posthumously ridiculous, by printing what he would have had sense enough never to print himself. Certes these rakers of Remains come under the statute against "resurrection men." What does it signify whether a poor dear dead dunce is to be stuck up in Surgeons' or in Stationers' Hal!? Is it so bad to unearth his bones as his blunders? Is it not better to gibbet his body on a heath, than his soul in an octavo? "We know what we are, but we know not what we may be ;" and it is to be hoped we never shall know, if a man who has passed through life with a sort of éclat, is to find himself a mountebank on the other side of Styx, and be made, like poor Joe Blackett, the laughing-stock of Purgatory. The plea of publication is to provide for the child; now, might not some of this "Sutor ultra crepidam's" friends and seducers have done a decent action without inveigling Pratt into biography? And then his inscription, split into so many modicums!-"To the Duchess of So-much, the Right Hon. So-and-So, and Mrs. and Miss Somebody, these volumes are, etc. etc."--why, this is doling out the "soft milk of dedication" in gills,-there is but a quart, and he divides it among a dozen. Why, Pratt, hadst But what is shame, or what is aught to him? Perhaps at some pert speech you've dared to frown, If thou not a puff left? Dost thou think six families of distinction can share this in quiet? There is a child, a book, and a dedication: send the girl to her grace, the volumes to the grocer, and the dedication to the devil.-[See antè, p. 61.-P. E.] (3) In the original MS.- "Some rhyming peer-Carlisle or Carysfort." To which is subjoined this note:-"Of John Joshua, Earl of Carysfort' I know nothing at present, but from an advertisement in an old newspaper of certain Poems and Tragedies by his Lordship, which I saw by accident in the Morea. Being a rhymer himself, he will forgive the liberty I take with his name, seeing, as he must, how very commodious it is at the close of that couplet; and as for what follows and goes before, let him place it to the account of the other Thane; since I cannot, under these circumstances, augur pro or con the contents of his foolscap crown octavos.'"-[John Joshua Proby, first Earl of Carysfort, was joint postmaster-general in 1805, envoy to Berlin in! 1806, and ambassador to Petersburgh in 1807. Besides his poems, he published two pamphlets, to show the necessity of universal suffrage and short parliaments. He died in 1828.-L. E.] (4) Here will Mr. Gifford allow me to introduce once more to his notice the sole survivor, the "ultimus Romanorum," the last of the Cruscanti-"Edwin" the "profound," by our Lady of Punishment! here he is, as lively as in the days of "well said Baviad the Correct." I thought Fitzgerald had been the tail of poesy; but, alas! he is only the penultimate. A FAMILIAR EPISTLE TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING What reams of paper, floods of ink," Who novels read, and oft maintain'd ON SOME MODERN QUACKS AND REFORMISTS. Through all its various courses, Condemn the unlucky curate to recite Then spouts and foams, and cries at every line, He strides and stamps along with creaking boot, Ye, who aspire to "build the lofty rhyme,” (1) Believe not all who laud your false "sublime;" But if some friend shall hear your work, and say, "Expunge that stanza, lop that line away,” And, after fruitless efforts, you return Without amendment, and he answers, “Burn!" That instant throw your paper in the fire, Ask not his thoughts, or follow his desire; But (if true bard!) you scorn to condescend, And will not alter what you can't defend, If you will breed this bastard of your brains, (2)— We'll have no words-I've only lost my pains. Yet, if you only prize your favourite thought, As critics kindly do, and authors ought; If your cool friend annoy you now and then, And cross whole pages with his plaguy pen; Si carmina condes, Nunquam te fallant animi sub vulpe latentes. Si defendere delictum, quam vertere, malles, Vir bonus et prudens versus reprehendet inertes, And men through life assume a part Nor mean I here the stage alone, Where some deserve the applause they meet; Reform's the order of the day, I hear, And others leave to their full bent, I fear you will but little do, And find your time and pains misspent. Let each man to his post assign'd By Nature, take his part to act, And then few causes shall we find To call each man we meet-a quack." ⚫ For such every man is who either appears to be what he is not, or strives to be what he cannot No matter, throw your ornaments aside,-- Such erring trifles lead to serious ills, As the Scotch fiddle, with its touching tune, Budgell, a rogue and rhymester, for no good, (Unless his case be much misunderstood) When teased with creditors' continual claims, "To die like Cato," (6) leapt into the Thames! And therefore be it lawful through the town For any bard to poison, hang, or drown.(7) Arguet ambiguè dictum: mutanda notabit; Ut mala quem scabies, aut morbus regius urget, (1) See Milton's Lycidas.-L. E. (2) "Bastard of your brains."- Minerva being the first by Jupiter's head-piece, and a variety of equally unaccountable parturitions upon earth, such as Madoc, etc. etc. etc. "A crust for the critics."-Bayes, in the Rehearsal. And the "waiters" are the only fortunate people who can "fly" from them; all the rest, viz. the sad subscribers to the "Literary Fund," being compelled, by cour tesy, to sit out the recitation without a hope of exclaiming, "Sic" (that is, by choking Fitz. with bad wine, or worse poetry) "me servavit Apollo!" (5) "Fitzscribble," originally "Fitzgerald." (See p. 49.)— L. E. (6) On his table were found these words: "What Cato did, and Addison approved, cannot be wrong." But Addison did not "approve ;" and if he had, it would not have mended the matter. He had invited his daughter on the same water-party; but Miss Budgell, by some accident, escaped this last paternal attention. Thus fell the sycophant of "Atticus," and the enemy of Pope-[Eustace Budgell, a friend and relative of Addison's, "leapt into the Thames" to escape a prosecution, on account of forging the will of Dr. Tindal; in which Eustace had provided himself with a legacy of two thousand pounds. To this Pope alludes:"Let Budgell charge low Grub-street on my quill, And write whate'er he please except my will."-L. E.] (7) "We talked (says Boswell) of a man's drowning him Who saves the intended suicide receives Small thanks from him who loathes the life he leaves; Nor is it certain that some sorts of verse Prick not the poet's conscience as a curse; Dosed (1) with vile drams on Sunday he was found, Or got a child on consecrated ground! Qui seis an prudens huc se projecerit, atque self.-JOHNSON. I should never think it time to make away with myself.' I put the case of Eustace Budgell, who was accused of forging a will, and sunk himself in the Thames, before the trial of its authenticity came on. Suppose, Sir,' said I, that a man is absolutely sure that, if he lives a few days longer, he shall be detected in a fraud, the consequence of which will be utter disgrace, and expulsion from society?'-JOHNSON. Then, Sir, let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is not known. Don't let him go to the devil, where he is known.'" See Croker's Boswell, vol. ii. pp. 229. 290.-L. E. (I) If "dosed with," etc. be censured as low, I beg leave to refer to the original for something still lower; and if any reader will translate "Minxerit in patrios cineres," etc. into a decent couplet, I will insert said couplet in lieu of the present. SLOW sinks, more lovely ere his race be run, (2) O'er the hush'd deep the yellow beam he throws, (1) This fierce philippic on Lord Elgin, whose collection of Athenian marbles was ultimately purchased for the nation, in 1816, at the cost of thirty-five thousand pounds, was written at Athens, in March, 1811, and prepared for publication along with the Hints from Horace; but, like that satire, suppressed by Lord Byron, from motives which the reader will easily understand. It was first given to the world in 1828. Few can wonder that Lord Byron's feelings should have been powerfully excited by the spectacle of the despoiled Parthenon; but it is only due to Lord Elgin to keep in mind, that, had those precious marbles remained, they must, in all likelihood, have perished for ever amidst the miserable scenes of violence which Athens has since I witnessed; and that their presence in England has already, by universal admission, been of the most essential advantage to the fine arts of our own country. The political On such an eve his palest beam he cast And dark the mountain's once delightful dyes; But, lo! from high Hymettus to the plain The queen of night asserts her silent reign; (4) No murky vapour, herald of the storm, Hides her fair face, or girds her glowing form. allusions in this poem are not such as require much explanation. It contains many lines which, it is hoped, the author, on mature reflection, disapproved of- but is too vigorous a specimen of his iambics to be omitted in any collective edition of his works.-L. E. (2) The splendid lines with which this satire opens, down to "As thus, within the walls of Pallas' fane," first appeared at the commencement of the third canto of the Corsair, the author having, at that time, abandoned all notion of publishing the piece of which they originally made part.-L. E. (3) Socrates drank the hemlock a short time before sunset (the hour of execution), notwithstanding the entreaties of his disciples to wait till the sun went down. (4) The twilight in Greece is much shorter than in our own country; the days in winter are longer, but in summer of less duration. With cornice glimmering as the moonbeams play, And dull were his that pass'd them heedless by.(3) Again the Egean, heard no more afar, Lulls his chafed breast from elemental war; Again his waves in milder tints unfold Their long expanse of sapphire and of gold, Mix'd with the shades of many a distant isle, That frown, where gentler ocean deigns to smile. As thus, within the walls of Pallas' fane, I mark'd the beauties of the land and main, Alone, and friendless, on the magic shore, Whose arts and arms but live in poets' lore; Oft as the matchless dome I turn'd to scan, Sacred to gods, but not secure from man, The past return'd, the present seem'd to cease, And Glory knew no clime beyond her Greece! Hours roll'd along, and Dian's orb on high Had gain'd the centre of her softest sky; And yet unwearied still my footsteps trod O'er the vain shrine of many a vanish'd god: But chiefly, Pallas! thine; when Hecate's glare, Check'd by thy columns, fell more sadly fair O'er the chill marble, where the startling tread Thrills the lone heart like echoes from the dead.^ (I) The kiosk is a Turkish summer-house. Cephisus' stream is indeed scanty, and Ilissus has no stream at all. (2) This palm is without the present walls of Athens, not far from the Temple of Theseus, between which and the tree the wall intervenes. Upon the death of Lord Byron it was proposed by Colonel Stanhope that he should be buried at Athens, in the Temple of Theseus; and the Chief, Odysseus, sent an express to Missolonghi to enforce this wish. The design, however, was subsequently abandoned, and the Noble Poet's remains were removed to his country.-P. E. (3) "During our residence of ten weeks at Athens, there was not, I believe, a day of which we did not devote a part to the contemplation of the noble monuments of Grecian genius, that have outlived the ravages of time, and the outrage of barbarous and antiquarian despoilers. The Temple of Theseus, which was within five minutes' walk of our lodgings, is the most perfect ancient edifice in the world. In this fabric, the most enduring stability, and a simplicity of design peculiarly striking, are united with the highest elegance and accuracy of workmanship; the characteristic of the Doric style, whose chaste beauty is not, in the opinion of the first artists, to be equalled by the graces of any of the other orders. A gentleman of Athens, of great taste and skill, assured us that, after a continued contemplation of this temple, and the remains of the Parthenon, he could never again look with his accustomed satisfaction upon the Ionic and Corinthian ruins of Athens, much less upon the specimens of the more modern species of architecture to be seen in Italy." Hobhouse.-L. E. (4) "On the plaster wall, on the west side of the chapel, these words have been very deeply cut: QUOD NON FECERUNT GOTI, HOC FECERUNT SCOTI. The mortar wall, yet fresh when we saw it, supplying the place of the statue now in Lord Elgin's collection, serves Long had I mused, and treasured every trace Her helm was dinted, and the broken lance [shame แ Mortal!"-'t was thus she spake-" that blush of 'Scaped from the ravage of the Turk and Goth, (4) as a comment on this text. This eulogy of the Goths alludes to an unfounded story of a Greek historian, who relates that Alaric, either terrified by two phantoms, one of Minerva herself, the other of Achilles, terrible as when he strode towards the walls of Troy to his friends, or struck with a reverential respect, had spared the treasures, ornaments, and people of the venerable city." Hobhouse.-LE(5) In the original MS.— "Ah, Athens! scarce escaped from Turk and Goth, Hell sends a paltry Scotchman worse than both.”—L..E. (6) This is spoken of the city in general, and not of the Acropolis in particular. The temple of Jupiter Olympius, by some supposed the Pantheon, was finished by Hadrian; sixteen columns are standing, of the most beautiful marble and architecture. (7) It is stated by a late oriental traveller, that when the wholesale spoliator visited Athens, he caused his owE name, with that of his wife, to be inscribed on a pillar of one of the principal temples. This inscription was executed in a very conspicuous manner, and deeply engraved in the marble, at a very considerable elevation. Notwithstanding which precautions, some person (doubtless inspired by the Patron Goddess), has been at the pains to get himself raised up to the requisite height, and has obliterated the name of the laird, but left that of the lady untouched. The tra veller in question accompanied this story by a remark, that it must have cost some labour and contrivance to get at the place, and could only have been effected by much zeal and determination. [On the original MS. is written: "Aspice quos Pallas Scoto concedit honores, For Elgin's fame thus grateful Pallas pleads, She ceased awhile, and thus I dared reply, Ask'st thou the difference? From fair Phyle's towers And well I know within that bastard land (3) Till, burst at length, each watery head o'erflows, So may her few, the letter'd and the brave, (1) For Lord Byron's detailed remarks on Lord Elgin's dealing with the Parthenon, see note [A] to the second Canto of Childe Harold, antè, p. 96.—P. E. (2) His lordship's name, and that of one who no longer bears it, are carved conspicuously on the Parthenon; above, in a part not far distant, are the torn remnants of the basso relievos, destroyed in a vain attempt to remove them. (3) Irish bastards," according to Sir Callaghan O'Brallaghan. (4) In 1816, thirty-five thousand pounds were voted by Parliament for the purchase of the Elgin marbles.-L. E. (5) Mr. West, on seeing the "Elgin Collection" (I suppose we shall hear of the "Abershaw" and "Jack Shephard" collection next), declared himself "a mere tyro" in art. (6) Poor Crib was sadly puzzled when the marbles were first exhibited at Elgin House: he asked if it was not "a stone-shop?"-He was right; it is a shop. (7) "Alas! all the monuments of Roman magnificence, all the remains of Grecian taste, so dear to the artist, the historian, the antiquary, all depend on the will of an arbitrary sovereign; and that will is influenced too often by interest or vanity, by a nephew or a sycophant. Is a new palace to be erected (at Rome) for an upstart family? the Coliseum is stripped to furnish materials. Does a foreign Shake off the sordid dust of such a land, "Mortal!" the blue-eyed maid resumed, "once more Bear back my mandate to thy native shore. Though fallen, alas! this vengeance yet is mine, To turn my counsels far from lands like thine. Hear then in silence Pallas' stern behest; Hear and believe, for Time will tell the rest. "First on the head of him who did this deed To lounge and lucubrate, to prate and peep; And last of all, amidst the gaping crew, Some calm spectator, as he takes his view,(7) men!' minister wish to adorn the bleak walls of a northern castle with antiques? the temples of Theseus or Minerva must be dismantled, and the works of Phidias or Praxiteles be torn from the shattered frieze. That a decrepit uncle, wrapped up in the religions duties of his age and station, should listen to the suggestions of an interested nephew, is natural; and that an oriental despot should undervalue the masterpieces of Grecian art, is to be expected-though in both cases the consequences of such weakness are much to be lamented; but that the minister of a nation, famed for its knowledge of the language, and its veneration for the monuments of ancient Greece, should have been the prompter and the instrument of these destructions, is almost incredible. Such rapacity is a crime against all ages and all generations: it deprives the past of the trophies of their genius and the title-deeds of their fame; the present, of the strongest inducements to exertion, the noblest exhibitions that curiosity can contemplate; the future, of the masterpieces of art, the models of imitation. To guard against the repetition of such depredations is the wish of every man of genius, the duty of every man in power, and the common interest of every civilized nation."-Eustace's Classical Tour through Italy. "This attempt to transplant the temple of Vesta from |