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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #67888 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67888)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Anticipation, by Richard Tickell
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: Anticipation
-
-Author: Richard Tickell
-
-Editor: Lyman H. Butterfield
-
-Release Date: April 20, 2022 [eBook #67888]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
- https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images
- made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANTICIPATION ***
-
-
-
-
-
-
-ANTICIPATION
-
-
-
-
- ANTICIPATION
-
- BY
- RICHARD TICKELL
-
- Reprinted from the
- First Edition, London, 1778
- With an
- Introduction, Notes & a Bibliography
- of Tickell’s Writings
-
- BY
- L. H. BUTTERFIELD
-
- _NEW YORK_
- King’s Crown Press, Morningside Heights
- 1942
-
- _Introduction, Notes, and Bibliography copyright 1942 by_
- L. H. BUTTERFIELD
-
- PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
-
- KZ-19-VB-500
-
- _King’s Crown Press is a division of Columbia University
- Press organized for the purpose of making certain scholarly
- material available at minimum cost. Toward that end, the
- publishers have adopted every reasonable economy except
- such as would interfere with a legible format. The work is
- presented substantially as submitted by the author, without
- the usual editorial attention of Columbia University Press._
-
-
-
-
-_To C. J. F. B._
-
-
-
-
-FOREWORD
-
-
-Some years ago a literary investigator came into my office and inquired
-whether he could find a copy of Richard Tickell’s _Anticipation_ in
-our library. He was thinking of sending to the British Museum for a
-photostatic copy, in case we could not supply his need. We were able to
-reply that we had sixteen editions of this book—ten of them printed in
-the year 1778 alone. Now publishers do not re-issue a book unless someone
-is reading it. The number of reprints induced me to read the book, and I
-found it one of the best of eighteenth-century satires on the ponderous
-serio-comic addresses delivered in what is still pleased to call itself
-the M-th-r of P-rl—m-nts. Though Mr. Butterfield has restrained himself
-in the matter of drawing parallels between the bumbling follies of that
-legislative conclave, then and now, yet the writer of a foreword may be
-permitted to do so.
-
-In the summer of 1941, I received in the mail a pamphlet, in an envelope
-which bore a Chinese postage stamp and the postmark of Shanghai. The
-pamphlet was one of the familiar blue-covered fascicles which we all
-recognize as the format of the _Parliamentary Debates_. This particular
-fascicle purported to contain the debate for August 15, 1941, and was
-typographically exact, even to the reproduction of the arms of H-s
-Br-t-nn-c M-j-sty on the cover. An examination revealed it to be the
-twentieth-century parallel of Tickell’s _Anticipation_—a satiric report
-of the debates in the H—s- of C-mm-ns as of 1941. It was obvious German
-propaganda, but so well done typographically that I found some of my
-learned colleagues had read a part of it before it dawned on them that
-the whole thing was analogous to Tickell’s _Anticipation_. But let no
-American be complacent about the failure of the H—s- of C-mm-ns to
-progress during the intervening one hundred and sixty-three years. Let
-him dip into our own _C-ngr-ss—n-l R-c-rd_.
-
-Mr. Butterfield and the publisher could have chosen no more appropriate
-time than the present at which to issue the twentieth-century edition
-of this book. It ought to be read by all students of American
-history—elementary and advanced.
-
- RANDOLPH G. ADAMS
-
- The W. L. Clements Library
- Ann Arbor
-
-
-
-
-EDITOR’S FOREWORD
-
-
-This is the first reprint since 1822 of a politico-literary satire that
-delighted a generation of readers during and after the American War of
-Independence. It has seemed to the editor, and to others who encouraged
-the project, that the neglect of _Anticipation_ has been due less to its
-want of interest than to the want of a properly edited reprint. The mere
-presence in it of so many names with deleted letters has discouraged
-later readers.[1] The present volume provides an account of the author
-and of the setting and reception of _Anticipation_, an accurate text,
-explanatory notes, and a bibliography of Tickell’s writings.
-
-_Anticipation_ was written and printed hastily; and the spelling
-(especially of proper names), the punctuation, and sometimes even the
-grammar are erratic. But since it has proved impossible to distinguish
-the carelessness of the printer from that of the author, I have followed
-the first issue literally except when corrections were available in the
-following later ones: “The Third Edition, Corrected,” which appeared
-within a week of first publication; “The Tenth Edition, Corrected,” 1780,
-which was the last published during Tickell’s life; and “A New Edition,
-Corrected,” 1794, a re-issue occasioned, probably, by Tickell’s death and
-set from new type. Two or three flagrant errors (e.g., the name “Bonille”
-for “Bouillé” at p. 59) and a few typographical absurdities (such as
-quotation marks without mates) recur in all the London issues. These I
-have corrected without warrant from any text.
-
-It should be stated that in the Introduction I have usually not cited
-sources for dates and other biographical details when the sources are
-correctly given in W. Fraser Rae’s article on Tickell in _The Dictionary
-of National Biography_. Unless otherwise indicated, the place of
-publication of all works cited is London.
-
-A great many friends have contributed to the making of this book, and
-almost as many librarians in the United States and England have aided my
-researches for it. Some special debts I wish to record here. Randolph G.
-Adams, Director of the William L. Clements Library at Ann Arbor, Julian
-P. Boyd, Librarian of Princeton University, and Professor George Sherburn
-of Harvard have read my manuscript and given me helpful advice. W. S.
-Lewis, Esq., of Farmington, Connecticut, kindly allowed me to quote
-from notes written by Horace Walpole in a copy of _Anticipation_ now in
-Mr. Lewis’ collection of Walpoliana; Richard Eustace Tickell, Esq., of
-London, sent me useful material from the Tickell family papers; Mrs.
-Flora V. Livingston and Mr. William Van Lennep, curators, respectively,
-of the Widener Collection and the Theatre Collection in the Harvard
-College Library, allowed me to quote from manuscript letters in their
-charge; the New York Public Library gave me permission to reproduce the
-title-page that precedes the text. For aid in preparing the Bibliography
-of Tickell’s Writings I am most indebted to Mr. John D. Gordan of the New
-York Public Library, who read and ably criticized it; to Miss Anne S.
-Pratt of the Yale University Library, and Mr. Frederick R. Goff of the
-Library of Congress, who answered numerous bibliographical inquiries;
-to the Union Catalog in the Library of Congress and its staff; and to
-the admirable _Bibliotheca Americana_, begun by Joseph Sabin, continued
-by Wilberforce Eames, and then completed by R. W. G. Vail, New York,
-1868-1937. The services of Herbert B. Anstaett, Librarian of Franklin and
-Marshall College, have been so various, constant, and indispensable that
-they deserve my most sincere thanks. No thanks, however, can be adequate
-for the devoted work and interest bestowed on the preparation of this
-book, from beginning to end, by my wife.
-
- * * * * *
-
-I am grateful also to the following publishers for permission to quote
-from the books named: The Clarendon Press, Oxford, for _Boswell’s Life of
-Johnson_ edited by George Birkbeck Hill, revised and enlarged edition
-by L. F. Powell; _The Letters of Horace Walpole_ edited by Mrs. Paget
-Toynbee; and _Satirical Poems Published Anonymously by William Mason with
-Notes by Horace Walpole_ edited by Paget Toynbee. Constable and Company,
-Ltd., for _Sheridan: From New and Original Material_ by Walter Sichel.
-Henry Holt and Company for _Sheridan: A Biography_ by W. Fraser Rae. The
-Huntington Library for _The American Journal of Ambrose Serle, Secretary
-to Lord Howe 1776-1778_, edited by Edward H. Tatum, Jr. Hutchinson and
-Company, Ltd., for _The Farington Diary_ by Joseph Farington, R.A.,
-edited by James Greig. John Lane, the Bodley Head, Ltd., for _The Last
-Journals of Horace Walpole during the Reign of George III from 1771-1783_
-edited by A. Francis Steuart. The Macmillan Company for _The Writings of
-Benjamin Franklin_ edited by Albert Henry Smyth. John Murray for _Private
-Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794)_ edited by Rowland E. Prothero.
-Martin Secker and Warburg, Ltd., for _The Linleys of Bath_ by Clementina
-Black. The Viking Press, Inc., for _The Private Papers of James Boswell
-from Malahide Castle_ as originally published in a limited edition by
-William Rudge and to be published in an unlimited edition by The Viking
-Press, Inc., under the editorship of Professor Frederick A. Pottle.
-
- L. H. B.
-
- Lancaster, Pennsylvania
- March 1941
-
-[1] In the present text deleted letters are supplied within square
-brackets. Originally the use of blanks and asterisks in names of persons
-was a means of avoiding libel actions. One should never print a man’s
-name out at length, said Swift in _The Importance of the Guardian
-Considered_, 1713; “but, as I do, that of Mr. St—le: so that, although
-everybody alive knows whom I mean, the plaintiff can have no redress
-in any court of justice.” This was such an easy way to add piquancy to
-defamation that it became conventional in satire. In 1778 the reviewer of
-an anti-ministerial poem called _The Conquerors_ observed that the work
-seemed “designed for the perusal of astronomers; there are more _stars_
-in it than the galaxy contains” (_The Critical Review_, XLV, 150).
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
- PAGE
-
- FOREWORD _by Randolph G. Adams_ vii
-
- EDITOR’S FOREWORD ix
-
- INTRODUCTION 3
-
- NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION 17
-
- ANTICIPATION 21
-
- NOTES 67
-
- BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TICKELL’S WRITINGS 85
-
-
-
-
- He was the happiest of any occasional writer in his day: happy
- alike in the subject and in the execution of it.—I mention
- with pleasure _Anticipation_, the _Wreath of Fashion_, &c. &c.
- &c. and I wish to preserve the name and remembrance of such
- a man as Mr. Tickell. Poets and ingenious men, who write on
- occasional subjects with great ability, are too often lost
- in the most undeserved oblivion. But we must recollect, that
- even such a poem as “The Absalom and Achitophel” of Dryden
- himself (perhaps his greatest production) was but _occasional_,
- and written _for a party_.⸺_The Pursuits of Literature_, 5th
- edition, 1798
-
-
-
-
-INTRODUCTION
-
-
-_1_
-
-Early in 1778 a new satirical poet caused a flutter in the polite circles
-of London. Within a few weeks of one another two poems, _The Project_
-and _The Wreath of Fashion_, were issued by Becket, the bookseller of
-the Adelphi in the Strand. Though anonymous, their author was soon known
-to be a young barrister named Richard Tickell. _The Project_ treats of
-a scheme overlooked by the Academy of Projectors which Captain Gulliver
-visited in the course of his third voyage. In deft octosyllabics the
-satirist proposes applying Montesquieu’s discovery of the effect of
-climate on character to the problem of the parliamentary Opposition:
-
- Suppose the Turks, who now agree
- It wou’d _fatigue_ them to be free,
- Should build an ice-house, to debate
- More _cooly_ on affairs of state,
- Might not some Mussulmen be brought,
- To brace their minds, nor shrink at thought?
-
-Surely the philosophers are right who have reasoned that England’s
-northern air is accountable for Englishmen’s love of liberty, and many
-a question has been lost by Administration from Parliament’s meeting in
-cold weather. An obvious solution would be to alter the season of meeting:
-
- But ah, what honest squire would stay
- To make his _speech_, instead of _hay_?
- The _Beaux_ would scarcely think of law,
- To give up _Scarborough_ or _Spa’_:
- And say ye _sportsmen_, wou’d a member
- Attend _St. Stephen’s_ in September?
-
-The poet’s more feasible plan is a better mode of heating the Parliament
-buildings. He suggests that in each House, replacing the table where
-votes, journals, and mace are laid, a vast “_Buzaglo_”[1] be set up; that
-is, an open fire of intense heat, over which a Fire Committee should
-preside with a fuel supply of seditious tracts—_Junius_, _Common Sense_,
-and the works of Tucker and Price. Such a device will mollify the most
-inveterate foes of Administration:
-
- From bench to bench, in spite of gout,
- The soften’d _Chatham_ moves about:
- “My good _Lord Sandwich_, how d’ye do?
- I like the speech; ’twas penn’d by you.
- America has gone too far;
- We must support so just a war.”
-
-The reviewers were delighted with the poem, so distinguished by its good
-nature and wit amid the current tide of party polemics. The connoisseur
-in Horace Walpole was stronger than his Whiggism, and he found _The
-Project_ excellent.[2] Dr. Johnson, who disapproved of flippancy in
-politics, dissented. At a dinner party at Sir Joshua Reynolds’ on the
-25th of April, Dr. Samuel Musgrave, the learned editor of Euripides, read
-the new poem. Johnson was not amused. “A temporary poem always entertains
-us,” urged Musgrave. “So,” replied Johnson, “does an account of the
-criminals hanged yesterday entertain us.”[3]
-
-Rather ungratefully, Tickell followed up his reception as a poet in the
-circles of _ton_ with a satire on one of society’s most conspicuous
-foibles. _The Wreath of Fashion, or, the Art of Sentimental Poetry_,
-said _The Critical Review_ in its notice, “is levelled at the same vice
-in the poetical world, at which the School for Scandal was aimed in
-the theatrical and moral worlds,—at the present fashionable strain of
-sentimental whining.”[4] It was an age of rhyming peers. Tickell declared
-in the preface that he was prompted to write his satire by reading a
-recent volume by a noble author (whom he did not name but who was the
-Earl of Carlisle, Byron’s “Lord, rhymester, petit-maître, pamphleteer”)
-containing one ode on the death of Mr. Gray and two on the death of his
-lordship’s spaniel. In _The Wreath of Fashion_ Tickell deplored, with
-Sheridan, the vogue of tearful comedies and gently rebuked the inanities
-of newspaper poets. His chief ridicule was reserved for the poetic salon
-of Mrs. “Calliope” Miller at Batheaston, where the quality from Bath
-wrote _bouts-rimés_ about buttered muffins and the like, dropped them
-into a classic vase, and applauded the winners crowned by Mrs. Miller
-with wreaths of myrtle.[5] Over these rites of poetic sensibility,
-said the satirist, the goddess Fashion presides, and thus she must be
-supplicated:
-
- On a spruce pedestal of _Wedgwood ware_,
- Where motley forms, and tawdry emblems glare,
- Behold she consecrates to cold applause,
- A Petrefaction, work’d into a _Vase_:
- The Vase of Sentiment!—to this impart
- Thy kindred coldness, and congenial art....
- With votive song, and tributary verse,
- Fashion’s gay train her gentle rites rehearse.
- What soft poetic incense breathes around!
- What soothing hymns from Adulation sound!
-
-_The Wreath of Fashion_ went through a half-dozen editions. David Garrick
-wrote a puff for it in _The Monthly Review_ in which he ventured to
-prophesy that “elegant poetry, refined satire, and exquisite irony” would
-be revived by the new author;[6] and Samuel Rogers, belated Augustan that
-he was, always remembered _The Wreath_ as an early favorite.[7]
-
-
-_2_
-
-Who was the new poet? The turn of his couplets and the delicate barbs of
-his satire suggested a poetic school then growing outmoded. There were
-those who, when they learned his name, remembered his grandfather, Thomas
-Tickell, a poet of Queen Anne’s day and the particular friend of Mr.
-Addison. Thomas Tickell (1685-1740) served as Addison’s Under-Secretary
-of State and retained his post under Craggs and Carteret. In 1724,
-when Carteret became Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Tickell was sent to
-Dublin as Secretary to the Lords Justices. There were cordial relations
-between Dublin Castle and the Deanery of St. Patrick’s, and a circle of
-friends that included Swift, the Delanys, Lord Orrery, and Dr. Sheridan
-maintained in Dublin an outpost of Augustan literary society. In this
-propitious atmosphere John Tickell, eldest son of Thomas and father of
-Richard, our poet, was born in 1729 and grew up to take his place among
-the Dublin _virtuosi_. But he had a volatile character and fell into
-a train of misadventures and difficulties. In 1748 he made a runaway
-marriage with Esther (or Hester) Pierson, and children to the number of
-six followed in rapid succession.[8] At length he became disastrously
-involved in Anglo-Irish politics while serving on the court side as a
-magistrate after the Dublin riots in December 1759.[9] His conduct on
-this occasion, though its precise nature is not clear, excited such
-indignation that he was obliged to leave Dublin. In 1765, according to
-information in the Tickell family papers, his mother purchased for him
-a civil appointment at Windsor Castle; but some years later, like other
-indigent Englishmen at that period, he went to live on the Continent and
-disappeared from sight.
-
-Richard, the second son of John Tickell, is usually said to have
-been born at Bath in 1751, but neither the place nor the date can be
-verified. He and his elder brother Thomas were briefly at Westminster
-School (from 19 June 1764); when their father went to Windsor Castle,
-they were transferred to Eton (29 May 1765); three years later Richard
-proceeded to the Middle Temple (8 November 1768).[10] Having in due time
-been called to the bar, he was, about the beginning of 1777, appointed
-by Lord Chancellor Bathurst a commissioner of bankrupts. However, as a
-contemporary biographer remarked, law was not to Tickell’s taste; “his
-disposition was too volatile and desultory for that study.”[11] In April
-or May 1778 he was removed from his post. Doubtless his courtship of the
-muses had been at the expense of the law, for his fellow-commissioners
-had complained of his absences. Tickell turned in his distress to his
-most influential friend, David Garrick, who at once interceded for him
-with the Lord Chancellor, by way of Lady Bathurst.[12] Garrick obtained
-from Bathurst a promise of reinstatement, but in June Bathurst was
-succeeded by Edward Thurlow, and Garrick had to begin all over again.
-His further attempts met with no success. “I am sorry we were both so
-unsuccessful in our Schems with the present Chancellor,” Garrick was
-informed by Lady Bathurst on the 25th of July; “I do assure you I did my
-part for Mʳ Tickle but I find he has enemies who flung cold water on my
-solicitations.”[13] The news plunged Tickell into despair.
-
-But Fortune is capricious, and at this moment Tickell made the
-acquaintance of one who was even closer than Garrick to the springs of
-patronage. This was William Brummell, whose only claim to remembrance
-today is the fact that he had a very famous son, but who appears in
-late eighteenth-century memoirs as an able backstairs politician and
-private secretary to Lord North. Brummell, we are informed by the
-_Biographia Dramatica_, “conceived a strong friendship for our author,
-and patronised him with a generosity and warmth that did him honour.”[14]
-With the approval and perhaps at the instigation of Lord North, Tickell
-was at once set to work on a secret and important project. On the 7th of
-November he wrote Garrick pleading to be excused from writing a prologue
-that had been requested of him:
-
- You may be assured Mr. Garrick’s wishes shall always have the
- force of commands with me; but when I acquaint you that at
- present ... I am employed in a work that may make or mar my
- fortune, I can scarcely think you would wish to interrupt my
- attention to it.[15]
-
-On Monday the 23rd of that month, three days before Parliament met for
-the new session, Becket announced the publication of a work entitled
-“_ANTICIPATION_, Containing the Substance of his M⸻y’s most gracious
-Speech to both H⸺s of P⸻t, on the Opening of the approaching Session.
-Together with a full and authentic account of the Debate in the H⸺ of C⸻,
-that will take place on the motion for the address and amendment.” On
-Tuesday night Edward Gibbon wrote his friend Holroyd:
-
- You sometimes complain that I do not send you early news;
- but you will now be satisfied with receiving a full and true
- account of all the parliamentary transactions of _next_
- Thursday. In town we think it an excellent piece of humour
- (the author is one Tickell). Burke and C. Fox are pleased with
- their own Speaches, but serious Patriots groan that such things
- should be turned to farce.[16]
-
-Horace Walpole, though unable to deny the wit of _Anticipation_, was
-among those who thought its jocularity ill-timed. Said he:
-
- The drollery of the pamphlet was congenial with the patron: a
- very unprosperous and disgraceful civil war, just heightened by
- a bloody proclamation of Sir Henry Clinton, and accompanied by
- a war with France, was not a very decent moment for joking![17]
-
-
-_3_
-
-No one in any party was disposed to deny the seriousness of the moment.
-The preceding twelve months, as some were then aware, had proved the
-turning-point in the war with America. The threat of French aggression
-following Burgoyne’s defeat had transformed Britain’s war of subjugation
-into one of defence. After a comfortable winter in Philadelphia, without
-having struck a blow at the inferior American forces at Valley Forge, Sir
-William Howe was ordered to evacuate that city lest it be cut off by a
-French fleet. Englishmen at home could still cling to the official view,
-held by George III and expressed by Lord North in _Anticipation_, that
-most Americans, if given a chance to choose, would prefer conciliation
-with England to an upstart democracy and an “unnatural connection” with
-France. But those on the spot saw that the hope of affording Americans
-such a chance was now dashed. At Philadelphia Admiral Lord Howe’s
-secretary wrote in his journal on the 22nd of May:
-
- I now look upon the Contest as at an End. No man can be
- expected to declare for us, when he cannot be assured of a
- Fortnight’s Protection. Every man, on the contrary, whatever
- might have been his primary Inclinations, will find it his
- Interest to oppose & drive us out of the Country.[18]
-
-Two days later General Howe set sail for England and left Sir Henry
-Clinton to evacuate the troops in June. The incompetence or treachery
-of an American officer, Charles Lee, saved Clinton’s regiments from
-severe losses as they crossed New Jersey. After their arrival within
-the fortifications around New York, the British held not a square mile
-elsewhere on the mainland of the northern and middle colonies.
-
-The summer was occupied with raids by British irregulars on the
-Pennsylvania and New York frontier and a series of inconclusive feints
-and chases between Admirals Howe and D’Estaing. In September Howe
-resigned his command and followed his brother home to England. Deeply
-disgruntled with Administration, the Howes joined General Burgoyne in
-efforts to obtain satisfaction from Parliament. The Whigs, hoping for
-disclosures embarrassing to the government, at once took up the cause of
-the commanders; while the ministers, with equal determination, resisted
-every move for a court-martial or inquiry.
-
-During this year the Tory government had been as hard pressed at home
-as the King’s forces had been abroad. The news of Saratoga, received
-early in December 1777, struck a staggering blow to the ministers,
-who at once adjourned Parliament for six weeks and endeavored to open
-indirect and secret negotiations with the American commissioners in
-Paris. When Parliament reconvened, Fox’s motion in the Commons “that no
-more of the Old Corps be sent out of the kingdom” produced a suddenly
-swollen minority. There was a cry throughout the country for Chatham.
-North had lost his zest for the war and would willingly have retired in
-favor of Chatham, but the King refused to consider such a move. In a
-desperate effort to counteract American negotiations with France, North
-then introduced, 17 February 1778, his conciliatory bills, which offered
-the repeal of the acts that had offended the colonists and conceded all
-but the name of independence. While the House was recovering from its
-amazement Charles Fox rose and said that he was glad Ministers had at
-last concurred with the long-standing views of Opposition. But had not
-their repentance come too late? Did not Ministers know that a commercial
-treaty between France and America had already been signed?[19] “Acts of
-Parliament have made a war,” Walpole wrote Sir Horace Mann three days
-later, “but cannot repeal one.”[20] On the 13th of March the French
-ambassador in London announced the treaty of friendship between France
-and the United States. Thereafter no one in either party expected much
-of North’s commission to treat with America. Detained in England until
-mid-April, the commissioners arrived in the Delaware a whole month after
-Congress had ratified the treaty with France and, to their great chagrin,
-just in time to take part in the retreat from Philadelphia. One member
-of the commission, George Johnstone, after futile private overtures to
-members of Congress, quarreled with his colleagues and returned in a
-huff to vindicate himself and criticize ministers and commanders before
-Parliament. On the whole, the commission did little more than aggravate
-the ill-feeling on both sides.
-
-On the 7th of April, after a long absence, Lord Chatham, wrapped in
-flannels and supported by his sons, took his seat in the House of Lords.
-Rising for the second time in the debate to speak on the American war,
-he was struck down by an apoplexy from which he never recovered. His
-death, on the 11th of May, was believed and said by many to be a portent
-of doom to the Empire.
-
-Meanwhile the specter of a French invasion caused the King late in March
-to communicate to Parliament his intention of ordering the militia “to
-be drawn out and embodied, and to march as occasion shall require.” Five
-encampments were established; peers and M.P.’s, Whig and Tory alike,
-hastened to raise regiments; and by June Gibbon could tell Holroyd that
-“The chief conversation at Almack’s is about tents, drill-Serjeants,
-subdivisions, firings, &c.”[21] All summer and autumn the country was
-full of marching and countermarching for the edification of anxious
-royalty. In the newspapers appeared advertisements for “martial balsam,”
-recommended for those afflicted by toothache from exposure to damp
-canvas and mattresses. Even theater business was depressed by the rage
-for visiting the encampments. Sheridan, ever resourceful, dashed off as
-a counter-attraction his entertainment of _The Camp_, with a musical
-arrangement by Thomas Linley, a prologue by Tickell, and (according to
-the newspaper notices) “a perspective Representation of the GRAND CAMP at
-COXHEATH, from a view taken by Mr. de Loutherbourg and erected under his
-direction.”
-
-All this was diverting, but in midsummer occurred an incident that
-betrayed to the nation the smoldering antagonism between ministers and
-commanders. In the previous March Admiral Keppel, a staunch Whig who had
-refused to serve against America, had been promoted commander of the
-Channel fleet. He found, contrary to the Admiralty’s repeated assurances
-in Parliament, that ships and equipment were woefully inadequate for his
-crucial task of defending the coasts. At length reinforced, Keppel on
-the 27th of July engaged the Brest fleet off Ushant. In command of the
-British rearward squadron was Sir Hugh Palliser, a Tory M.P. and a Lord
-of the Admiralty. Following a short and indecisive action, Keppel gave
-orders for a new line of battle, but Palliser did not obey until after
-dark. By morning the French had escaped. Keppel did not report Palliser’s
-insubordination, but accounts of the action appeared in the papers, and
-before the opening of Parliament the incident had become a heated party
-issue, with Keppel exalted as a popular hero and Palliser condemned as
-the agent of a negligent and scheming ministry.
-
-
-_4_
-
-Affairs stood in this critical posture when Parliament was summoned
-in the last week of November. Fearing defection in the Tory ranks,
-North called a private meeting of his friends beforehand to consult on
-strategy. He was himself there taxed with negligence, and extraordinary
-steps were taken to secure attendance in the government seats. Now a
-favorite parliamentary weapon of North’s had always been humor—or, as
-his opponents styled it, “buffoonery.” His motto, said Walpole, ought
-to have been “_Aut dormitabo, aut ridebo_.”[22] And when _Anticipation_
-appeared, it was widely believed that North himself had had a hand in its
-composition.[23] The very favorable reception of the pamphlet must have
-surpassed the hopes of both author and patron. For some days the papers
-printed eulogistic notices and long extracts. Representative is the
-comment in _The Morning Chronicle_ on the day the session opened:
-
- The literary piece of mimickry published on Monday last, under
- the title of _Anticipation_, is beyond compare one of the
- ablest sketches ever hit off by a man of fancy and talents.
- Mimicks in general distort the features of those they affect
- to imitate; the author of _Anticipation_, on the contrary,
- has preserved the _vrais-semblance_ of each of the objects of
- imitation with wonderful correctness, and it is a question
- whether he deserves most applause for the humorous conceits
- with which he has dished out the oratory of his heroes, or the
- striking likenesses (in point of order, argument, imagery, and
- diction) which he has drawn of each speaker. Lord G[ranb]y’s
- harangue is, to those who have not been in the House of Commons
- on the first day of a session, a perfect example of Opposition
- oratory on such an occasion.—Mr. T. L[uttre]ll’s speech need
- not have had his name prefixed to it; no member, T. L[uttre]ll
- excepted, could possibly shew so much learning to so little
- purpose.... In a word, _Anticipation_ is one of the best
- pamphlets the publick have been favoured with for years, and
- though it has in some measure a political tendency, ... it
- serves, contrary to the effect of most political pamphlets, to
- put all parties in good humour.
-
-The good nature of the parody was remarked by all who spoke of it.
-Certainly the pleasantest circumstance of the whole episode is the fact
-that some of the victims of Tickell’s mimicry enjoyed the humor of it;
-though we learn from Walpole that Welbore Ellis, “another justly and
-humourously drawn, proved how justly. He said, ‘It is well written, but I
-perceive the author takes me for a dull man.’”[24]
-
-According to a tradition that is not implausible, North and his friends
-took copies of _Anticipation_ into the House on the opening day and
-dispensed them gratis.[25] An apparent consequence of this was Tickell’s
-luckiest satirical stroke, by virtue of which _Anticipation_ lived on in
-the memory of anecdotists. Walpole, who was on the spot, reported that
-Col. Isaac Barré, an Opposition stalwart, “not having seen this pamphlet,
-the first day of the Session cited a foreign Governor with whom he was
-acquainted, exactly in the manner here ridiculed, and he also translated
-a French expression.”[26] This episode grew appreciably in the telling.
-In 1823 Joseph Jekyll told Tom Moore (who wrote down everything he heard)
-of the
-
- laughable effect on the House of Col. Barré’s speech; he being
- the only one (having just arrived from the country) ignorant of
- the pamphlet, and falling exactly into the same peculiarities
- which the pamphlet quizzed, particularly that of quoting French
- words and then translating them. At every new instance of this
- kind in his speech there was a roar of laughter from the House,
- which Barré, of course, could not understand.[27]
-
-But this was not the last refinement. The progress of the story, from
-contemporary witnesses to Jekyll and Moore and finally to “Senex”
-writing his recollections in _Blackwood’s_ in 1826, is an illustration
-and a warning of the ways of anecdotists. The humorous success of
-_Anticipation_, wrote “Senex,”
-
- I well remember.... The style of the speeches was so
- well imitated, and the matter in many cases so happily
- forestalled, that, like Vulcan among Homer’s gods, it caused
- inextinguishable laughter. What gave much zest to the joke
- was the ignorance of most of the usual speaking members that
- any such pamphlet existed. Their great surprise at the loud
- mirth excited by speeches intended to make a very different
- impression, and the frequent cries of “Spoke, Spoke!” the
- meaning of which they could not possibly comprehend, may be
- easily conceived. One of its effects was to shorten the
- debate, for, as the joke soon spread, many were afraid to
- address the House for fear of involving themselves in the
- predicament of those who had been so humorously anticipated.[28]
-
-
-_5_
-
-_Anticipation_ had a great run. Such was the popular demand that a
-“Fourth Edition” was advertised by Becket within a week of first
-publication. Five more London editions and a Dublin reprint appeared
-before the end of the year. As soon as copies reached America,
-_Anticipation_ was reprinted at both the British headquarters in New York
-and the American headquarters in Philadelphia. In announcing his New
-York reprint, James Rivington stated, with what degree of exaggeration
-the reader is free to guess, that “such was the reception given to this
-novel and immensely admired piece, that more than _Forty Thousand_ copies
-were disposed of in a few days.”[29] In London a rash of imitations broke
-out at once. _Altercation_, _Deliberation_, _Anticipation Continued_,
-_Anticipation for the Year MDCCLXXIX_, _The Exhibition, or a Second
-Anticipation_—all these appeared within a year. As late as 1812 appeared
-_Anticipation: or, The Prize Address; which will be delivered at the
-Opening of the New Drury Lane Theatre_, a squib inspired by the same
-circumstances that gave rise to the celebrated _Rejected Addresses_
-of James and Horace Smith. And there were others. But, as Dr. Johnson
-remarked of _The Splendid Shilling_, “the merit of such performances
-begins and ends with the first author.”[30]
-
-There was another result of the publication of the satire that, to
-Tickell, was perhaps the most gratifying of all. The author was right,
-observed _The London Magazine_ in its review, in predicting a majority
-for Administration in his mimic debate; “and we verily believe he might
-have added by way of note at the end—‘This will get me a place or a
-pension.’”[31] This impertinence was justified by the event. On the 6th
-of December Richard Rigby, Paymaster and general factotum in North’s
-cabinet, wrote David Garrick a short but meaningful note: “I have had
-a meeting with _Anticipation_, and like him very much; I wish to have
-some further discourse with you upon that subject. Could you call here
-to-morrow morning about eleven?”[32] The subject was unquestionably a
-ministerial reward for services rendered. About this time Tickell was
-granted a pension of 200_l._ _per annum_.[33] Soon afterward an anonymous
-poet of the Batheaston circle returned good for evil in praising Tickell
-while attempting to recall him to virtue:
-
- Some writers be of an amphibious race,
- And prose and verse their elemental place.
- Such he, whose wit made wond’ring senates roar,
- And those to blush that never blush’d before.
- _Anticipation_ gave him sterling fame,
- _The Wreath of Fashion_ a poetic name.
- And Nature gave, and at the gift repines,
- At pension’d wit and prostituted lines.
- Be your’s, O _Tickell_, to correct this vice,
- That deals out praise or censure at a price,
- And in one grand example prove to men,
- How weak is Wit, when Party holds the pen;
- And while you glow with more than virtue’s flame,
- And all admire from whence such virtue came,
- Each literary Swiss shall dread thy rage,
- Dismiss their weapons, and no more engage.[34]
-
-But man cannot live by wit alone. In the next two years Tickell wrote
-two more satirical tracts for the ministry, which, though not dull, were
-scarcely inspired; and in August 1781 he was appointed a commissioner
-of the Stamp Office. Here, with other beneficiaries of ministerial
-generosity and a salary of 500_l._, he stayed. A year earlier (25 July
-1780) he had married Miss Mary Linley, a charming and witty young lady if
-less renowned than her sister Elizabeth (Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan).
-In September 1782, doubtless through the good offices of Lord North, they
-settled in an apartment in the Gold Staff Gallery at the top of Hampton
-Court Palace.[35] Tickell’s talents were useful in the Linley-Sheridan
-family enterprise of Drury Lane Theatre. He served in the capacity of Mr.
-Puff as “a Practitioner of Panegyric” in the newspapers, refurbished old
-plays, and tried his hand, with mild success, at composing librettos.
-When Fox and North formed their coalition government (of unhappy
-memory), Tickell’s political allegiance was transferred to the Whigs.
-That he had long had a preference for Whig society appears from the
-satirical-affectionate picture of Brooks’s Club in his _Epistle from
-the Honourable Charles Fox, Partridge-Shooting, to the Honourable John
-Townshend, Cruising_, 1779. The devoted but sharp-tongued Mrs. Tickell
-informed her sister in a letter of 1785: “So I find the election has
-taken a happy turn at last and I am to congratulate myself with being
-the wife of a member of Brooks’s.... T. is delighted; the great point
-of his ambition is gained.”[36] To which she added, at the thought of
-her husband’s increased opportunities for conviviality: “Farewell, a
-long farewell to all my comforts.”[37] From the many fragments of Mary
-Tickell’s spritely letters that have been printed here and there, it is
-impossible not to give at least one representative passage showing both
-husband and wife in character. In an undated letter from Hampton Court
-she wrote:
-
- The men stayed last night or rather this morning till four or
- five tho’ I entreated T⸺. to think of to-night’s fatigue for
- me and let them go, but ’twas all in vain, for the moment my
- back was turn’d off they march’d into the other room with their
- Bottles and Glasses and order’d Stephen to bring the fire after
- them—so at least they had the grace to think of not disturbing
- me, for you are to know since the cold wether we dine and sup
- in the Drawing Room. However unfortunately my ears were quick
- enough to reach to Stephen’s Pantry where I heard every cruel
- Pop of that odious five shilling claret which entirely hindered
- my closing my eyes, so here I am at half past one just after
- breakfast and thinking of my evening’s dissipation. Don’t you
- think that I should cut a figure in the great world?[38]
-
-As a member of the glittering Whig fraternity that moved about Fox,
-Sheridan, and the Prince of Wales, Tickell became a large contributor to
-the great collective (and perennial) satire known as _The Rolliad_, a
-shilling edition of which, George Saintsbury once remarked, if properly
-annotated, would keep one amused from London to York. He also produced a
-number of more or less serious pamphlets attacking Pitt’s government; and
-during the regency crisis of 1788-89 he worked feverishly with the other
-Foxites in the expectation of a Whig triumph. But the King recovered, the
-Whigs’ hopes were dashed, and Tickell never obtained his expected seat in
-Parliament.[39]
-
-Mary Tickell died in July 1787. Two years later Tickell eloped with the
-daughter of a captain in the East India Company’s service, Miss Sarah
-Ley, a reigning beauty who was for a time the rival of Emma Hamilton as
-Romney’s model.[40] She was very young, very extravagant, and without any
-fortune. In a year or two her husband, who was chronically improvident
-and was now deprived of Mary Tickell’s common sense, found himself
-overwhelmed with debts. In May 1793 he appealed to Warren Hastings
-for a loan of 500_l._ and obtained it.[41] Hastings was a friend of
-the Ley family, but that an intimate of the Fox-Sheridan circle and a
-contributor to _The Rolliad_ should have turned to him for help is an
-indication of Tickell’s desperate straits. The loan was evidently not
-sufficient for his needs. On the 4th of November his lifeless body was
-found below the parapet outside his Hampton Court apartment. Two days
-later Joseph Farington recorded in his _Diary_: “Distressed circumstances
-and an apprehension of being arrested, it is said, is the cause of this
-momentary phrenzy.”[42]
-
-
-_6_
-
-As a successful parody of parliamentary proceedings and eloquence at
-the time of the American Revolution, _Anticipation_ retains historical
-interest. One reviewer went so far as to say that a comparison of the
-actual debate with Tickell’s anticipated version would show that between
-the two “the difference as to the material grounds of disputation is
-trifling.”[43] This is scarcely an exaggeration, though, as it turned
-out, the House was less full and the debate less animated than had been
-expected from the presence in town of so many generals and admirals
-known to be at odds with one another and the ministers. As a parodist,
-however, Tickell was less concerned to present the substance of a
-particular debate than the idiosyncracies of those who spoke frequently
-in the House, whether from Opposition or Administration benches. The
-verisimilitude of his subjects’ accents, attitudes, and hobby-horses
-of theme was unanimously acknowledged and praised by contemporaries.
-_Anticipation_ is in short a speaking picture of that House of Commons
-in which, as well as in America, a bitter conflict was in progress. Here
-are Burke’s rumbling periods on the decline of the British Empire, and
-Fox’s skilful arguments to show that neither an offensive nor a defensive
-war can be successfully continued in America. David Hartley the younger
-quotes the recent sentiments of his friend Benjamin Franklin in Paris,
-and a radical Member from the City praises Washington and threatens
-ministers with the Tower and the block. Other Whigs attack profiteering
-army contractors, false news in the _Gazettes_, and the employment of
-Indians to butcher the colonists; others demand parliamentary inquiries
-that government officials suggest deferring until “about six months after
-Christmas.” Late in the evening Lord North rises and, after invoking the
-mighty shade of Chatham, takes up his secretary’s notes on speeches by
-the Opposition and urges upon an unruly House the need of unanimity.
-
-It is a vivid and authentic picture, and it is also an entertaining
-one. Though parody is a minor genre, it has its masterpieces. But
-they should be read rather than talked about. Let the last opinion on
-_Anticipation_ be that of George IV, who was a person of discernment
-in these matters. J. W. Croker recorded in his diary that at a royal
-dinner-party in January 1822 the talk had turned to Tickell. The King
-spoke of _Anticipation_ “_con amore_ and quoted some of the speeches.” He
-promised to have a copy looked out for Lady Conyngham, who had never read
-it. “The events and the pieces were gone by,” said the King; “but the wit
-and pleasantry of it never could fade.”[44]
-
-
-_NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION_
-
-[1] A certain A. Buzaglo, who had a shop in the Strand, opposite Somerset
-House, frequently advertised in the newspapers in 1778. His warming-pans,
-for curing the gout, were highly recommended to the nobility.
-
-[2] Letter to Mason, 18 April 1778 (_The Letters of Horace Walpole_, ed.
-Mrs. Paget Toynbee, Oxford, 1903-05, X, 222).
-
-[3] _Boswell’s Life of Johnson_, ed. G. B. Hill and L. F. Powell, Oxford,
-1934—, III, 318.
-
-[4] XLV, 1778, 310.
-
-[5] See Ruth A. Hesselgrave, _Lady Miller and the Batheaston Literary
-Circle_, New Haven, 1927.
-
-[6] LIX, 1778, 145. Garrick acknowledged his authorship of this review in
-a letter to Hannah More, misdated 1777, in William Roberts, _Memoirs of
-... Mrs. Hannah More_, 3rd ed., 1835, I, 116.
-
-[7] _The Farington Diary_, ed. James Greig, New York, 1923-28, I, 186;
-_Recollections of the Table-Talk of Samuel Rogers_ [ed. Alexander Dyce],
-New York, 1856, pp. 71-72.
-
-[8] _Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica_, new ser., II, 1877, 473; Sir
-[John] Bernard Burke, _Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed
-Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland_, 9th ed., 1898, II, “Ireland,” p.
-441; Richard Eustace Tickell, _Thomas Tickell and the Eighteenth Century
-Poets_, 1931, p. 173 and “Tickell Pedigree.”
-
-[9] A long letter from John Tickell to the Duke of Newcastle, 26
-August 1767, alludes to these circumstances and appeals to Newcastle’s
-generosity (Newcastle Papers, British Museum Add. MSS. 32,984, f. 350).
-
-[10] G. F. R. Barker and A. H. Stenning (compilers), _The Record of Old
-Westminsters_, 1928, II, 919; R. A. Austen-Leigh (ed.), _The Eton College
-Register, 1753-1790_, Eton, 1921, p. 517; John Hutchinson, _A Catalogue
-of Notable Middle Templars_, 1902, p. 242.
-
-[11] David Erskine Baker, Isaac Reed, and Stephen Jones (compilers),
-_Biographia Dramatica_, 1812, I, 713.
-
-[12] Tickell to Garrick, 11 May 1778 (_Private Correspondence of David
-Garrick_ [ed. James Boaden], 1831-32, II, 304).
-
-[13] Unpublished letter in the Theatre Collection, Harvard College
-Library.
-
-[14] I, 713-714.
-
-[15] Garrick, _Private Correspondence_, II, 317.
-
-[16] _Private Letters of Edward Gibbon_, ed. R. E. Prothero, 1896, I, 348.
-
-[17] _Last Journals during the Reign of George III_, ed. A. Francis
-Steuart, 1910, II, 206n.
-
-[18] _The American Journal of Ambrose Serle ... 1776-1778_, ed. Edward H.
-Tatum, Jr., San Marino, California, 1940, p. 296.
-
-[19] Walpole, _Last Journals_, II, 117; Fox, _Speeches_, 1815, I, 116-118.
-
-[20] _Letters_, ed. Toynbee, X, 195.
-
-[21] _Private Letters_, I, 338.
-
-[22] _Last Journals_, II, 115n. In a debate on the navy estimates, 2
-December 1778, Temple Luttrell said of North:
-
- Whenever the noble lord found himself closely pressed in
- argument, or fact, it was his known practice to get rid of the
- question by a joke. His manner was no less curious than his
- matter; when he was half asleep, or seemingly quite asleep, he
- collected a store of wit and humour, from Æsop, Phædrus, or
- Joe Miller, or some other book equally distinguished for such
- species of drollery; and, instead of reasoning, was sure to
- treat the House with a laugh (_The Parliamentary History of
- England ... to the Year 1803_ [compiled by William Cobbett],
- 1806-20, XIX, 1388).
-
-[23] John Taylor, _Records of My Life_, 1832, I, 144.
-
-[24] _Last Journals_, II, 206.
-
-[25] _Altercation; Being the Substance of a Debate ... on a Motion to
-Censure the Pamphlet of Anticipation_ [1778], p. 10; _The Pamphleteer_,
-XIX, 1822, 310.
-
-[26] MS. note in Horace Walpole’s copy of _Anticipation_.
-
-[27] Thomas Moore, _Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence_, ed. Lord John
-Russell, 1853-56, IV, 34.
-
-[28] “Reminiscences.—No. IV. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, &c.,”
-_Blackwood’s Magazine_, XX, 209.
-
-[29] _The Royal Gazette_, 17 March 1779.
-
-[30] Though Johnson had disapproved of _The Project_, he thought
-_Anticipation_ “a mighty fine thing.” So Boswell told Tickell at a
-dinner-party in April 1779 (_Private Papers of James Boswell from
-Malahide Castle_, ed. Geoffrey Scott and F. A. Pottle, Mount Vernon,
-N.Y., 1928-34, XIII, 232).
-
-[31] XLVII, 1778, 566.
-
-[32] Garrick, _Private Correspondence_, II, 322-323.
-
-[33] _Biographia Dramatica_, I, 714.
-
-[34] _Hobby-Horses. Read at Batheaston_, 1780, pp. 13-14.
-
-[35] Ernest Law, _The History of Hampton Court Palace_, 1890-91, III,
-318, 464.
-
-[36] W. Fraser Rae, _Sheridan_, New York, 1896, I, 357.
-
-[37] Walter Sichel, _Sheridan_, 1909, I, 442n.
-
-[38] Clementina Black, _The Linleys of Bath_, 1911, p. 162.
-
-[39] Thomas Moore, _Memoirs of ... Sheridan_, 2nd ed., 1825, II, 62.
-
-[40] See Romney’s diary, as given in Humphry Ward and W. Roberts,
-_Romney_, 1904, II, 157-158. Romney painted three portraits of the
-second Mrs. Tickell, the best-known of which is reproduced in Sichel’s
-_Sheridan_, II, facing p. 264.
-
-[41] British Museum Add. MSS. 29,194, f. 152; 29,173, f. 44.
-
-[42] I, 13. There is a circumstantial account of Tickell’s death and the
-conduct of his widow in [William Smyth] _Memoir of Mr. Sheridan_, Leeds,
-1840, pp. 53-55.
-
-[43] _The London Magazine_, XLVII, 1778, 566.
-
-[44] _The Croker Papers_, ed. L. J. Jennings, 1884, I, 245-246.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: _Reduced from the original by one third_
-
- ANTICIPATION:
- Containing the Substance of
- HIS M⸻Y’s
- Most Gracious Speech
- TO BOTH
- H⸻S of P⸺L⸺T,
- ON THE
- Opening of the approaching SESSION,
- TOGETHER
- With a full and authentic Account of the DEBATE
- which WILL take Place in the H⸺E of C⸻S,
- on the Motion for the ADDRESS, and the AMENDMENT.
-
- With NOTES.
-
- “_So shall my Anticipation_
- _Prevent your Discovery._”
- HAMLET.
-
- _LONDON_:
- Printed for T. BECKET, the Corner of the Adelphi,
- in the Strand. 1778.]
-
-
-
-
-_ADVERTISEMENT._
-
-
-Several reasons concurred to urge the Editor to this publication. The
-critical situation of public affairs seemed to require an extraordinary
-diffusion of political knowledge; yet, in the common course, but few of
-the millions, who are so deeply interested in the result of parliamentary
-debates, can be admitted to an audience of them. Sometimes, the Members
-shut their galleries against the intrusion of any of their Constituents;
-and it is always a standing order, from the opening of the session, to
-prohibit the publication of their debates. Under these circumstances,
-an authentic account of the first day’s debate, put forth at this date,
-will clearly avoid any breach of that order, and, without exposing the
-Constituents to crowding in the gallery, to furnish them with their
-Representatives Speeches, taken down with the strictest fidelity, cannot
-but afford them some amusement, and indeed real use. Besides, the first
-day’s debate is generally a kind of outline of the debates of the whole
-session; so that a critical observer, by contemplating the buds and
-seedlings of this early eloquence, may calculate what degree of radical
-strength they possess, how far they will expand and bloom, and whether
-they are hardy enough to stand the winter.
-
-The Editor cannot but seize this opportunity to thank those Gentlemen
-who have furnished him with the _most authentic materials_ for some of
-the speeches, which, they will immediately see, he has copied _verbatim_
-from their manuscripts—and he sincerely hopes, their having appeared in
-print _before_ they are spoken, will not deter the several Gentlemen from
-delivering them with their usual appearance of _extempore_ eloquence.
-
- November 23, 1778.
-
-
-
-
- The Gentlemen trading to the East-Indies, West-Indies,
- and other parts, who intend taking or sending thither any
- pamphlets this season, are hereby informed, that this work is
- authentic, faithful, and strictly impartial; and as the nice
- and discerning eye of the British islands and settlements near
- us, must feel an interest in these matters, good allowance will
- be given for taking quantities.—Also the best Dutch wax, and
- stationary wares.
-
-
-
-
-ANTICIPATION, &c.
-
-_Dom. Comm. Jovis. 26 Nov. die._
-
-_Anno 19ᵒ Georgii III Regis, 1778._
-
-
-Sir Francis M[olyneu]x, gentleman-usher of the black rod, having, with
-the usual solemnity, at half past two o’clock, given three admonitory
-raps at the door of the H[ous]e of C[ommo]ns, and being thereupon
-admitted, and having proceeded towards the table, with three progressive
-bows, acquainted the S[peake]r,[1] that his M[ajest]y commanded their
-immediate attendance in the H[ous]e of L[or]ds, where soon after his
-M[ajest]y delivered his most gracious speech to both Houses; which we
-should give at length, having an accurate copy now before us, but that
-many reasons concur to induce us rather to give a general sketch of it.
-It is scarcely necessary to say, that respect to that great personage is
-the principal of those motives: It is also universally felt, that the
-merit of those speeches consists much less in the composition than in the
-delivery. Besides, as an authentic _black letter_ copy of _this_ speech
-will infallibly appear, we have too high a respect for our good friends
-Messrs. the Hawkers and Criers of this great metropolis, to rob them of
-any part of the fruits of their annual eloquence on this occasion⸺The
-speech began by saying,
-
-That the situation of public affairs induced him to call them thus early
-together, that they might more fully enter into the various and important
-concerns which would naturally engage their attention.
-
-That he had reason to hope that the schemes which the natural enemies
-of this country, in conjunction with their unnatural allies, had
-meditated against us in the West-Indies, notwithstanding some appearance
-of success, might, under Divine Providence, fail in the object of
-distressing the commercial interest of his people, which, it gave him
-satisfaction to observe, had hitherto continued to flourish amidst the
-calamities of war, while that of the enemy had received the most material
-injuries.
-
-That he could not but behold with particular pleasure the zeal and ardour
-shewn by all his subjects on this emergency, which had fully secured the
-safety of this country, and convinced our enemies that every attempt
-against the internal prosperity of Great Britain must prove ineffectual.
-
-That he continued to receive the most friendly assurances of the pacific
-dispositions of the other powers of Europe.
-
-That his desire of re-establishing the general tranquility could not be
-doubted; and as he had not been the first to disturb the peace, so he
-should embrace the earliest opportunity of putting an end to the horrors
-of war, whenever that desirable end could be effected, consistently with
-the honour of his crown, and the interest of his subjects, which he
-should ever be careful to preserve.
-
-That his faithful C[o]mm[o]ns might depend on the proper officers
-immediately laying before them the estimate for the expences of the
-ensuing year.
-
-That he lamented that the present situation of affairs should oblige him
-to call upon his faithful subjects for any additional supplies, but
-
-That his faithful C[o]mm[o]ns might depend on the strictest œconomy on
-his part, in the application of such sums as they should judge necessary
-for the public service, and he doubted not they would see the expediency
-of providing for such contingencies as might arise from the continuance
-of war, and the measures necessary to be taken for the re-establishment
-of peace upon an honourable and permanent foundation.
-
-It concluded with relying on the wisdom and unanimity of Parliament; on
-the good conduct of his Generals and Admirals; on the valor of his Fleets
-and Armies; and on the zeal and spirit of all his faithful subjects.
-
-Upon the return of the C[ommo]ns to their House, the speech having been
-read as usual from the chair, a motion for an Address, conformable to
-the several sentences in the speech, and expressive of the firmness and
-unanimity of the House at this important crisis, was made and seconded by
-two young Members; the particular phraseology of which leading speeches
-we shall not retail, it being universally admitted that the rhetoric
-applied to these occasions, is not very replete with originality. Our
-readers will easily imagine the proper quantity of tropes and metaphors,
-apologies for inexperience, elegant timidities, graceful blushes, studied
-hesitations, army safe at New-York, fleets likewise safe, individuals
-enriched, perfect content at home, nothing wanting but unanimity in
-council, &c. &c. &c. which ornamented and enriched these anniversary
-panegyrics. We shall hasten therefore to the more material part of the
-debate, which commenced by the following speech from Lord G[ranb]y[2],
-proposing the amendment.
-
-[Sidenote: Lord G[ran]by.]
-
-_Lord G[ran]by._ Conscious of my own inability, and sinking under the
-sense of my little knowledge or experience, totally unprovided with any
-ideas for the present occasion, and absolutely ignorant not only of the
-forms but even the modes of proceeding in this house, may I, Sir, in this
-state of imbecility, be permitted to take the lead on this first and
-most important day of the session? May I, Sir, all unequal to so arduous
-a task, be allowed to dictate, if not to the whole house, at least to
-this side of it, the proper and only constitutional method of compelling
-ministers to furnish us with the means of discovering some errors in
-their conduct; and to enable us to demonstrate to the nation at large
-their total incapacity for filling the places which they now hold?—There
-was a time, Sir, when this side of the house would not tamely acquiesce
-in so dangerous a precedent as any minister’s retaining his office for
-the unconstitutional duration of seven years. Have we forgot, Sir, the
-great name of Pulteny? Pulteny, Sir! the virtuous Pulteny! Pulteny,
-the wonder of the age! Pulteny, that steady Patriot, whose Herculean
-eloquence overcame the Hydra of corruption! or have we forgot, Sir, that
-inestimable character of our own times, whose virtues compelled the
-admiration of this profligate age; whose memory excites the veneration
-of every patriot mind? Let it not be objected that these illustrious
-characters were dazzled by the splendour of a coronet: I will not answer
-such frivolous remarks:—Sir, I wander from the question: Yet let me
-remind this House, that those great patriots were ever foremost in taking
-that part which now falls to my lot. They, Sir, were ever ready to awaken
-the fears, and rouze the apprehensions, of the Country Gentlemen; and
-that, Sir, is my object:—They, Sir, compelled Adm[i]n[i]str[a]t[io]n to
-disclose the inmost recess of official iniquity; and that, Sir, that
-is also my intention. Sir, with this view, I shall humbly move you,
-that in place of the present Address, which I cannot but consider as
-the selfish panegyric of Adm[i]n[i]str[a]t[io]n, immediately after the
-general expressions of respect for his M[ajest]y, the following words may
-be substituted, in order to our acquiring that full and comprehensive
-knowledge of public affairs, which is so indispensably necessary at the
-opening of this interesting and important session of P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt.
-
-“Your faithful C[o]mm[o]ns, deeply impressed with a sense of your
-M[ajest]y’s unwearied anxiety to promote the dignity and glory of Great
-Britain, cannot but lament the many unhappy circumstances which have
-conspired to disturb your M[ajest]y’s happiness, and to prejudice the
-interests and honour of this country. When we find that the most liberal
-supplies for our naval equipments have as yet produced none of those
-happy effects which might reasonably have been expected to be derived
-from so powerful an armament, particularly under the direction of an
-officer of experienced conduct and courage, we cannot but express our
-serious apprehensions of some fatal misconduct, either on the part of
-Administration, by forming indecisive and contradictory instructions
-for the direction of the Navy, or, in the particular department for
-naval affairs, of some misapplication of those liberal supplies, which,
-if wisely and faithfully applied, could not have failed, under divine
-providence, and your M[ajest]y’s wisdom, of obtaining the most salutary
-effects.
-
-For these reasons, we, your M[ajest]y’s most faithful C[o]mm[o]ns, most
-humbly intreat your M[ajest]y to order the proper Officers to lay before
-the House, copies of the secret instructions for the conduct of the Fleet
-commanded by Admiral K[e]pp[e]l—estimates of the quantity of ballast used
-in the several ships of the division of the fleet commanded by Admiral
-K[e]pp[e]l—bills of parcel of the number of square yards of sail-cloth,
-together with samples of ditto, intended to be used in the division of
-the Fleet commanded by Vice Admiral Sir H[u]gh P[a]ll[i]s[e]r—succinct
-accounts of the quota of biscuits, and ratio of salt-beef distributed
-in the Fleet—faithful transcripts of the several Log-Books of each
-vessel—abstracts of all letters, notes, and messages that passed and
-repassed, off Ushant, between the Admirals and Ph[i]l[i]p St[e]v[e]ns,
-Esq. during the course of last summer—and, finally, minute copies of all
-accounts unsettled or passed, open or closed, paid or unpaid, between
-the Commissioners of the Navy, and all sorts of Manufacturers, Sailors,
-Contractors, &c. &c. &c. employed by them for these twenty years last
-past⸺It is from a minute investigation of these important papers, that
-your M[ajest]y’s most faithful C[o]mm[o]ns can alone derive just grounds
-for censure or exculpation. And, however laborious this investigation
-may prove, we, your M[ajest]y’s most faithful C[o]mm[o]ns, beg leave to
-assure your M[ajest]y, we shall most readily devote our utmost attention
-to so salutary a study, in order to promote a quick dispatch of public
-business at this momentous and aweful crisis, and to give vigour and
-effect to those measures which your M[ajest]y, in your great wisdom,
-may think necessary to secure the safety, interest, and honour of Great
-Britain.”
-
-Such, Sir, is the amendment which I have the honour to offer to the
-consideration of this house. It will immediately strike you, Sir, that
-in the accounts which I propose to have submitted to the investigation
-of P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt, I have avoided asking for one scrap of paper that
-is not absolutely necessary to be seen and thoroughly studied by the
-House. Should it, however, appear necessary to Gentlemen to _add_ to the
-list of these official documents, I am sure I shall not oppose such an
-improvement to the motion, to whatever quantity it may extend.
-
-[Sidenote: Mr. G[eor]g[e] S[u]tt[o]n.]
-
-Mr. _G[eo]rg[e] S[u]tt[o]n_ seconded the motion for the amendment,
-beginning with a similar acknowledgement of his incapacity, his
-inexperience and ignorance of P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt[a]ry affairs; declining
-therefore to enter into any further argument, the subject having been
-discussed in so full and able a manner by his most noble cousin.
-
-[Sidenote: Mr. W[e]lb[o]re Ell[i]s.]
-
-Mr. _W[e]lb[o]re Ell[i]s_, in reply, threw out many sagacious and
-novel observations. He said that he highly commended the caution and
-circumspection of the noble Lord, but, that in his opinion, a more proper
-time would arrive, about six months after Christmas, for entering into
-the details proposed by the Amendment; as, at that period, Administration
-would certainly have more leisure for furnishing the papers now called
-for.
-
-He very properly observed, that selecting these few curious articles of
-political intelligence from a variety of miscellaneous papers, would
-require some short time, together with no small degree of discernment,
-not to mention several thousands of extra clerks. He said, he had taken
-the trouble to make a most serious investigation into the Journals, the
-Votes, the Debates, and all the P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt[a]ry Records of this
-country; and he was free to say, that notwithstanding it might at first
-appear rather a novel idea, yet it was his opinion, that _The Address_ on
-the first day was a matter of compliment. Nay, touching the matter before
-him, (and weighty and powerful indeed it was) after the most mature and
-serious deliberation, daily and nightly, he would for once venture to
-hazard a rhetorical, a figurative expression, to wit, that the Address
-was an eccho, as it were, a complimentary eccho, of his M[ajest]y’s most
-gracious speech.—He hinted, that, if any Gentleman wished for particular
-enquiries, he would, as an old Member, long conversant with the forms
-of the House, tell him, that certainly a Committee might be appointed
-to carry on any public enquiry; and he believed such Committees were
-not unfrequent.—And here he remarked, that, from all his researches, it
-appeared to him, that the constitution of this country was of a triple
-nature—K[i]ng—L[o]rds—and C[o]mm[o]ns—that, these three opposite and
-repelling powers, reciprocally ballanced and counteracted each other; at
-the same time that they contributed to the proportion and harmony of the
-whole.—He took occasion to observe, that freedom of Debate was clearly
-a P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt[a]ry privilege, and he would pledge himself to prove
-that every Member in that House was a representative of his constituents.
-
-For these reasons, he concluded with dissenting from the Amendment as
-trite, abstruse, dangerous, and frivolous.
-
-[Sidenote: D[a]v[i]d H[a]rtly, Esq.]
-
-_D[a]v[i]d H[a]rtly_, Esq.[3] observed, that these were no times for
-flattery and empty adulation.—For his part, he should enter at large into
-the rise and origin of all Colonies, ancient and modern, into the history
-of Taxation, and its effects on every state that had exercised it over
-its colonies; and then review the cause, commencement, and conduct of
-the whole American war. He felt how arduous, how complicated a task this
-must prove to himself, and how difficult for the House to understand.
-That, to lessen that difficulty, both to the House and to himself, he
-would adopt the most logical method to give clearness and perspicuity
-to such a multitude and diversity of ideas; and for that purpose, he
-begged Gentlemen to take notice, that he should divide his speech into
-four and twenty grand divisions, each of which should contain as many
-subdivisions, which subdivisions should also be separately discussed in
-equal number of sections, each section to be split also into the same
-number of heads; so that with grand divisions, subdivisions, sections,
-and heads, the number of distinct propositions would amount to several
-thousands; but that Gentlemen, by attending closely, and correctly taking
-down the number of any particular argument, should have an immediate
-explicit answer to any query touching that individual number: and he
-flattered himself this numerical logic and arithmetic of eloquence would
-greatly tend to clarify their understandings.
-
-To follow this gentleman thro’ even one of his grand divisions, was a
-task much beyond the utmost rapidity of a short-hand writer. Indeed the
-noise from all parts of the house was so excessive, during the several
-hours which he engrossed in this laborious harangue, that it was totally
-impossible to catch up any thing beyond the mutilated fragments, and
-ruins of his oratory. At length however the house sunk into a sudden
-calm, upon the disclosure of a fact, which seemed to startle even the
-wildest zealots of faction.—For, after every other argument was exhausted
-to so little purpose, inflamed by disappointment, and hurried, as we
-are willing to suppose, by the violence of patriotism, the Honourable
-Gentleman avowed to the House, that one of his grounds for denouncing
-ruin to his country was _his private knowledge of DR. FRANKLYN’S
-sentiments on that head_.[4] “Dr. Franklyn (he exclaimed) the Cromwell
-of his age, Dr. Franklyn, Ambassador Plenipotentiary from America to
-France, is my most intimate and most cordial friend!”⸺He went on by
-declaring, he had passed great part of the summer at Paris, with Dr.
-Franklyn, in the most unreserved communication of sentiments and facts;
-and he concluded with repeating, as the joint result of his own and Dr.
-Franklin’s deliberation, that the glory of England was destroyed for
-ever!⸺This extraordinary confession produced however no violent effect.
-Ministers seemed to receive it with a contemptuous pity, not unmingled
-with ridicule,[5] when _Mr. W[ilke]s_, finding the little success of
-serious treason, rose, and indulged himself in the more ludicrous stile
-of it.
-
-[Sidenote: Mr. W[ilke]s.]
-
-_Mr. W[ilke]s_[6] adverted with some degree of humour to the inference
-of victory and triumph which might be deduced from the return of our
-Generals and our Admirals, and one of our commissioners too. They found
-(he said) that being on the spot interrupted their manœuvres, and he
-supposed they were come three thousand miles off to act _cooly_. That,
-the object they were sent to accomplish was confessedly a great one;
-and it is well known, that objects of a certain magnitude are best
-contemplated at a distance. Probably, their optics were too tender to
-distinguish with accuracy amidst the smoak and confusion incident to
-actual engagements; or perhaps, they reflected on the more imminent
-dangers of domestic invasion, and hastened home from pure patriotism
-to guard their native country.—At any rate, he must compliment their
-discernment in pursuing a line of conduct, which could not fail of
-conciliating the good opinion and sympathetic regard of the Noble Lord,
-who presided in the American department. If therefore, Mr. Speaker,
-by any miraculous change, I were, this day, to become the Advocate
-of Administration, I should mark the inutility of recurring to the
-written evidence, which the Amendment calls for, at a moment when we
-are so copiously provided with _vivâ voce_ testimony. Yet, Sir, I do
-not think, upon reflexion, that Ministers will adopt this ground for
-rejecting the noble Lord’s Amendment. They, Sir, will more boldly tell
-you—you shall have neither,—for, in these times, it is the fashion for
-all modern Statesmen, first to tell their own story, and then protest
-solemnly against being cross-examined—_or directly, or indirectly,
-answering question, query, or otherwise_. I believe I am accurate in my
-quotation.—I am not indeed surprized at these declarations of obstinate
-silence—this is Scottish policy—the example was set by my good old
-friend, the E[a]rl of B[u]te—for therein I am orthodox in my faith, that
-the Son is equal to the Father; and I am sure I may add with Athanasian
-zeal, the father is incomprehensible, and the Son is incomprehensible,
-yet there are not two incomprehensibles, but one incomprehensible.
-
- (Here a confused cry of order, and the Chaplain reprimanded for
- laughing.)
-
-There is indeed one North Briton of whom I entertain a better hope.—He
-seems to have caught that itch for liberty, which, to our great wonder,
-broke out in the Highlands last summer. He, Sir, even in the character
-of his M[ajest]y’s Commissi[o]ner, solicited the intimacy of _General
-Washington_. But indeed, Sir, if ever a Scotchman can be suspected of
-loving liberty, it is not when he has recently become a convert to
-Administration: _Washington_ therefore sent his Excellency, the worthy
-Commissioner, a flat refusal.—Mr. _Laurens_ too refused his Excellency
-the hearing he so generously solicited by imploring Congress, “_not to
-follow the example of Br[i]t[ai]n in the hour of her insolence_;” the
-_hearing_ was however refused, nay even the “_sight of the country_,”
-and “_the sight of its worthy patriots_” was peremptorily refused. The
-Americans, Sir, think that a Scotchman has neither eyes nor ears for
-liberty, or, at least, they distrusted the capacity of his Excellency’s
-organs for such an object.—I have a letter, Sir, in my pocket from my
-honest friend Ethan Allen; I would read it, but I am sure you won’t let
-me: He knows I am fond of scripture quotations, and tells me Congress
-would have given your Scotch commissioner this _hearing_, but they knew
-“he was like unto the deaf adder, who regardeth not the voice of the
-charmer.”
-
-Let me then trouble his Excellency with one question; who was it
-suggested this secret correspondence with the enemy? was it not the
-Scottish secretary of this wise commission, Dr. Adam Ferguson? It must
-have been one of Sir John Dalrymple’s associates in literature. The
-Scotch, if they can get no Englishman to act, as they pretend to say the
-great Sidney did, will make even their own countrymen treacherous in one
-age, to furnish some literary assassin of the next with the foul vouchers
-of treachery and baseness. At all events, Sir, I shall heartily give my
-vote for the amendment, as the only means to convict the M[i]n[i]stry of
-what I know they are guilty, weakness, incapacity, ignorance, obstinacy,
-baseness, and treachery.
-
-[Sidenote: Governor J[o]hns[o]n.]
-
-_Governor J[o]hns[o]n_[7] now rose, and said every thing that a Gentleman
-in his melancholly situation could be supposed to urge. Spoke much of
-the want of candour in putting a false construction on his actions,
-which he could assure the House, upon his honour, were all dictated by
-the best intentions; that he should not undertake to enter into a full
-defence of his conduct at present, as it was a very delicate business,
-and turned upon a very nice chain of circumstances. One part of the
-charges against him he would slightly touch upon, his letters, and what
-he supposed was meant to be hinted at, his attempts of bribery. That
-the artful policy of France had made it necessary for him to parry her
-attacks by similar weapons; that he believed it was felt and would be
-admitted by all parts of that House, that there is no greater spring of
-public actions, in all political assemblies, than _self-interest_. That
-he felt himself justified in his own mind for every step he had taken,
-for he would venture to affirm, that in every negociation true wisdom
-and sound policy justified the moral fitness of secret articles, and
-the honourable expediency of powerful temptations. As to the failure of
-success, on the part of the commissioners, various causes had concurred
-to occasion it. They were sent to treat of peace with a retreating army.
-Philadelphia, the chief residence of the moderate men, and most friendly
-to their negociation, was evacuated by the army, on the Commissioners
-arrival. A little after they had got to New-York, Mons. D’Estaign was
-upon the coast. These circumstances gave spirits to a declining cause;
-and America, _in this hour of her insolence_, refused to treat, unless
-her independence was specifically acknowledged.
-
-What followed afterwards is a very serious business, indeed; but I trust
-I shall be pardoned by a noble Lord opposite to me, high in character,
-and in the esteem of his country, if I freely say, as my opinion, that
-Monsieur D’Estaign’s fleet ought to have been attacked by the Br[i]t[i]sh
-at Rhode-Island, as soon as the French came out of the harbour to fight
-them. And I will further say, considering the spirit, the gallantry,
-and the heroism of the British Seamen, the inequality of the force of
-the fleets was not sufficient to justify the not attacking the French
-fleet, without waiting a length of time to gain the weather guage, and
-trusting so long as the Engl[i]sh fleet did there to an unruly element.
-Sir, in the actions in the West-Indies, between the English and French
-fleets, last war, where the former were greatly inferior both in number
-and weight of metal, the French were beat off and obliged to fly for
-it. So, in the case of the Monmouth, the Dorsetshire, and several other
-instances, inferiority in the outset of the contest proved victorious in
-the end. I will not, however, dwell upon matters which merely depend upon
-opinion, and upon which the best officer in the world may be mistaken.
-But, Sir, after the tempest at Rhode-Island, when the Noble Lord returned
-to New-York to refit, was not time lost? the very time that might have
-been employed in separating D’Estaign from Boston harbour? I might say,
-Sir, in the defeat of D’Estaign; for, after the arrival of some of
-B[y]r[o]n’s squadron, the Noble Lord was superior to him.⸺It is a very
-unpleasant task to speak out, but I cannot avoid giving my opinion as
-a seaman, and as one upon the spot, acquainted with the delays in this
-business.
-
-Upon the whole, Sir, my opinion, in a very few words is this: The violent
-and impolitic measures of the M[i]n[i]stry of this country first lost
-America⸺the Br[i]t[i]sh army might have regained it⸺and our fleet has
-lost more than one opportunity of crushing that of France, upon which
-American resistance chiefly depended for protection and support.
-
-[Sidenote: Lord H[o]we.]
-
-_Lord H[o]we_ and _Mr. R[i]gby_ now rose; but the house appearing
-inclined to give the former an immediate opportunity to reply, Mr.
-R[i]gby sat down, and Lord H[o]we, in very modest yet pointed terms,
-remarked on the unfairness which, he must say, the Honourable Gentleman
-who spoke last, had discovered both in the design and manner of his
-speech. That, first, to avoid entering into the motives and principles of
-his own conduct, as being more proper objects for a particular committee
-of enquiry, and then to launch out into vague and desultory accusations
-of any other person, was inconsistent, and, he was sorry to add,
-illiberal. That whatever prejudices those reflections were intended to
-create against his conduct, he would not then interrupt the business of
-the day, and the more general subjects of the present debate, but trust
-to the candour of the house for suspending their opinion, until the whole
-of his conduct might be minutely investigated by a committee appointed
-for that purpose; which committee, he himself should be the first man in
-that house to solicit, nay demand.
-
-[Sidenote: Mr. R[i]gby.]
-
-_Mr. R[i]gby._⸺I should not, Sir, have troubled the house on this first
-day, but that I felt it the indispensable duty of private friendship,
-to express my feelings on the happy return of our worthy Commissioner,
-who has given you, Sir, so full and satisfactory an account both of his
-principles and conduct.⸺I shall not trouble you long, Sir; I rise only
-for that purpose.⸺I am sure there is no Gentleman in this house, who
-more heartily congratulates the worthy Commissioner on his unembarrassed
-countenance and his good looks. He certainly has passed the summer very
-profitably—the voyage seems to have improved his stock of spirits—I
-think, I never saw him appear to more advantage—I own, however, I
-sincerely regret the unpoliteness of his American friends. After such
-condescending invitations of himself, it was not very civil of those
-Gentlemen to send excuses—If he had been admitted to their society, I
-have no manner of doubt of the wonderful effects his eloquence would have
-wrought. Even if they had allowed him a sight of the country, a man of
-his taste would have brought us home some curious American memoirs: but,
-alas! he was not only disappointed in that wish, but in one of a still
-gentler kind. I mean, Sir, a _Flirtation Treaty_, which he _attempted_,
-to negotiate with a celebrated female politician, the _Messalina of
-Congress_. I say attempted, Sir; for unfortunately even there too his
-Excellency met with as cold a reception. Unfortunately! for, had the Lady
-indulged him with a _hearing_, or even a _sight_, what surer line to lay
-the foundation of a more lasting connection? But, in short, Sir, whether
-from fate or insufficiency, the affair dropt, and the _Flirtation Treaty_
-fell to the ground⸺ ⸺Sir, I trouble the house very seldom, and with as
-few words as possible⸺my opinion continues to be what it invariably
-has been, with respect to America—this country may be deprived of its
-interests, its dignity, and its honour; but, as I never can give my
-assent to a voluntary surrender of them, I most heartily agree in the
-support which the address proposes to afford to his M[ajest]y.
-
-[Sidenote: Mr. T. T[o]wns[e]nd.]
-
-Mr. _T. T[o]wns[e]nd_ rose, and with great vehemence arraigned the levity
-of the Right Honourable Gentleman who spoke before him; he thought it
-highly indecent, at this important crisis, when the very existence of
-this country is at stake, that any Gentleman should endeavour to raise
-a laugh, and turn the momentous deliberations of that day into ridicule.
-Under such circumstances, in his opinion, jocularity was flagitious, and
-wit became blasphemy. He had, himself, sat in three P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nts,
-and he appealed to the candour of that house, whether in that length
-of time he had once raised a laugh, or on any occasion intentionally
-distorted the muscles of any Honourable Member? “No Sir, the true
-design of our meeting here, is for far other purposes than those of
-calling forth the risibility of Honourable Gentlemen: a risibility at
-any time highly improper for this house, but particularly so at this
-tremendous, this disgraceful moment.—It is with the highest astonishment
-that I now see Gentlemen shifting their places, as if already tired of
-public business, or afraid to look into the deplorable and calamitous
-situation of this country: nay, so great is their inattention to their
-duty in P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt, that, upon my rising, I find the house almost
-cleared—where are the Members?—I am afraid—at dinner! Is this a time for
-revelling in taverns, when the dignity of the Imperial Crown of this
-country is violated, and much harm done to our merchants?—Is this a time
-for revelling, when the glory of Britannia, Sir, I say, is sullied, and
-when, Sir, the French are riding on your narrow seas.”⸺He then entered
-into a copious detail of the blunders of Administration, with respect to
-Falkland’s Islands, the Middlesex Election, Corsica, and the massacre in
-St. George’s Fields, Gibraltar, and Mr. Horne’s imprisonment; together
-with cursory observations on the illegality of impressing, the bad policy
-of Lotteries, the fatal example of the Justitia, and the tremendous
-perils to this devoted country from the frequent exhibition of the
-Beggar’s Opera.⸺At length, returning a little closer to the question, he
-again animadverted on the surprising inattention of the House: “Yet Sir,
-(he exclaimed) before I sit down let me ask Ministers a few questions—I
-do not expect any answer from them, yet I will ask them⸺Is Dominica the
-only one of our West India Islands now in the possession of France?
-Are we to go on for ever with the American war?—Who are our allies?—Is
-Omiah to pay us another visit?—Where is Sir Harry Cl[i]nt[o]n?⸺How is
-the Czarina affected?—What will D’Estaign do after Christmas?⸺Where will
-the Brest fleet be next summer?⸺If Ministers will not, and I know they
-dare not, answer these questions, then Sir, how, in God’s name, can
-they refuse the papers called for by the noble Lord’s Amendment? From
-those papers, I pledge myself to the house, the whole of these nefarious
-proceedings will be brought to light—discouraged, as I well might be,
-from again pledging my person, (having been the constant and unredeemed
-pledge of this House, for one thing or another, for these one and
-twenty years last past,) I repeat it, Sir, I will pledge the reversion
-of myself, that these papers will furnish us with all necessary and
-constitutional information.—And, for these reasons, Sir, the Amendment
-meets with my most hearty concurrence.”
-
-[Sidenote: Mr. V[y]n[e]r.]
-
-Mr. _V[y]n[e]r_ professed himself to be one of the independant Country
-Gentlemen, and took occasion to inform the house, that five Indiamen
-arrived in the River Thames about six weeks ago.—He said he embraced
-this earliest opportunity to repeat his offer of fifteen shillings in
-the pound, if Ministers would but seriously go on with the war, which,
-for his part, he now considered in a new point of view—for, as a great
-statesman had once boasted to have conquered, in his time, America in
-Germany, so he would hope and believe, that we, in our days, might
-conquer France in America.—And here, from regretting the loss of that
-great statesman, he fell into a train of melancholy thoughts, which led
-him insensibly to a pathetic eulogy on the memory of his dear departed
-friend, the well-known Mr. _Van_.—“A long course of congenial studies (he
-exclaimed, with torrents of tears and frequent sobs) had entwined our
-hearts in political sympathy—we had but one idea between us!—Yes, Sir, I
-repeat it, but one—Well therefore may I say with the Poet,
-
- In infancy our hopes and fears
- Were to each other known,
- And friendship in our riper years,
- Had twined our hearts in one.”
-
-Here he broke off, oppressed with a flood of tears, while a confused
-noise of _encore_ and _order_ resounded from several parts of the
-house. At length, when the uproar began to subside, and Gentlemen became
-collected enough to proceed on business,
-
-[Sidenote: Hon. T. L[u]ttr[e]l.]
-
-_Hon. T. L[uttre]l_ rose, and with great solemnity, addressed himself to
-the chair in the following words:⸺Notwithstanding the general silence,
-which, I find, it is the fashion for Ministers of this day not only to
-hold themselves, but likewise to encourage in others, on the important
-subject of maritime affairs, I cannot, Sir, acquiesce in so culpable a
-silence, nor content myself with sitting still, until the close of the
-debate, to be numbered with the tacit votes in its disfavour. Sir, the
-Navy, I have ever considered not only as the true and constitutional
-safe-guard of this insular territory, but as the very spirit and soul of
-all traffic, the quintessence of merchandize, and indeed, I may say, the
-palladium of commerce. With this view, Sir, my studies have ever tended
-to the investigation of the origin of that stupendous piece of mechanism,
-a ship.⸺Noah, Sir, was, in my opinion, the first circumnavigator—(I beg
-to be understood, I mean no reflection on the memory of Sir Francis
-Drake)—he was therefore, Sir, justly entitled to the highest situation
-in the naval department of that early period—take him for all in all, we
-shall not look upon his like again—though, in truth, there are traits
-in his character not totally dissimilar to some leading features of the
-noble Earl who is now at the head of that department—But it is not for me
-to draw the parallel.
-
-Sir, The Phœnicians
-
- * * * * *
-
-It was a custom also among the Chaldeans and the Nazareens
-
- * * * * *
-
-Recollect, Sir, when news was brought to the Persians
-
- * * * * *
-
-So the Macedonians
-
- * * * * *
-
-In like manner the Lacedemonians, and the Athenians
-
- * * * * *
-
-Thus too the Carthagenians
-
- * * * * *
-
-Here let me call your attention to the Romans and Syracusians
-
- * * * * *
-
-Need I remind you of the northern hive, or trouble you with the Goths and
-Vandals?
-
- * * * * *
-
-So too, Sir, the Chinese
-
- * * * * *
-
-At length, Mr. Sp[ea]k[e]r, the Danes, Dutch, Swedes, Venetians,
-Neapolitans, Spaniards, French, Portuguese, Muscovites, Turks, Saracens,
-and others, that I skip over to avoid tediousness
-
- * * * * *
-
-And to bring it home to our feelings, the ancient Britons, hardy Welch,
-Milesians, wild Irish, Saxons, Picts, Normans, English, and _Regattaites_
-rush upon our mind, and
-
- * * * * *
-
-From this historical deduction, I cannot but think, Sir, navigation
-highly necessary, highly favourable to liberty.
-
-If, Sir, I wanted any additional reason for opposing the address, it
-would best arise from the shameful neglect and inattention to those
-brave and humane French officers, (particularly the Captain of the
-Licorne,) lately on their parole at Alresford, half of whom, indeed,
-ministry have cruelly suffered to run away. Besides, Sir, let us advert
-to the wretched deficiency in our late naval equipments.⸺I have it,
-Sir, from undoubted authority, that the several ships crews laboured
-under a total deprivation of Tobacco. Tobacco! that staple commodity
-of our once flourishing subjects, now, alas, our avowed enemies, in
-Virginia, and the Southern colonies.—Sir, not only the quota of Gin
-was miserably retrenched, but adultery, so congenial to the _Noah_ of
-this day, pervaded every keg in the Royal Navy.—Sir, I myself know it
-for a fact, that the speaking trumpet of the Albion was sent out in
-so wretched a condition, that, in haling a fishing-boat, (I believe
-a cod-smack) off Scilly, the second mate cracked his pipe, and half
-the crew have been hoarse ever since—some of your ships, Sir, wanted
-their complement of Chaplains:—and in others, I will not say that I
-know there were not surgeons, but I will say, I do _not_ know that
-there were. Sir, more fatal consequences have arisen from a strange
-neglect of vegetables—Potatoes, radically rotten!—Carrots, diabolically
-dry!—Turnips, totally tough!—Parsnips, pitifully putrid!⸺Scurvy, Sir,
-Scurvy, like the angry Dæmon of Pestilence, has lighted up everlasting
-bon-fires in the blotched brows and cicatracious cheeks of your scarified
-seamen; so that every crew has flashed contagion, and reeked like a
-floating Pest-house, with the baneful exhalations of disease.—And now,
-Sir, that I’m on my legs, a word or two to trowzers—Such is the pitiful
-œconomy of Administration, such the paltry treachery of Contractors,
-that, what from an original coarseness of yarn, what, from the more
-pernicious and slovenly texture of the workmanship, not a trowzer but
-gaped with lacerations, whose expanded apertures discovered what⸺the
-P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt[a]ry decorum of this house, forbids me to reveal.
-Spurred on by such powerful incentives, I take this earliest occasion
-to give notice to the house, that I shall move, on this day fortnight,
-for the house to resolve itself into a Committee, in order to take into
-consideration the several weighty grievances, the outline of which I
-have just now had the honour to give you a rude sketch.—When, I shall
-also move you, Sir, that the several Maltsters, Distillers of Gin,
-Venders of Tobacco, Traders in Trowzers, Retailers of Rum, Picklers of
-Pork, and Purveyors of Potatoes, together with their several servants,
-followers, apprentices and retainers, be ordered to attend this house _de
-die in diem_, to answer all such questions and matters touching the said
-enquiry, as shall be put to them by the Committee so to be appointed.—In
-the mean time, Sir, I shall give my hearty concurrence to the noble
-Lord’s Amendment, as promising to afford some degree of preliminary
-information, which may tend to illustrate the more important matter in
-the Enquiry which I have now proposed to set on foot.
-
-[Sidenote: Mr. P[e]nt[o]n.]
-
-Mr. _P[e]nt[o]n_, in reply, begged pardon for troubling the house,
-but hoped they would indulge him in a few words, as he felt himself
-particularly called on to answer some reflections which the Honourable
-Gentleman, who had spoke last, had thought proper to throw out against
-that board where he had the honour to sit.—He said, that, at the time of
-the fitting out of Mr. K[e]pp[e]l’s fleet, he had made it his business
-to be very much at Portsmouth, where, though it was a task exceedingly
-repugnant to his private feelings and taste, he had, however, considered
-it as an official service incumbent on one in his department, to
-personally experiment the several provisions and stores prepared for that
-equipment. That, impelled by such motives, he had, on several occasions,
-drank the small beer, not unfrequently tasted the gin, and sometimes
-smoak’d, nay chewed the tobacco; that, in his humble opinion, they were
-all super-excellent in their several kinds. And, as to the imputed
-delinquency relative to potatoes, he could assure the house, he had
-bought up several tuns of the same species, for the consumption of his
-own family—nay, he would go further, he would venture to acquaint that
-house, that with some of those very identical potatoes, he had lately
-had the happiness and honour to regale a certain Great Personage, then
-his guest; a personage indeed of too high a rank to have his name even
-alluded to, though on so weighty, and so important a business.
-
-[Sidenote: Mr. B[urke].]
-
-_Mr. B[u]rke_⸺I must confess, Sir, notwithstanding my long and melancholy
-experience of the present administration, I cannot hear, without
-astonishment, the language held forth by the speech, and echoed in this
-day’s debate. This session, Sir, at a period big with horror, pregnant
-with ruin to this country, is ushered in with the song of triumph; and
-parliament are bid to rejoice at a time when nothing but the language
-of despair is to be heard throughout the nation. Surely, Sir, the hour
-is at last arrived, when humility and moderation ought to take place
-of pride and confidence; when, instead of launching further into a sea
-of troubles, we might be content to try what little can be saved from
-the wreck of national honour and prosperity. Ministers might at length
-condescend to tell us, what means are left to avert the gathering ruin;
-how we are to tread back the mazes of error and folly, through which
-we have been led; and where are the resources from which one gleam of
-hope might dawn upon us, in the hour of danger and despair—But, deaf to
-the solemn call of occasion and necessity, they rejoice in the absence
-of thought, in the contempt of foresight. Like the wretch who seeks in
-stupefaction a momentary relief from sorrow, they sink from a voluntary
-intoxication into a torpid insensibility. The illusion, indeed, is not
-to be confined within the narrow limits of their own minds; its baneful
-influence must be circulated through every corner of the nation; and, by
-a shameful perversion, that anxiety for the public welfare, which, in
-times like these, is, in my opinion, the highest of public virtues, must
-be amused with the pageantry of domestic warfare, or lulled by the opiate
-of our American Gazettes. I own, Sir, even on principles of criticism,
-I cannot but consider the stile of these Ministerial annals, as no
-very favourable criterion of the present times. In happier days, their
-characteristic was plain conciseness. Victories were then too rapid, too
-numerous, to admit of a dilated relation.—Success is seldom tedious, but
-I am afraid our highest atchievements have amounted to no more than the
-inroads of savages, or the depredations of pyrates. Upon my word, Sir,
-though we may censure our Officers, our Ministers at least shew some
-generalship; if they cannot deceive the enemy, they are prompt enough
-to mislead their countrymen; though they discover but little skill in
-the arrangement of armies, they have an admirable talent in marshalling
-Gazettes. They have given celebrity to sheep-stealing, and blazoned, in
-all the pompous prolixity of ostentatious phraseology, the important
-depredations at—_Martha’s_ Island—Certainly, Sir, the gallant Commander
-of that expedition may vie in pastoral atchievements with Ajax, with
-Jason, or at least Don Quixote; and, if he does not obtain a triumph, he
-is clearly entitled to an _ovation_. Not, Sir, that I mean to cast any
-reflection on those Officers and Soldiers to whose lot these ridiculous
-services have fallen—they, no doubt, have effected every thing that the
-bravery of the British troops in such a situation could accomplish; but
-the Hand of Nature, Sir, has thrown in their way obstacles which it
-was not in the most obstinate valour, in the most consummate wisdom to
-surmount. It is a want of confidence in the directors of this war that
-has chilled every vein, and slackened every sinew of military enterprize.
-Besides, Sir, if I may be permitted to indulge a little superstition,
-there is a certain fatality attending the measures of Administration:
-through all their bungling operations of war, through all their wretched
-plans of peace, the evil Genius, Sir, of this country, seems to haunt
-their footsteps. He it is that has suffered them to wander on, undismayed
-by danger, unabashed by reproaches, from one absurdity to another, ’till
-our blunders and our follies have at length reared that stupendous
-fabric of American Empire that now engrosses the attention, and claims
-the wonder of mankind. Allow me, Sir, to pause for a moment, while I
-contemplate this phœnomenon of modern ages, this new constellation in
-the western hemisphere; a mighty and extensive empire, not rising by
-slow degrees and from small beginnings, but bursting forth at once into
-full vigour and maturity; not cherished in the soft lap of peace and
-commerce, but shaking off in its outset the long established dominion of
-a powerful master, and thriving in the midst of carnage and desolation.
-“Ab ipso ducit opes animumq. bello.” If we view them in another light, as
-completely enthroned in sovereignty, as receiving embassies from distant
-potentates, as forming leagues with the princes and states of Europe,
-we shall find more abundant matter for self-humiliation—I could wish to
-shut my eyes on the scene that follows: The parent baffled and depressed,
-imploring pardon of her injured and alienated children, yielding to
-their successful resistance, what she had denied to their prayers and
-petitions, and offering every concession short of a total emancipation;
-but scorned and rejected in her turn, not (as she had rejected them)
-with rudeness and insolence, but with firmness and with dignity; and
-convinced, at length, that the day of conciliation is past, and that the
-groundwork of peace can only be laid on the broad basis of equality and
-independance.
-
-Is this the unconditional submission the noble Lord in the American
-department so prodigally announced? This is indeed unconditional
-submission, but unconditional submission from Great Britain to America.
-
-Gentlemen may remember how often my voice has preached peace within these
-walls; how often it has warned administration to healing measures, while
-the wounds of America might yet have been closed. I will still repeat it,
-’till the echo of this house shall be conscious of no other sound; Peace,
-Peace, Peace, is still my object.
-
-It is now high time, Sir, that Gentlemen should awaken to a sense of
-our danger, that Parliament should discard those wretched schemes of
-short-sighted policy, which cannot, in our present situation, afford even
-a temporary refuge. As yet, we experience only the beginnings of our
-sorrows; but the storms of adversity are gathering fast around us, and
-the vessel is still trusted to the direction of Pilots, whose ignorance
-and obstinacy has been manifest to all the world.⸺What thanks, Sir, to
-the vigilance of our Rulers, that we are not already sunk beyond the
-possibility of redemption? What thanks to them, that the flower of our
-army and navy, and with them all the hopes of Britain had not withered
-before the power of a lately dejected but now triumphant enemy? Is it
-owing to their care that the rich produce of the Western Isles has not
-flowed into every harbour of France?
-
-No, Sir, it is the hand of Providence that wards off for a while the ruin
-of this declining empire. It is Providence alone that has preserved our
-gallant Admirals in America, by an almost miraculous interposition.—It is
-due to Providence alone, that the heart-strings of our commerce are not
-cut asunder by the sword of our adversaries.
-
-I own, Sir, I cannot join in an implicit approbation of such ministers: I
-must be a little better acquainted with their merits before I can place
-an unlimited confidence in their wisdom and discretion; that discretion
-which has led us into a labyrinth of difficulties; that wisdom that
-cannot find a clue for our deliverance.
-
-[Sidenote: Mr. D[u]nn[in]g.]
-
-Mr _D[u]nn[i]ng_ said a few words, which, from the learned gentleman’s
-being particularly hoarse and uncommonly inarticulate, owing (as has
-been suggested) to a violent cold, and a multiplicity of business in
-Westminster-hall, we could not collect with the accuracy that we wish
-to observe on every occasion. His language was neat and pointed, though
-somewhat tinctured with professional pedantry: his arguments seemed
-ingenious, though perhaps too refined for the comprehension of his
-auditors. He had much antithesis, much verbal gingle, and many whimsical
-climaxes. He talked of the competency or incompetency of the House to the
-discussion of the present question; of the materiality or immateriality
-of the proposed amendment; of the responsibility or irresponsibility of
-Ministers. He said, he neither asked, nor knew, nor cared to what the
-present question might ultimately tend; but of this he was confident,
-that it’s propriety was clearly evinced, and it’s necessity irrefragably
-proved by that opposition which purported to baffle it.—Upon the whole,
-his harrangue seemed to be a medley of legal quibble and quaint humour.
-
-[Sidenote: Mr. S[olicito]r G[enera]l.]
-
-Mr. _S[o]ll[i]c[i]t[o]r-G[e]n[e]r[a]l_, CONTRA, began with _declaring_,
-that when he _tuk_ his present office, he _understud_ it to be a _General
-Retainer_, to _shew cause_ in behalf of Administration: That, therefore,
-he hoped to be favoured with a few words by way of _replication_ to
-his learned friend: That he might in this case have insisted on _want
-of notice_, but, for the sake of candour in practice, he would waive
-that objection; for, that he had no doubt, on the merits, but that
-_judgment wud be given_ in his favour: _Protesting_, that the speech
-was _warranted_ by _precedent_, and had _the highest authority_ in it’s
-support: _Protesting_ also, that no _gud_ objection _cud_ be made to
-the address, as it strictly pursued the very words of the speech. He
-_justified, under an immemorial custom_, that Administration _have been
-accustomed to have, and still of right ought to have_, certain echoes in
-this House, called _Addresses_.—He admitted, that _true it was_, there
-had been some _errors in our proceedings_ with respect to America; but
-he was informed, and believed, that Sir Henry Clinton intended to have
-a _new trial_. As to the cause of Great Britain _versus_ France, he
-had been given to understand and be informed, that the place in which
-the _trespass_ was supposed to have been committed, was, PARCEL of
-the Island of Dominica, _in parts beyond the seas_; which place said
-French, with force of arms, to wit, with ships of divers guns, drums,
-trumpets, bayonets, hand grenades, and cartridge boxes, had broken and
-entered, _doing nevertheless as little damage on that occasion as they
-possibly cud_: but that he was clearly of opinion, that if the troops
-of said France should _traverse_ the Channel, and lay _a Venue_ in Kent
-or Sussex, _issue might be joined_ by the militia at Cox-Heath; and, in
-that case, _afterwairds_, if verdict _shud_ be given in our favour, the
-adverse party would sustain heavy and exemplary _damages_.—He concluded
-with _averring_, that he approved of the address in it’s present form;
-and that he should _demur_ to the amendment moved by the Noble _Lud_, as
-_multifarious, uncertain, insufficient, and informal_.
-
-[Sidenote: Mr F[o]x.]
-
-Mr _F[o]x_ now rose; and, with that extent of information, refined
-perspicuity, and vehemence of eloquence, by which he so invariably
-commands the attention and admiration of the House, entered at large into
-the subject of debate.
-
-To do justice to the force of his reasoning, or elegance of his stile,
-is totally beyond the utmost efforts of the editor.—All that he can
-attempt is, to give an imperfect sketch of an inimitable original.⸺He
-began with lamenting the accomplishment of that ruin, which, from time
-to time, he had too justly predicted. He confessed, that little merit
-could be ascribed to those prophecies; which, however chimerical and
-visionary ministers had affected to consider them, were, in fact, no
-more than plain deductions of what must necessarily ensue from their own
-measures. He proceeded to recapitulate the conduct of Administration
-since the prorogation of Parliament; particularly observing on the
-impolitic removal of the troops from Philadelphia at the moment, when, if
-ever, their continuance _there_ might have effected some good purpose.
-The concealment of that intended evacuation, even from the Commissioners
-themselves, was a part (he said) of that system of duplicity and
-deception which pervaded the whole of ministerial conduct. Possibly,
-indeed, Ministers were aware, that gentlemen of high character and
-esteem would not have become the executive tools of a plan so wretchedly
-concerted. The Commissioners therefore were not suffered to participate
-in counsels, which, if they had known, they must have despised. Nor was
-folly more conspicuous in the origin than in the prosecution of this
-paltry disingenuous plan. Sir Henry Clinton, to whose courage and conduct
-every praise is due, was ordered to return to New-York. Encumbered with
-baggage, and pursued by an army superior in numbers, he made his way
-thro’ the almost impervious forests of that country; and, by almost a
-miraculous effort, not only secured his retreat, but in the Jerseys had
-the good fortune to resist the enemy with some success—a success however,
-which, without disparaging the British troops, must in great part be
-attributed to General Lee; who, in consequence of his misconduct in that
-affair, was immediately put in arrest, and afterwards suspended for the
-space of a year.
-
-He went on with indicating the circumstance of a fleet of Victuallers
-having been sent to Philadelphia, after the army, which was to be
-supplied by that fleet, had been ordered to evacuate Philadelphia.—That
-fleet, he said, had narrowly escaped being taken in the Delaware; and,
-thence, he argued Ministers were as culpable, as if, in consequence
-of the capture of that fleet, the army, then arrived at New-York, had
-famished for want of those provisions, on which their future subsistance
-was wholly dependant.
-
-He said, he was yet to learn what plan Administration could pretend to
-alledge they had followed, or meant to follow, in America. Upon what
-grounds could they attempt to prosecute an _offensive_ war? Or, taking
-the alternative, how can they presume to say they have acted on the
-_defensive_?⸺As to the first, they have thirty thousand men to conquer
-the continent of America: admitting then the superiority of their army
-and their navy, still he contended that superiority had been, and ever
-must be ineffectual and useless; because, as long as the English army and
-navy co-operate, the Americans will never have the unnecessary temerity
-to give up the advantage of situation, or expose their cause to the
-hazard of one decisive engagement. The last campaign was the clearest
-proof of that position; and, now, though our fleet was superior to the
-French, yet D’Estaign is safe at Boston.—It was, on that principle,
-he doubted not, the gallant and experienced Commanders of the last
-campaign had formed their conduct: It was their policy, and, in his
-opinion, the best policy, to keep a collected force, and to avoid any
-inferior exertions, that might require a separation, or weaken that
-superiority, which, in case of a decisive action, they rightly judged
-could alone have been fatal to American resistance.—It remained for
-General Clinton to pursue a contrary policy.—Yet, though (he declared)
-no man in that house entertained a higher respect for the personal and
-professional merit of that able Commander, (who from his particular
-talent for military enterprise, and his education under the Prince of
-Brunswick, was best calculated for effecting such a plan) yet, from the
-minutest investigation of the late Gazettes, he could not collect any
-very auspicious presage of his military career. If indeed, from his
-observation, of what had already happened, he might hazard an opinion of
-what may happen, we had no reason to rejoice at the revival of that plan
-of separation, which had proved so fatal in the Northern expedition. He
-was sorry he had mentioned that expedition—It led him to a subject he
-wished to avoid.—He had been accused of an asperity of reflexion on the
-conduct of the noble Lord who planned that expedition. He would strive,
-in future, to overcome his indignation, by indulging his contempt for
-the Adviser of it.—Yet, thus much he would say; though unhappy for this
-country, it was happy for our troops, happy for our officers, to be
-directed and controlled by a Minister, to whose wisdom not even Envy
-could ascribe one particle of their success, in whose imbecillity even
-Justice would afford them an asylum from every disgrace.
-
-Having thus stated the impracticability of an offensive war in
-America, either on the former plan of united force, or on the present
-separate efforts, he recurred to the other part of his argument,
-whether Administration could pretend to alledge their having adopted
-the alternative, and formed even a defensive plan for America and the
-West-Indies?⸺If they dared to assume that merit, how could they expect
-the House to attend, with any degree of patience, to such a mockery of
-all truth? On any rational plan of mere defence, would they not have left
-a force at New-York, Rhode-Island, and Halifax, fully able to prevent
-any attack in that quarter; at the same time, detaching a sufficient
-force to protect the West-India Islands?—Upon such a plan, would not any
-spirited Minister have grafted some degree of activity and enterprise?
-Would He not have attacked Martinique, Guadaloupe, or St. Domingo? Such
-conduct would have struck terror to France, we should have been enriched
-by new acquisitions, or, at least, have prevented the disgrace of our own
-losses.
-
-But, admitting that this defensive plan may have been but recently
-adopted, how are Administration to regain the time they have lost, or
-what resources of finance are still unexhausted to prosecute even this
-plan? Are all the Country Gentlemen equally disposed to devote fifteen
-shillings in the pound to carry on this defensive war? Are they all
-equally delighted with the great and growing ruin of an accumulating
-debt and a decreasing revenue? Or do they rest their hopes on the wealth
-of our East-India trade? Do they know that, there too, the French are
-undermining the foundation of our commerce? Or is it studiously concealed
-from them, that the French ministry have sent Monsieur Vaugelin to
-Canton, in the quality of their Consul at the Chinese Court?⸺He had heard
-much of a sudden increase of national wealth by our late captures, but,
-at best, the prizes of privateers are a partial benefit; they can enrich
-but a few individuals; they afford no diminution of the general burthens
-of a whole people. In the present instance, the truth was these boasted
-prizes were, in fact, public losses; the French having had the art to
-insure their most valuable ships, particularly the Indiamen, by English
-policies—besides that, several of the richest captures were actually
-freighted with consignments to English merchants.
-
-But, supposing this extraordinary spirit of bounty should become general
-among the Country Gentlemen, and that, to support a war which had totally
-lost the original object of revenue, for which they had been tempted
-to engage in it; supposing they were all well inclined to a land-tax
-of fifteen shillings in the pound, and determined to overflow the
-Exchequer with an extraordinary redundance of profusion, yet would they
-be particularly happy that all that wealth should be portioned out to
-subsidise Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Hanau, Waldeck, Brandebourg-Anspach, and
-all the mercenaries of Germany? Or that it should wholly be devoted to
-satiate the monopolising avarice of a Russian alliance? You have no force
-at home—you are almost defenseless.⸺
-
-[Sidenote: Col. T[u]ffn[e]ll.]
-
-(Here he was called to order by Colonel Tuffnell for speaking of the
-_defenceless_ state of this country.) Col. _T[u]ffn[e]ll_ said, the word
-_defenceless_ was, to the last degree, improper and disorderly; for that
-he himself had the command at Dover Castle, opposite Calais, where,
-though the country all about it was rather flat, he would not wish such
-a word as _defenceless_ to be sent from that house to Paris, by any
-friend of Dr. Franklin’s. And, as he was on his legs, he must say, that
-word _defenceless_ was doubly wrong, from the late state of the camps;
-where, in spite of French spies, there had been the utmost discipline,
-unanimity, peace, and quietness; except, indeed, some desertions, much
-nakedness, frequent floggings, and several duels.
-
-Mr. _F[o]x_ then proceeded, without any remark on this interruption;
-and observed, that every petty Landgrave and Margrave had already been
-exhausted; they had no more Chasseurs, no more mercenary boors, to
-fight, or rather not to fight, our battles. Russia is frozen up for
-some months; and, not improbably, the courts of Berlin and Vienna would
-sufficiently engage her in their Bavarian contest; or, at least, not
-make it adviseable for her to lessen the internal defence of a country
-surrounded with such powerful armies. As to the Fleet, how could it be
-recruited with sailors or marines? Though even the spirit of adventure
-could instantly man every Privateer that had been fitted out, yet the
-noble Lord at the head of the Admiralty had pretended to palliate his own
-incapacity and criminal neglect, by alledging it was almost impossible,
-even with an extraordinary bounty, and the utmost rigour of an Impress
-and an Embargo, to man the Royal Fleet—the fact was, the minds of the
-people were obstinately bent against this American war; nay, even against
-a French war, when France became the protector of America.
-
-With such Ministers, such principles, such plans, such internal
-resources, such prospects of alliance; Gentlemen were now called on to
-echo the Speech, to panegyrize an Administration too despicable for
-satire, to plunge this devoted country in aggravated ruin, and, with a
-remorseless dispair, to _desolate_ what they had found impossible to
-_subdue_.
-
-[Sidenote: Lord N[o]rth.]
-
-L[o]rd _N[o]rth_.[8] Mr. Sp[eake]r, at the same time that I agree with
-many Gentlemen who have spoken in the course of this day’s debate, that
-the present is a very serious moment of deliberation, I can by no means
-join with them in thinking our situation is desperate, though, I confess,
-it is distressing.
-
-Sir, in all cases of distress or difficulty there is some relief to be
-found in comparison. Gentlemen who hear me, will admit that this country,
-in former wars, has been acquainted with unfortunate events. The loss
-of some of our possessions, and the failure of enterprizes, marked the
-onset of last war. Commanders were unsuccessful, perhaps criminal;—I do
-not mean to draw a complete analogy between that period and the present—I
-only mean to observe, that there has been no difficulty in modern
-times, from which this Country has not been able to extricate itself,
-when rouzed by a sense of its wrongs, and determined to vindicate its
-justice, its dignity, and its honour.⸺In saying this, I shall be told by
-Gentlemen that we were indebted to a great Character in the midst of our
-misfortunes during the last war, and that, by his vigour and enterprizing
-genius, this Country was extricated from her embarrassing situation. I
-will join heartily in paying that tribute of truth to his memory⸺Would
-to God that such a man were alive at this moment, to step forward with
-the full exertion of the same zeal, and the same talents. I would yield
-to none as a second in the work, though I confess my inability to be
-employed as a first.
-
-Sir, the Honourable Gentleman who spoke last, has gone over such a
-variety of ground, and has given so large a history of the wickedness
-of Ministers during the American war, that the asperity with which he
-has delivered it, would be a sufficient reason for my silence, did I not
-think it necessary, from a duty I owe to this house and to my country, to
-give some answers to assertions which have fallen from him.
-
-Sir,[9] to the first complaint, which the Honourable Gentleman makes,
-of the Minister’s concealment from the Commissioners of the removal of
-the troops from Philadelphia, I shall only answer, that the importance
-of that proceeding required the nicest secrecy, and (though I do not
-mean to suggest the least idea disadvantageous to the confidence of the
-Commissioners) it is perhaps owing to the secret decision upon that
-matter, that the removal of the fleet and army from the Delaware was
-so timely, and so effectually executed. And I will add, that (whatever
-opinions may have been conceived either by the Commissioners or any
-other persons) the events, which have since happened, amply justify the
-wisdom of the measure.⸺With respect to the bad policy, as some Gentlemen
-have called it, of opening a negotiation with a retreating army, will
-any one tell me, that, had your army and navy been blocked up by Mons.
-D’Estaign’s fleet, with the prospect of all of the latter being utterly
-destroyed in the Delaware, the Congress would have been more inclined to
-treat with your Commissioners, than when all were safe at New-York?—Were
-they inclined to negotiate with Lord H[o]we and Sir William H[o]we, (who
-had sufficient powers) at Philadelphia, after the receipt of the bills,
-and before the arrival of the new Commissioners?⸺No, Sir—no appearances
-of reconciliation on the part of the Congress were shewn at that
-time:—their minds, worked up by their leaders to a spirit of enthusiasm,
-indulged the expectation of destruction to our fleet, at least, from the
-powers of France.—I am free to confess, Sir, that when I heard Mons.
-D’Estaign had arrived in America previous to Admiral Byron, (whose fleet
-had been so unfortunately dispersed) I had little hopes from the temper
-and inclinations of the Congress, that they would be induced to treat;
-until some blow had been struck, and that on our part, of a successful
-nature.—My confidence was, and still is, Sir, in the people there at
-large—groaning under the worst of all tyrannies, involved in a ruinous,
-and, I maintain, an unsuccessful war; and driven by their corrupted
-leaders into a most unnatural connection with France; I say, Sir, if
-one spark of British sense and honour yet remains, if one drop of blood
-of this country still flows in the veins of the Americans, they will
-avail themselves of our liberality, and return to their former happy and
-enviable subordination to this country.
-
-With respect to the Fleet of Victuallers, which, the Honourable
-Gentleman observed, had a narrow escape from the Delaware, it was
-supposed they had sailed from Corke, some time before the orders were
-sent from hence for the evacuation of Philadelphia; and it is very lucky
-they did not sail for New-York; for, if they had, they would have met
-with Monsieur D’Estaign there.
-
-It has been urged by the Honourable Gentleman, that the American war can
-be no longer made offensive; and therefore, if a defensive one has been
-adopted, why not leave a sufficient number of troops for the defence of
-New-York, Rhode-Island, Halifax, and the Floridas? and strike some blow
-at the French Settlements in the West-Indies.—Gentlemen will recollect
-the little time that has elapsed since the evacuation of Philadelphia,
-the attack and defence of Rhode-Island, and the transactions between Lord
-Howe’s and D’Estaign’s Fleet, and they will see how difficult it was to
-be at a great many places at the same time.—With respect to Dominica,
-Sir, the loss of it is certainly a misfortune, but, I trust, only a
-temporary one. There can be no blame laid upon the Ministers for that
-event, because, in the very beginning of the war with France, ships were
-sent sufficient to make at least a superior force to the French in the
-West-Indies. I am aware of the force of the argument that will be made
-use of upon this occasion—Gentlemen will say, You have so many places
-and possessions to guard, that many of them must be vulnerable; and
-therefore it is impossible to go on in a war with France and America at
-the same time, with any reasonable expectations of success.—This argument
-will lead me to enter a little into what I conceive to be our actual
-situation at home and abroad.—With respect to this country, Sir, it is
-protected by a fleet superior to the French.—It contains, to the honour
-of those who have sacrificed domestic ease to public spirit, a very fine
-army, including the regulars, of 50,000 men.—Your ships of trade and
-merchandise have arrived safe and unmolested; whilst the Privateers and
-Letters of Marque have made considerable havock upon the property of our
-enemies.⸺And here I must remark upon two observations which have fallen
-from the Honourable Gentleman who spoke last.—The first, with respect to
-the number of sailors who have entered on board these ships at a time
-when there was so much difficulty in manning the fleet, and which is
-a charge of ignorance in obtaining them upon the Admiralty.—Sir, the
-bounty which has been given to seamen by individuals, to enter on board
-Privateers and Letters of Marque, has been enormous—I have been told
-10 l.—15 l.—and 20 l. a-man.—This, with the expectation of the larger
-share of prize-money received by lesser vessels, has been a sufficient
-inducement to men to enter on board those ships.⸺Upon the other
-observation, that the prizes we have taken consist chiefly of British
-property, and are insured here—I shall only remark, that the Merchant
-here who employs French shipping and French navigation, in preference
-to the British, ought to suffer.—But, Sir, with respect to insurance,
-let us see which of the two countries suffers most on that head.—The
-insurance upon French ships homeward bound has been very high.—Upon the
-French Indiamen, I have heard, so high as 75 l. per cent.—Then, Sir, this
-being the case, if the Frenchman arrives safe in France, the Englishman
-gets 75 l. per cent.—If he is taken, he loses but 25 l. per cent. whilst
-his neighbour shares the prize entirely.—Surely, therefore, Sir, this
-country has certainly much the best of the bargain.—This, however, Sir,
-great as these advantages are, is no reason nor no inducement with me
-for continuing the war.—I am obliged to recur so often to what has been
-said, that I beg pardon for deviating from the chief object, at least
-of my consideration—that of our actual situation at home and abroad.—I
-have already said, Sir, that we are sufficiently defended by our navy
-and army at home.—We have certainly a greater superiority of both in
-North America—of ships in the West-Indies—superior in the East-Indies,
-and shall be more so when the ships now ready to proceed thither, and
-with troops, are arrived there.—Sir, there is wealth, I trust there is
-likewise spirit enough in this country, to support us even in a more
-embarrassing situation than the present. And, though Gentlemen may have
-wished to impeach the security of this country, I will fairly tell
-them, that, such is the confidence, even in the hour of her distress,
-foreigners of all nations have given, and do give, the preference to our
-funds;—the falling of which, immediately after the opening of the last
-budget, is to be imputed entirely to the jobbing of a good purchase at
-a low bargain, and not to a want of confidence in the nation. I could
-deduce many reasons to justify me in this opinion; and I could call upon
-the Dutch, as the best politicians, in support of it.—Nor, Sir, will I
-admit the prospect of ruin to be before us, until I see that the justice
-of our cause has left us, and that there no longer exists that zeal and
-bravery which have distinguished the people of Great Britain, as superior
-to the rest of the world⸺Sir, a great deal has been said by Gentlemen
-(who have in my idea gone over, unnecessarily at this time, the whole
-of the American war) with respect to the conduct of it.⸺I believe, even
-the most inveterate enemies Ministers may have, will allow that there
-was transported to a greater distance, than ever was known before, the
-finest army; that you fed and maintained it at that distance; and that,
-from its excellence and its superiority, you had a right to expect the
-most happy advantages. So far the business, as it concerned Ministry, was
-well transacted. But, Sir, then comes the question—were the plans and the
-directions to execute them wise and practicable?⸺I cannot but say, Sir,
-for my own part, and, as far as my Judgment went, they were so⸺I do not
-mean to suggest any thing invidious towards the Officers to whom commands
-and responsibility were delegated⸺I am not one of those who easily
-condemn, certainly never will, before I have just grounds for doing so⸺If
-our Army and Navy have not done in every part of the world what was
-expected of them—Parliament can enquire, can approve, or censure⸺This
-however appears to me but a secondary subject for our consideration.
-
-Sir, much has been said with respect to the Union of France and America,
-and the probability there is that Spain will soon be a party in it. I
-will not rob many honourable Gentlemen of the gift of prophecy, of what
-Spain will do in this conjuncture; but, Sir, surely her interest and her
-policy should be to resist the Independance of America—She will never,
-by protecting rebellion in our colonies, hold out encouragement to her
-own to follow their example. It is idle, Sir, to indulge the idea of the
-Spanish settlements in South America trading with the North Americans, by
-purchasing, with Spanish Bullion, North American commodities. The Court
-of Spain is much too wise, I think, to adopt such a measure. What, Sir,
-might be the consequence? An intercourse and trade between the extremes
-of that great quarter of the globe might at last be united by a centre,
-and establish the greatest dominion in the World. For, time may produce
-daring and flagitious characters in that continent also, whose object it
-may be to destroy the sovereignty of Spain over her Colonists—Neither can
-I agree with Gentlemen in thinking, that the union of America and France
-can be lasting. I might as well suppose that different religions, Liberty
-and slavery, in short, that contrarieties can form a system, as admit
-that unity and harmony can ever last between France and America—Neither
-of the countries expect it—The one supports, and the other receives,
-merely for the temporary purpose of distressing Great Britain⸺France can
-have no thoughts of establishing herself in the Heart of America. And
-America will only avail herself of the assistance of France, until she is
-at peace with this Country.
-
-In the mean time, however, our exertions must be of a powerful nature
-to resist this unnatural alliance—And here, Sir, let me return to
-the consideration of what is proper to be done in consequence of his
-M[ajes]ty’s speech.
-
-Sir, in giving my entire approbation of what has been proposed by the
-Honourable Gentleman in the motion for the Address, I trust I shall be
-forgiven, if I submit to the House the necessity there is at this time
-of vigour and firmness in all our proceedings, in order to give a spirit
-to national exertion. And, whilst we regret that even our unanimity and
-liberal offers have not been productive of peaceable accommodation with
-America, I trust that her ingratitude may yet meet with the recompence
-such a conduct has deserved: in holding out this doctrine, I mean not to
-forget that America is still the offspring of Great Britain: that when
-she returns to her duty, she will be received with open arms, and all her
-faults be buried in oblivion.
-
-In a word, Sir, the period is arrived, when it is no longer a question
-who is to be Minister, who are to compose a party, or who have been to
-blame. Such discussions will not probably obtain conviction on either
-side—The day has passed for reflexions on those who have been alledged to
-have given confidence to Insurgency, or on those who have been said to
-have provoked it. The object of your consideration is now⸺the salvation
-of your Country.
-
-For myself, Sir, I shall no longer desire to remain in my own situation,
-than his Majesty, and this House, think I can be useful in it. If any one
-Man will take it from me, He will relieve me from the most anxious tasks
-that any Minister probably ever experienced: But, till then, Sir, I look
-to the support of this house, and to that of all good Men in defending
-and maintaining the glory and honour of Great Britain.
-
-[Sidenote: Col. B[a]rré.]
-
-Col. _B[a]rré_ began with recounting his predictions.—I foretold in the
-outset of the American contest, that your obstinacy would establish
-independance of the colonies. My first prophecy was, that France would
-join them—was I wrong?—I will boldly hazard one prediction more—I say,
-Spain sooner or later will join both⸺such are the allies of America.—Who
-are your’s? The Onandagas, the Tuscaroras, and the Choctaws! These are
-your copper coloured allies, that fix a stain on the name of Britain;
-and disgrace this country even in victory, as well as defeat—I knew of
-these alliances, and their barbarities, so early as the 8th of June
-last. I have a letter from a friend of mine at Poughkeepsie, of that
-date;—the Indians, headed by Col. B[u]tl[e]r, began their rapine in
-_Cherry Valley_; parties of _Indians and Tories_ (so my friend couples
-those blood-hounds of desolation) butchered the innocent inhabitants of
-_Sacandago_, and spread ruin and carnage through _Minisink_—I am sure,
-Col. B[u]tl[e]r, (who is indeed as gallant and amiable an Officer as
-ever I knew, and I know him well) never would have embrued his hands in
-innocent blood, but that he knew he must sacrifice his feelings to the
-speculative, I do not say practical, violence, of the American Secretary.
-Gen. C[a]rlt[o]n lost the Noble Lord’s favour by his abhorrence of
-the tomahawk and the scalping knife:—have not we tried those satanic
-instruments of death too long? Is the whole of Miss _Macreas_ race to be
-sacrificed? Not one innocent babe left unbutchered to lisp out the tale
-of that devoted, that unhappy family? Of whom are we now to enquire for
-any official documents of your war? I see no Secretary of War in this
-house? Does the American Secretary monopolize and consolidate all warlike
-business? I hope not.⸺
-
-Sir, I beg pardon for the heat which I find rising within me—but the
-inexorable hour of vengeance is not far distant; the heavy load of black
-and bloody guilt will sink you all.—The time will come when the thunder
-of the cannon will be heard at your walls. Examples will be made. The
-Tower and the Block must expiate the crimes of Ministers. The voice of
-truth will be heard. The Rubicon is passed.⸺Sir, what is the comparative
-state of the revenues of France, and of this country? Mons. Neckar, a
-very able and a very amiable man, has, I understand, found taxes, and
-not oppressive ones, for two years;—is that a fact?—The revenue of this
-country is diminished—it has been gradually so during this detestable
-war—will Ministers deny it? Good God, Sir, what a state are we in?
-Dominica lost!—Sir, Monsieur Bouillé was once my particular friend—Sir,
-he is returned to France for fresh powers and orders—look to your
-West-India settlements, callous as we are, we cannot bear the loss of
-them.
-
-Sir, I am astonished at the blind credulity of Ministry—can they be so
-very simple as to trust to vague compliments against those decisive words
-of the Pacte de Famille, the Family Compact, “Qui attaque une couronne
-attaque l’autre;” (I translate for the country Gentlemen) whoever attacks
-one crown attacks the other.⸺I know Count Almodovar—I was introduced to
-him by my old friend, Don Francisco Buccarelli:—I never shall forget
-dining with him at a kind of Table d’Hotes, in a tavern opposite the
-Escurial;—as chance would have it, many more illustrious characters dined
-with us that day; there was the Count, his wife’s cousin, and myself, on
-one side of the table;—Count Cobentzel, and Baron Reidesdel (who were
-then on their travels) and Duke de Chartres (who had just come from
-Paris) sat opposite to us—Monsieur de Sartine (who came in the Duke’s
-vis a vis) was at the foot of the table; and we put Buccarelli in the
-chair⸺we had an excellent dinner—the wine was good—and we toasted the
-Madrid beauties in bumpers of Packeretti—however, I was not so far gone
-but I can very well remember what Almodovar whispered in my ear, while
-_Cobentzel and Reidsdale_ were drinking Maxamilian Joseph of Bavaria’s
-health. Colonel (says he) _Il alte se volto Estremadura che molto_—I
-won’t translate it. I feel the respect due to Ambassadors.—But, will
-Ministry answer a plain question? I put it roundly, because I ask for a
-positive answer—Is there no treaty now on the tapis to cede Gibraltar, or
-Port Mahon?—I say, the neutrality of Spain is to be trucked for by the
-dismembring this country of its best possessions.—Here he proceeded to
-read variety of Gazettes, American News-papers, two or three Treaties,
-letters from gallant Officers in all parts of the world; accounts of
-Cl[i]nt[o]n’s retreat; transactions of Lord H[o]we, and Mons. D’Estaign;
-Alderman Oliver’s letter—affair at Rhode Island, &c. &c. &c. He went
-also into a string of similar surmises, recognized various intimates
-in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and interspersed the whole with
-a multiplicity of anecdotes, proverbs, quotations, menaces and bon
-mots—concluding, that having then read to the house all the various
-papers he himself could collect, he found it necessary to give his vote
-for the Amendment, as the only way to get at more.
-
-[Sidenote: Mr H. St[anle]y.]
-
-Mr. H. _St[anle]y_ observed, that many Gentlemen had deviated from the
-business immediately before the house, which, in his opinion, was merely
-this: Whether this house will or will not support his M[ajest]y, and the
-executive powers of government, in the endeavours to recal the Americans
-to obedience, and to punish the natural enemies of this country?[10] That
-his own opinion was determined by a conviction of the necessity, in this
-hour of difficulty and distress, for exertion and firmness. Much has
-been said of the wealth and resources of France in comparison of those
-of England. I can only say, Sir, from all the observations I have been
-able to make, that France is, with respect to its finances, certainly an
-impoverished country. It has not yet recovered the impression made by
-the last war; and, whatever Gentlemen may think, neither Mons. Neckar
-(whom I very much respect) nor any other person, will be able, at least
-for a great length of time, to overturn the old mode of attainment of
-French money; I mean, Sir, by the vehicle of the _Fermeurs Generaux_.
-It must be a minister of great courage indeed, and a King of Terrors,
-that will new model the French finances; new taxes may be imposed, but
-I much doubt of the collection of them. When a good contract has been
-long in possession, it is too sweet to resign easily; and the _Fermeurs
-Genereaux_ are too important to be offended, especially, when the state
-is necessitated to have recourse to their assistance. In saying this, I
-give full credit to Mons. Neckar for his attempt to improve the revenue
-of France, and that too, when the attempt is surrounded with so much
-difficulty and danger.⸺The revenue of this country, Sir, has not suffered
-by the American war; the surpluses of the sinking fund, are as great as
-during the state of perfect peace with America. Other countries have
-taken from us those manufactures which we exported before with bounties
-to America.
-
-As I think Britain is still equal to resist, and, I trust, to subdue all
-its Enemies, I am clearly for the Motion which has been proposed, and
-seconded, by the honourable Gentlemen, with so much credit to themselves,
-and with so particular a desert of the approbation of their Country.
-
-[Sidenote: Gen. C[o]n[wa]y.]
-
-_Gen. C[o]n[wa]y._ Mr. Sp[eake]r, I beg pardon for troubling the House
-with one short word, Sir, at this late hour of the night, Sir, when
-there are many Gentlemen very desirous⸺and much more capable than I am,
-of speaking—upon so material—so important—so comprehensive a business—I
-may say, Sir—as that which now immediately comes before us—for our
-deliberation.⸺In doing this, Sir—in offering my poor sentiments—upon this
-matter, Sir⸺I own, I feel some degree of warmth, at the supineness—at the
-coolness—I may say—of the Ministers in so dangerous—so hazardous—and, God
-knows, probably so destructive an hour⸺And, Sir, I hope I may suggest
-my thoughts at so critical a period, when, indeed, all Europe and
-America are convulsed—and shaken—by the imbecillity, the inattention,
-and the indecision of Ministers; who have so supinely, so cooly, and so
-indecisively sat _with their hands before them_, waiting for events—and
-contingencies⸺In saying this, Sir,—I mean not to throw any reflexion upon
-any of them—Most of them I know to be men of honour and ability—but, Sir,
-I beg pardon, Sir, for taking up the time of the house, Sir; I think the
-moment is past when any system can prevail, I mean on the part of this
-country over America. Your West-India Islands are unprotected—Dominica is
-gone—Who knows but Jamaica is gone too? What force have you at Antigua? I
-understand, Admiral Barrington is gone from Barbadoes. What is to become
-of St. Vincents and Grenada? Good God! Sir, will the Nation sit still
-under these apprehensions? Have Ministers taken care of Ireland? Does
-the Noble Lord underneath me know the state of Guernsey and Jersey? Will
-they be able to resist Count Broglio with 50,000 men? Is your force,
-particularly at Jersey, equal to resistance—Sir, at this moment, I
-tremble for Jersey.[11]⸺
-
-In one short word, Sir, I beg pardon—I do trust in God, Sir ... in the
-King ... Sir, and in the spirit of this unhappy Nation, Sir, that we
-shall be relieved from these dreadful apprehensions, and difficulties,
-and that we shall see once more, Peace, Harmony, and Wisdom, resume their
-order in this country, in the stead of weakness, irresolution, wavering
-folly, absurd doubts, and indecision, Sir.
-
-[Sidenote: Mr S[aw]b[rid]ge.]
-
-Mr _S[aw]b[rid]ge_⸺Example—impeachment—axes—Tower—blood—Sister
-Mac[au]ly—republicanism—Washington, greatest man in the World—will
-be heard—tyranny at Warley-Common—militia men turned to
-road-pioneers—undermining trees—sand in bread—waste of powder—Middlesex
-election—vast expence of flints—triennial parliaments—body politic—ill
-humours—state-surgeons—example—axes—Tower—blood⸺_Da Capo_.
-
-The question being now called for with most violent impatience, the House
-prepared to divide.⸺The Editor cannot but lament that the eloquence
-of the day is compriseable in so small a compass.—He regrets, with
-many others, the silence of those who might have been supposed, from
-attachment, from principle, and a sense of honour, to have taken a more
-decided part in the debate. Probably it might be considered too severe to
-impute the conduct of those Gentlemen to the precariousness of the times,
-to the expectation of new Administrations, or to the fretfulness of an
-insatiable avarice of wealth and power.
-
-Little more remains to add, than that the House having become very
-clamorous for a division, at half past three the question on the
-Amendment being put, the motion was rejected by a majority of 261 to 148.
-Tellers for the Ayes, Mr T. T[ownshe]nd and Mr B[y]ng—for the Noes, Sir
-G[re]y C[oope]r and Mr C[harles] T[ownshe]nd.⸺The main question being
-then put, the original Address was carried in nearly the same proportion.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Immediately after the division, the H[ous]e were much astonished at Mr
-C[harle]s T[u]rn[e]r’s calling their attention to a most libellous,
-nefarious, and enormous pamphlet, entitled _Anticipation_, calculated to
-misrepresent the debates, and vilify the proceedings of P[arliamen]t;
-observing, that the publication of Honourable Gentlemen’s speeches
-_before_ they could possibly have been spoken, was infinitely more
-dangerous to the constitution than mistaking them after they had actually
-been delivered; as not only the public were thereby much more likely
-to be deceived, but many country Gentlemen were most illegally hurried
-up to town before the time, to the great annoyance of themselves and
-cattle. Besides, what struck at the very heart-strings of debate, many
-good speeches were marred thereby, and Honourable Gentlemen stopt from
-repeating their own words, lest they should authenticate the said
-publication.
-
-For all which reasons, he humbly moved, that the Publisher of a
-pamphlet, entitled, _Anticipation_, be immediately taken into custody
-by a Messenger of this House, together with all papers in his shops and
-warehouses, in order that this House may be enabled to discover the
-Author or Authors of this very black conspiracy. He moved also, that the
-several statutes against forgery, coining, and uttering, knowing to
-be false, forestallers, and regraters, &c. &c. be forthwith all read.
-And further⸺But, the laughter having now become intense, the remnant of
-his oratory was cut short by a most clamorous repetition of _Adjourn_,
-_Adjourn_; so that it was impossible for the Editor to collect the result
-of this important motion.
-
-And then the House adjourned till the morning, nine of the clock.
-
-
-FINIS.
-
-
-FOOTNOTES
-
-[1] It was observed the S[peake]r was remarkable civil to the new
-Att[o]rn[e]y G[e]n[e]r[a]l, as supposed upon his succeeding to that great
-object of his wishes, which leaves Sir F[letche]r some chance of a Chief
-Justiceship and a Peerage.
-
-[2] Exempli gratiâ, for whether it is his Lordship’s Speech, or Lord J.
-C[a]v[e]nd[i]sh’s, or Sir W. M[e]r[e]dith’s, or Sir G. Y[ou]ng’s, &c. the
-subject matter and stile, with a few exceptions, is of course much the
-same.
-
-[3] Here Mr. B[a]mb[e]r G[a]sc[oy]ne headed the dinner troop, which
-followed him with great precipitation—at the same time departed Sir John
-Irw[i]n and Mr. S[e]lw[y]n, with his Honour Mr. Br[u]d[e]n[e]ll, of whom
-great enquiries were made, respecting the present arrangements of the
-Opera.—Nor were there wanting many cries for the question.
-
-[4] Here Sir GR[E]Y C[OO]P[E]R caught at a pen, and began to take notes.
-
-[5] Probably, from supposing the first origin of their connection to
-have arisen (at least on the part of Dr. Franklyn) from a philosophical
-rather than a political curiosity. And certainly, no two projectors in
-Science were ever more strikingly contrasted: the one, like a modern
-Prometheus, collecting fire from vapour to inflame the terrestrial mass
-by its pernicious infusion: the other employing his magic _plates_ to
-freeze its ardour and quench its malignity.—Happy for this country,
-if these professors had shifted their pursuits! as the former, could
-his inclinations have been propitious to the peace of mankind, might
-then have become a powerfull _Extinguisher_, while the other, however
-malignant his intentions, must always have been acknowledged an
-_innocent_ Incendiary.
-
-[6] The Editor was furnished with copies of this speech from the Printers
-of the respective News Papers, many weeks ago.
-
-[7] Gentlemen were here desired by the Sp[ea]k[e]r to take their seats,
-and the Serjeant to clear the bar—places! places! was repeated with great
-vehemence.
-
-[8] As the Noble Lord was almost the only Speaker on the side of
-Administration, the Editor felt it the duty of impartiality, after giving
-so many excellent speeches on the opposite side, to collect this with
-particular accuracy, which he was the better enabled to do, from the
-deliberate manner of its being delivered, and the respectful attention
-with which it was received.
-
-[9] Here Lord N[o]rth took up Sir G[re]y C[oo]p[e]r’s notes.
-
-[10] Whilst Mr. St[anle]y was speaking, Mr. B[yn]g was making numerical
-criticisms on the state of the House, which Mr. R[o]b[i]ns[o]n had done
-before, with his usual assiduity; and had taken his place at the door
-accordingly.
-
-[11] N.B. G[enera]l C[onwa]y is Governor of it.—Query, Whether he had not
-better be there at this dangerous crisis?
-
-
-
-
-NOTES
-
-
-
-
-NOTES
-
-
-PAGE 22
-
-_The Gentlemen trading to the East-Indies, &c._ The publisher’s
-advertisement burlesques a practice of the bookseller John Almon
-(1737-1805), friend and biographer of John Wilkes, and between the
-years 1761-81 publisher-in-ordinary to the Whig Opposition. Almon had
-extensive connections in the American colonies and was the compiler of
-_The Remembrancer_, 1775-84, a valuable collection of materials relating
-to the Revolution. In his satire on the French ministry, _The Green Box
-of Monsieur de Sartine_, 1779, Tickell represents a French spy in London
-reporting ruefully:
-
- News-papers, pamphlets, parliamentary debates, remembrancers,
- and all the infinite variety of periodical libels, under the
- conduct of our good friend Mr. Almon, leave but a scanty and
- beaten field of politics for private discovery (pp. 12-13).
-
-
-PAGE 23
-
-_Sir Francis Molyneux._ Sir Francis Molyneux (d. 1812), Knt.; succeeded
-his father as seventh Baronet, 1781.
-
-_the Speaker._ Sir Fletcher Norton (1716-1789), Knt.; M.P. for Guildford;
-Speaker of the House of Commons, 1770-80; cr. Baron Grantley of
-Markenfield, 1782.
-
-_the merit of those speeches._ Since the speech from the throne rarely
-contains more than generalities, Tickell was able to approximate its
-substance fairly closely. In the debate on the opening day John Wilkes
-had the temerity to say that there were only two particulars in the
-King’s speech to which he could assent: “They are, that we are called
-together in a conjuncture, which demands our most serious attention, and
-that a restoration of the blessings of peace ought to be our first wish”
-(_Parliamentary History_, XIX, 1334).
-
-_the new Attorney General._ Alexander Wedderburn (1733-1805), M.P. for
-Bishop’s Castle; succeeded Edward Thurlow as Attorney-General, June
-1778; elevated to the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas as Baron
-Loughborough of Loughborough, 1780; cr. Earl of Rosslyn, 1801. In the
-spring of 1778 Sir Fletcher Norton, by a threat of impeachment, had
-blocked Wedderburn’s intrigue to obtain the Chief Justiceship; see
-Walpole to Mason, 31 May 1778 (_Letters_, ed. Toynbee, X, 254).
-
-
-PAGE 25
-
-_Lord Granby._ Charles Manners (1754-1787), second son of the Marquis
-of Granby famous as a military hero; M.P. for Cambridge University;
-succeeded his grandfather as fourth Duke of Rutland, 1779.
-
-_Pulteny._ Sir William Pulteney (1684-1764), Earl of Bath; long
-the leader of the “patriot” opposition during Sir Robert Walpole’s
-administration, but politically ruined by his acceptance, upon Walpole’s
-fall, of an earldom.
-
-_Cavendish ... Meredith ... Young._ Three supporters of the Whig
-Opposition: John Cavendish (1732-1796), fourth son of the third Duke of
-Devonshire, M.P. for York, friend and correspondent of Burke; Sir William
-Meredith (1725?-1790), third Baronet, M.P. for Liverpool; Sir George
-Yonge (1731-1812), fifth Baronet, M.P. for Honiton.
-
-
-PAGE 26
-
-_that inestimable character of our own times._ William Pitt (1708-1778),
-first Earl of Chatham. The “Great Commoner’s” acceptance of a peerage in
-1766 occasioned a storm of popular indignation.
-
-
-PAGE 27
-
-_Admiral Keppel ... Vice Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser._ Augustus Keppel
-(1725-1786), second son of the second Earl of Albemarle; M.P. for
-Windsor; Admiral of the Blue and Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet,
-1778; cr. Viscount Keppel, 1782. Sir Hugh Palliser (1723-1796), first
-Baronet; M.P. for Scarborough and a Lord of the Admiralty; Vice-Admiral
-of the Blue, 1778.
-
-The allusions are to the indecisive action off Ushant between the Channel
-fleet under Keppel, with Palliser as third in command, and the Brest
-fleet under D’Orvilliers, 27 July 1778; see Introduction, p. 10. On the
-third day of the session an altercation broke out in the House of Commons
-between the two admirals, and a few days later Palliser applied to his
-colleagues at the Admiralty Board for a court-martial on Keppel. After
-a protracted trial the court declared Palliser’s charges “malicious
-and ill-founded.” This verdict so delighted the populace that street
-riots ensued in which the Admiralty was attacked and Palliser’s house
-in Pall-Mall was gutted. Palliser was obliged to resign all his public
-appointments. See Sir G. O. Trevelyan, _George the Third and Charles
-James Fox: The Concluding Part of the American Revolution_, New York,
-1912-14, I, ch. v.
-
-_Philip Stevens, Esq._ Philip Stephens (1723-1809), M.P. for Sandwich and
-First Secretary to the Admiralty; cr. a baronet, 1795.
-
-
-PAGE 28
-
-_Mr. George Sutton._ George Manners-Sutton (1751-1804), nephew of the
-famous Marquis of Granby; M.P. for Newark.
-
-_Mr. Welbore Ellis._ Welbore Ellis (1713-1802), M.P. for Weymouth
-and Treasurer of the Navy; cr. Baron Mendip of Mendip, 1794; see
-Introduction, p. 12.
-
-
-PAGE 29
-
-_David Hartly, Esq._ David Hartley the younger (1732-1813), son of the
-philosopher; M.P. for Kingston-upon-Hull; published _Letters on the
-American War_, 1777-79, which critically reviewed the history of British
-colonial policy; friend and correspondent of Franklin (whose letters
-he sometimes read in the House of Commons); British plenipotentiary at
-Paris to negotiate peace with America, 1783. He was the Cassandra of the
-House and a tireless advocate of peace, but his long-windedness made
-him disliked. In _The Abbey of Kilkhampton_, 1780, Sir Herbert Croft’s
-satirical garland of epitaphs, Hartley’s epitaph reads as follows (Part
-II, p. 124):
-
- Here rests,
- If we may trust the Silence of his Grave,
- D.... H....y, Esq.
- His abilities were the Subject of Admiration, and the
- public Utility was the generous Object they had
- in view,
- But⸺he was _troublesome_.
-
-_Mr. Bamber Gascoyne._ Bamber Gascoyne (1725-1791), M.P. for Truro and
-a Lord of Trade and Plantations. Of this footnote and the speech by
-Hartley, _The London Magazine_ observed:
-
- The description of a certain fat member heading the dinner
- troop and drawing them out of the house, upon a dry,
- metaphysical, long winded speaker getting up, is truly
- characteristic; and strangers frequenting the gallery may
- congratulate themselves on this happy stroke, for it has partly
- silenced the tedious declaimer, who never considered that if
- each speaker claimed the same right, to pay no regard to time,
- a whole session might be passed in adjourned debates from
- _three_ in the afternoon to _three_ in the morning, day after
- day (XLVII, 566).
-
-_Sir John Irwin._ Sir John Irwin (1728-1788), K.B.; M.P. for East
-Grinstead; Major-General and Commander-in-Chief in Ireland; famous for
-his sartorial elegance and convivial habits.
-
-_Mr. Selwyn._ George Augustus Selwyn (1719-1791), M.P. for Gloucester;
-the celebrated wit and club-man. Though he sat in Parliament for about
-thirty years, Selwyn was notoriously apathetic towards politics. But
-since he returned two members besides himself, and always woke up in time
-to give his vote for the ministers when a division was called, Selwyn was
-amply rewarded by successive administrations. He was, wrote Sir George
-Otto Trevelyan,
-
- at one and the same time surveyor-general of crown lands—which
- he never surveyed—registrar in chancery at Barbadoes—which he
- never visited—and surveyor of the meltings and clerk of the
- irons in the mint—where he showed himself once a week in order
- to eat a dinner which he ordered, but for which the nation paid
- (_The Early History of Charles James Fox_, New York, 1881, pp.
- 94-95).
-
-_his Honour Mr. Brudenell._ James Brudenell (1725-1811), second son of
-the third Earl of Cardigan; M.P. for Marlborough; cr. Baron Brudenell of
-Deene, 1780; succeeded his brother as fifth Earl of Cardigan, 1790.
-
-
-PAGE 30
-
-_Mr. Wilkes._ John Wilkes (1727-1797), M.P. for Middlesex; the radical
-politician and hero of the London populace. He had a reputation for
-facetious wit, and he made a practice of sending his speeches in advance
-to the newspapers. Wilkes was another, like Fox and Burke, who enjoyed
-Tickell’s anticipation of his speech. Boswell reported Wilkes as saying
-to Tickell in April 1779: “Much obliged for your speech for me. If you’ll
-make me another for next session, I’ll be damn’d if I don’t speak it”
-(_Private Papers of James Boswell_, XIII, 231).
-
-_Here Sir Grey Cooper caught at a pen._ Sir Grey Cooper (1726?-1801),
-third Baronet; M.P. for Saltash and a Secretary of the Treasury. The
-allusion is to Lord North’s habit of sleeping through Whig speeches and
-answering them from the notes of his favorite secretary. The following
-lines are from _The London Magazine_, XLVIII, 1779, 186:
-
- Whilst B[ur]ke and B[arr]é strain their throats
- The mild SIR GREY is taking notes;
- And, wise as owl, is seen _composing_,
- For the good Premier, who is _dozing_:
- Whilst to each patriot’s loudest roar
- N[or]th answers with a well-tim’d _snore_.
- Till by some shriller trebles vex’d,
- He discants on the _good Knight’s_ text.
-
-_magic plates._ Hartley had invented an arrangement of thin iron strips
-to be placed as a lining under floors and above ceilings to prevent fire.
-An anonymous handbill of four quarto pages, dated July 1776 and called
-_An Account of Some Experiments Made with the Fire-Plates, Together
-with a Description of the Manner of Application, and an Estimate of the
-Expence_, contains newspaper accounts of unsuccessful attempts to burn a
-house near Reading equipped with Hartley’s plates.
-
-
-PAGE 31
-
-_the Noble Lord, who presided in the American department._ George
-Sackville Germain (1716-1785), called Lord George Germain, third son
-of the first Duke of Dorset; M.P. for East Grinstead and Secretary of
-State for Colonies; cr. Viscount Sackville, 1782. As minister in charge
-of military operations in America, Germain bore the brunt of frequent
-and savage onslaughts by Opposition. His famous Kentish holiday, which
-delayed dispatches to Sir William Howe in New York, was long supposed
-to have caused Burgoyne’s defeat at Saratoga; Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice,
-_Life of William, Earl of Shelburne_, 1875-76, I, 358-359; but cf. Troyer
-Steele Anderson, _The Command of the Howe Brothers during the American
-Revolution_, New York, 1936, ch. xiv. Germain’s resignation was forced in
-January 1782, two months before North’s government fell.
-
-_the Earl of Bute._ John Stuart (1713-1792), third Earl of Bute; favorite
-of George III in the early years of the reign; First Lord of the
-Treasury, 1762-63, but forced to resign on account of his unpopularity,
-to which the anti-Scots propaganda of Wilkes largely contributed. Lord
-North was popularly regarded as the political heir of Lord Bute.
-
-
-PAGE 32
-
-_one North Briton._ George Johnstone; see last note on this page.
-
-_Mr. Laurens._ Henry Laurens (1724-1792), of South Carolina; President of
-Congress, 1777-78. The quoted phrases that follow are from Johnstone’s
-letter to Laurens, 10 June 1778, soliciting a private interview. This
-letter, with Laurens’ answer, was promptly made public by Congress.
-
-_Ethan Allen._ Ethan Allen (1738-1789), famous for his partisan exploits
-as leader of the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont; surprised and took
-Fort Ticonderoga, May 1775; a captive in England, Canada, and New York,
-September 1775-May 1778; author of a deistic treatise, _Reason the Only
-Oracle of Man_, Bennington, Vermont, 1784.
-
-_Dr. Adam Ferguson._ Adam Ferguson (1723-1816), LL.D.; Professor of
-Pneumatics and Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh; secretary
-to the British commissioners to treat with America, 1778.
-
-_Sir John Dalrymple._ Sir John Dalrymple (1726-1810), fourth Baronet;
-author of the Tory _Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland_. _From the
-Dissolution of the Last Parliament of Charles II until the Sea-Battle
-off La Hogue_, 1771, the design of which (according to Horace Walpole)
-was “to degrade & blacken the brightest names in English Story, & more
-particularly the Protomartyrs of the Revolution, Lord Russel & Algernon
-Sydney” (_Satirical Poems Published Anonymously by William Mason with
-Notes by Horace Walpole_, ed. Paget Toynbee, Oxford, 1926, p. 115).
-
-_the great Sidney._ Algernon Sidney (1622-1683), son of the second Earl
-of Leicester; tried before Jeffreys and executed, December 1683, for
-complicity in the Rye House Plot to murder Charles II and the Duke of
-York.
-
-_Governor Johnson._ George Johnstone (1730-1787), M.P. for Appleby;
-formerly Governor of West Florida; one of North’s commissioners to treat
-with America; see Introduction, p. 9. His conduct as commissioner was
-quarrelsome, clumsy, and ineffectual; Carl Van Doren, _Secret History of
-the American Revolution_, New York, 1941, pp. 96-104. Of his speech on
-the opening day of the session Walpole reported:
-
- Governor Johnston made a strange, unintelligible speech (it
- was impossible for him to make a clear one without condemning
- himself); he endeavoured to wipe off some of his attempt to
- bribe some of the Congress, yet owned at much as he denied,
- condemned and approved the march to Philadelphia, and rather
- insinuated blame on Keppel than on anybody else. He was soon
- after called upon in several newspapers to say, whether he did
- not still retain his pay of Commissioner, though he had so long
- quitted the office. He made no answer—consequently was by that
- sinecure retained by the Court (_Last Journals_, II, 209).
-
-
-PAGE 33
-
-_Mons. D’Estaign._ Jean-Baptiste-Charles-Henri-Hector, Comte d’Estaing
-(1729-1794), French admiral in command in American waters, 1778-80.
-
-_a noble Lord opposite to me._ Richard, Lord Howe; see below, note to p.
-34.
-
-_D’Estaign’s fleet ought to have been attacked._ In August Howe pursued
-D’Estaing to Newport, but a storm prevented an engagement.
-
-
-PAGE 34
-
-_Byron’s squadron._ John Byron (1723-1786), Vice-Admiral; sailed from
-Plymouth with a squadron in pursuit of D’Estaing, June 1778; his ships
-joined Howe’s fleet piecemeal during the summer.
-
-_Lord Howe._ Richard Howe (1726-1799), fourth Viscount Howe in the
-peerage of Ireland; M.P. for Dartmouth; Vice-Admiral; Commander-in-Chief
-on the North American station, 1776-78; resigned his command because of
-discontent with the ministry, September 1778; cr. an English peer, 1782,
-and Earl Howe, 1788.
-
-_Mr. Rigby._ Richard Rigby (1722-1788), M.P. for Tavistock and Paymaster
-of the Forces. Reputed to have derived immense profits from his office
-during the American war, Rigby served as the model for Disraeli’s corrupt
-politician of the same name in _Coningsby_, 1844.
-
-
-PAGE 35
-
-_Mr. T. Townsend._ Thomas Townshend (1733-1800), nephew of the third
-Viscount Townshend; M.P. for Whitchurch, 1754-83; cr. Baron Sydney of
-Chislehurst, 1783, and Viscount Sydney, 1789, the city in Australia
-being named for him. He was one of the most voluble and pertinacious
-speakers in debates. His contemptuous reference in the House of Commons
-to Johnson’s pension earned Townshend a passing glance in Goldsmith’s
-_Retaliation_, where Burke is said to be,
-
- Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his throat
- To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote.
-
-
-PAGE 36
-
-_the blunders of Administration, with respect to Falkland’s Islands, &c._
-Townshend views with alarm an assortment of the events, momentous and
-trivial, that had agitated the public mind in the preceding decade.
-
-As to _Falkland’s Islands_, west of the southern tip of South America, a
-dispute over their possession nearly brought on war between Great Britain
-and Spain in 1770-71. After a display of force by Spain and a demand for
-restitution by the British government, diplomatic exchanges resulted in
-a conciliation that was unpopular in England (_The Annual Register_ for
-1771, “History of Europe,” chs. i-v). At the request of the ministers,
-Dr. Johnson wrote a spirited defence of their conduct, _Thoughts on the
-Late Transactions respecting Falkland’s Islands_, 1771.
-
-The _Middlesex Election_ was a remarkable exploit in the career of John
-Wilkes, who in 1768 returned from France still an outlaw for his offence
-in _North Briton_ No. 45, and was elected to Parliament for the county
-of Middlesex. Expelled before he could take his seat, he was thrice
-re-elected and as many times expelled. After his fourth victory at the
-polls Parliament declared his opponent, the ministerial candidate,
-duly elected. This breach of electoral rights led to street-rioting,
-protracted debates in and out of Parliament, and, eventually, the
-formation of a Radical party. See Horace Bleackley, _Life of John
-Wilkes_, 1917, chs. xii-xiii.
-
-The revolt of _Corsica_ under Pasquale Paoli against the French, who had
-purchased the island from Genoa in 1768, won wide public sympathy in
-England. The leading advocate of British intervention in favor of the
-Corsicans was James Boswell. See Chauncey Brewster Tinker, _Nature’s
-Simple Plan_, Princeton, 1922, ch. ii.
-
-The _massacre in St. George’s Fields_, 10 May 1768, occurred when a crowd
-of London citizens waiting for Wilkes to attend the opening of Parliament
-taunted a detachment of foot-guards into firing on them. Several persons
-were killed and about a dozen wounded. This “massacre” was the forerunner
-and partly the inspiration of that in King Street, Boston, two years
-later.
-
-_Mr. Horne’s imprisonment_ resulted from the zeal of that radical parson
-in the cause of America. The Rev. John Horne (1736-1812), afterwards
-Horne Tooke, wrote and circulated an advertisement for the Constitutional
-Society, June 1775, stating that 100_l._ was to be raised for “the
-relief of the widows, orphans, and aged parents of our beloved American
-fellow-subjects, who, faithful to the character of Englishmen, preferring
-death to slavery, were, for that reason only, inhumanly murdered by the
-king’s troops” at Lexington and Concord on the 19th of April. In July
-1777 Horne was brought to trial before Lord Mansfield, found guilty,
-and in November sentenced to a year’s imprisonment and a fine of 200_l._
-(_The Annual Register_ for 1777, “Appendix to the Chronicle,” pp.
-234-245).
-
-The _fatal example of the Justitia_ is an allusion to the _Justitia_
-hulk, a convict-ship stationed at Woolwich by an act of 1776 for the
-purpose of dredging the Thames.
-
-The _frequent exhibition of the Beggar’s Opera_ evidently alludes to
-remarks by Townshend that had excited mirth in a debate on a bill for
-licensing a play-house in Birmingham, 29 April 1777. Townshend opposed
-the bill because, he said,
-
- He had heard from good authority that the theatre licensed at
- Manchester, in consequence of a similar application, had done
- a great deal of mischief already: nor could it be wondered
- at, if we consider what pieces are sometimes represented,
- which, not being new, are not subject to the controul of the
- Lord Chamberlain: the Beggar’s Opera, for instance, which had
- brought more unhappy people to the gallows, than any one thing
- he could name. As to the country gentlemen, surely this was
- not such an age of domestic retirement, but what they might
- find sufficient amusement in visiting their neighbours in the
- summer, without wanting to frequent a theatre.... Considering,
- then, the circumstances of Birmingham as a great manufacturing
- and trading town, depending on the industry and frugality of
- the poorer class of people, he was of opinion it would be
- highly improper to license any theatre there (_Parliamentary
- History_, XIX, 202).
-
-_Is Omiah to pay us another visit?_ Omiah or Omai, a native of Otaheite
-(Tahiti), was brought to England in 1774 by Captain Tobias Furneaux of
-the _Adventure_. As the first South Sea Islander ever seen in England,
-Omiah made a stir in fashionable and literary society, sat for his
-portrait to the most eminent artists, and was the subject of countless
-newspaper paragraphs and several pamphlet poems. There are well-known
-lines by Cowper on Omiah in the first book of _The Task_, 1785:
-
- The dream is past; and thou hast found again
- Thy cocoas and bananas, palms and yams,
- And homestall thatch’d with leaves. But hast thou found
- Their former charms? And, having seen our state,
- Our palaces, our ladies, and our pomp
- Of equipage, our gardens, and our sports,
- And heard our music; are thy simple friends,
- Thy simple fare, and all thy plain delights,
- As dear to thee as once?
-
-_Sir Harry Clinton._ Sir Henry Clinton (1738?-1795), K.B.; Major-General;
-succeeded Sir William Howe as Commander-in-Chief in America, May 1778.
-
-
-PAGE 37
-
-_Mr. Vyner._ Robert Vyner (1717-1799), M.P. for Lincoln. He was, said
-Nathaniel Wraxall, a gentleman of large property in Lincolnshire,
-whose person suggested “the portraits of ‘Hudibras’” (_Historical and
-Posthumous Memoirs ... 1772-1784_, ed. H. B. Wheatley, 1884, V, 203).
-
-_his offer of fifteen shillings in the pound._ In a debate on the budget,
-3 May 1775, Vyner defended the motives of the country gentlemen in
-supporting the ministers’ coercive American policy. He said, in part:
-
- In support of such a cause ... he was willing to pay not
- only 4s. but 14s. in the pound: and as he entertained not a
- single doubt but we should prevail in the contest, we ought to
- oblige America to pay the expence she had wantonly put us to,
- and which would likewise enable us to bring back our quondam
- peace establishment, that of a land-tax of 2s. in the pound
- (_Parliamentary History_, XVIII, 625).
-
-_a great statesman had once boasted, &c._ William Pitt the elder, during
-the Seven Years’ War.
-
-_Mr. Van._ Charles Van, prior to his death, in April 1778, M.P. for
-Brecon.
-
-
-PAGE 38
-
-_Hon. T. Luttrel._ Temple Simon Luttrell (d. 1803), third son of the
-first Earl of Carhampton; M.P. for Milborne Port. A florid orator,
-Luttrell was always pertinacious in debates on naval affairs. Tickell’s
-parody perhaps reflects an interminable speech on the state of the
-navy, 11 March 1778, in which Luttrell described the timber used for
-ship-repairs as so “singularly spungy and porous” that “your seamen ...
-are frequently set afloat in their hammocks, from the water soaking
-in, over-head, through the planks,” related an instance of a seaman’s
-driving his fist, “without much pain to his knuckles,” through the hull
-of a man-of-war, and entered into a detail of the twenty-four invasions
-of Great Britain and Ireland since the Norman Conquest (_Parliamentary
-History_, XIX, 874-892).
-
-_the noble Earl who is now at the head of that department._ John Montagu
-(1718-1792), fourth Earl of Sandwich; First Lord of the Admiralty.
-Sandwich was notorious for the dissoluteness of his private life.
-
-
-PAGE 40
-
-_Regattaites._ Not a tribe or nation, but participants in the summer
-regattas on the Thames. In _The Annual Register_ for 1775 appears “Some
-Account of the new Entertainment, called a _Regatta_, introduced from
-_Venice_ into _England_, in the Course of the Year 1775,” from which the
-following sentences are extracted:
-
- Before five o’clock, Westminster bridge was covered with
- spectators, in carriages and on foot, and men even placed
- themselves in the bodies of the lamp-irons. Plans of the
- regatta were sold from a shilling to a penny each, and songs
- on the occasion sung, in which _Regatta_ was the rhyme for
- _Ranelagh_, and _Royal Family_ echoed to _Liberty_.... Before
- six o’clock it was a perfect fair on both sides the water, and
- bad liquor, with short measure, was plentifully retailed....
- The Thames was now a floating town. All the cutters,
- sailing-boats, &c. in short, every thing, from the dung-barge
- to the wherry, was in motion (“Appendix to the Chronicle,” pp.
- 216, 217).
-
-_the Captain of the Licorne._ The _Licorne_ frigate, encountered
-and detained by Admiral Keppel on the 17th of June, yielded Keppel
-information respecting the strength of the French fleet.
-
-_the wretched deficiency in our late naval equipments._ War-profiteering
-is not of recent origin; in the Eighteenth Century the loose organization
-of finance and supply in both services gave large opportunities to
-contractors and commissaries. “You must not think of persuading us that
-you are no gainer,” Lord Loudoun remarked to Benjamin Franklin when the
-latter sought reimbursement for outlays in connection with Braddock’s
-expedition in 1755; “we understand better those affairs, and know that
-every one concerned in supplying the army finds means, in the doing
-it, to fill his own pockets” (Franklin, _Writings_, ed. A. H. Smyth,
-New York, 1905-07, I, 430). Satirists frequently exposed this form of
-parasitism. Samuel Foote produced a comedy called _The Commissary_ in
-1765. In Sheridan’s _The Camp_, 1778, the commissary Gage supplied a
-regiment with lime (which he dug himself, at no expense) instead of
-hair-powder. It did very well, he reported, while the weather was fine,
-but when a shower came up the troops’ heads were all slacked in an
-instant. “I stood a near chance of being tied up to the halberts; but I
-excused myself by saying, they looked only like raw recruits before; but
-now they appeared like old veterans of service” (I, i).
-
-
-PAGE 42
-
-_Mr. Penton._ Henry Penton (1736-1812), M.P. for Winchester and a Lord of
-the Admiralty.
-
-_a certain Great Personage._ On their tour of the militia camps at
-Winchester and Salisbury in September, the King and Queen “alighted at
-Mr. Penton’s house [in Winchester], where they were waited on by the
-Mayor and Corporation” (_The Annual Register_ for 1778, “Appendix to the
-Chronicle,” p. 235).
-
-_Mr. Burke._ Edmund Burke (1729-1797), M.P. for Bristol. The dominant
-theme of Burke’s speech, “the ruin of this declining empire” was a
-favorite one among anti-ministerial orators, pamphleteers, and poets
-during the Revolution. Soon after the appearance, in 1781, of the second
-and third volumes of Gibbon’s _Decline and Fall_, Thomas Powys, M.P. for
-Northamptonshire, read extracts from that work in a debate on a motion
-for putting an end to the American war. Powys ventured to say that the
-description of Rome in the Fifth Century by Mr. Gibbon,
-
- whose enrolment in the administration was the only accession of
- which his Majesty’s ministers had to boast, ... was so strong,
- so expressive, so applicable, that though it was said to belong
- to Rome, he could not help thinking that it alluded to a nearer
- country, and a nearer period (_Parliamentary History_, XXII,
- 805).
-
-
-PAGE 43
-
-_the pageantry of domestic warfare._ An allusion to the vogue of the
-militia encampments as places of fashionable resort.
-
-_important depredations at—Martha’s Island._ Early in September
-Major-General Grey, under orders from Sir Henry Clinton, invested
-Martha’s Vineyard and carried off “a considerable and most desirable
-contribution, consisting of 10,000 sheep, and 300 oxen, for the public
-service at New York” (_The Annual Register_ for 1779, “History of
-Europe,” p. 2).
-
-
-PAGE 45
-
-_Mr Dunning._ John Dunning (1731-1783), M.P. for Calne; the leading Whig
-lawyer in the House of Commons; cr. Baron Ashburton of Ashburton, 1782.
-
-
-PAGE 46
-
-_Mr. Sollicitor-General._ James Wallace (d. 1783), M.P. for Horsham;
-succeeded Wedderburn as Solicitor-General, June 1778.
-
-
-PAGE 47
-
-_Mr Fox._ Charles James Fox (1749-1806), third son of the first Baron
-Holland; M.P. for Malmesbury and leader of the Opposition in the House
-of Commons. Either out of personal regard for Fox or at the request of
-Lord North, Tickell does not burlesque Fox’s oratory. It is stated in the
-review of _Anticipation_ in _The Town and Country Magazine_ that Fox’s
-speech actually “was noticed by that gentleman in the house, who, at the
-same time, lamented his incapacity of making so good an harangue upon the
-occasion” (XI, 1779, 45). According to a note in Horace Walpole’s copy of
-_Anticipation_, “Charles Fox said, ‘he has anticipated many things I have
-intended to say, but I shall say them nevertheless.’”
-
-
-PAGE 48
-
-_General Lee._ Charles Lee (1731-1782), Lieutenant-Colonel in the British
-army; appointed Major-General by Congress, 1775; court-martialed and
-suspended from service for disobedience to orders and misbehavior before
-the enemy during the battle of Monmouth Court House, June 1778.
-
-
-PAGE 49
-
-_the Prince of Brunswick._ Either Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick
-(1721-1792), Commander of the English and Hanoverian forces in the Seven
-Years’ War; or his nephew, Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand (1735-1806), Hereditary
-Prince of Brunswick, who commanded a division in his uncle’s army.
-Clinton served in Germany, 1760-63, acting for a time as aide-de-camp to
-the Hereditary Prince.
-
-_the noble Lord who planned that expedition._ Lord George Germain; see
-above, note to p. 31.
-
-
-PAGE 50
-
-_Monsieur Vaugelin._ Not further identified. The name is unusual and may
-be misspelled.
-
-_Colonel Tufnell._ George Foster Tufnell. (1725-1798), M.P. for Beverly
-and Colonel of the East Middlesex Militia.
-
-
-PAGE 51
-
-_their Bavarian contest._ The War of the Bavarian Succession, 1778-79,
-occasioned by the extinction of the electoral house of Bavaria upon the
-death of Maximilian Joseph.
-
-_Lord North._ Frederick, Lord North (1732-1792), eldest son of the first
-Earl of Guilford; M.P. for Banbury; First Lord of the Treasury, 1770-82;
-succeeded as second Earl of Guilford, 1790; see Introduction, _passim_.
-
-
-PAGE 52
-
-_a great Character._ William Pitt, Lord Chatham.
-
-
-PAGE 58
-
-_Col. Barré._ Isaac Barré (1726-1802), M.P. for Calne. Barré, who had
-served with Wolfe in America, was a devoted friend of the colonists and
-in Parliament was regarded as a master of invective and the special
-antagonist of Lord North. North had his revenge in _Anticipation_; see
-Introduction, p. 12.
-
-_the Indians, headed by Col. Butler, began their rapine in Cherry
-Valley._ John Butler (1725-1796), Indian agent under the Johnsons in the
-Mohawk Valley; Lieutenant-Colonel of Militia, 1768; Major in command
-of Butler’s Rangers, 1777. Under his leadership parties of Loyalists
-and their Indian allies of the Six Nations systematically harried the
-back settlements in New York and Pennsylvania during the Revolution.
-Their raids reached a peak of frequency and destructiveness in the early
-summer of 1778, the notorious “Wyoming Massacre” occurring 3-4 July.
-None of the settlements mentioned by Barré had been attacked at the time
-his informant is supposed to have written; but rumors were rife on the
-frontier as well as at the Poughkeepsie headquarters of the Continental
-Army; and the worst fears of the settlers were realized when Butler’s
-son, Captain Walter Butler, together with the Mohawk chief Joseph Brant,
-sacked the village of Cherry Valley on the 11th of November. See Howard
-Swiggett, _War out of Niagara: Walter Butler and the Tory Rangers_, New
-York, 1933, chs. vi-vii.
-
-_Gen. Carlton._ Guy Carleton (1724-1808), Lieutenant-General; Governor of
-Quebec, 1775-78; requested his recall because of differences with Lord
-George Germain, May 1777; cr. Baron Dorchester of Dorchester (Oxford),
-1786.
-
-_Miss Macrea._ Jane MacCrea, daughter of a Tory clergyman residing near
-Fort Edward on the upper Hudson, was scalped by a marauding party of
-Burgoyne’s Indian allies, 27 July 1777. This incident, about which a mass
-of romantic legend soon grew up, proved highly embarrassing to Burgoyne
-and the Administration.
-
-
-PAGE 59
-
-_no Secretary of War in this house._ “Ld Barrington [William Wildman
-Barrington (1717-1793), second Viscount] was out of Parliament, and no
-successor was then appointed” (note by Horace Walpole in his copy of
-_Anticipation_). Barrington, Secretary at War since 1765, had given
-notice of his retirement in the previous May; in December Charles
-Jenkinson was named his successor.
-
-_Mons. Neckar._ Jacques Necker (1732-1804), Director-General of
-Finances in the French government, 1777-81; famous for his fiscal and
-administrative reforms.
-
-_Monsieur Bouillé._ The island of Dominica, ceded by France to Great
-Britain by the Treaty of Paris, 1763, was retaken, 7 September 1778,
-by the French under the command of the Marquis de Bouillé (1739-1800),
-Governor of Martinique.
-
-_the Pacte de Famille._ The defensive alliance formed in 1761 among the
-Bourbon states of France, Spain, and the Two Sicilies.
-
-_Count Almodovar._ Pedro Jiménez de Góngora, Marquès (later Duque) de
-Almodóvar (d. 1794), Spanish Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s,
-1778-79.
-
-_Don Francisco Buccarelli._ Spanish Governor of Buenos Aires who ordered
-the expedition against the Falkland Islands that led to the surrender
-of the English garrison at Port Egmont, June 1770, and aroused great
-indignation in England; see above, note to p. 36, on Falkland’s Islands.
-Probably a member of the family of Bucareli y Ursúa, of Seville, several
-of whom held high military and colonial posts at that period.
-
-_Count Cobentzel._ This may refer either to Johann Philipp, Graf von
-Cobenzl (1741-1810), Austrian statesman who drafted the Peace of
-Teschen, 1779; or to his cousin, Johann Ludwig Joseph, Graf von Cobenzl
-(1753-1809), Austrian Ambassador to the Court of Catherine II, 1779-97.
-
-_Baron Reidesdel._ Joseph Herman, Baron Riedesel (1740-1785), Prussian
-diplomat, traveler, and archeologist.
-
-_Duke de Chartres._ Louis-Philippe-Joseph de Bourbon (1747-1793), Duc de
-Chartres, son of the Duc d’Orléans, whom he succeeded, 1785; later known
-as Philippe Égalité.
-
-_Monsieur de Sartine._ Antoine-Raimond-Jean-Gualbert-Gabriel de Sartine
-(1729-1801), Comte d’Alby, French statesman; Lieutenant-General of
-Police, 1759-74; Minister of Marine, 1774-80. He was satirized in
-Tickell’s _Green Box of Monsieur de Sartine_, 1779; see Bibliography, pp.
-88-90.
-
-
-PAGE 60
-
-_Il alte se volto, &c._ This defies translation. Tickell perhaps
-deliberately garbled Barré’s Italian.
-
-_Alderman Oliver’s letter._ Richard Oliver (1734?-1784), Alderman of
-Billingsgate Ward and M.P. for the City of London; remembered for his
-defiance of the House of Commons in the case of the printer Millar, for
-which he was committed to the Tower, 1771. On 6 September 1778 Oliver
-wrote a letter, soon published in the papers, declining nomination as
-Lord Mayor and quitting his seat in Parliament in view of a prospective
-visit to his property in Antigua, W.I., which he feared stood in danger
-of seizure by France; _The Annual Register_ for 1778, “Chronicle,” pp.
-200-201.
-
-_Mr. H. Stanley._ Hans Stanley (1720?-1780), M.P. for Southampton,
-Governor of the Isle of Wight, and Cofferer of the Household. He had
-lived for some years in France and was regarded as an authority on the
-affairs of that nation.
-
-_Mr. Byng._ George Byng (1735-1789), nephew of the third Viscount
-Torrington; M.P. for Wigan. An ardent supporter of Fox, he here acts in
-the role of party whip.
-
-_Mr. Robinson._ John Robinson (1727-1802), M.P. for Harwich and a
-Secretary of the Treasury. A favorite of George III’s, Robinson
-managed the Treasury boroughs and served as the King’s personal agent
-in Parliament. In _The Castle of Infamy_, 1780, an anonymous satirist
-describes
-
- how Rob[in]son’s quick Eye
- Controll’d the _pension’d, plac’d_, expectant Fry....
- At his shrewd Look, his pregnant Nod, or Wink,
- The Spirits of all Parties rise or sink.
-
-
-PAGE 61
-
-_the Fermeurs Generaux._ The _Fermiers-Généraux_ were the body of French
-officials who, under the _Ancien Régime_, leased as a concession the
-collection of taxes.
-
-_Gen. Conway._ Henry Seymour Conway (1721-1795), second son of the first
-Baron Conway; M.P. for Bury St. Edmunds; General; Governor of Jersey;
-cousin and correspondent of Horace Walpole.
-
-
-PAGE 62
-
-_Admiral Barrington._ Samuel Barrington (1729-1800), fifth son of the
-first Viscount Barrington; Rear-Admiral; Commander-in-Chief in the West
-Indies until superseded by Byron in January 1779.
-
-_Count Broglio._ Victor-François, Duc de Broglie (1718-1804), Marshal of
-France; appointed Commander-in-Chief on the Coasts on the Ocean, May 1778.
-
-_Mr Sawbridge._ John Sawbridge (1732?-1795), Radical M.P. for the City of
-London; an intimate of John Wilkes’, and active in founding the Society
-of the Supporters of the Bill of Rights.
-
-_Sister Macauly._ Catharine Sawbridge Macaulay (1731-1791), afterwards
-Mrs. Graham, sister of the foregoing; republican bluestocking; wrote _The
-History of England from the Accession of James I to That of the Brunswick
-Line_, 1763-83, much praised and damned in its day for its republicanism;
-visited America and stopped with Washington for ten days, 1785. Dr.
-Johnson took satisfaction in having exposed her principles by once
-desiring her to invite her footman to sit at table with her; _Boswell’s
-Johnson_, ed. Hill and Powell, I, 447.
-
-_Warley-Common._ In Essex, where one of the militia camps was situated.
-
-
-PAGE 63
-
-_a majority of 261 to 148._ The motion for the amendment to the address
-was rejected on the opening day of the session by a vote of 226 to 107,
-an indication that the House was less crowded than had been expected.
-
-_Mr Charles Townshend._ Charles Townshend (1728-1810), nephew of the
-third Viscount Townshend; M.P. for Yarmouth; cr. Baron Bayning of Foxley,
-1797.
-
-_Mr Charles Turner._ Charles Turner (1726?-1803), M.P. for York; cr. a
-baronet, 1782. He was a staunch Whig and according to Nathaniel Wraxall
-“one of the most eccentric men who ever sat in Parliament” (_Historical
-and Posthumous Memoirs_, II, 267).
-
-
-
-
-BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TICKELL’S WRITINGS
-
-
-
-
-BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TICKELL’S WRITINGS
-
-
-The entries in this bibliography, with a few necessary exceptions, are
-arranged as follows:
-
- _a._ a transcript of the text of the title-page of the first
- edition;
-
- _b._ a collation of the first edition by pages;
-
- _c._ locations of copies of the first edition that I have used
- and have had reproduced or consulted for me;
-
- _d._ a list of later editions, variant issues, and reprints.
-
-Under _c_ a complete census has not been attempted, and not every copy
-located may be assumed to be perfect. Under _d_ sufficient information
-is given to identify the various editions, but differences in title,
-text, and collation are not recorded unless they are essential for
-identification. To give complete descriptions of all the issues of
-Tickell’s writings would require from two to three times the space of the
-present bibliography.
-
-The symbols for locations should be expanded thus: BA = Boston Athenæum,
-BM = British Museum, BP = Boston Public Library, C = Library of Congress,
-HC = Harvard College Library, HEH = Henry E. Huntington Library, JCB =
-John Carter Brown Library, LHB = the present editor, NEWB = Newberry
-Library, NYP = New York Public Library, WLC = William L. Clements
-Library, YU = Yale University Library.
-
-As stated earlier, the place of publication, unless otherwise indicated,
-is London.
-
-
-i
-
-The Project. A Poem. Dedicated to Dean Tucker. Verum, ubi, tempestas, et
-cæli mobilis humor Mutavêre vias, et Jupiter uvidus Austris Densat erant
-quæ rara modo, et quæ densa, relaxat; Vertuntur species animorum;⸺Virgil.
-London: Printed for T. Becket, Adelphi, in the Strand. M DCC LXXVIII.
-
-4to. P. [i], title, verso blank; pp. [iii—iv], “Dedication”; pp. [1]-12,
-text.
-
-Copies: BM, HC, LHB.
-
-Second, Third, and Fourth Editions, Becket, 1778. Fifth Edition, Becket,
-1779. Sixth Edition, Becket, 1780. Reprinted in _The New Foundling
-Hospital for Wit.... A New Edition.... In Six Volumes_, J. Debrett,
-1786, I, 307-317. Reprinted in _Bell’s Classical Arrangement of Fugitive
-Poetry_, British Library, 1789-94, IV, [92]-101.
-
-
-ii
-
-The Wreath of Fashion, or, the Art of Sentimental Poetry. ⸺ Demetri, teq;
-Tigelli, Discipularum inter jubeo plorare cathedras. Horace. London:
-Printed for T. Becket, Adelphi, in the Strand. M DCC LXXVIII. [Price One
-Shilling.]
-
-4to. P. [i], title, verso blank; pp. [iii]-iv, “Advertisement”; pp.
-[1]-14, text; p. [15], advertisement of _The Project_, Second Edition,
-verso blank.
-
-Copies: BM, HC, LHB.
-
-Second, Third, and Fourth Editions, Becket, 1778. Fifth Edition, Becket,
-1778 or 1779 (I have traced no copy). Sixth Edition, Becket, 1780.
-Dublin: Wm. Wilson, 1779. Reprinted in _The New Foundling Hospital for
-Wit.... A New Edition.... In Six Volumes_, J. Debrett, 1786, I, 295-306.
-Reprinted in _Bell’s Classical Arrangement of Fugitive Poetry_, British
-Library, 1789-94, V, [76]-85. Reprinted in _The School for Satire: or, A
-Collection of Modern Satirical Poems Written during the Present Reign_,
-Jacques and Co., 1801 (sometimes 1802), pp. 143-159.
-
-
-iii
-
-Prologue to the Camp. Written by Richard Tickell, Esq.
-
-This entry is from _The London Chronicle_, 23 October 1778. Though
-printed in several magazines at the time of the production, the Prologue
-seems first to have accompanied the text of the play in John Murray’s
-edition of Sheridan’s _Works_, 1821, II, 161-162.
-
- _The Camp_, “a musical entertainment,” was first performed 15
- October 1778, at Drury Lane Theatre; it was first printed,
- without publisher’s name, London, 1795. Sheridan’s authorship
- was universally accepted by the press of the time and in the
- early biographical notices of Sheridan; see R. Crompton Rhodes’
- edition of Sheridan’s _Plays and Poems_, New York, 1929, II,
- 271. The first to question it was Tate Wilkinson, who asserted
- that Sheridan “never wrote a line” of this “catchpenny for
- the time” (_The Wandering Patentee_, York, 1795, IV, 124).
- Later, Thomas Moore likewise thought _The Camp_ “unworthy” of
- Sheridan’s genius and declared, on the evidence of a rough copy
- in Tickell’s hand, that Tickell was the author (_Sheridan_, 2nd
- ed., 1825, I, 264). Following Moore, some editors have omitted
- it from editions of Sheridan. Library catalogues and recent
- bibliographies, apparently following Walter Sichel (_Sheridan_,
- I, 443), whose statements on these matters are sometimes
- merely conjectures, generally assign _The Camp_ to Tickell as
- “revised” by Sheridan.
-
- A rough copy in Tickell’s hand is very inconclusive evidence of
- his authorship. In view of known “catchpenny” work by Sheridan,
- the alleged inferiority of _The Camp_ is still less conclusive.
- Tickell may of course have contributed to the dialogue, as he
- later did in many of the Drury Lane productions. But there are
- no adequate grounds for denying the contemporary attribution to
- Sheridan.
-
-
-iv
-
-Anticipation: Containing the Substance of His M⸺y’s Most Gracious Speech
-to both H⸺s of P⸺l⸺t, on the Opening of the approaching Session, together
-With a full and authentic Account of the Debate which will take Place in
-the H⸺e of C⸺s, on the Motion for the Address, and the Amendment. With
-Notes. “So shall my Anticipation Prevent your Discovery.” Hamlet. London:
-Printed for T. Becket, the Corner of the Adelphi, in the Strand. 1778.
-
-8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank;
-pp. [v]-vi, “Advertisement”; p. [vii], “The Gentlemen trading to the
-East-Indies ...,” verso blank; pp. [1]-74, text. (The last leaf of the
-text is signed L, and it is likely that a blank leaf should follow as
-the conjugate. In all the copies I have seen and in all but one of those
-consulted for me by librarians, this final leaf is wanting. Miss Anne
-S. Pratt reports a copy in the Mason-Franklin Collection at Yale that,
-though closely bound, appears to have been issued with this final blank
-leaf.)
-
-Copies: BA, BP, C, HC, HEH, JCB, NEWB, NYP, WLC, YU. Sabin #95788.
-
-Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Editions,
-Becket, 1778. Also a variant “Second Edition,” with the same imprint
-and date but with a different number of blanks in the words containing
-deleted letters in the title and with different collation: p. [i], title,
-verso blank; pp. [iii]-iv, “Advertisement”; pp. [5]-67, text; p. [68],
-blank. Tenth Edition, Becket, 1780. A New Edition, Becket, 1794. Dublin:
-Byrn and Son, 1778. Philadelphia: T. Bradford, 1779; called “The Sixth
-Edition.” New York: James Rivington, 1779 (no copy traced; announced as
-published in Rivington’s _Royal Gazette_, 17 March). Reprinted in _The
-Pamphleteer_; _Dedicated to Both Houses of Parliament_, A. J. Valpy, XIX,
-1822, [309]-345.
-
- Of the numerous continuations and imitations that appeared
- in the next few years, none except _Common-Place Arguments_,
- 1780 (no. viii, below), is by Tickell. _Opposition Mornings:
- with Betty’s Remarks_, J. Wilkie, 1779, is assigned to him in
- Halkett and Laing (_Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous
- Literature_, new ed., Edinburgh, 1926-34, IV, 265), in Sabin
- (#95797), and in library catalogues generally. Not made by
- earlier bibliographers, this attribution is probably based on a
- conjecture in _The Monthly Review_ that _Opposition Mornings_
- might be an inferior work by Tickell (LX, 1779, 473). The tract
- makes use of several of Tickell’s satirical devices of the kind
- easily borrowed. But there is no good evidence that he wrote
- it, and the lack of a spark of wit in the whole performance is
- strong evidence to the contrary.
-
-
-v
-
-La Cassette Verte de Monsieur de Sartine, Trouvée chez Mademoiselle Du
-Thé. Ipse dolos tecti ambagesque resolvit. Virgil. (Cinquième Edition
-revue & corrigée sur celles de Leipsic & d’Amsterdam.) A La Haye: Chez la
-Veuve Whiskerfeld, in de Platte Borze by de Vrydagmerkt. M,DCC,LXX,IX.
-
-8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank;
-pp. [1]-4, “Avis au Lecteur”; p. [5], “Avant Propos,” verso blank; pp.
-[7]-71, text; p. [72], blank.
-
-Copies: HEH, NYP, YU. Sabin #95793.
-
-Sixième Edition, with identical title (except for change in number of
-edition), identical imprint and date; the text is set largely from the
-same type but extended by new matter to p. 76, and there is no blank page
-at the end. The Cinquième Edition described above may be safely regarded
-as the _editio princeps_; there were, however, at least three variant
-issues, two of which are easily confused with the original edition. One
-of these corresponds exactly in imprint, pagination, and signatures with
-the regular Cinquième Edition but is set from different type, has a
-different title-page border, and uses less elaborate printer’s ornaments
-throughout; it may be at once distinguished from the original by the fact
-that the words “Monsieur de Sartine” in the title are printed, not in red
-as in the original, but in black; copies in BA, NYP. A second variant has
-the same imprint as the regular Cinquième Edition, but the title-page
-has a still different border, no rubrication, and the word “Cinquième”
-is erroneously printed with an acute instead of a grave accent; the
-pagination is the same as that of the regular Cinquième Edition, but
-the variant is a smaller octavo, the type is not the same, nor are the
-signatures (regular: []², B-K⁴; variant: []², B-E⁸, F⁴); copies in NYP,
-YU. There is, finally, in the Yale University Library an issue called
-the “Cinquieme [_sic_] édition,” with a title-page border different from
-any in the preceding issues, with the same pagination as the regular
-Cinquième Edition, but from different type, with signatures[]¹, B⁸, C-I⁴
-(half-title doubtless wanting), and with the puzzling date “M. DCC.
-LXXXII.”
-
- _La Cassette verte_ is a political and bibliographical hoax.
- The text purports to be secret papers found in a dispatch-box
- belonging to M. de Sartine, French Minister of Marine. (On
- Mademoiselle Du Thé, i.e., Rosalie Duthé, a Parisian courtesan
- who had recently visited England, see Pierre Larousse,
- _Grand dictionnaire ... du XIXᵉ siècle_, Paris, 1866-90,
- VI, 1447-1448.) The papers expose the motives of the French
- government in aiding the United States and satirize Franklin’s
- activities in Paris, English sympathizers with the American
- cause, and the like. A letter supposedly written by one of
- Sartine’s agents in London provides a gloss on certain passages
- in _Anticipation_. I quote from the English version (no. vi,
- below):
-
- Alas! in these times, a spy’s office here is almost a sinecure:
- a dozen newspapers in the morning, and as many fresh ones
- every evening, rob us of all our business: a secret even in
- private affairs is a prodigy in London; but as to public
- matters, it is the patriot’s boast, that a free constitution
- abhors secrecy: and so indeed it seems; for, not only the
- minutest accounts of the army, the navy, and the taxes, but
- the minister’s letters, official instructions, and in short,
- every paper, the disclosure of which may serve opposition, and
- tend to prejudice the ministers by a premature discovery of
- their plans, are perpetually called for, and must lie on the
- tables of Parliament; where, as soon as they are once brought,
- their contents one way or other get into print; consequently,
- ... the French ministers are not only as much in possession of
- them as the English, but study them far more attentively, and
- to ten times more advantage than _they_ do who called for their
- disclosure in England⸺All this is bad encouragement to a spy at
- London.
-
- Bibliographically, the pamphlet raises questions that cannot be
- answered with complete certainty. How is the number of variant
- issues to be accounted for, and what are their relations to the
- _editio princeps_? The satire was originally written by Tickell
- in English and was then translated into bad French to circulate
- on the Continent as propaganda against the Franco-American
- alliance (see the extract from _The Monthly Review_ under the
- next entry, and that from Bachaumont’s _Mémoires_ further on in
- the present entry). However, the French version, purporting to
- be the “Cinquième Edition,” published “A La Haye,” and “revue
- & corrigée sur celles de Leipsic & d’Amsterdam,” appeared in
- England earlier than the English original (_La Cassette verte_
- was noticed in _The Monthly Review_ for May 1779, p. 394; _The
- Green Box_ in the following month, p. 473). It seems most
- likely that the regular Cinquième and the Sixième Editions
- were printed on the Continent and that the variant issues were
- English reprints. Typographical evidence tends to confirm this
- supposition. The type and ornaments of the regular Cinquième
- Edition and the Sixième seem clearly not to be English. The
- variants, on the other hand, all appear to be English in
- origin, and it may be noted that their less elaborate ornaments
- give the impression of feeble imitation.
-
- There is evidence that the hoax was disliked in certain high
- quarters. In Louis Petit de Bachaumont’s _Mémoires secrets pour
- servir à l’histoire de la republique des lettres en France_,
- 1780-89, appears an “Extrait d’une lettre d’Amsterdam du 22 Mai
- 1780,” which reads, in part:
-
- Il a paru dans ce pays, il y a déja du tems, peut-être un an,
- une brochure très courte, intitulée _la cassette verte_.... On
- ne sait si M. de Sartine en a été piqué, ou si c’est un zele
- de ses partisans dans ce pays; mais on mande de la Haye que
- le jeudi 19 de ce mois, on y a arrêté une Dame Godin, comme
- ayant eu quelque part à cette _cassette verte_ & qu’elle en est
- partie le jour même avec des gardes qui la conduisent jusqu’aux
- frontieres de France, d’où vraisemblement elle sera transférée
- à la Bastille (XV, 189).
-
-
-vi
-
-The Green Box of Monsieur de Sartine, Found at Mademoiselle du Thé’s
-Lodgings. From the French of the Hague Edition. Revised and corrected by
-those of Leipsic and Amsterdam. “I translate for the Country Gentlemen.”
-Anticipation. London: Sold by A. Becket, corner of the Adelphi, Strand;
-and R. Faulder, Bond-street. M DCC LXXIX.
-
-8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp.
-[1]-4, “Advertisement”; p. [5], note by the “Editor,” verso blank; pp.
-[7]-71, text; p. [72], advertisement of _Anticipation_, Ninth Edition,
-_La Cassette verte_, and other works by Tickell.
-
-Copies: BP, HC, HEH, NYP. Sabin #95796.
-
-Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Editions, Becket and Faulder, 1779.
-Dublin: James Byrn and Son, 1779. Also an edition dated 1779 without
-place or publisher’s name and with different collation; evidently a
-piracy. Heartman’s Historical Series No. 19; “Sixty-five copies printed
-for Charles F. Heartman, New York City 1916”; this is an independent
-translation of _La Cassette verte_.
-
- “It now appears that this pretended English translation is the
- _original work_, as it came from the ludicrous pen of Mr.
- Tickell ...; and that the French edition ... was only a
- _circumstance_ in the _joke_” (_The Monthly Review_, LX,
- 1779, 473).
-
- A number of imitations followed _La Cassette verte_ and _The
- Green Box_. Among these are _An English Green Box_ ..., G.
- Kearsly, 1779; _Histoire d’un pou françois_ ..., “A Paris, de
- l’Imprimerie Royale,” 1779, and the English version of the
- latter, _History of a French Louse_ ..., T. Becket, 1779—all
- of which have been erroneously ascribed to Tickell.
-
-
-vii
-
-Epistle from the Honourable Charles Fox, Partridge-Shooting, to the
-Honourable John Townshend, Cruising. London: Printed for R. Faulder, New
-Bond Street. M DCC LXXIX.
-
-4to. P. [1], half-title, verso blank; p. [3], title, verso blank; pp.
-[5]-14, text; pp. [15-16], blank.
-
-Copies: BM, HC. Sabin #95795.
-
-A New Edition, Faulder, 1779. Third Edition, Faulder, 1780. Dublin: R.
-Marchbank, 1779. Reprinted in _The New Foundling Hospital for Wit ... A
-New Edition ... In Six Volumes_, J. Debrett, 1786, I, 318-323. Reprinted
-in _Bell’s Classical Arrangement of Fugitive Poetry_, British Library,
-1789-94, IV, [86]-91.
-
- The _Epistle_ is a pleasing Horatian piece that makes
- good-natured fun of the Whig wits and politicians of Brooks’s
- Club. On John Townshend (1757-1833), later called Lord John,
- second son of the first Marquis Townshend, see W. P. Courtney,
- _Eight Friends of the Great_, 1910, pp. 172-183. Fox, in the
- country, is depicted urging on his pointers with “patriot
- names”:
-
- No servile ministerial runners they!
- Not RANGER then, but WASHINGTON, I cry;
- Hey on! PAUL JONES, re-echoes to the sky:
- Toho! old FRANKLIN—SILAS DEANE, take heed!—
- Cheer’d with the sound, o’er hills and dales they speed.
-
- But as he toils through fields of stubble he yearns for “The
- long lost pleasures of ST. JAMES’S STREET,” which are set
- forth by Tickell in graceful and glowing lines. The _Epistle_
- was very highly praised by the reviewers and by others, but
- Horace Walpole, in a letter to Lady Ossory of 2 December 1779,
- recorded an acute dissent: “Towards the end there seems some
- very pretty lines; but, upon the whole, _à quoi bon? à quel
- propos?_ I believe it was meant for a satire, but the author
- winked, and it flashed in the pan (_Letters_, ed. Toynbee, XI,
- 74-75).”
-
-
-viii
-
-Common-Place Arguments against Administration, with Obvious Answers,
-(Intended for the Use of the New Parliament.) London: Printed for R.
-Faulder, New Bond Street. M DCC LXXX.
-
-8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank;
-pp. [v]-viii, “Advertisement”; pp. [an inserted leaf], “Contents”; pp.
-[9]-101, text; p. [102], blank.
-
-Copies: HC, NYP. Sabin #95794.
-
-Second, Third, and Fourth Editions, Faulder, 1780. Dublin: R. Marchbank,
-1780; called “The Third Edition.”
-
- A transparent attempt to repeat the success of _Anticipation_,
- this satire was unanimously assigned to Tickell by the reviews
- and is clearly his. Opposition charges and ministerial replies
- are provided on such topics as “Best Officers drawn from the
- Service,” “The last Campaign, and State of the Nation,” and the
- like, together with a section of “Miscellaneous Eloquence, or,
- Collateral Rhetoric for the Gallery,” which contains the best
- mimicry the tract affords. The reviewers justly taxed Tickell
- with writing for hire and borrowing from himself.
-
-
-ix
-
-Select Songs of the Gentle Shepherd. As It Is Performed at the
-Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane London: Printed for T. Becket, Adelphi, Strand.
-M DCC LXXXI. [Price Six-pence.]
-
-8vo. P. [1], title, verso blank; pp. [3]-19, text; p. [20], blank.
-
-Copy: HEH.
-
-There were no other issues.
-
- This pastoral opera in two acts, performed as an afterpiece
- at Drury Lane, 29 October 1781, is an alteration of Allan
- Ramsay’s _Gentle Shepherd_, 1725, which had already had a long
- stage history. It ran for twenty-two nights and remained the
- standard stage version until after 1800. In an article entitled
- “Reviving ‘The Gentle Shepherd,’” W. J. Lawrence condemned
- Tickell’s alteration out of hand because “the abounding Doric
- had been bled white, and new music had been substituted for
- the fine old Scots melodies” (_The_ [London] _Graphic_, CVIII,
- 1923, 340). The music has not survived, but the discriminating
- review in _The Universal Magazine_ praised Linley’s skill in
- preserving the original airs while providing accompaniments for
- an expanded orchestra (LXIX, 1781, 237). The dialogue, however
- handled, was certain to produce disagreement, but Tickell was
- more faithful to the original than previous adapters had been.
- On this point James Boaden wrote:
-
- The simple beauties of the poem were ... felt on this occasion,
- and the lovers of rustic nature were obliged to Mr. Tickell for
- the restoration of its original language—the _pronunciation_,
- and still more the _cadence_, suffered as might be expected
- from diffidence and badness of ear (_Memoirs of Mrs. Siddons_,
- 1827, I, 252).
-
-
-x
-
-Songs, Duos, Trios, Chorusses, &c., in the Comic Opera of the Carnival
-of Venice, as it is Performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. London.
-1781. Pr. Iˢ.
-
-8vo. P. [1], title, verso blank; p. [3], “Dramatis Personæ,” verso blank;
-pp. 5-27, text; p. [28], blank.
-
-Copy: BM.
-
-There were no other issues.
-
- _The Carnival of Venice_ opened on 13 December 1781 and
- played twenty-three times during the season but was never
- revived. It was written to suit what Tickell himself, in a
- letter to an aspiring playwright, called “the present taste
- for complicated plot and perplexed incidents” (unpublished
- letter to A. Becket, August 1781, in the Widener Collection,
- Harvard College Library); for the plot, see the review in _The
- Universal Magazine_, LXIX, 1781, 328. The music was provided by
- Linley, and the elaborate sets and costumes by De Loutherbourg.
- In particular the songs were admired: Tom Moore and Samuel
- Rogers remembered and quoted them in the next century (Moore,
- _Sheridan_, 2nd ed., 1825, II, 227; Rogers, _Table-Talk_, p.
- 72). Mary Young, in her _Memoirs of Mrs. Crouch_, 1806, said
- that “Many of the songs in this piece so perfectly resemble,
- in poetic beauty, those which adorn the Duenna [by Sheridan],
- that they declare themselves to be the offspring of the same
- Muse” (I, 127). Sheridan’s biographers have variously ascribed
- the songs, in part or entirely, to him and Mrs. Sheridan, but
- on what grounds save their excellence does not appear (Sichel,
- _Sheridan_, I, 443, and II, 459; Rae, article on Tickell in the
- _DNB_).
-
-
-xi
-
-[Prologue to] Variety; A Comedy, in Five Acts: as it is performed at the
-Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. London: Printed for T. Becket, Adelphi,
-Strand, Bookseller to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and Their
-Royal Highnesses the Princes. MDCCLXXXII.
-
-Copies: BM, C.
-
-8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp.
-[v-vi], “Prologue, by Richard Tickell, Esq;”; p. [vii], “Epilogue”; p.
-[viii], “Epilogue,” continued, and “Dramatis Personæ”; pp. [1]-71, text;
-p. [72], publisher’s advertisements.
-
-Subsequent issues disregarded here.
-
- _Variety_ was written by Richard Griffith (d. 1788), and was
- first performed 25 February 1782.
-
-
-xii
-
-Remarks on the Commutation Act. Addressed to the People of England.
-London: Printed for T. Becket, in Pall-Mall. M DCC LXXXV. [Price One
-Shilling and Six-pence.]
-
-8vo. P. [i], title, verso blank; pp. [1]-81, text; p. [82], blank.
-
-Copy: YU.
-
-Second, Third, and Fourth Editions, Becket, 1785.
-
- Assigned to Tickell by a MS. note on the title-page of a copy
- of the Fourth Edition in the New York Public Library. It is
- characteristically Tickell’s in substance and style. Intended
- as an attack on a proposed reduction of the tea-duty, it
- enlarges into a satire on Pitt’s administration, especially
- the ascendancy of the East India Company interest therein.
- While the Company continues its corrupt sway, Pitt directs
- the energies of Parliament to “Edicts against the Waste of
- Wafers in Public Offices, and Registrations of the Nett
- Consumption of Quills; together with Sworn Meters of Sand, and
- a Comptroller-General of Blotting-Paper.”
-
-
-xiii
-
-Contributions to _The Rolliad_.
-
- The work known as _The Rolliad_ is only for the sake of
- convenience so styled. The name serves as a collective title
- for a group of many works, differently titled and separately
- published, ranging from squibs a quatrain long to extended
- mock-heroic poems. These collaborative Whig satires began
- to appear in Henry Bate’s _Morning Herald_ late in 1784;
- and the inclusive editions, issued from 1795 on under the
- title of _The Rolliad_, contain _Criticisms on The Rolliad_,
- _Political Eclogues_, _Probationary Odes for the Laureateship_,
- and _Political Miscellanies_. Many ancillary pieces by the
- same group of authors appeared in newspapers and fugitive
- miscellanies but were never reprinted.
-
- A good deal has been written in appreciation of the literary
- and political satire of the _Rolliad_ pieces, but no thorough
- study of their history and bibliography has been attempted.
- So complex is their bibliography that it is impossible to
- give a satisfactory account of any single author’s share.
- The principal information on authorship will be found in
- several contributions to _Notes and Queries_, 1st ser., II,
- 1850, and III, 1851, from copies of _The Rolliad_ annotated
- by the authors or by those who knew them, as follows:
- French Laurence’s notes, II, 373, and III, 129-131; George
- Ellis’ notes, II, 114-115; Alexander Chalmers’ notes, II,
- 242; Sir James Mackintosh’s notes, III, 131. To these should
- be added Sheridan’s notes in a copy used by Walter Sichel;
- see his _Sheridan_, II, 87ff. There is much other scattered
- information, of which full use has not yet been made, in late
- eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century memoirs and journals.
-
- According to French Laurence, who acted as editor, “the piece
- first published, and the origin of all that followed,” was
- the “Short Account of the Family of the Rollos, now Rolles,”
- written principally by Tickell and purporting to be a genealogy
- of the family of John Rolle, M.P. for Devon, the unlucky
- hero of the projected mock epic. Tickell designed the absurd
- family tree that served as frontispiece for _Criticisms on
- The Rolliad_ (information from Sheridan, in Lord Broughton
- [John Cam Hobhouse], _Recollections of a Long Life_, ed. Lady
- Dorchester, 1909-11, I, 202). He had also a leading hand in
- the next project of the group, the _Probationary Odes_, for
- which he provided the editorial preliminaries, the first of
- the trial odes, supposed to be by Sir Cecil Wray, and the
- ninth, supposed to be by Nathaniel Wraxall and one of the best
- in the series. (According to Mackintosh, the ninth ode was
- “sketched by Canning, the Eton boy, finished by Tickell.”)
- The most successful of the _Political Eclogues_, a satire on
- Lord Lansdowne called _Jekyll_, was the collaborative work
- of Tickell and Lord John Townshend; it first appeared as a
- quarto poem published by J. Debrett, 1788. For the smaller
- contributions of Tickell, which are numerous, the lists in
- _Notes and Queries_ may be consulted.
-
-
-xiv
-
-A Woollen Draper’s Letter on the French Treaty, to His Friends and Fellow
-Tradesmen All over England. “The clothiers all not able to maintain “The
-many to them ’longing, have put off “The spinsters, carders, fullers,
-weavers.” Shakespeare’s Henry VIII. London: Printed for the Author,
-and sold by J. French, Bookseller, No. 164, Fenchurch-street, by the
-Booksellers near the Royal Exchange, Pater-Noster-Row, Fleet-street, &c.
-&c. &c. M,DCC,LXXXVI.
-
-8vo. P. [i], title, verso blank; pp. [I]-48, text.
-
-Copies: HC, NYP.
-
-Second Edition, French, 1786.
-
- This tract is here first assigned to Tickell, who stated he
- was the author in a letter to Samuel Parr, 20 February [1787]
- (Parr, _Works_, ed. J. Johnstone, 1828, VIII, 131). It is
- assigned to a different author in Halkett and Laing (new ed.,
- 1926-34, VI, 252), where a copy is reported that contains a MS.
- dedication signed “Lieut. J. Mackenzie.” Tickell’s statement of
- authorship, the lack of any information about J. Mackenzie, and
- various circumstances (too involved to detail here) relating
- to Whig propagandist activity at this time, all suggest that
- Lieut. J. Mackenzie is a fictitious person. As the Foxites’
- chief pamphleteer Tickell did his duty, but as a member of
- Brooks’s he did not care to associate his name with a sober
- commercial tract.
-
- This supposed Woollen Draper, who seems to be well acquainted
- with the subject he treats, endeavours to shew his fellow
- tradesmen the very great injuries to which the woollen trade is
- exposed, by the commercial treaty, lately signed at Paris....
- In his own style, the sample, which he hath here offered to the
- Public, is well wrought, and of a good fabric (_The Monthly
- Review_, LXXVI, 1787, 71).
-
-
-xv
-
-The People’s Answer to the Court Pamphlet: Entitled A Short Review of
-the Political State of Great Britain. Quid prius dicam solitis Parentis
-Laudibus?⸺Printed for J. Debrett, opposite Burlington-house Piccadilly.
-MDCCLXXXVII.
-
-8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp.
-[1]-50, text; pp. [51-52], blank.
-
-Copies: HC, NYP, WLC.
-
-Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Editions, Debrett, 1787. Dublin: White,
-Byrne, Moore, and Jones, 1787.
-
- This tract is here first assigned to Tickell. His letter to
- Parr of 20 February [1787], mentioned in the preceding entry,
- begins:
-
- From some enquiries in your letter to Mrs. Sheridan, I believe
- you thought it was right to answer _the Political Review_. I
- mean the pamphlet that traduced the Prince of Wales and every
- one else except Hastings. I now send you the answer I gave
- it, because, as you thought it right it should be answered,
- you will excuse faults in a paper written in a hurry (Parr,
- _Works_, VIII, 131).
-
- The pamphlet to which Tickell refers is _A Short Review of
- the Political State of Great-Britain at the Commencement
- of the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-Seven_,
- Debrett, 1787, a collection of political portraits and cursory
- observations as thin in substance as they are florid in style.
- Its authorship was acknowledged in the _Posthumous Memoirs_,
- 1836, of Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, who told there of its immense
- success upon publication: it ran through six editions in the
- last ten days of January, sold 17,000 copies, and elicited a
- half-dozen replies within a month (_Historical and Posthumous
- Memoirs_, 1884, IV, 372-375). _The People’s Answer_ was written
- from Tickell’s precise political position at this time and
- displays his characteristic style.
-
- Beginning in his usual brisk and pointed manner, Tickell
- suggests that the celebrity of the _Short Review_ is due
- largely to such a total want of polite wit among the supporters
- of Administration “that even a Charade from one of the _King’s
- Friends_ would excite ... admiration.” The author has provided
- “the dull desponding train of an unlettered Court” with
-
- a sort of handy manual for the Levee ..., lightly touching on
- the topicks most in vogue, and sketching out handy sentences
- for the Lords of the Bedchamber to retail, or the Maids of
- Honour to scribble on their fans.
-
- Here is the hand of the author of _The Wreath of Fashion_. In
- his treatment of Pitt’s commercial treaty, his gift of mimicry
- is also apparent. Tickell the elegant amateur cannot resist
- parodying the style of writers on commercial subjects:
-
- Every leaf of these motley compositions displays an epitome
- of all the tricks of invitation, that are practised by the
- trades they discuss; some of them intoxicating the eye, like
- Vintners’ windows, with BRANDY! RUM! and BRITISH SPIRIT! in
- capitals—while others denote their beaten track, and towns
- of baiting; like the lettered pannels of a stage coach, in
- characters of a most extensive and convincing size; as,
-
- HULL,
- LEEDS,
- WAKEFIELD,
- YORK,
-
- or
-
- BOCKING,
- BRAINTREE,
- DUNMOW,
- COLCHESTER, &c.
-
- Perhaps the most amusing thing about this passage is that
- Tickell is ridiculing, among others, himself, for these are
- the very devices of the honest Woollen Draper’s _Letter_. The
- defence of the Prince of Wales’ conduct and friends, which
- occupies the later pages of _The People’s Answer_, is in a more
- serious tone.
-
-
-xvi
-
-[Prologue to] The Fugitive: A Comedy. As it is performed at the King’s
-Theatre, Haymarket. By Joseph Richardson, Esq. Barrister at Law.
-Ætherias, lascive cupis, volitare per auras I, fuge, sed poteris,
-tutior esse domi. Martial. London: Printed for J. Debrett, opposite
-Burlington-House, Piccadilly. MDCCXCII.
-
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-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Anticipation, by Richard Tickell</p>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
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-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Anticipation</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Richard Tickell</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Lyman H. Butterfield</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April 20, 2022 [eBook #67888]</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
- <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</p>
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANTICIPATION ***</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_i"></a>[i]</span></p>
-
-<h1>ANTICIPATION</h1>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ii"></a>[ii]</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iii"></a>[iii]</span></p>
-
-<p class="titlepage larger">ANTICIPATION</p>
-
-<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br />
-RICHARD TICKELL</p>
-
-<p class="titlepage">Reprinted from the<br />
-First Edition, London, 1778<br />
-With an<br />
-Introduction, Notes &amp; a Bibliography<br />
-of Tickell’s Writings</p>
-
-<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br />
-L. H. BUTTERFIELD</p>
-
-<p class="titlepage"><i>NEW YORK</i><br />
-King’s Crown Press, Morningside Heights<br />
-1942</p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iv"></a>[iv]</span></p>
-
-<p class="titlepage smaller"><i>Introduction, Notes, and Bibliography copyright 1942 by</i><br />
-L. H. BUTTERFIELD</p>
-
-<p class="center smaller">PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p>
-
-<p class="center smaller">KZ-19-VB-500</p>
-
-<div style="max-width: 25em; margin: auto;">
-<p class="titlepage-j"><i>King’s Crown Press is a division of Columbia University
-Press organized for the purpose of making certain scholarly
-material available at minimum cost. Toward that end, the
-publishers have adopted every reasonable economy except
-such as would interfere with a legible format. The work is
-presented substantially as submitted by the author, without
-the usual editorial attention of Columbia University Press.</i></p>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v"></a>[v]</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi"></a>[vi]</span></p>
-
-<p class="titlepage"><i>To C. J. F. B.</i></p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii"></a>[vii]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOREWORD">FOREWORD</h2>
-
-</div>
-
-<p>Some years ago a literary investigator came into my office and inquired
-whether he could find a copy of Richard Tickell’s <i>Anticipation</i> in our
-library. He was thinking of sending to the British Museum for a photostatic
-copy, in case we could not supply his need. We were able to reply
-that we had sixteen editions of this book—ten of them printed in the
-year 1778 alone. Now publishers do not re-issue a book unless someone
-is reading it. The number of reprints induced me to read the book, and
-I found it one of the best of eighteenth-century satires on the ponderous
-serio-comic addresses delivered in what is still pleased to call itself the
-M-th-r of P-rl—m-nts. Though Mr. Butterfield has restrained himself
-in the matter of drawing parallels between the bumbling follies of that
-legislative conclave, then and now, yet the writer of a foreword may be
-permitted to do so.</p>
-
-<p>In the summer of 1941, I received in the mail a pamphlet, in an envelope
-which bore a Chinese postage stamp and the postmark of Shanghai.
-The pamphlet was one of the familiar blue-covered fascicles which we all
-recognize as the format of the <i>Parliamentary Debates</i>. This particular
-fascicle purported to contain the debate for August 15, 1941, and was
-typographically exact, even to the reproduction of the arms of H-s
-Br-t-nn-c M-j-sty on the cover. An examination revealed it to be the
-twentieth-century parallel of Tickell’s <i>Anticipation</i>—a satiric report of
-the debates in the H—s- of C-mm-ns as of 1941. It was obvious German
-propaganda, but so well done typographically that I found some of my
-learned colleagues had read a part of it before it dawned on them that
-the whole thing was analogous to Tickell’s <i>Anticipation</i>. But let no American
-be complacent about the failure of the H—s- of C-mm-ns to progress
-during the intervening one hundred and sixty-three years. Let him dip
-into our own <i>C-ngr-ss—n-l R-c-rd</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Butterfield and the publisher could have chosen no more appropriate
-time than the present at which to issue the twentieth-century edition<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii"></a>[viii]</span>
-of this book. It ought to be read by all students of American history—elementary
-and advanced.</p>
-
-<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Randolph G. Adams</span></p>
-
-<p class="noindent">The W. L. Clements Library<br />
-Ann Arbor</p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix"></a>[ix]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="EDITORS_FOREWORD">EDITOR’S FOREWORD</h2>
-
-</div>
-
-<p>This is the first reprint since 1822 of a politico-literary satire that
-delighted a generation of readers during and after the American War
-of Independence. It has seemed to the editor, and to others who encouraged
-the project, that the neglect of <i>Anticipation</i> has been due less
-to its want of interest than to the want of a properly edited reprint. The
-mere presence in it of so many names with deleted letters has discouraged
-later readers.<a id="FNanchor_0" href="#Footnote_0" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The present volume provides an account of the author
-and of the setting and reception of <i>Anticipation</i>, an accurate text,
-explanatory notes, and a bibliography of Tickell’s writings.</p>
-
-<p><i>Anticipation</i> was written and printed hastily; and the spelling (especially
-of proper names), the punctuation, and sometimes even the grammar
-are erratic. But since it has proved impossible to distinguish the carelessness
-of the printer from that of the author, I have followed the first
-issue literally except when corrections were available in the following
-later ones: “The Third Edition, Corrected,” which appeared within a
-week of first publication; “The Tenth Edition, Corrected,” 1780, which
-was the last published during Tickell’s life; and “A New Edition, Corrected,”
-1794, a re-issue occasioned, probably, by Tickell’s death and set
-from new type. Two or three flagrant errors (e.g., the name “Bonille”
-for “Bouillé” at p. 59) and a few typographical absurdities (such as
-quotation marks without mates) recur in all the London issues. These I
-have corrected without warrant from any text.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_x"></a>[x]</span></p>
-
-<p>It should be stated that in the Introduction I have usually not cited
-sources for dates and other biographical details when the sources are
-correctly given in W. Fraser Rae’s article on Tickell in <i>The Dictionary
-of National Biography</i>. Unless otherwise indicated, the place of publication
-of all works cited is London.</p>
-
-<p>A great many friends have contributed to the making of this book,
-and almost as many librarians in the United States and England have
-aided my researches for it. Some special debts I wish to record here.
-Randolph G. Adams, Director of the William L. Clements Library at
-Ann Arbor, Julian P. Boyd, Librarian of Princeton University, and
-Professor George Sherburn of Harvard have read my manuscript and
-given me helpful advice. W. S. Lewis, Esq., of Farmington, Connecticut,
-kindly allowed me to quote from notes written by Horace Walpole in
-a copy of <i>Anticipation</i> now in Mr. Lewis’ collection of Walpoliana;
-Richard Eustace Tickell, Esq., of London, sent me useful material from
-the Tickell family papers; Mrs. Flora V. Livingston and Mr. William
-Van Lennep, curators, respectively, of the Widener Collection and the
-Theatre Collection in the Harvard College Library, allowed me to quote
-from manuscript letters in their charge; the New York Public Library
-gave me permission to reproduce the title-page that precedes the text.
-For aid in preparing the Bibliography of Tickell’s Writings I am most
-indebted to Mr. John D. Gordan of the New York Public Library, who
-read and ably criticized it; to Miss Anne S. Pratt of the Yale University
-Library, and Mr. Frederick R. Goff of the Library of Congress,
-who answered numerous bibliographical inquiries; to the Union Catalog
-in the Library of Congress and its staff; and to the admirable <i>Bibliotheca
-Americana</i>, begun by Joseph Sabin, continued by Wilberforce
-Eames, and then completed by R. W. G. Vail, New York, 1868-1937.
-The services of Herbert B. Anstaett, Librarian of Franklin and Marshall
-College, have been so various, constant, and indispensable that they deserve
-my most sincere thanks. No thanks, however, can be adequate for
-the devoted work and interest bestowed on the preparation of this book,
-from beginning to end, by my wife.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">I am grateful also to the following publishers for permission to quote
-from the books named: The Clarendon Press, Oxford, for <i>Boswell’s
-Life of Johnson</i> edited by George Birkbeck Hill, revised and enlarged<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xi"></a>[xi]</span>
-edition by L. F. Powell; <i>The Letters of Horace Walpole</i> edited by Mrs.
-Paget Toynbee; and <i>Satirical Poems Published Anonymously by William
-Mason with Notes by Horace Walpole</i> edited by Paget Toynbee.
-Constable and Company, Ltd., for <i>Sheridan: From New and Original
-Material</i> by Walter Sichel. Henry Holt and Company for <i>Sheridan:
-A Biography</i> by W. Fraser Rae. The Huntington Library for <i>The American
-Journal of Ambrose Serle, Secretary to Lord Howe 1776-1778</i>,
-edited by Edward H. Tatum, Jr. Hutchinson and Company, Ltd., for
-<i>The Farington Diary</i> by Joseph Farington, R.A., edited by James
-Greig. John Lane, the Bodley Head, Ltd., for <i>The Last Journals of
-Horace Walpole during the Reign of George III from 1771-1783</i>
-edited by A. Francis Steuart. The Macmillan Company for <i>The Writings
-of Benjamin Franklin</i> edited by Albert Henry Smyth. John Murray
-for <i>Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794)</i> edited by Rowland
-E. Prothero. Martin Secker and Warburg, Ltd., for <i>The Linleys of
-Bath</i> by Clementina Black. The Viking Press, Inc., for <i>The Private
-Papers of James Boswell from Malahide Castle</i> as originally published
-in a limited edition by William Rudge and to be published in an unlimited
-edition by The Viking Press, Inc., under the editorship of Professor
-Frederick A. Pottle.</p>
-
-<p class="right">L. H. B.</p>
-
-<p class="noindent">Lancaster, Pennsylvania<br />
-March 1941</p>
-
-<div class="footnotes">
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_0" href="#FNanchor_0" class="label">[1]</a> In the present text deleted letters are supplied within square brackets. Originally
-the use of blanks and asterisks in names of persons was a means of avoiding libel
-actions. One should never print a man’s name out at length, said Swift in <i>The
-Importance of the Guardian Considered</i>, 1713; “but, as I do, that of Mr. St—le:
-so that, although everybody alive knows whom I mean, the plaintiff can have no redress
-in any court of justice.” This was such an easy way to add piquancy to defamation
-that it became conventional in satire. In 1778 the reviewer of an anti-ministerial
-poem called <i>The Conquerors</i> observed that the work seemed “designed
-for the perusal of astronomers; there are more <i>stars</i> in it than the galaxy contains”
-(<i>The Critical Review</i>, XLV, 150).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2>
-
-</div>
-
-<table summary="Contents">
- <tr>
- <td></td>
- <td class="tdpg smaller">PAGE</td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>FOREWORD <i>by Randolph G. Adams</i></td>
- <td class="tdpg"><a href="#FOREWORD">vii</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>EDITOR’S FOREWORD</td>
- <td class="tdpg"><a href="#EDITORS_FOREWORD">ix</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>INTRODUCTION</td>
- <td class="tdpg"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">3</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="smaller">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION</td>
- <td class="tdpg"><a href="#NOTES_TO_THE_INTRODUCTION">17</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>ANTICIPATION</td>
- <td class="tdpg"><a href="#ANTICIPATION">21</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>NOTES</td>
- <td class="tdpg"><a href="#NOTES">67</a></td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TICKELL’S WRITINGS</td>
- <td class="tdpg"><a href="#BIBLIOGRAPHY">85</a></td>
- </tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>He was the happiest of any occasional writer in his
-day: happy alike in the subject and in the execution of it.—I
-mention with pleasure <i>Anticipation</i>, the <i>Wreath of Fashion</i>,
-&amp;c. &amp;c. &amp;c. and I wish to preserve the name and remembrance
-of such a man as Mr. Tickell. Poets and
-ingenious men, who write on occasional subjects with great
-ability, are too often lost in the most undeserved oblivion.
-But we must recollect, that even such a poem as “The
-Absalom and Achitophel” of Dryden himself (perhaps his
-greatest production) was but <i>occasional</i>, and written <i>for a
-party</i>.⸺<i>The Pursuits of Literature</i>, 5th edition, 1798</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</h2>
-
-</div>
-
-<h3><i>1</i></h3>
-
-<p>Early in 1778 a new satirical poet caused a flutter in the polite circles
-of London. Within a few weeks of one another two poems, <i>The Project</i>
-and <i>The Wreath of Fashion</i>, were issued by Becket, the bookseller of
-the Adelphi in the Strand. Though anonymous, their author was soon
-known to be a young barrister named Richard Tickell. <i>The Project</i>
-treats of a scheme overlooked by the Academy of Projectors which
-Captain Gulliver visited in the course of his third voyage. In deft octosyllabics
-the satirist proposes applying Montesquieu’s discovery of the
-effect of climate on character to the problem of the parliamentary Opposition:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent2">Suppose the Turks, who now agree</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">It wou’d <i>fatigue</i> them to be free,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Should build an ice-house, to debate</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">More <i>cooly</i> on affairs of state,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Might not some Mussulmen be brought,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">To brace their minds, nor shrink at thought?</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent">Surely the philosophers are right who have reasoned that England’s
-northern air is accountable for Englishmen’s love of liberty, and many
-a question has been lost by Administration from Parliament’s meeting
-in cold weather. An obvious solution would be to alter the season of
-meeting:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent0">But ah, what honest squire would stay</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">To make his <i>speech</i>, instead of <i>hay</i>?</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">The <i>Beaux</i> would scarcely think of law,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">To give up <i>Scarborough</i> or <i>Spa’</i>:</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">And say ye <i>sportsmen</i>, wou’d a member</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Attend <i>St. Stephen’s</i> in September?</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent">The poet’s more feasible plan is a better mode of heating the Parliament
-buildings. He suggests that in each House, replacing the table<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span>
-where votes, journals, and mace are laid, a vast “<i>Buzaglo</i>”<a id="Nanchor_1" href="#Note_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> be set up;
-that is, an open fire of intense heat, over which a Fire Committee
-should preside with a fuel supply of seditious tracts—<i>Junius</i>, <i>Common
-Sense</i>, and the works of Tucker and Price. Such a device will mollify
-the most inveterate foes of Administration:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent0">From bench to bench, in spite of gout,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">The soften’d <i>Chatham</i> moves about:</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">“My good <i>Lord Sandwich</i>, how d’ye do?</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">I like the speech; ’twas penn’d by you.</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">America has gone too far;</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">We must support so just a war.”</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent">The reviewers were delighted with the poem, so distinguished by its
-good nature and wit amid the current tide of party polemics. The
-connoisseur in Horace Walpole was stronger than his Whiggism, and
-he found <i>The Project</i> excellent.<a id="Nanchor_2" href="#Note_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Dr. Johnson, who disapproved of
-flippancy in politics, dissented. At a dinner party at Sir Joshua Reynolds’
-on the 25th of April, Dr. Samuel Musgrave, the learned editor of
-Euripides, read the new poem. Johnson was not amused. “A temporary
-poem always entertains us,” urged Musgrave. “So,” replied Johnson,
-“does an account of the criminals hanged yesterday entertain us.”<a id="Nanchor_3" href="#Note_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
-
-<p>Rather ungratefully, Tickell followed up his reception as a poet in
-the circles of <i>ton</i> with a satire on one of society’s most conspicuous
-foibles. <i>The Wreath of Fashion, or, the Art of Sentimental Poetry</i>,
-said <i>The Critical Review</i> in its notice, “is levelled at the same vice in
-the poetical world, at which the School for Scandal was aimed in the
-theatrical and moral worlds,—at the present fashionable strain of sentimental
-whining.”<a id="Nanchor_4" href="#Note_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> It was an age of rhyming peers. Tickell declared
-in the preface that he was prompted to write his satire by reading
-a recent volume by a noble author (whom he did not name but
-who was the Earl of Carlisle, Byron’s “Lord, rhymester, petit-maître,
-pamphleteer”) containing one ode on the death of Mr. Gray and two
-on the death of his lordship’s spaniel. In <i>The Wreath of Fashion</i> Tickell
-deplored, with Sheridan, the vogue of tearful comedies and gently rebuked
-the inanities of newspaper poets. His chief ridicule was reserved
-for the poetic salon of Mrs. “Calliope” Miller at Batheaston, where the
-quality from Bath wrote <i>bouts-rimés</i> about buttered muffins and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span>
-like, dropped them into a classic vase, and applauded the winners
-crowned by Mrs. Miller with wreaths of myrtle.<a id="Nanchor_5" href="#Note_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> Over these rites of
-poetic sensibility, said the satirist, the goddess Fashion presides, and thus
-she must be supplicated:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent2">On a spruce pedestal of <i>Wedgwood ware</i>,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Where motley forms, and tawdry emblems glare,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Behold she consecrates to cold applause,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">A Petrefaction, work’d into a <i>Vase</i>:</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">The Vase of Sentiment!—to this impart</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Thy kindred coldness, and congenial art....</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">With votive song, and tributary verse,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Fashion’s gay train her gentle rites rehearse.</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">What soft poetic incense breathes around!</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">What soothing hymns from Adulation sound!</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent"><i>The Wreath of Fashion</i> went through a half-dozen editions. David
-Garrick wrote a puff for it in <i>The Monthly Review</i> in which he ventured
-to prophesy that “elegant poetry, refined satire, and exquisite
-irony” would be revived by the new author;<a id="Nanchor_6" href="#Note_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> and Samuel Rogers,
-belated Augustan that he was, always remembered <i>The Wreath</i> as an
-early favorite.<a id="Nanchor_7" href="#Note_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
-
-<h3><i>2</i></h3>
-
-<p>Who was the new poet? The turn of his couplets and the delicate
-barbs of his satire suggested a poetic school then growing outmoded.
-There were those who, when they learned his name, remembered his
-grandfather, Thomas Tickell, a poet of Queen Anne’s day and the
-particular friend of Mr. Addison. Thomas Tickell (1685-1740) served
-as Addison’s Under-Secretary of State and retained his post under Craggs
-and Carteret. In 1724, when Carteret became Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland,
-Tickell was sent to Dublin as Secretary to the Lords Justices. There
-were cordial relations between Dublin Castle and the Deanery of St.
-Patrick’s, and a circle of friends that included Swift, the Delanys, Lord
-Orrery, and Dr. Sheridan maintained in Dublin an outpost of Augustan
-literary society. In this propitious atmosphere John Tickell, eldest son of
-Thomas and father of Richard, our poet, was born in 1729 and grew
-up to take his place among the Dublin <i>virtuosi</i>. But he had a volatile<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span>
-character and fell into a train of misadventures and difficulties. In 1748
-he made a runaway marriage with Esther (or Hester) Pierson, and
-children to the number of six followed in rapid succession.<a id="Nanchor_8" href="#Note_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> At length he
-became disastrously involved in Anglo-Irish politics while serving on the
-court side as a magistrate after the Dublin riots in December 1759.<a id="Nanchor_9" href="#Note_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> His
-conduct on this occasion, though its precise nature is not clear, excited
-such indignation that he was obliged to leave Dublin. In 1765, according
-to information in the Tickell family papers, his mother purchased for
-him a civil appointment at Windsor Castle; but some years later, like
-other indigent Englishmen at that period, he went to live on the Continent
-and disappeared from sight.</p>
-
-<p>Richard, the second son of John Tickell, is usually said to have been
-born at Bath in 1751, but neither the place nor the date can be verified.
-He and his elder brother Thomas were briefly at Westminster School
-(from 19 June 1764); when their father went to Windsor Castle, they
-were transferred to Eton (29 May 1765); three years later Richard
-proceeded to the Middle Temple (8 November 1768).<a id="Nanchor_10" href="#Note_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Having in due
-time been called to the bar, he was, about the beginning of 1777, appointed
-by Lord Chancellor Bathurst a commissioner of bankrupts. However,
-as a contemporary biographer remarked, law was not to Tickell’s
-taste; “his disposition was too volatile and desultory for that study.”<a id="Nanchor_11" href="#Note_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> In
-April or May 1778 he was removed from his post. Doubtless his courtship
-of the muses had been at the expense of the law, for his fellow-commissioners
-had complained of his absences. Tickell turned in his distress
-to his most influential friend, David Garrick, who at once interceded
-for him with the Lord Chancellor, by way of Lady Bathurst.<a id="Nanchor_12" href="#Note_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Garrick
-obtained from Bathurst a promise of reinstatement, but in June Bathurst
-was succeeded by Edward Thurlow, and Garrick had to begin all over
-again. His further attempts met with no success. “I am sorry we were
-both so unsuccessful in our Schems with the present Chancellor,” Garrick
-was informed by Lady Bathurst on the 25th of July; “I do assure you
-I did my part for Mʳ Tickle but I find he has enemies who flung cold
-water on my solicitations.”<a id="Nanchor_13" href="#Note_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> The news plunged Tickell into despair.</p>
-
-<p>But Fortune is capricious, and at this moment Tickell made the acquaintance
-of one who was even closer than Garrick to the springs of
-patronage. This was William Brummell, whose only claim to remembrance
-today is the fact that he had a very famous son, but who appears<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span>
-in late eighteenth-century memoirs as an able backstairs politician and
-private secretary to Lord North. Brummell, we are informed by the
-<i>Biographia Dramatica</i>, “conceived a strong friendship for our author,
-and patronised him with a generosity and warmth that did him honour.”<a id="Nanchor_14" href="#Note_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>
-With the approval and perhaps at the instigation of Lord North, Tickell
-was at once set to work on a secret and important project. On the 7th
-of November he wrote Garrick pleading to be excused from writing a
-prologue that had been requested of him:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="noindent">You may be assured Mr. Garrick’s wishes shall always have the
-force of commands with me; but when I acquaint you that at
-present ... I am employed in a work that may make or mar my
-fortune, I can scarcely think you would wish to interrupt my attention
-to it.<a id="Nanchor_15" href="#Note_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent">On Monday the 23rd of that month, three days before Parliament met
-for the new session, Becket announced the publication of a work entitled
-“<i>ANTICIPATION</i>, Containing the Substance of his M⸻y’s
-most gracious Speech to both H⸺s of P⸻t, on the Opening
-of the approaching Session. Together with a full and authentic account
-of the Debate in the H⸺ of C⸻, that will take place on the motion
-for the address and amendment.” On Tuesday night Edward Gibbon
-wrote his friend Holroyd:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>You sometimes complain that I do not send you early news; but
-you will now be satisfied with receiving a full and true account of
-all the parliamentary transactions of <i>next</i> Thursday. In town we
-think it an excellent piece of humour (the author is one Tickell).
-Burke and C. Fox are pleased with their own Speaches, but serious
-Patriots groan that such things should be turned to farce.<a id="Nanchor_16" href="#Note_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent">Horace Walpole, though unable to deny the wit of <i>Anticipation</i>, was
-among those who thought its jocularity ill-timed. Said he:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>The drollery of the pamphlet was congenial with the patron: a
-very unprosperous and disgraceful civil war, just heightened by a
-bloody proclamation of Sir Henry Clinton, and accompanied by a
-war with France, was not a very decent moment for joking!<a id="Nanchor_17" href="#Note_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span></p>
-
-<h3><i>3</i></h3>
-
-<p>No one in any party was disposed to deny the seriousness of the moment.
-The preceding twelve months, as some were then aware, had
-proved the turning-point in the war with America. The threat of French
-aggression following Burgoyne’s defeat had transformed Britain’s war of
-subjugation into one of defence. After a comfortable winter in Philadelphia,
-without having struck a blow at the inferior American forces at
-Valley Forge, Sir William Howe was ordered to evacuate that city lest
-it be cut off by a French fleet. Englishmen at home could still cling to
-the official view, held by George III and expressed by Lord North in
-<i>Anticipation</i>, that most Americans, if given a chance to choose, would
-prefer conciliation with England to an upstart democracy and an “unnatural
-connection” with France. But those on the spot saw that the
-hope of affording Americans such a chance was now dashed. At Philadelphia
-Admiral Lord Howe’s secretary wrote in his journal on the 22nd
-of May:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="noindent">I now look upon the Contest as at an End. No man can be expected
-to declare for us, when he cannot be assured of a Fortnight’s Protection.
-Every man, on the contrary, whatever might have been his
-primary Inclinations, will find it his Interest to oppose &amp; drive us out
-of the Country.<a id="Nanchor_18" href="#Note_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent">Two days later General Howe set sail for England and left Sir Henry
-Clinton to evacuate the troops in June. The incompetence or treachery
-of an American officer, Charles Lee, saved Clinton’s regiments from
-severe losses as they crossed New Jersey. After their arrival within the
-fortifications around New York, the British held not a square mile elsewhere
-on the mainland of the northern and middle colonies.</p>
-
-<p>The summer was occupied with raids by British irregulars on the Pennsylvania
-and New York frontier and a series of inconclusive feints and
-chases between Admirals Howe and D’Estaing. In September Howe
-resigned his command and followed his brother home to England. Deeply
-disgruntled with Administration, the Howes joined General Burgoyne
-in efforts to obtain satisfaction from Parliament. The Whigs, hoping for
-disclosures embarrassing to the government, at once took up the cause<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span>
-of the commanders; while the ministers, with equal determination, resisted
-every move for a court-martial or inquiry.</p>
-
-<p>During this year the Tory government had been as hard pressed at
-home as the King’s forces had been abroad. The news of Saratoga, received
-early in December 1777, struck a staggering blow to the ministers,
-who at once adjourned Parliament for six weeks and endeavored to open
-indirect and secret negotiations with the American commissioners in Paris.
-When Parliament reconvened, Fox’s motion in the Commons “that no
-more of the Old Corps be sent out of the kingdom” produced a suddenly
-swollen minority. There was a cry throughout the country for Chatham.
-North had lost his zest for the war and would willingly have retired in
-favor of Chatham, but the King refused to consider such a move. In a
-desperate effort to counteract American negotiations with France, North
-then introduced, 17 February 1778, his conciliatory bills, which offered
-the repeal of the acts that had offended the colonists and conceded all but
-the name of independence. While the House was recovering from its
-amazement Charles Fox rose and said that he was glad Ministers had at
-last concurred with the long-standing views of Opposition. But had not
-their repentance come too late? Did not Ministers know that a commercial
-treaty between France and America had already been signed?<a id="Nanchor_19" href="#Note_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> “Acts
-of Parliament have made a war,” Walpole wrote Sir Horace Mann three
-days later, “but cannot repeal one.”<a id="Nanchor_20" href="#Note_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> On the 13th of March the French
-ambassador in London announced the treaty of friendship between France
-and the United States. Thereafter no one in either party expected much
-of North’s commission to treat with America. Detained in England until
-mid-April, the commissioners arrived in the Delaware a whole month
-after Congress had ratified the treaty with France and, to their great
-chagrin, just in time to take part in the retreat from Philadelphia. One
-member of the commission, George Johnstone, after futile private overtures
-to members of Congress, quarreled with his colleagues and returned
-in a huff to vindicate himself and criticize ministers and commanders before
-Parliament. On the whole, the commission did little more than aggravate
-the ill-feeling on both sides.</p>
-
-<p>On the 7th of April, after a long absence, Lord Chatham, wrapped
-in flannels and supported by his sons, took his seat in the House of Lords.
-Rising for the second time in the debate to speak on the American war,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span>
-he was struck down by an apoplexy from which he never recovered. His
-death, on the 11th of May, was believed and said by many to be a portent
-of doom to the Empire.</p>
-
-<p>Meanwhile the specter of a French invasion caused the King late in
-March to communicate to Parliament his intention of ordering the militia
-“to be drawn out and embodied, and to march as occasion shall require.”
-Five encampments were established; peers and M.P.’s, Whig and Tory
-alike, hastened to raise regiments; and by June Gibbon could tell Holroyd
-that “The chief conversation at Almack’s is about tents, drill-Serjeants,
-subdivisions, firings, &amp;c.”<a id="Nanchor_21" href="#Note_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> All summer and autumn the country was
-full of marching and countermarching for the edification of anxious royalty.
-In the newspapers appeared advertisements for “martial balsam,”
-recommended for those afflicted by toothache from exposure to damp canvas
-and mattresses. Even theater business was depressed by the rage for
-visiting the encampments. Sheridan, ever resourceful, dashed off as a
-counter-attraction his entertainment of <i>The Camp</i>, with a musical arrangement
-by Thomas Linley, a prologue by Tickell, and (according
-to the newspaper notices) “a perspective Representation of the <span class="smcap">grand
-camp</span> at <span class="smcap">Coxheath</span>, from a view taken by Mr. de Loutherbourg and
-erected under his direction.”</p>
-
-<p>All this was diverting, but in midsummer occurred an incident that
-betrayed to the nation the smoldering antagonism between ministers and
-commanders. In the previous March Admiral Keppel, a staunch Whig
-who had refused to serve against America, had been promoted commander
-of the Channel fleet. He found, contrary to the Admiralty’s repeated
-assurances in Parliament, that ships and equipment were woefully
-inadequate for his crucial task of defending the coasts. At length reinforced,
-Keppel on the 27th of July engaged the Brest fleet off Ushant.
-In command of the British rearward squadron was Sir Hugh Palliser, a
-Tory M.P. and a Lord of the Admiralty. Following a short and indecisive
-action, Keppel gave orders for a new line of battle, but Palliser did
-not obey until after dark. By morning the French had escaped. Keppel
-did not report Palliser’s insubordination, but accounts of the action appeared
-in the papers, and before the opening of Parliament the incident
-had become a heated party issue, with Keppel exalted as a popular hero
-and Palliser condemned as the agent of a negligent and scheming ministry.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span></p>
-
-<h3><i>4</i></h3>
-
-<p>Affairs stood in this critical posture when Parliament was summoned
-in the last week of November. Fearing defection in the Tory
-ranks, North called a private meeting of his friends beforehand to consult
-on strategy. He was himself there taxed with negligence, and extraordinary
-steps were taken to secure attendance in the government seats.
-Now a favorite parliamentary weapon of North’s had always been humor—or,
-as his opponents styled it, “buffoonery.” His motto, said Walpole,
-ought to have been “<i>Aut dormitabo, aut ridebo</i>.”<a id="Nanchor_22" href="#Note_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> And when <i>Anticipation</i>
-appeared, it was widely believed that North himself had had
-a hand in its composition.<a id="Nanchor_23" href="#Note_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> The very favorable reception of the pamphlet
-must have surpassed the hopes of both author and patron. For some days
-the papers printed eulogistic notices and long extracts. Representative is
-the comment in <i>The Morning Chronicle</i> on the day the session opened:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>The literary piece of mimickry published on Monday last, under
-the title of <i>Anticipation</i>, is beyond compare one of the ablest sketches
-ever hit off by a man of fancy and talents. Mimicks in general distort
-the features of those they affect to imitate; the author of <i>Anticipation</i>,
-on the contrary, has preserved the <i>vrais-semblance</i> of each of
-the objects of imitation with wonderful correctness, and it is a question
-whether he deserves most applause for the humorous conceits
-with which he has dished out the oratory of his heroes, or the striking
-likenesses (in point of order, argument, imagery, and diction) which
-he has drawn of each speaker. Lord G[ranb]y’s harangue is, to
-those who have not been in the House of Commons on the first day
-of a session, a perfect example of Opposition oratory on such an occasion.—Mr.
-T. L[uttre]ll’s speech need not have had his name
-prefixed to it; no member, T. L[uttre]ll excepted, could possibly
-shew so much learning to so little purpose.... In a word,
-<i>Anticipation</i> is one of the best pamphlets the publick have been favoured
-with for years, and though it has in some measure a political
-tendency, ... it serves, contrary to the effect of most political
-pamphlets, to put all parties in good humour.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent">The good nature of the parody was remarked by all who spoke of it. Certainly
-the pleasantest circumstance of the whole episode is the fact that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span>
-some of the victims of Tickell’s mimicry enjoyed the humor of it; though
-we learn from Walpole that Welbore Ellis, “another justly and humourously
-drawn, proved how justly. He said, ‘It is well written, but I perceive
-the author takes me for a dull man.’”<a id="Nanchor_24" href="#Note_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
-
-<p>According to a tradition that is not implausible, North and his friends
-took copies of <i>Anticipation</i> into the House on the opening day and dispensed
-them gratis.<a id="Nanchor_25" href="#Note_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> An apparent consequence of this was Tickell’s luckiest
-satirical stroke, by virtue of which <i>Anticipation</i> lived on in the memory
-of anecdotists. Walpole, who was on the spot, reported that Col. Isaac
-Barré, an Opposition stalwart, “not having seen this pamphlet, the first
-day of the Session cited a foreign Governor with whom he was acquainted,
-exactly in the manner here ridiculed, and he also translated a French
-expression.”<a id="Nanchor_26" href="#Note_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> This episode grew appreciably in the telling. In 1823 Joseph
-Jekyll told Tom Moore (who wrote down everything he heard) of
-the</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="noindent">laughable effect on the House of Col. Barré’s speech; he being the
-only one (having just arrived from the country) ignorant of the
-pamphlet, and falling exactly into the same peculiarities which the
-pamphlet quizzed, particularly that of quoting French words and
-then translating them. At every new instance of this kind in his
-speech there was a roar of laughter from the House, which Barré,
-of course, could not understand.<a id="Nanchor_27" href="#Note_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent">But this was not the last refinement. The progress of the story, from
-contemporary witnesses to Jekyll and Moore and finally to “Senex” writing
-his recollections in <i>Blackwood’s</i> in 1826, is an illustration and a warning
-of the ways of anecdotists. The humorous success of <i>Anticipation</i>,
-wrote “Senex,”</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="noindent">I well remember.... The style of the speeches was so well imitated,
-and the matter in many cases so happily forestalled, that, like
-Vulcan among Homer’s gods, it caused inextinguishable laughter.
-What gave much zest to the joke was the ignorance of most of the
-usual speaking members that any such pamphlet existed. Their great
-surprise at the loud mirth excited by speeches intended to make a very
-different impression, and the frequent cries of “Spoke, Spoke!” the
-meaning of which they could not possibly comprehend, may be easily<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span>
-conceived. One of its effects was to shorten the debate, for, as
-the joke soon spread, many were afraid to address the House for
-fear of involving themselves in the predicament of those who had
-been so humorously anticipated.<a id="Nanchor_28" href="#Note_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h3><i>5</i></h3>
-
-<p><i>Anticipation</i> had a great run. Such was the popular demand that a
-“Fourth Edition” was advertised by Becket within a week of first publication.
-Five more London editions and a Dublin reprint appeared before
-the end of the year. As soon as copies reached America, <i>Anticipation</i> was
-reprinted at both the British headquarters in New York and the American
-headquarters in Philadelphia. In announcing his New York reprint, James
-Rivington stated, with what degree of exaggeration the reader is free to
-guess, that “such was the reception given to this novel and immensely
-admired piece, that more than <i>Forty Thousand</i> copies were disposed of
-in a few days.”<a id="Nanchor_29" href="#Note_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> In London a rash of imitations broke out at once. <i>Altercation</i>,
-<i>Deliberation</i>, <i>Anticipation Continued</i>, <i>Anticipation for the Year
-MDCCLXXIX</i>, <i>The Exhibition, or a Second Anticipation</i>—all these
-appeared within a year. As late as 1812 appeared <i>Anticipation: or, The
-Prize Address; which will be delivered at the Opening of the New
-Drury Lane Theatre</i>, a squib inspired by the same circumstances that gave
-rise to the celebrated <i>Rejected Addresses</i> of James and Horace Smith.
-And there were others. But, as Dr. Johnson remarked of <i>The Splendid
-Shilling</i>, “the merit of such performances begins and ends with the first
-author.”<a id="Nanchor_30" href="#Note_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
-
-<p>There was another result of the publication of the satire that, to Tickell,
-was perhaps the most gratifying of all. The author was right, observed
-<i>The London Magazine</i> in its review, in predicting a majority for Administration
-in his mimic debate; “and we verily believe he might have
-added by way of note at the end—‘This will get me a place or a pension.’”<a id="Nanchor_31" href="#Note_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a>
-This impertinence was justified by the event. On the 6th of
-December Richard Rigby, Paymaster and general factotum in North’s
-cabinet, wrote David Garrick a short but meaningful note: “I have had
-a meeting with <i>Anticipation</i>, and like him very much; I wish to have
-some further discourse with you upon that subject. Could you call here
-to-morrow morning about eleven?”<a id="Nanchor_32" href="#Note_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The subject was unquestionably a
-ministerial reward for services rendered. About this time Tickell was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span>
-granted a pension of 200<i>l.</i> <i>per annum</i>.<a id="Nanchor_33" href="#Note_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> Soon afterward an anonymous
-poet of the Batheaston circle returned good for evil in praising Tickell
-while attempting to recall him to virtue:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent2">Some writers be of an amphibious race,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">And prose and verse their elemental place.</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Such he, whose wit made wond’ring senates roar,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">And those to blush that never blush’d before.</div>
- <div class="verse indent0"><i>Anticipation</i> gave him sterling fame,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0"><i>The Wreath of Fashion</i> a poetic name.</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">And Nature gave, and at the gift repines,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">At pension’d wit and prostituted lines.</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Be your’s, O <i>Tickell</i>, to correct this vice,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">That deals out praise or censure at a price,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">And in one grand example prove to men,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">How weak is Wit, when Party holds the pen;</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">And while you glow with more than virtue’s flame,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">And all admire from whence such virtue came,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Each literary Swiss shall dread thy rage,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Dismiss their weapons, and no more engage.<a id="Nanchor_34" href="#Note_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But man cannot live by wit alone. In the next two years Tickell wrote
-two more satirical tracts for the ministry, which, though not dull, were
-scarcely inspired; and in August 1781 he was appointed a commissioner
-of the Stamp Office. Here, with other beneficiaries of ministerial generosity
-and a salary of 500<i>l.</i>, he stayed. A year earlier (25 July 1780) he
-had married Miss Mary Linley, a charming and witty young lady if less
-renowned than her sister Elizabeth (Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan). In
-September 1782, doubtless through the good offices of Lord North, they
-settled in an apartment in the Gold Staff Gallery at the top of Hampton
-Court Palace.<a id="Nanchor_35" href="#Note_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> Tickell’s talents were useful in the Linley-Sheridan family
-enterprise of Drury Lane Theatre. He served in the capacity of Mr.
-Puff as “a Practitioner of Panegyric” in the newspapers, refurbished old
-plays, and tried his hand, with mild success, at composing librettos. When
-Fox and North formed their coalition government (of unhappy memory),
-Tickell’s political allegiance was transferred to the Whigs. That
-he had long had a preference for Whig society appears from the satirical-affectionate
-picture of Brooks’s Club in his <i>Epistle from the Honourable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span>
-Charles Fox, Partridge-Shooting, to the Honourable John Townshend,
-Cruising</i>, 1779. The devoted but sharp-tongued Mrs. Tickell informed
-her sister in a letter of 1785: “So I find the election has taken a happy
-turn at last and I am to congratulate myself with being the wife of a
-member of Brooks’s.... T. is delighted; the great point of his ambition
-is gained.”<a id="Nanchor_36" href="#Note_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> To which she added, at the thought of her husband’s
-increased opportunities for conviviality: “Farewell, a long farewell to all
-my comforts.”<a id="Nanchor_37" href="#Note_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> From the many fragments of Mary Tickell’s spritely
-letters that have been printed here and there, it is impossible not to give
-at least one representative passage showing both husband and wife in
-character. In an undated letter from Hampton Court she wrote:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>The men stayed last night or rather this morning till four or five
-tho’ I entreated T⸺. to think of to-night’s fatigue for me and
-let them go, but ’twas all in vain, for the moment my back was
-turn’d off they march’d into the other room with their Bottles and
-Glasses and order’d Stephen to bring the fire after them—so at
-least they had the grace to think of not disturbing me, for you
-are to know since the cold wether we dine and sup in the Drawing
-Room. However unfortunately my ears were quick enough to reach
-to Stephen’s Pantry where I heard every cruel Pop of that odious
-five shilling claret which entirely hindered my closing my eyes, so
-here I am at half past one just after breakfast and thinking of my
-evening’s dissipation. Don’t you think that I should cut a figure in
-the great world?<a id="Nanchor_38" href="#Note_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p>As a member of the glittering Whig fraternity that moved about Fox,
-Sheridan, and the Prince of Wales, Tickell became a large contributor
-to the great collective (and perennial) satire known as <i>The Rolliad</i>, a
-shilling edition of which, George Saintsbury once remarked, if properly
-annotated, would keep one amused from London to York. He also produced
-a number of more or less serious pamphlets attacking Pitt’s government;
-and during the regency crisis of 1788-89 he worked feverishly
-with the other Foxites in the expectation of a Whig triumph. But the
-King recovered, the Whigs’ hopes were dashed, and Tickell never obtained
-his expected seat in Parliament.<a id="Nanchor_39" href="#Note_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
-
-<p>Mary Tickell died in July 1787. Two years later Tickell eloped with
-the daughter of a captain in the East India Company’s service, Miss Sarah<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span>
-Ley, a reigning beauty who was for a time the rival of Emma Hamilton
-as Romney’s model.<a id="Nanchor_40" href="#Note_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> She was very young, very extravagant, and without
-any fortune. In a year or two her husband, who was chronically improvident
-and was now deprived of Mary Tickell’s common sense, found
-himself overwhelmed with debts. In May 1793 he appealed to Warren
-Hastings for a loan of 500<i>l.</i> and obtained it.<a id="Nanchor_41" href="#Note_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> Hastings was a friend of
-the Ley family, but that an intimate of the Fox-Sheridan circle and a
-contributor to <i>The Rolliad</i> should have turned to him for help is an indication
-of Tickell’s desperate straits. The loan was evidently not sufficient
-for his needs. On the 4th of November his lifeless body was found below
-the parapet outside his Hampton Court apartment. Two days later Joseph
-Farington recorded in his <i>Diary</i>: “Distressed circumstances and an apprehension
-of being arrested, it is said, is the cause of this momentary
-phrenzy.”<a id="Nanchor_42" href="#Note_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p>
-
-<h3><i>6</i></h3>
-
-<p>As a successful parody of parliamentary proceedings and eloquence at
-the time of the American Revolution, <i>Anticipation</i> retains historical interest.
-One reviewer went so far as to say that a comparison of the actual
-debate with Tickell’s anticipated version would show that between the
-two “the difference as to the material grounds of disputation is trifling.”<a id="Nanchor_43" href="#Note_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a>
-This is scarcely an exaggeration, though, as it turned out, the House was
-less full and the debate less animated than had been expected from the
-presence in town of so many generals and admirals known to be at odds
-with one another and the ministers. As a parodist, however, Tickell was
-less concerned to present the substance of a particular debate than the
-idiosyncracies of those who spoke frequently in the House, whether from
-Opposition or Administration benches. The verisimilitude of his subjects’
-accents, attitudes, and hobby-horses of theme was unanimously acknowledged
-and praised by contemporaries. <i>Anticipation</i> is in short a speaking
-picture of that House of Commons in which, as well as in America, a bitter
-conflict was in progress. Here are Burke’s rumbling periods on the decline
-of the British Empire, and Fox’s skilful arguments to show that neither
-an offensive nor a defensive war can be successfully continued in America.
-David Hartley the younger quotes the recent sentiments of his friend
-Benjamin Franklin in Paris, and a radical Member from the City praises
-Washington and threatens ministers with the Tower and the block.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span>
-Other Whigs attack profiteering army contractors, false news in the
-<i>Gazettes</i>, and the employment of Indians to butcher the colonists; others
-demand parliamentary inquiries that government officials suggest deferring
-until “about six months after Christmas.” Late in the evening Lord
-North rises and, after invoking the mighty shade of Chatham, takes up
-his secretary’s notes on speeches by the Opposition and urges upon an
-unruly House the need of unanimity.</p>
-
-<p>It is a vivid and authentic picture, and it is also an entertaining one.
-Though parody is a minor genre, it has its masterpieces. But they should
-be read rather than talked about. Let the last opinion on <i>Anticipation</i> be
-that of George IV, who was a person of discernment in these matters.
-J. W. Croker recorded in his diary that at a royal dinner-party in January
-1822 the talk had turned to Tickell. The King spoke of <i>Anticipation</i>
-“<i>con amore</i> and quoted some of the speeches.” He promised to have a
-copy looked out for Lady Conyngham, who had never read it. “The
-events and the pieces were gone by,” said the King; “but the wit and
-pleasantry of it never could fade.”<a id="Nanchor_44" href="#Note_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="NOTES_TO_THE_INTRODUCTION"><i>NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION</i></h2>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><a id="Note_1" href="#Nanchor_1">1</a> A certain A. Buzaglo, who had a shop in the Strand, opposite Somerset
-House, frequently advertised in the newspapers in 1778. His warming-pans,
-for curing the gout, were highly recommended to the nobility.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_2" href="#Nanchor_2">2</a> Letter to Mason, 18 April 1778 (<i>The Letters of Horace Walpole</i>, ed.
-Mrs. Paget Toynbee, Oxford, 1903-05, X, 222).</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_3" href="#Nanchor_3">3</a> <i>Boswell’s Life of Johnson</i>, ed. G. B. Hill and L. F. Powell, Oxford,
-1934—, III, 318.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_4" href="#Nanchor_4">4</a> XLV, 1778, 310.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_5" href="#Nanchor_5">5</a> See Ruth A. Hesselgrave, <i>Lady Miller and the Batheaston Literary Circle</i>,
-New Haven, 1927.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_6" href="#Nanchor_6">6</a> LIX, 1778, 145. Garrick acknowledged his authorship of this review
-in a letter to Hannah More, misdated 1777, in William Roberts, <i>Memoirs of
-... Mrs. Hannah More</i>, 3rd ed., 1835, I, 116.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_7" href="#Nanchor_7">7</a> <i>The Farington Diary</i>, ed. James Greig, New York, 1923-28, I, 186;
-<i>Recollections of the Table-Talk of Samuel Rogers</i> [ed. Alexander Dyce], New
-York, 1856, pp. 71-72.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span></p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_8" href="#Nanchor_8">8</a> <i>Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica</i>, new ser., II, 1877, 473; Sir
-[John] Bernard Burke, <i>Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed
-Gentry of Great Britain &amp; Ireland</i>, 9th ed., 1898, II, “Ireland,” p. 441;
-Richard Eustace Tickell, <i>Thomas Tickell and the Eighteenth Century Poets</i>,
-1931, p. 173 and “Tickell Pedigree.”</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_9" href="#Nanchor_9">9</a> A long letter from John Tickell to the Duke of Newcastle, 26 August
-1767, alludes to these circumstances and appeals to Newcastle’s generosity
-(Newcastle Papers, British Museum Add. MSS. 32,984, f. 350).</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_10" href="#Nanchor_10">10</a> G. F. R. Barker and A. H. Stenning (compilers), <i>The Record of Old
-Westminsters</i>, 1928, II, 919; R. A. Austen-Leigh (ed.), <i>The Eton College
-Register, 1753-1790</i>, Eton, 1921, p. 517; John Hutchinson, <i>A Catalogue of
-Notable Middle Templars</i>, 1902, p. 242.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_11" href="#Nanchor_11">11</a> David Erskine Baker, Isaac Reed, and Stephen Jones (compilers),
-<i>Biographia Dramatica</i>, 1812, I, 713.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_12" href="#Nanchor_12">12</a> Tickell to Garrick, 11 May 1778 (<i>Private Correspondence of David
-Garrick</i> [ed. James Boaden], 1831-32, II, 304).</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_13" href="#Nanchor_13">13</a> Unpublished letter in the Theatre Collection, Harvard College Library.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_14" href="#Nanchor_14">14</a> I, 713-714.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_15" href="#Nanchor_15">15</a> Garrick, <i>Private Correspondence</i>, II, 317.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_16" href="#Nanchor_16">16</a> <i>Private Letters of Edward Gibbon</i>, ed. R. E. Prothero, 1896, I, 348.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_17" href="#Nanchor_17">17</a> <i>Last Journals during the Reign of George III</i>, ed. A. Francis Steuart,
-1910, II, 206n.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_18" href="#Nanchor_18">18</a> <i>The American Journal of Ambrose Serle ... 1776-1778</i>, ed. Edward
-H. Tatum, Jr., San Marino, California, 1940, p. 296.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_19" href="#Nanchor_19">19</a> Walpole, <i>Last Journals</i>, II, 117; Fox, <i>Speeches</i>, 1815, I, 116-118.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_20" href="#Nanchor_20">20</a> <i>Letters</i>, ed. Toynbee, X, 195.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_21" href="#Nanchor_21">21</a> <i>Private Letters</i>, I, 338.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_22" href="#Nanchor_22">22</a> <i>Last Journals</i>, II, 115n. In a debate on the navy estimates, 2 December
-1778, Temple Luttrell said of North:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="noindent">Whenever the noble lord found himself closely pressed in argument, or
-fact, it was his known practice to get rid of the question by a joke. His
-manner was no less curious than his matter; when he was half asleep, or
-seemingly quite asleep, he collected a store of wit and humour, from
-Æsop, Phædrus, or Joe Miller, or some other book equally distinguished
-for such species of drollery; and, instead of reasoning, was sure to treat
-the House with a laugh (<i>The Parliamentary History of England ...
-to the Year 1803</i> [compiled by William Cobbett], 1806-20, XIX, 1388).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><a id="Note_23" href="#Nanchor_23">23</a> John Taylor, <i>Records of My Life</i>, 1832, I, 144.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_24" href="#Nanchor_24">24</a> <i>Last Journals</i>, II, 206.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_25" href="#Nanchor_25">25</a> <i>Altercation; Being the Substance of a Debate ... on a Motion to
-Censure the Pamphlet of Anticipation</i> [1778], p. 10; <i>The Pamphleteer</i>, XIX,
-1822, 310.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span></p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_26" href="#Nanchor_26">26</a> MS. note in Horace Walpole’s copy of <i>Anticipation</i>.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_27" href="#Nanchor_27">27</a> Thomas Moore, <i>Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence</i>, ed. Lord John
-Russell, 1853-56, IV, 34.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_28" href="#Nanchor_28">28</a> “Reminiscences.—No. IV. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, &amp;c.,” <i>Blackwood’s
-Magazine</i>, XX, 209.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_29" href="#Nanchor_29">29</a> <i>The Royal Gazette</i>, 17 March 1779.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_30" href="#Nanchor_30">30</a> Though Johnson had disapproved of <i>The Project</i>, he thought <i>Anticipation</i>
-“a mighty fine thing.” So Boswell told Tickell at a dinner-party in April
-1779 (<i>Private Papers of James Boswell from Malahide Castle</i>, ed. Geoffrey
-Scott and F. A. Pottle, Mount Vernon, N.Y., 1928-34, XIII, 232).</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_31" href="#Nanchor_31">31</a> XLVII, 1778, 566.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_32" href="#Nanchor_32">32</a> Garrick, <i>Private Correspondence</i>, II, 322-323.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_33" href="#Nanchor_33">33</a> <i>Biographia Dramatica</i>, I, 714.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_34" href="#Nanchor_34">34</a> <i>Hobby-Horses. Read at Batheaston</i>, 1780, pp. 13-14.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_35" href="#Nanchor_35">35</a> Ernest Law, <i>The History of Hampton Court Palace</i>, 1890-91, III,
-318, 464.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_36" href="#Nanchor_36">36</a> W. Fraser Rae, <i>Sheridan</i>, New York, 1896, I, 357.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_37" href="#Nanchor_37">37</a> Walter Sichel, <i>Sheridan</i>, 1909, I, 442n.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_38" href="#Nanchor_38">38</a> Clementina Black, <i>The Linleys of Bath</i>, 1911, p. 162.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_39" href="#Nanchor_39">39</a> Thomas Moore, <i>Memoirs of ... Sheridan</i>, 2nd ed., 1825, II, 62.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_40" href="#Nanchor_40">40</a> See Romney’s diary, as given in Humphry Ward and W. Roberts,
-<i>Romney</i>, 1904, II, 157-158. Romney painted three portraits of the second
-Mrs. Tickell, the best-known of which is reproduced in Sichel’s <i>Sheridan</i>, II,
-facing p. 264.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_41" href="#Nanchor_41">41</a> British Museum Add. MSS. 29,194, f. 152; 29,173, f. 44.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_42" href="#Nanchor_42">42</a> I, 13. There is a circumstantial account of Tickell’s death and the conduct
-of his widow in [William Smyth] <i>Memoir of Mr. Sheridan</i>, Leeds, 1840,
-pp. 53-55.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_43" href="#Nanchor_43">43</a> <i>The London Magazine</i>, XLVII, 1778, 566.</p>
-
-<p><a id="Note_44" href="#Nanchor_44">44</a> <i>The Croker Papers</i>, ed. L. J. Jennings, 1884, I, 245-246.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span></p>
-
-<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
-
-<img src="images/titlepage.jpg" width="400" height="700" alt="" />
-
-<p class="center smaller"><i>Reduced from the original by one third</i></p>
-
-<p class="titlepage">ANTICIPATION:<br />
-Containing the Substance of<br />
-HIS M⸻Y’s<br />
-Most Gracious Speech<br />
-TO BOTH<br />
-H⸻S of P⸺L⸺T,<br />
-ON THE<br />
-Opening of the approaching <span class="smcap">Session</span>,<br />
-TOGETHER<br />
-With a full and authentic Account of the <span class="smcap">Debate</span><br />
-which <span class="smcap">will</span> take Place in the <span class="smcap">H⸺e</span> of <span class="smcap">C⸻s</span>,<br />
-on the Motion for the <span class="smcap">Address</span>, and the <span class="smcap">Amendment</span>.<br />
-<br />
-With NOTES.</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent14">“<i>So shall my Anticipation</i></div>
- <div class="verse indent0"><i>Prevent your Discovery.</i>”</div>
- </div>
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse right"><span class="smcap">Hamlet.</span></div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="titlepage"><i>LONDON</i>:<br />
-Printed for <span class="smcap">T. Becket</span>, the Corner of the Adelphi,<br />
-in the Strand. 1778.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak"><i>ADVERTISEMENT.</i></h2>
-
-</div>
-
-<p>Several reasons concurred to urge the Editor to this publication.
-The critical situation of public affairs seemed to require an extraordinary
-diffusion of political knowledge; yet, in the common course,
-but few of the millions, who are so deeply interested in the result
-of parliamentary debates, can be admitted to an audience of them.
-Sometimes, the Members shut their galleries against the intrusion
-of any of their Constituents; and it is always a standing order,
-from the opening of the session, to prohibit the publication of their
-debates. Under these circumstances, an authentic account of the
-first day’s debate, put forth at this date, will clearly avoid any breach
-of that order, and, without exposing the Constituents to crowding
-in the gallery, to furnish them with their Representatives Speeches,
-taken down with the strictest fidelity, cannot but afford them some
-amusement, and indeed real use. Besides, the first day’s debate is
-generally a kind of outline of the debates of the whole session; so
-that a critical observer, by contemplating the buds and seedlings of
-this early eloquence, may calculate what degree of radical strength
-they possess, how far they will expand and bloom, and whether they
-are hardy enough to stand the winter.</p>
-
-<p>The Editor cannot but seize this opportunity to thank those Gentlemen
-who have furnished him with the <i>most authentic materials</i>
-for some of the speeches, which, they will immediately see, he has
-copied <i>verbatim</i> from their manuscripts—and he sincerely hopes,
-their having appeared in print <i>before</i> they are spoken, will not deter
-the several Gentlemen from delivering them with their usual appearance
-of <i>extempore</i> eloquence.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">November 23, 1778.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span></p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>The Gentlemen trading to the East-Indies, West-Indies,
-and other parts, who intend taking or sending thither any
-pamphlets this season, are hereby informed, that this work is
-authentic, faithful, and strictly impartial; and as the nice and
-discerning eye of the British islands and settlements near us,
-must feel an interest in these matters, good allowance will be
-given for taking quantities.—Also the best Dutch wax, and
-stationary wares.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="ANTICIPATION">ANTICIPATION, &amp;c.</h2>
-
-<p class="center"><i>Dom. Comm. Jovis. 26 Nov. die.</i></p>
-
-<p class="center"><i>Anno 19ᵒ Georgii III Regis, 1778.</i></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p>Sir Francis M[olyneu]x, gentleman-usher of the black rod, having,
-with the usual solemnity, at half past two o’clock, given three
-admonitory raps at the door of the H[ous]e of C[ommo]ns, and
-being thereupon admitted, and having proceeded towards the table,
-with three progressive bows, acquainted the S[peake]r,<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> that his
-M[ajest]y commanded their immediate attendance in the H[ous]e
-of L[or]ds, where soon after his M[ajest]y delivered his most gracious
-speech to both Houses; which we should give at length, having
-an accurate copy now before us, but that many reasons concur
-to induce us rather to give a general sketch of it. It is scarcely necessary
-to say, that respect to that great personage is the principal of
-those motives: It is also universally felt, that the merit of those
-speeches consists much less in the composition than in the delivery.
-Besides, as an authentic <i>black letter</i> copy of <i>this</i> speech will infallibly
-appear, we have too high a respect for our good friends Messrs. the
-Hawkers and Criers of this great metropolis, to rob them of any
-part of the fruits of their annual eloquence on this occasion⸺The
-speech began by saying,</p>
-
-<p>That the situation of public affairs induced him to call them thus
-early together, that they might more fully enter into the various
-and important concerns which would naturally engage their attention.</p>
-
-<p>That he had reason to hope that the schemes which the natural
-enemies of this country, in conjunction with their unnatural allies,
-had meditated against us in the West-Indies, notwithstanding some<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span>
-appearance of success, might, under Divine Providence, fail in the
-object of distressing the commercial interest of his people, which,
-it gave him satisfaction to observe, had hitherto continued to flourish
-amidst the calamities of war, while that of the enemy had received
-the most material injuries.</p>
-
-<p>That he could not but behold with particular pleasure the zeal
-and ardour shewn by all his subjects on this emergency, which had
-fully secured the safety of this country, and convinced our enemies
-that every attempt against the internal prosperity of Great Britain
-must prove ineffectual.</p>
-
-<p>That he continued to receive the most friendly assurances of the
-pacific dispositions of the other powers of Europe.</p>
-
-<p>That his desire of re-establishing the general tranquility could
-not be doubted; and as he had not been the first to disturb the
-peace, so he should embrace the earliest opportunity of putting an
-end to the horrors of war, whenever that desirable end could be
-effected, consistently with the honour of his crown, and the interest
-of his subjects, which he should ever be careful to preserve.</p>
-
-<p>That his faithful C[o]mm[o]ns might depend on the proper
-officers immediately laying before them the estimate for the expences
-of the ensuing year.</p>
-
-<p>That he lamented that the present situation of affairs should
-oblige him to call upon his faithful subjects for any additional supplies,
-but</p>
-
-<p>That his faithful C[o]mm[o]ns might depend on the strictest
-œconomy on his part, in the application of such sums as they should
-judge necessary for the public service, and he doubted not they
-would see the expediency of providing for such contingencies as
-might arise from the continuance of war, and the measures necessary
-to be taken for the re-establishment of peace upon an honourable
-and permanent foundation.</p>
-
-<p>It concluded with relying on the wisdom and unanimity of Parliament;
-on the good conduct of his Generals and Admirals; on
-the valor of his Fleets and Armies; and on the zeal and spirit of
-all his faithful subjects.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span></p>
-
-<p>Upon the return of the C[ommo]ns to their House, the speech
-having been read as usual from the chair, a motion for an Address,
-conformable to the several sentences in the speech, and expressive
-of the firmness and unanimity of the House at this important crisis,
-was made and seconded by two young Members; the particular
-phraseology of which leading speeches we shall not retail, it being
-universally admitted that the rhetoric applied to these occasions, is
-not very replete with originality. Our readers will easily imagine
-the proper quantity of tropes and metaphors, apologies for inexperience,
-elegant timidities, graceful blushes, studied hesitations, army
-safe at New-York, fleets likewise safe, individuals enriched, perfect
-content at home, nothing wanting but unanimity in council, &amp;c. &amp;c.
-&amp;c. which ornamented and enriched these anniversary panegyrics.
-We shall hasten therefore to the more material part of the debate,
-which commenced by the following speech from Lord G[ranb]y<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>,
-proposing the amendment.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Lord G[ran]by.</div>
-
-<p><i>Lord G[ran]by.</i> Conscious of my own inability, and sinking
-under the sense of my little knowledge or experience, totally unprovided
-with any ideas for the present occasion, and absolutely
-ignorant not only of the forms but even the modes of proceeding
-in this house, may I, Sir, in this state of imbecility, be permitted
-to take the lead on this first and most important day of the session?
-May I, Sir, all unequal to so arduous a task, be allowed to dictate,
-if not to the whole house, at least to this side of it, the proper and
-only constitutional method of compelling ministers to furnish us
-with the means of discovering some errors in their conduct; and
-to enable us to demonstrate to the nation at large their total incapacity
-for filling the places which they now hold?—There was
-a time, Sir, when this side of the house would not tamely acquiesce
-in so dangerous a precedent as any minister’s retaining his
-office for the unconstitutional duration of seven years. Have we
-forgot, Sir, the great name of Pulteny? Pulteny, Sir! the virtuous
-Pulteny! Pulteny, the wonder of the age! Pulteny, that steady<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span>
-Patriot, whose Herculean eloquence overcame the Hydra of corruption!
-or have we forgot, Sir, that inestimable character of our
-own times, whose virtues compelled the admiration of this profligate
-age; whose memory excites the veneration of every patriot mind?
-Let it not be objected that these illustrious characters were dazzled
-by the splendour of a coronet: I will not answer such frivolous
-remarks:—Sir, I wander from the question: Yet let me remind this
-House, that those great patriots were ever foremost in taking that
-part which now falls to my lot. They, Sir, were ever ready to
-awaken the fears, and rouze the apprehensions, of the Country
-Gentlemen; and that, Sir, is my object:—They, Sir, compelled
-Adm[i]n[i]str[a]t[io]n to disclose the inmost recess of official iniquity;
-and that, Sir, that is also my intention. Sir, with this
-view, I shall humbly move you, that in place of the present Address,
-which I cannot but consider as the selfish panegyric of
-Adm[i]n[i]str[a]t[io]n, immediately after the general expressions
-of respect for his M[ajest]y, the following words may be substituted,
-in order to our acquiring that full and comprehensive
-knowledge of public affairs, which is so indispensably necessary at
-the opening of this interesting and important session of P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt.</p>
-
-<p>“Your faithful C[o]mm[o]ns, deeply impressed with a sense of
-your M[ajest]y’s unwearied anxiety to promote the dignity and
-glory of Great Britain, cannot but lament the many unhappy circumstances
-which have conspired to disturb your M[ajest]y’s happiness,
-and to prejudice the interests and honour of this country.
-When we find that the most liberal supplies for our naval equipments
-have as yet produced none of those happy effects which might reasonably
-have been expected to be derived from so powerful an
-armament, particularly under the direction of an officer of experienced
-conduct and courage, we cannot but express our serious
-apprehensions of some fatal misconduct, either on the part of Administration,
-by forming indecisive and contradictory instructions
-for the direction of the Navy, or, in the particular department for
-naval affairs, of some misapplication of those liberal supplies, which,
-if wisely and faithfully applied, could not have failed, under divine<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span>
-providence, and your M[ajest]y’s wisdom, of obtaining the most
-salutary effects.</p>
-
-<p>For these reasons, we, your M[ajest]y’s most faithful C[o]mm[o]ns,
-most humbly intreat your M[ajest]y to order the proper
-Officers to lay before the House, copies of the secret instructions
-for the conduct of the Fleet commanded by Admiral K[e]pp[e]l—estimates
-of the quantity of ballast used in the several ships of
-the division of the fleet commanded by Admiral K[e]pp[e]l—bills
-of parcel of the number of square yards of sail-cloth, together with
-samples of ditto, intended to be used in the division of the Fleet commanded
-by Vice Admiral Sir H[u]gh P[a]ll[i]s[e]r—succinct
-accounts of the quota of biscuits, and ratio of salt-beef distributed
-in the Fleet—faithful transcripts of the several Log-Books of
-each vessel—abstracts of all letters, notes, and messages that passed
-and repassed, off Ushant, between the Admirals and Ph[i]l[i]p
-St[e]v[e]ns, Esq. during the course of last summer—and, finally,
-minute copies of all accounts unsettled or passed, open or closed,
-paid or unpaid, between the Commissioners of the Navy, and all
-sorts of Manufacturers, Sailors, Contractors, &amp;c. &amp;c. &amp;c. employed
-by them for these twenty years last past⸺It is from a minute
-investigation of these important papers, that your M[ajest]y’s most
-faithful C[o]mm[o]ns can alone derive just grounds for censure
-or exculpation. And, however laborious this investigation may prove,
-we, your M[ajest]y’s most faithful C[o]mm[o]ns, beg leave to
-assure your M[ajest]y, we shall most readily devote our utmost attention
-to so salutary a study, in order to promote a quick dispatch
-of public business at this momentous and aweful crisis, and to give
-vigour and effect to those measures which your M[ajest]y, in your
-great wisdom, may think necessary to secure the safety, interest, and
-honour of Great Britain.”</p>
-
-<p>Such, Sir, is the amendment which I have the honour to offer
-to the consideration of this house. It will immediately strike you,
-Sir, that in the accounts which I propose to have submitted to the
-investigation of P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt, I have avoided asking for one
-scrap of paper that is not absolutely necessary to be seen and thoroughly
-studied by the House. Should it, however, appear necessary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span>
-to Gentlemen to <i>add</i> to the list of these official documents, I am sure
-I shall not oppose such an improvement to the motion, to whatever
-quantity it may extend.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr. G[eor]g[e] S[u]tt[o]n.</div>
-
-<p>Mr. <i>G[eo]rg[e] S[u]tt[o]n</i> seconded the motion for the
-amendment, beginning with a similar acknowledgement of his incapacity,
-his inexperience and ignorance of P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt[a]ry
-affairs; declining therefore to enter into any further argument, the
-subject having been discussed in so full and able a manner by his
-most noble cousin.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr. W[e]lb[o]re Ell[i]s.</div>
-
-<p>Mr. <i>W[e]lb[o]re Ell[i]s</i>, in reply, threw out many sagacious
-and novel observations. He said that he highly commended the
-caution and circumspection of the noble Lord, but, that in his opinion,
-a more proper time would arrive, about six months after
-Christmas, for entering into the details proposed by the Amendment;
-as, at that period, Administration would certainly have more
-leisure for furnishing the papers now called for.</p>
-
-<p>He very properly observed, that selecting these few curious articles
-of political intelligence from a variety of miscellaneous papers,
-would require some short time, together with no small degree of
-discernment, not to mention several thousands of extra clerks. He
-said, he had taken the trouble to make a most serious investigation
-into the Journals, the Votes, the Debates, and all the P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt[a]ry
-Records of this country; and he was free to say, that
-notwithstanding it might at first appear rather a novel idea, yet it
-was his opinion, that <i>The Address</i> on the first day was a matter of
-compliment. Nay, touching the matter before him, (and weighty
-and powerful indeed it was) after the most mature and serious deliberation,
-daily and nightly, he would for once venture to hazard
-a rhetorical, a figurative expression, to wit, that the Address was an
-eccho, as it were, a complimentary eccho, of his M[ajest]y’s most
-gracious speech.—He hinted, that, if any Gentleman wished for
-particular enquiries, he would, as an old Member, long conversant
-with the forms of the House, tell him, that certainly a Committee
-might be appointed to carry on any public enquiry; and he believed
-such Committees were not unfrequent.—And here he remarked,
-that, from all his researches, it appeared to him, that the constitution
-of this country was of a triple nature—K[i]ng—L[o]rds—and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span>
-C[o]mm[o]ns—that, these three opposite and repelling
-powers, reciprocally ballanced and counteracted each other; at the
-same time that they contributed to the proportion and harmony
-of the whole.—He took occasion to observe, that freedom of Debate
-was clearly a P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt[a]ry privilege, and he would
-pledge himself to prove that every Member in that House was a
-representative of his constituents.</p>
-
-<p>For these reasons, he concluded with dissenting from the Amendment
-as trite, abstruse, dangerous, and frivolous.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">D[a]v[i]d H[a]rtly, Esq.</div>
-
-<p><i>D[a]v[i]d H[a]rtly</i>, Esq.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> observed, that these were no times
-for flattery and empty adulation.—For his part, he should enter at
-large into the rise and origin of all Colonies, ancient and modern,
-into the history of Taxation, and its effects on every state that had
-exercised it over its colonies; and then review the cause, commencement,
-and conduct of the whole American war. He felt how arduous,
-how complicated a task this must prove to himself, and how
-difficult for the House to understand. That, to lessen that difficulty,
-both to the House and to himself, he would adopt the most logical
-method to give clearness and perspicuity to such a multitude and
-diversity of ideas; and for that purpose, he begged Gentlemen to
-take notice, that he should divide his speech into four and twenty
-grand divisions, each of which should contain as many subdivisions,
-which subdivisions should also be separately discussed in equal number
-of sections, each section to be split also into the same number of
-heads; so that with grand divisions, subdivisions, sections, and
-heads, the number of distinct propositions would amount to several
-thousands; but that Gentlemen, by attending closely, and correctly
-taking down the number of any particular argument, should have
-an immediate explicit answer to any query touching that individual
-number: and he flattered himself this numerical logic and arithmetic
-of eloquence would greatly tend to clarify their understandings.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span></p>
-
-<p>To follow this gentleman thro’ even one of his grand divisions,
-was a task much beyond the utmost rapidity of a short-hand writer.
-Indeed the noise from all parts of the house was so excessive, during
-the several hours which he engrossed in this laborious harangue, that
-it was totally impossible to catch up any thing beyond the mutilated
-fragments, and ruins of his oratory. At length however the house
-sunk into a sudden calm, upon the disclosure of a fact, which seemed
-to startle even the wildest zealots of faction.—For, after every
-other argument was exhausted to so little purpose, inflamed by disappointment,
-and hurried, as we are willing to suppose, by the violence
-of patriotism, the Honourable Gentleman avowed to the
-House, that one of his grounds for denouncing ruin to his country
-was <i>his private knowledge of <span class="smcap">Dr. Franklyn’s</span> sentiments on
-that head</i>.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> “Dr. Franklyn (he exclaimed) the Cromwell of his
-age, Dr. Franklyn, Ambassador Plenipotentiary from America to
-France, is my most intimate and most cordial friend!”⸺He
-went on by declaring, he had passed great part of the summer at
-Paris, with Dr. Franklyn, in the most unreserved communication
-of sentiments and facts; and he concluded with repeating, as the
-joint result of his own and Dr. Franklin’s deliberation, that the
-glory of England was destroyed for ever!⸺This extraordinary
-confession produced however no violent effect. Ministers seemed to
-receive it with a contemptuous pity, not unmingled with ridicule,<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
-when <i>Mr. W[ilke]s</i>, finding the little success of serious treason,
-rose, and indulged himself in the more ludicrous stile of it.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr. W[ilke]s.</div>
-
-<p><i>Mr. W[ilke]s</i><a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> adverted with some degree of humour to the
-inference of victory and triumph which might be deduced from the
-return of our Generals and our Admirals, and one of our commissioners
-too. They found (he said) that being on the spot interrupted
-their manœuvres, and he supposed they were come three thousand
-miles off to act <i>cooly</i>. That, the object they were sent to accomplish
-was confessedly a great one; and it is well known, that objects of
-a certain magnitude are best contemplated at a distance. Probably,
-their optics were too tender to distinguish with accuracy amidst the
-smoak and confusion incident to actual engagements; or perhaps,
-they reflected on the more imminent dangers of domestic invasion,
-and hastened home from pure patriotism to guard their native country.—At
-any rate, he must compliment their discernment in pursuing
-a line of conduct, which could not fail of conciliating the good
-opinion and sympathetic regard of the Noble Lord, who presided
-in the American department. If therefore, Mr. Speaker, by any
-miraculous change, I were, this day, to become the Advocate of
-Administration, I should mark the inutility of recurring to the written
-evidence, which the Amendment calls for, at a moment when
-we are so copiously provided with <i>vivâ voce</i> testimony. Yet, Sir, I
-do not think, upon reflexion, that Ministers will adopt this ground
-for rejecting the noble Lord’s Amendment. They, Sir, will more
-boldly tell you—you shall have neither,—for, in these times, it is
-the fashion for all modern Statesmen, first to tell their own story,
-and then protest solemnly against being cross-examined—<i>or directly,
-or indirectly, answering question, query, or otherwise</i>. I believe
-I am accurate in my quotation.—I am not indeed surprized
-at these declarations of obstinate silence—this is Scottish policy—the
-example was set by my good old friend, the E[a]rl of B[u]te—for
-therein I am orthodox in my faith, that the Son is equal to the
-Father; and I am sure I may add with Athanasian zeal, the father
-is incomprehensible, and the Son is incomprehensible, yet there are
-not two incomprehensibles, but one incomprehensible.</p>
-
-<p class="hanging">(Here a confused cry of order, and the Chaplain reprimanded
-for laughing.)</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span></p>
-
-<p>There is indeed one North Briton of whom I entertain a better
-hope.—He seems to have caught that itch for liberty, which, to
-our great wonder, broke out in the Highlands last summer. He, Sir,
-even in the character of his M[ajest]y’s Commissi[o]ner, solicited
-the intimacy of <i>General Washington</i>. But indeed, Sir, if ever a
-Scotchman can be suspected of loving liberty, it is not when he has
-recently become a convert to Administration: <i>Washington</i> therefore
-sent his Excellency, the worthy Commissioner, a flat refusal.—Mr.
-<i>Laurens</i> too refused his Excellency the hearing he so generously
-solicited by imploring Congress, “<i>not to follow the example
-of Br[i]t[ai]n in the hour of her insolence</i>;” the <i>hearing</i> was however
-refused, nay even the “<i>sight of the country</i>,” and “<i>the sight of
-its worthy patriots</i>” was peremptorily refused. The Americans, Sir,
-think that a Scotchman has neither eyes nor ears for liberty, or, at
-least, they distrusted the capacity of his Excellency’s organs for such
-an object.—I have a letter, Sir, in my pocket from my honest friend
-Ethan Allen; I would read it, but I am sure you won’t let me:
-He knows I am fond of scripture quotations, and tells me Congress
-would have given your Scotch commissioner this <i>hearing</i>, but
-they knew “he was like unto the deaf adder, who regardeth not the
-voice of the charmer.”</p>
-
-<p>Let me then trouble his Excellency with one question; who was
-it suggested this secret correspondence with the enemy? was it not
-the Scottish secretary of this wise commission, Dr. Adam Ferguson?
-It must have been one of Sir John Dalrymple’s associates in
-literature. The Scotch, if they can get no Englishman to act, as
-they pretend to say the great Sidney did, will make even their own
-countrymen treacherous in one age, to furnish some literary assassin
-of the next with the foul vouchers of treachery and baseness. At all
-events, Sir, I shall heartily give my vote for the amendment, as the
-only means to convict the M[i]n[i]stry of what I know they are
-guilty, weakness, incapacity, ignorance, obstinacy, baseness, and
-treachery.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Governor J[o]hns[o]n.</div>
-
-<p><i>Governor J[o]hns[o]n</i><a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> now rose, and said every thing that
-a Gentleman in his melancholly situation could be supposed to urge.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span>
-Spoke much of the want of candour in putting a false construction
-on his actions, which he could assure the House, upon his honour,
-were all dictated by the best intentions; that he should not undertake
-to enter into a full defence of his conduct at present, as it was
-a very delicate business, and turned upon a very nice chain of circumstances.
-One part of the charges against him he would slightly
-touch upon, his letters, and what he supposed was meant to be
-hinted at, his attempts of bribery. That the artful policy of France
-had made it necessary for him to parry her attacks by similar weapons;
-that he believed it was felt and would be admitted by all parts
-of that House, that there is no greater spring of public actions, in all
-political assemblies, than <i>self-interest</i>. That he felt himself justified
-in his own mind for every step he had taken, for he would venture
-to affirm, that in every negociation true wisdom and sound policy
-justified the moral fitness of secret articles, and the honourable expediency
-of powerful temptations. As to the failure of success, on
-the part of the commissioners, various causes had concurred to occasion
-it. They were sent to treat of peace with a retreating army.
-Philadelphia, the chief residence of the moderate men, and most
-friendly to their negociation, was evacuated by the army, on the
-Commissioners arrival. A little after they had got to New-York,
-Mons. D’Estaign was upon the coast. These circumstances gave
-spirits to a declining cause; and America, <i>in this hour of her insolence</i>,
-refused to treat, unless her independence was specifically acknowledged.</p>
-
-<p>What followed afterwards is a very serious business, indeed; but
-I trust I shall be pardoned by a noble Lord opposite to me, high in
-character, and in the esteem of his country, if I freely say, as my
-opinion, that Monsieur D’Estaign’s fleet ought to have been attacked
-by the Br[i]t[i]sh at Rhode-Island, as soon as the French
-came out of the harbour to fight them. And I will further say, considering
-the spirit, the gallantry, and the heroism of the British Seamen,
-the inequality of the force of the fleets was not sufficient to
-justify the not attacking the French fleet, without waiting a length
-of time to gain the weather guage, and trusting so long as the
-Engl[i]sh fleet did there to an unruly element. Sir, in the actions
-in the West-Indies, between the English and French fleets, last
-war, where the former were greatly inferior both in number and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span>
-weight of metal, the French were beat off and obliged to fly for it.
-So, in the case of the Monmouth, the Dorsetshire, and several other
-instances, inferiority in the outset of the contest proved victorious
-in the end. I will not, however, dwell upon matters which merely
-depend upon opinion, and upon which the best officer in the world
-may be mistaken. But, Sir, after the tempest at Rhode-Island, when
-the Noble Lord returned to New-York to refit, was not time lost?
-the very time that might have been employed in separating D’Estaign
-from Boston harbour? I might say, Sir, in the defeat of
-D’Estaign; for, after the arrival of some of B[y]r[o]n’s squadron,
-the Noble Lord was superior to him.⸺It is a very unpleasant
-task to speak out, but I cannot avoid giving my opinion as a seaman,
-and as one upon the spot, acquainted with the delays in this business.</p>
-
-<p>Upon the whole, Sir, my opinion, in a very few words is this:
-The violent and impolitic measures of the M[i]n[i]stry of this
-country first lost America⸺the Br[i]t[i]sh army might have
-regained it⸺and our fleet has lost more than one opportunity
-of crushing that of France, upon which American resistance chiefly
-depended for protection and support.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Lord H[o]we.</div>
-
-<p><i>Lord H[o]we</i> and <i>Mr. R[i]gby</i> now rose; but the house appearing
-inclined to give the former an immediate opportunity to reply,
-Mr. R[i]gby sat down, and Lord H[o]we, in very modest yet
-pointed terms, remarked on the unfairness which, he must say, the
-Honourable Gentleman who spoke last, had discovered both in the
-design and manner of his speech. That, first, to avoid entering into
-the motives and principles of his own conduct, as being more proper
-objects for a particular committee of enquiry, and then to launch out
-into vague and desultory accusations of any other person, was inconsistent,
-and, he was sorry to add, illiberal. That whatever prejudices
-those reflections were intended to create against his conduct,
-he would not then interrupt the business of the day, and the more
-general subjects of the present debate, but trust to the candour of
-the house for suspending their opinion, until the whole of his conduct
-might be minutely investigated by a committee appointed for
-that purpose; which committee, he himself should be the first man
-in that house to solicit, nay demand.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr. R[i]gby.</div>
-
-<p><i>Mr. R[i]gby.</i>⸺I should not, Sir, have troubled the house on
-this first day, but that I felt it the indispensable duty of private
-friendship, to express my feelings on the happy return of our worthy
-Commissioner, who has given you, Sir, so full and satisfactory an
-account both of his principles and conduct.⸺I shall not trouble
-you long, Sir; I rise only for that purpose.⸺I am sure
-there is no Gentleman in this house, who more heartily congratulates
-the worthy Commissioner on his unembarrassed countenance
-and his good looks. He certainly has passed the summer very profitably—the
-voyage seems to have improved his stock of spirits—I
-think, I never saw him appear to more advantage—I own, however,
-I sincerely regret the unpoliteness of his American friends.
-After such condescending invitations of himself, it was not very
-civil of those Gentlemen to send excuses—If he had been admitted
-to their society, I have no manner of doubt of the wonderful effects
-his eloquence would have wrought. Even if they had allowed him
-a sight of the country, a man of his taste would have brought us
-home some curious American memoirs: but, alas! he was not only
-disappointed in that wish, but in one of a still gentler kind. I mean,
-Sir, a <i>Flirtation Treaty</i>, which he <i>attempted</i>, to negotiate with a
-celebrated female politician, the <i>Messalina of Congress</i>. I say attempted,
-Sir; for unfortunately even there too his Excellency met
-with as cold a reception. Unfortunately! for, had the Lady indulged
-him with a <i>hearing</i>, or even a <i>sight</i>, what surer line to lay
-the foundation of a more lasting connection? But, in short, Sir,
-whether from fate or insufficiency, the affair dropt, and the <i>Flirtation
-Treaty</i> fell to the ground⸺ ⸺Sir, I trouble the
-house very seldom, and with as few words as possible⸺my opinion
-continues to be what it invariably has been, with respect to
-America—this country may be deprived of its interests, its dignity,
-and its honour; but, as I never can give my assent to a voluntary
-surrender of them, I most heartily agree in the support which the
-address proposes to afford to his M[ajest]y.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr. T. T[o]wns[e]nd.</div>
-
-<p>Mr. <i>T. T[o]wns[e]nd</i> rose, and with great vehemence arraigned
-the levity of the Right Honourable Gentleman who spoke
-before him; he thought it highly indecent, at this important crisis,
-when the very existence of this country is at stake, that any Gentleman<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span>
-should endeavour to raise a laugh, and turn the momentous
-deliberations of that day into ridicule. Under such circumstances,
-in his opinion, jocularity was flagitious, and wit became blasphemy.
-He had, himself, sat in three P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nts, and he appealed
-to the candour of that house, whether in that length of time he had
-once raised a laugh, or on any occasion intentionally distorted the
-muscles of any Honourable Member? “No Sir, the true design of
-our meeting here, is for far other purposes than those of calling
-forth the risibility of Honourable Gentlemen: a risibility at any time
-highly improper for this house, but particularly so at this tremendous,
-this disgraceful moment.—It is with the highest astonishment
-that I now see Gentlemen shifting their places, as if already
-tired of public business, or afraid to look into the deplorable and
-calamitous situation of this country: nay, so great is their inattention
-to their duty in P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt, that, upon my rising, I find
-the house almost cleared—where are the Members?—I am afraid—at
-dinner! Is this a time for revelling in taverns, when the dignity
-of the Imperial Crown of this country is violated, and much
-harm done to our merchants?—Is this a time for revelling, when
-the glory of Britannia, Sir, I say, is sullied, and when, Sir, the
-French are riding on your narrow seas.”⸺He then entered into
-a copious detail of the blunders of Administration, with respect to
-Falkland’s Islands, the Middlesex Election, Corsica, and the massacre
-in St. George’s Fields, Gibraltar, and Mr. Horne’s imprisonment;
-together with cursory observations on the illegality of impressing,
-the bad policy of Lotteries, the fatal example of the Justitia,
-and the tremendous perils to this devoted country from the frequent
-exhibition of the Beggar’s Opera.⸺At length, returning a little
-closer to the question, he again animadverted on the surprising
-inattention of the House: “Yet Sir, (he exclaimed) before I sit
-down let me ask Ministers a few questions—I do not expect any
-answer from them, yet I will ask them⸺Is Dominica the only
-one of our West India Islands now in the possession of France?
-Are we to go on for ever with the American war?—Who are our
-allies?—Is Omiah to pay us another visit?—Where is Sir Harry
-Cl[i]nt[o]n?⸺How is the Czarina affected?—What will
-D’Estaign do after Christmas?⸺Where will the Brest fleet be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span>
-next summer?⸺If Ministers will not, and I know they dare
-not, answer these questions, then Sir, how, in God’s name, can they
-refuse the papers called for by the noble Lord’s Amendment? From
-those papers, I pledge myself to the house, the whole of these nefarious
-proceedings will be brought to light—discouraged, as I well
-might be, from again pledging my person, (having been the constant
-and unredeemed pledge of this House, for one thing or another,
-for these one and twenty years last past,) I repeat it, Sir,
-I will pledge the reversion of myself, that these papers will furnish
-us with all necessary and constitutional information.—And, for
-these reasons, Sir, the Amendment meets with my most hearty concurrence.”</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr. V[y]n[e]r.</div>
-
-<p>Mr. <i>V[y]n[e]r</i> professed himself to be one of the independant
-Country Gentlemen, and took occasion to inform the house, that
-five Indiamen arrived in the River Thames about six weeks ago.—He
-said he embraced this earliest opportunity to repeat his offer
-of fifteen shillings in the pound, if Ministers would but seriously
-go on with the war, which, for his part, he now considered
-in a new point of view—for, as a great statesman had once
-boasted to have conquered, in his time, America in Germany, so
-he would hope and believe, that we, in our days, might conquer
-France in America.—And here, from regretting the loss of that
-great statesman, he fell into a train of melancholy thoughts, which
-led him insensibly to a pathetic eulogy on the memory of his dear
-departed friend, the well-known Mr. <i>Van</i>.—“A long course of
-congenial studies (he exclaimed, with torrents of tears and frequent
-sobs) had entwined our hearts in political sympathy—we
-had but one idea between us!—Yes, Sir, I repeat it, but one—Well
-therefore may I say with the Poet,</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent0">In infancy our hopes and fears</div>
- <div class="verse indent2">Were to each other known,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">And friendship in our riper years,</div>
- <div class="verse indent2">Had twined our hearts in one.”</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Here he broke off, oppressed with a flood of tears, while a confused
-noise of <i>encore</i> and <i>order</i> resounded from several parts of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span>
-house. At length, when the uproar began to subside, and Gentlemen
-became collected enough to proceed on business,</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Hon. T. L[u]ttr[e]l.</div>
-
-<p><i>Hon. T. L[uttre]l</i> rose, and with great solemnity, addressed
-himself to the chair in the following words:⸺Notwithstanding
-the general silence, which, I find, it is the fashion for Ministers
-of this day not only to hold themselves, but likewise to encourage
-in others, on the important subject of maritime affairs, I cannot,
-Sir, acquiesce in so culpable a silence, nor content myself with sitting
-still, until the close of the debate, to be numbered with the tacit
-votes in its disfavour. Sir, the Navy, I have ever considered not
-only as the true and constitutional safe-guard of this insular territory,
-but as the very spirit and soul of all traffic, the quintessence
-of merchandize, and indeed, I may say, the palladium of commerce.
-With this view, Sir, my studies have ever tended to the investigation
-of the origin of that stupendous piece of mechanism, a ship.⸺Noah,
-Sir, was, in my opinion, the first circumnavigator—(I beg
-to be understood, I mean no reflection on the memory of Sir Francis
-Drake)—he was therefore, Sir, justly entitled to the highest situation
-in the naval department of that early period—take him for all
-in all, we shall not look upon his like again—though, in truth, there
-are traits in his character not totally dissimilar to some leading features
-of the noble Earl who is now at the head of that department—But
-it is not for me to draw the parallel.</p>
-
-<p>Sir, The Phœnicians</p>
-
-<p class="tb-large">It was a custom also among the Chaldeans and the Nazareens</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span></p>
-
-<p class="tb-large">Recollect, Sir, when news was brought to the Persians</p>
-
-<p class="tb-large">So the Macedonians</p>
-
-<p class="tb-large">In like manner the Lacedemonians, and the Athenians</p>
-
-<p class="tb-large">Thus too the Carthagenians</p>
-
-<p class="tb-large">Here let me call your attention to the Romans and Syracusians</p>
-
-<p class="tb-large">Need I remind you of the northern hive, or trouble you with the
-Goths and Vandals?</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span></p>
-
-<p class="tb-large">So too, Sir, the Chinese</p>
-
-<p class="tb-large">At length, Mr. Sp[ea]k[e]r, the Danes, Dutch, Swedes, Venetians,
-Neapolitans, Spaniards, French, Portuguese, Muscovites,
-Turks, Saracens, and others, that I skip over to avoid tediousness</p>
-
-<p class="tb-large">And to bring it home to our feelings, the ancient Britons, hardy
-Welch, Milesians, wild Irish, Saxons, Picts, Normans, English, and
-<i>Regattaites</i> rush upon our mind, and</p>
-
-<p class="tb-large">From this historical deduction, I cannot but think, Sir, navigation
-highly necessary, highly favourable to liberty.</p>
-
-<p>If, Sir, I wanted any additional reason for opposing the address,
-it would best arise from the shameful neglect and inattention to
-those brave and humane French officers, (particularly the Captain
-of the Licorne,) lately on their parole at Alresford, half of whom,
-indeed, ministry have cruelly suffered to run away. Besides, Sir,
-let us advert to the wretched deficiency in our late naval equipments.⸺I
-have it, Sir, from undoubted authority, that the
-several ships crews laboured under a total deprivation of Tobacco.
-Tobacco! that staple commodity of our once flourishing subjects,
-now, alas, our avowed enemies, in Virginia, and the Southern<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span>
-colonies.—Sir, not only the quota of Gin was miserably retrenched,
-but adultery, so congenial to the <i>Noah</i> of this day, pervaded every
-keg in the Royal Navy.—Sir, I myself know it for a fact, that the
-speaking trumpet of the Albion was sent out in so wretched a condition,
-that, in haling a fishing-boat, (I believe a cod-smack) off
-Scilly, the second mate cracked his pipe, and half the crew have
-been hoarse ever since—some of your ships, Sir, wanted their complement
-of Chaplains:—and in others, I will not say that I know
-there were not surgeons, but I will say, I do <i>not</i> know that there
-were. Sir, more fatal consequences have arisen from a strange
-neglect of vegetables—Potatoes, radically rotten!—Carrots, diabolically
-dry!—Turnips, totally tough!—Parsnips, pitifully putrid!⸺Scurvy,
-Sir, Scurvy, like the angry Dæmon of Pestilence,
-has lighted up everlasting bon-fires in the blotched brows and cicatracious
-cheeks of your scarified seamen; so that every crew has
-flashed contagion, and reeked like a floating Pest-house, with the
-baneful exhalations of disease.—And now, Sir, that I’m on my
-legs, a word or two to trowzers—Such is the pitiful œconomy of
-Administration, such the paltry treachery of Contractors, that, what
-from an original coarseness of yarn, what, from the more pernicious
-and slovenly texture of the workmanship, not a trowzer but gaped
-with lacerations, whose expanded apertures discovered what⸺the
-P[a]rl[ia]m[e]nt[a]ry decorum of this house, forbids me to
-reveal. Spurred on by such powerful incentives, I take this earliest
-occasion to give notice to the house, that I shall move, on this day
-fortnight, for the house to resolve itself into a Committee, in order
-to take into consideration the several weighty grievances, the outline
-of which I have just now had the honour to give you a rude
-sketch.—When, I shall also move you, Sir, that the several Maltsters,
-Distillers of Gin, Venders of Tobacco, Traders in Trowzers,
-Retailers of Rum, Picklers of Pork, and Purveyors of Potatoes, together
-with their several servants, followers, apprentices and retainers,
-be ordered to attend this house <i>de die in diem</i>, to answer all
-such questions and matters touching the said enquiry, as shall be
-put to them by the Committee so to be appointed.—In the mean
-time, Sir, I shall give my hearty concurrence to the noble Lord’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span>
-Amendment, as promising to afford some degree of preliminary
-information, which may tend to illustrate the more important matter
-in the Enquiry which I have now proposed to set on foot.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr. P[e]nt[o]n.</div>
-
-<p>Mr. <i>P[e]nt[o]n</i>, in reply, begged pardon for troubling the
-house, but hoped they would indulge him in a few words, as he
-felt himself particularly called on to answer some reflections which
-the Honourable Gentleman, who had spoke last, had thought
-proper to throw out against that board where he had the honour to
-sit.—He said, that, at the time of the fitting out of Mr. K[e]pp[e]l’s
-fleet, he had made it his business to be very much at Portsmouth,
-where, though it was a task exceedingly repugnant to his
-private feelings and taste, he had, however, considered it as an official
-service incumbent on one in his department, to personally experiment
-the several provisions and stores prepared for that equipment.
-That, impelled by such motives, he had, on several occasions,
-drank the small beer, not unfrequently tasted the gin, and sometimes
-smoak’d, nay chewed the tobacco; that, in his humble opinion,
-they were all super-excellent in their several kinds. And, as to
-the imputed delinquency relative to potatoes, he could assure the
-house, he had bought up several tuns of the same species, for the
-consumption of his own family—nay, he would go further, he
-would venture to acquaint that house, that with some of those
-very identical potatoes, he had lately had the happiness and honour
-to regale a certain Great Personage, then his guest; a personage
-indeed of too high a rank to have his name even alluded to, though
-on so weighty, and so important a business.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr. B[urke].</div>
-
-<p><i>Mr. B[u]rke</i>⸺I must confess, Sir, notwithstanding my
-long and melancholy experience of the present administration, I
-cannot hear, without astonishment, the language held forth by the
-speech, and echoed in this day’s debate. This session, Sir, at a
-period big with horror, pregnant with ruin to this country, is
-ushered in with the song of triumph; and parliament are bid to
-rejoice at a time when nothing but the language of despair is to be
-heard throughout the nation. Surely, Sir, the hour is at last arrived,
-when humility and moderation ought to take place of pride and
-confidence; when, instead of launching further into a sea of troubles,
-we might be content to try what little can be saved from the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span>
-wreck of national honour and prosperity. Ministers might at length
-condescend to tell us, what means are left to avert the gathering
-ruin; how we are to tread back the mazes of error and folly,
-through which we have been led; and where are the resources from
-which one gleam of hope might dawn upon us, in the hour of danger
-and despair—But, deaf to the solemn call of occasion and
-necessity, they rejoice in the absence of thought, in the contempt
-of foresight. Like the wretch who seeks in stupefaction a momentary
-relief from sorrow, they sink from a voluntary intoxication into a
-torpid insensibility. The illusion, indeed, is not to be confined within
-the narrow limits of their own minds; its baneful influence must
-be circulated through every corner of the nation; and, by a shameful
-perversion, that anxiety for the public welfare, which, in times
-like these, is, in my opinion, the highest of public virtues, must be
-amused with the pageantry of domestic warfare, or lulled by the
-opiate of our American Gazettes. I own, Sir, even on principles of
-criticism, I cannot but consider the stile of these Ministerial annals,
-as no very favourable criterion of the present times. In happier days,
-their characteristic was plain conciseness. Victories were then too
-rapid, too numerous, to admit of a dilated relation.—Success is
-seldom tedious, but I am afraid our highest atchievements have
-amounted to no more than the inroads of savages, or the depredations
-of pyrates. Upon my word, Sir, though we may censure our
-Officers, our Ministers at least shew some generalship; if they cannot
-deceive the enemy, they are prompt enough to mislead their
-countrymen; though they discover but little skill in the arrangement
-of armies, they have an admirable talent in marshalling Gazettes.
-They have given celebrity to sheep-stealing, and blazoned,
-in all the pompous prolixity of ostentatious phraseology, the important
-depredations at—<i>Martha’s</i> Island—Certainly, Sir, the gallant
-Commander of that expedition may vie in pastoral atchievements
-with Ajax, with Jason, or at least Don Quixote; and, if
-he does not obtain a triumph, he is clearly entitled to an <i>ovation</i>.
-Not, Sir, that I mean to cast any reflection on those Officers and
-Soldiers to whose lot these ridiculous services have fallen—they,
-no doubt, have effected every thing that the bravery of the British
-troops in such a situation could accomplish; but the Hand of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span>
-Nature, Sir, has thrown in their way obstacles which it was not
-in the most obstinate valour, in the most consummate wisdom to
-surmount. It is a want of confidence in the directors of this war
-that has chilled every vein, and slackened every sinew of military
-enterprize. Besides, Sir, if I may be permitted to indulge a little
-superstition, there is a certain fatality attending the measures of
-Administration: through all their bungling operations of war,
-through all their wretched plans of peace, the evil Genius, Sir, of
-this country, seems to haunt their footsteps. He it is that has suffered
-them to wander on, undismayed by danger, unabashed by
-reproaches, from one absurdity to another, ’till our blunders and our
-follies have at length reared that stupendous fabric of American
-Empire that now engrosses the attention, and claims the wonder
-of mankind. Allow me, Sir, to pause for a moment, while I contemplate
-this phœnomenon of modern ages, this new constellation
-in the western hemisphere; a mighty and extensive empire, not
-rising by slow degrees and from small beginnings, but bursting forth
-at once into full vigour and maturity; not cherished in the soft lap
-of peace and commerce, but shaking off in its outset the long established
-dominion of a powerful master, and thriving in the midst of
-carnage and desolation. “Ab ipso ducit opes animumq. bello.” If
-we view them in another light, as completely enthroned in sovereignty,
-as receiving embassies from distant potentates, as forming
-leagues with the princes and states of Europe, we shall find more
-abundant matter for self-humiliation—I could wish to shut my
-eyes on the scene that follows: The parent baffled and depressed,
-imploring pardon of her injured and alienated children, yielding to
-their successful resistance, what she had denied to their prayers and
-petitions, and offering every concession short of a total emancipation;
-but scorned and rejected in her turn, not (as she had rejected
-them) with rudeness and insolence, but with firmness and with
-dignity; and convinced, at length, that the day of conciliation is
-past, and that the groundwork of peace can only be laid on the
-broad basis of equality and independance.</p>
-
-<p>Is this the unconditional submission the noble Lord in the American
-department so prodigally announced? This is indeed unconditional<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span>
-submission, but unconditional submission from Great Britain
-to America.</p>
-
-<p>Gentlemen may remember how often my voice has preached
-peace within these walls; how often it has warned administration
-to healing measures, while the wounds of America might yet have
-been closed. I will still repeat it, ’till the echo of this house shall be
-conscious of no other sound; Peace, Peace, Peace, is still my object.</p>
-
-<p>It is now high time, Sir, that Gentlemen should awaken to a
-sense of our danger, that Parliament should discard those wretched
-schemes of short-sighted policy, which cannot, in our present situation,
-afford even a temporary refuge. As yet, we experience only
-the beginnings of our sorrows; but the storms of adversity are
-gathering fast around us, and the vessel is still trusted to the direction
-of Pilots, whose ignorance and obstinacy has been manifest to
-all the world.⸺What thanks, Sir, to the vigilance of our Rulers,
-that we are not already sunk beyond the possibility of redemption?
-What thanks to them, that the flower of our army and navy,
-and with them all the hopes of Britain had not withered before the
-power of a lately dejected but now triumphant enemy? Is it owing
-to their care that the rich produce of the Western Isles has not
-flowed into every harbour of France?</p>
-
-<p>No, Sir, it is the hand of Providence that wards off for a while
-the ruin of this declining empire. It is Providence alone that has
-preserved our gallant Admirals in America, by an almost miraculous
-interposition.—It is due to Providence alone, that the heart-strings
-of our commerce are not cut asunder by the sword of our
-adversaries.</p>
-
-<p>I own, Sir, I cannot join in an implicit approbation of such ministers:
-I must be a little better acquainted with their merits before
-I can place an unlimited confidence in their wisdom and discretion;
-that discretion which has led us into a labyrinth of difficulties; that
-wisdom that cannot find a clue for our deliverance.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr. D[u]nn[in]g.</div>
-
-<p>Mr <i>D[u]nn[i]ng</i> said a few words, which, from the learned
-gentleman’s being particularly hoarse and uncommonly inarticulate,
-owing (as has been suggested) to a violent cold, and a multiplicity
-of business in Westminster-hall, we could not collect with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span>
-the accuracy that we wish to observe on every occasion. His language
-was neat and pointed, though somewhat tinctured with professional
-pedantry: his arguments seemed ingenious, though perhaps
-too refined for the comprehension of his auditors. He had much
-antithesis, much verbal gingle, and many whimsical climaxes. He
-talked of the competency or incompetency of the House to the discussion
-of the present question; of the materiality or immateriality
-of the proposed amendment; of the responsibility or irresponsibility
-of Ministers. He said, he neither asked, nor knew, nor cared to
-what the present question might ultimately tend; but of this he was
-confident, that it’s propriety was clearly evinced, and it’s necessity
-irrefragably proved by that opposition which purported to baffle it.—Upon
-the whole, his harrangue seemed to be a medley of legal
-quibble and quaint humour.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr. S[olicito]r G[enera]l.</div>
-
-<p>Mr. <i>S[o]ll[i]c[i]t[o]r-G[e]n[e]r[a]l</i>, <span class="smcap">Contra</span>, began with
-<i>declaring</i>, that when he <i>tuk</i> his present office, he <i>understud</i> it to be
-a <i>General Retainer</i>, to <i>shew cause</i> in behalf of Administration:
-That, therefore, he hoped to be favoured with a few words by way
-of <i>replication</i> to his learned friend: That he might in this case have
-insisted on <i>want of notice</i>, but, for the sake of candour in practice,
-he would waive that objection; for, that he had no doubt, on the
-merits, but that <i>judgment wud be given</i> in his favour: <i>Protesting</i>,
-that the speech was <i>warranted</i> by <i>precedent</i>, and had <i>the highest
-authority</i> in it’s support: <i>Protesting</i> also, that no <i>gud</i> objection <i>cud</i>
-be made to the address, as it strictly pursued the very words of the
-speech. He <i>justified, under an immemorial custom</i>, that Administration
-<i>have been accustomed to have, and still of right ought to have</i>,
-certain echoes in this House, called <i>Addresses</i>.—He admitted, that
-<i>true it was</i>, there had been some <i>errors in our proceedings</i> with respect
-to America; but he was informed, and believed, that Sir Henry
-Clinton intended to have a <i>new trial</i>. As to the cause of Great Britain
-<i>versus</i> France, he had been given to understand and be informed,
-that the place in which the <i>trespass</i> was supposed to have been committed,
-was, <span class="smcap">parcel</span> of the Island of Dominica, <i>in parts beyond the
-seas</i>; which place said French, with force of arms, to wit, with ships
-of divers guns, drums, trumpets, bayonets, hand grenades, and
-cartridge boxes, had broken and entered, <i>doing nevertheless as little<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span>
-damage on that occasion as they possibly cud</i>: but that he was
-clearly of opinion, that if the troops of said France should <i>traverse</i>
-the Channel, and lay <i>a Venue</i> in Kent or Sussex, <i>issue might be
-joined</i> by the militia at Cox-Heath; and, in that case, <i>afterwairds</i>,
-if verdict <i>shud</i> be given in our favour, the adverse party would sustain
-heavy and exemplary <i>damages</i>.—He concluded with <i>averring</i>,
-that he approved of the address in it’s present form; and that he
-should <i>demur</i> to the amendment moved by the Noble <i>Lud</i>, as <i>multifarious,
-uncertain, insufficient, and informal</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr F[o]x.</div>
-
-<p>Mr <i>F[o]x</i> now rose; and, with that extent of information, refined
-perspicuity, and vehemence of eloquence, by which he so invariably
-commands the attention and admiration of the House,
-entered at large into the subject of debate.</p>
-
-<p>To do justice to the force of his reasoning, or elegance of his
-stile, is totally beyond the utmost efforts of the editor.—All that
-he can attempt is, to give an imperfect sketch of an inimitable original.⸺He
-began with lamenting the accomplishment of that
-ruin, which, from time to time, he had too justly predicted. He
-confessed, that little merit could be ascribed to those prophecies;
-which, however chimerical and visionary ministers had affected to
-consider them, were, in fact, no more than plain deductions of what
-must necessarily ensue from their own measures. He proceeded to
-recapitulate the conduct of Administration since the prorogation of
-Parliament; particularly observing on the impolitic removal of the
-troops from Philadelphia at the moment, when, if ever, their continuance
-<i>there</i> might have effected some good purpose. The concealment
-of that intended evacuation, even from the Commissioners
-themselves, was a part (he said) of that system of duplicity and
-deception which pervaded the whole of ministerial conduct. Possibly,
-indeed, Ministers were aware, that gentlemen of high character
-and esteem would not have become the executive tools of a
-plan so wretchedly concerted. The Commissioners therefore were
-not suffered to participate in counsels, which, if they had known,
-they must have despised. Nor was folly more conspicuous in the
-origin than in the prosecution of this paltry disingenuous plan. Sir
-Henry Clinton, to whose courage and conduct every praise is due,
-was ordered to return to New-York. Encumbered with baggage,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span>
-and pursued by an army superior in numbers, he made his way thro’
-the almost impervious forests of that country; and, by almost a
-miraculous effort, not only secured his retreat, but in the Jerseys
-had the good fortune to resist the enemy with some success—a success
-however, which, without disparaging the British troops, must
-in great part be attributed to General Lee; who, in consequence of
-his misconduct in that affair, was immediately put in arrest, and
-afterwards suspended for the space of a year.</p>
-
-<p>He went on with indicating the circumstance of a fleet of Victuallers
-having been sent to Philadelphia, after the army, which was to
-be supplied by that fleet, had been ordered to evacuate Philadelphia.—That
-fleet, he said, had narrowly escaped being taken in
-the Delaware; and, thence, he argued Ministers were as culpable,
-as if, in consequence of the capture of that fleet, the army, then
-arrived at New-York, had famished for want of those provisions,
-on which their future subsistance was wholly dependant.</p>
-
-<p>He said, he was yet to learn what plan Administration could pretend
-to alledge they had followed, or meant to follow, in America.
-Upon what grounds could they attempt to prosecute an <i>offensive</i>
-war? Or, taking the alternative, how can they presume to say they
-have acted on the <i>defensive</i>?⸺As to the first, they have thirty
-thousand men to conquer the continent of America: admitting then
-the superiority of their army and their navy, still he contended that
-superiority had been, and ever must be ineffectual and useless; because,
-as long as the English army and navy co-operate, the Americans
-will never have the unnecessary temerity to give up the advantage
-of situation, or expose their cause to the hazard of one
-decisive engagement. The last campaign was the clearest proof of
-that position; and, now, though our fleet was superior to the French,
-yet D’Estaign is safe at Boston.—It was, on that principle, he
-doubted not, the gallant and experienced Commanders of the last
-campaign had formed their conduct: It was their policy, and, in his
-opinion, the best policy, to keep a collected force, and to avoid any
-inferior exertions, that might require a separation, or weaken that
-superiority, which, in case of a decisive action, they rightly judged
-could alone have been fatal to American resistance.—It remained
-for General Clinton to pursue a contrary policy.—Yet, though (he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span>
-declared) no man in that house entertained a higher respect for
-the personal and professional merit of that able Commander, (who
-from his particular talent for military enterprise, and his education
-under the Prince of Brunswick, was best calculated for effecting
-such a plan) yet, from the minutest investigation of the late Gazettes,
-he could not collect any very auspicious presage of his military
-career. If indeed, from his observation, of what had already
-happened, he might hazard an opinion of what may happen, we
-had no reason to rejoice at the revival of that plan of separation,
-which had proved so fatal in the Northern expedition. He was sorry
-he had mentioned that expedition—It led him to a subject he wished
-to avoid.—He had been accused of an asperity of reflexion on the
-conduct of the noble Lord who planned that expedition. He would
-strive, in future, to overcome his indignation, by indulging his contempt
-for the Adviser of it.—Yet, thus much he would say; though
-unhappy for this country, it was happy for our troops, happy for
-our officers, to be directed and controlled by a Minister, to whose
-wisdom not even Envy could ascribe one particle of their success,
-in whose imbecillity even Justice would afford them an asylum from
-every disgrace.</p>
-
-<p>Having thus stated the impracticability of an offensive war in
-America, either on the former plan of united force, or on the present
-separate efforts, he recurred to the other part of his argument,
-whether Administration could pretend to alledge their having
-adopted the alternative, and formed even a defensive plan for America
-and the West-Indies?⸺If they dared to assume that merit,
-how could they expect the House to attend, with any degree of
-patience, to such a mockery of all truth? On any rational plan of
-mere defence, would they not have left a force at New-York,
-Rhode-Island, and Halifax, fully able to prevent any attack in that
-quarter; at the same time, detaching a sufficient force to protect
-the West-India Islands?—Upon such a plan, would not any spirited
-Minister have grafted some degree of activity and enterprise?
-Would He not have attacked Martinique, Guadaloupe, or St. Domingo?
-Such conduct would have struck terror to France, we
-should have been enriched by new acquisitions, or, at least, have
-prevented the disgrace of our own losses.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span></p>
-
-<p>But, admitting that this defensive plan may have been but recently
-adopted, how are Administration to regain the time they have
-lost, or what resources of finance are still unexhausted to prosecute
-even this plan? Are all the Country Gentlemen equally disposed to
-devote fifteen shillings in the pound to carry on this defensive war?
-Are they all equally delighted with the great and growing ruin of
-an accumulating debt and a decreasing revenue? Or do they rest
-their hopes on the wealth of our East-India trade? Do they know
-that, there too, the French are undermining the foundation of our
-commerce? Or is it studiously concealed from them, that the French
-ministry have sent Monsieur Vaugelin to Canton, in the quality
-of their Consul at the Chinese Court?⸺He had heard much
-of a sudden increase of national wealth by our late captures, but, at
-best, the prizes of privateers are a partial benefit; they can enrich
-but a few individuals; they afford no diminution of the general
-burthens of a whole people. In the present instance, the truth was
-these boasted prizes were, in fact, public losses; the French having
-had the art to insure their most valuable ships, particularly the Indiamen,
-by English policies—besides that, several of the richest captures
-were actually freighted with consignments to English merchants.</p>
-
-<p>But, supposing this extraordinary spirit of bounty should become
-general among the Country Gentlemen, and that, to support a war
-which had totally lost the original object of revenue, for which they
-had been tempted to engage in it; supposing they were all well
-inclined to a land-tax of fifteen shillings in the pound, and determined
-to overflow the Exchequer with an extraordinary redundance
-of profusion, yet would they be particularly happy that all that
-wealth should be portioned out to subsidise Hanover, Hesse-Cassel,
-Hanau, Waldeck, Brandebourg-Anspach, and all the mercenaries
-of Germany? Or that it should wholly be devoted to satiate the
-monopolising avarice of a Russian alliance? You have no force at
-home—you are almost defenseless.⸺</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Col. T[u]ffn[e]ll.</div>
-
-<p>(Here he was called to order by Colonel Tuffnell for speaking
-of the <i>defenceless</i> state of this country.) Col. <i>T[u]ffn[e]ll</i> said,
-the word <i>defenceless</i> was, to the last degree, improper and disorderly;
-for that he himself had the command at Dover Castle, opposite<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span>
-Calais, where, though the country all about it was rather flat,
-he would not wish such a word as <i>defenceless</i> to be sent from
-that house to Paris, by any friend of Dr. Franklin’s. And, as he
-was on his legs, he must say, that word <i>defenceless</i> was doubly
-wrong, from the late state of the camps; where, in spite of French
-spies, there had been the utmost discipline, unanimity, peace, and
-quietness; except, indeed, some desertions, much nakedness, frequent
-floggings, and several duels.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. <i>F[o]x</i> then proceeded, without any remark on this interruption;
-and observed, that every petty Landgrave and Margrave
-had already been exhausted; they had no more Chasseurs,
-no more mercenary boors, to fight, or rather not to fight, our
-battles. Russia is frozen up for some months; and, not improbably,
-the courts of Berlin and Vienna would sufficiently engage
-her in their Bavarian contest; or, at least, not make it adviseable
-for her to lessen the internal defence of a country surrounded with
-such powerful armies. As to the Fleet, how could it be recruited
-with sailors or marines? Though even the spirit of adventure
-could instantly man every Privateer that had been fitted out, yet
-the noble Lord at the head of the Admiralty had pretended to
-palliate his own incapacity and criminal neglect, by alledging it
-was almost impossible, even with an extraordinary bounty, and
-the utmost rigour of an Impress and an Embargo, to man the
-Royal Fleet—the fact was, the minds of the people were obstinately
-bent against this American war; nay, even against a
-French war, when France became the protector of America.</p>
-
-<p>With such Ministers, such principles, such plans, such internal
-resources, such prospects of alliance; Gentlemen were now called
-on to echo the Speech, to panegyrize an Administration too despicable
-for satire, to plunge this devoted country in aggravated
-ruin, and, with a remorseless dispair, to <i>desolate</i> what they had
-found impossible to <i>subdue</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Lord N[o]rth.</div>
-
-<p>L[o]rd <i>N[o]rth</i>.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Mr. Sp[eake]r, at the same time that I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span>
-agree with many Gentlemen who have spoken in the course of
-this day’s debate, that the present is a very serious moment of
-deliberation, I can by no means join with them in thinking our
-situation is desperate, though, I confess, it is distressing.</p>
-
-<p>Sir, in all cases of distress or difficulty there is some relief to
-be found in comparison. Gentlemen who hear me, will admit
-that this country, in former wars, has been acquainted with unfortunate
-events. The loss of some of our possessions, and the
-failure of enterprizes, marked the onset of last war. Commanders
-were unsuccessful, perhaps criminal;—I do not mean to draw a
-complete analogy between that period and the present—I only
-mean to observe, that there has been no difficulty in modern
-times, from which this Country has not been able to extricate itself,
-when rouzed by a sense of its wrongs, and determined to
-vindicate its justice, its dignity, and its honour.⸺In saying this,
-I shall be told by Gentlemen that we were indebted to a great
-Character in the midst of our misfortunes during the last war,
-and that, by his vigour and enterprizing genius, this Country was
-extricated from her embarrassing situation. I will join heartily in
-paying that tribute of truth to his memory⸺Would to God
-that such a man were alive at this moment, to step forward with the
-full exertion of the same zeal, and the same talents. I would yield
-to none as a second in the work, though I confess my inability
-to be employed as a first.</p>
-
-<p>Sir, the Honourable Gentleman who spoke last, has gone over
-such a variety of ground, and has given so large a history of the
-wickedness of Ministers during the American war, that the asperity
-with which he has delivered it, would be a sufficient reason
-for my silence, did I not think it necessary, from a duty I owe
-to this house and to my country, to give some answers to assertions
-which have fallen from him.</p>
-
-<p>Sir,<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> to the first complaint, which the Honourable Gentleman
-makes, of the Minister’s concealment from the Commissioners of
-the removal of the troops from Philadelphia, I shall only answer,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span>
-that the importance of that proceeding required the nicest secrecy,
-and (though I do not mean to suggest the least idea disadvantageous
-to the confidence of the Commissioners) it is perhaps owing
-to the secret decision upon that matter, that the removal of the
-fleet and army from the Delaware was so timely, and so effectually
-executed. And I will add, that (whatever opinions may have
-been conceived either by the Commissioners or any other persons)
-the events, which have since happened, amply justify the wisdom
-of the measure.⸺With respect to the bad policy, as some Gentlemen
-have called it, of opening a negotiation with a retreating
-army, will any one tell me, that, had your army and navy been
-blocked up by Mons. D’Estaign’s fleet, with the prospect of all
-of the latter being utterly destroyed in the Delaware, the Congress
-would have been more inclined to treat with your Commissioners,
-than when all were safe at New-York?—Were they inclined
-to negotiate with Lord H[o]we and Sir William H[o]we,
-(who had sufficient powers) at Philadelphia, after the receipt of
-the bills, and before the arrival of the new Commissioners?⸺No,
-Sir—no appearances of reconciliation on the part of
-the Congress were shewn at that time:—their minds, worked
-up by their leaders to a spirit of enthusiasm, indulged the expectation
-of destruction to our fleet, at least, from the powers of
-France.—I am free to confess, Sir, that when I heard Mons.
-D’Estaign had arrived in America previous to Admiral Byron,
-(whose fleet had been so unfortunately dispersed) I had little
-hopes from the temper and inclinations of the Congress, that they
-would be induced to treat; until some blow had been struck, and
-that on our part, of a successful nature.—My confidence was, and
-still is, Sir, in the people there at large—groaning under the worst
-of all tyrannies, involved in a ruinous, and, I maintain, an unsuccessful
-war; and driven by their corrupted leaders into a most
-unnatural connection with France; I say, Sir, if one spark of
-British sense and honour yet remains, if one drop of blood of this
-country still flows in the veins of the Americans, they will avail
-themselves of our liberality, and return to their former happy and
-enviable subordination to this country.</p>
-
-<p>With respect to the Fleet of Victuallers, which, the Honourable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span>
-Gentleman observed, had a narrow escape from the Delaware,
-it was supposed they had sailed from Corke, some time before
-the orders were sent from hence for the evacuation of Philadelphia;
-and it is very lucky they did not sail for New-York; for,
-if they had, they would have met with Monsieur D’Estaign there.</p>
-
-<p>It has been urged by the Honourable Gentleman, that the
-American war can be no longer made offensive; and therefore,
-if a defensive one has been adopted, why not leave a sufficient
-number of troops for the defence of New-York, Rhode-Island,
-Halifax, and the Floridas? and strike some blow at the French
-Settlements in the West-Indies.—Gentlemen will recollect the little
-time that has elapsed since the evacuation of Philadelphia, the
-attack and defence of Rhode-Island, and the transactions between
-Lord Howe’s and D’Estaign’s Fleet, and they will see how difficult
-it was to be at a great many places at the same time.—With respect
-to Dominica, Sir, the loss of it is certainly a misfortune, but, I
-trust, only a temporary one. There can be no blame laid upon the
-Ministers for that event, because, in the very beginning of the war
-with France, ships were sent sufficient to make at least a superior
-force to the French in the West-Indies. I am aware of the force of
-the argument that will be made use of upon this occasion—Gentlemen
-will say, You have so many places and possessions to guard,
-that many of them must be vulnerable; and therefore it is impossible
-to go on in a war with France and America at the same time,
-with any reasonable expectations of success.—This argument will
-lead me to enter a little into what I conceive to be our actual situation
-at home and abroad.—With respect to this country, Sir, it is
-protected by a fleet superior to the French.—It contains, to the honour
-of those who have sacrificed domestic ease to public spirit, a very
-fine army, including the regulars, of 50,000 men.—Your ships of
-trade and merchandise have arrived safe and unmolested; whilst
-the Privateers and Letters of Marque have made considerable
-havock upon the property of our enemies.⸺And here I must
-remark upon two observations which have fallen from the Honourable
-Gentleman who spoke last.—The first, with respect to the
-number of sailors who have entered on board these ships at a
-time when there was so much difficulty in manning the fleet, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span>
-which is a charge of ignorance in obtaining them upon the Admiralty.—Sir,
-the bounty which has been given to seamen by individuals,
-to enter on board Privateers and Letters of Marque,
-has been enormous—I have been told 10 l.—15 l.—and 20 l.
-a-man.—This, with the expectation of the larger share of prize-money
-received by lesser vessels, has been a sufficient inducement
-to men to enter on board those ships.⸺Upon the other observation,
-that the prizes we have taken consist chiefly of British
-property, and are insured here—I shall only remark, that the
-Merchant here who employs French shipping and French navigation,
-in preference to the British, ought to suffer.—But, Sir, with
-respect to insurance, let us see which of the two countries suffers
-most on that head.—The insurance upon French ships homeward
-bound has been very high.—Upon the French Indiamen, I have
-heard, so high as 75 l. per cent.—Then, Sir, this being the case, if
-the Frenchman arrives safe in France, the Englishman gets 75 l.
-per cent.—If he is taken, he loses but 25 l. per cent. whilst his
-neighbour shares the prize entirely.—Surely, therefore, Sir, this
-country has certainly much the best of the bargain.—This, however,
-Sir, great as these advantages are, is no reason nor no inducement
-with me for continuing the war.—I am obliged to recur so often
-to what has been said, that I beg pardon for deviating from the
-chief object, at least of my consideration—that of our actual situation
-at home and abroad.—I have already said, Sir, that we are
-sufficiently defended by our navy and army at home.—We have
-certainly a greater superiority of both in North America—of ships
-in the West-Indies—superior in the East-Indies, and shall be
-more so when the ships now ready to proceed thither, and with
-troops, are arrived there.—Sir, there is wealth, I trust there is
-likewise spirit enough in this country, to support us even in a more
-embarrassing situation than the present. And, though Gentlemen
-may have wished to impeach the security of this country, I will
-fairly tell them, that, such is the confidence, even in the hour of
-her distress, foreigners of all nations have given, and do give, the
-preference to our funds;—the falling of which, immediately after
-the opening of the last budget, is to be imputed entirely to the jobbing
-of a good purchase at a low bargain, and not to a want of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span>
-confidence in the nation. I could deduce many reasons to justify
-me in this opinion; and I could call upon the Dutch, as the best
-politicians, in support of it.—Nor, Sir, will I admit the prospect
-of ruin to be before us, until I see that the justice of our cause has
-left us, and that there no longer exists that zeal and bravery which
-have distinguished the people of Great Britain, as superior to the
-rest of the world⸺Sir, a great deal has been said by Gentlemen
-(who have in my idea gone over, unnecessarily at this time,
-the whole of the American war) with respect to the conduct of it.⸺I
-believe, even the most inveterate enemies Ministers may
-have, will allow that there was transported to a greater distance,
-than ever was known before, the finest army; that you fed and
-maintained it at that distance; and that, from its excellence and
-its superiority, you had a right to expect the most happy advantages.
-So far the business, as it concerned Ministry, was well
-transacted. But, Sir, then comes the question—were the plans
-and the directions to execute them wise and practicable?⸺I
-cannot but say, Sir, for my own part, and, as far as my Judgment
-went, they were so⸺I do not mean to suggest any thing invidious
-towards the Officers to whom commands and responsibility
-were delegated⸺I am not one of those who easily condemn,
-certainly never will, before I have just grounds for doing so⸺If
-our Army and Navy have not done in every part of the world
-what was expected of them—Parliament can enquire, can approve,
-or censure⸺This however appears to me but a secondary subject
-for our consideration.</p>
-
-<p>Sir, much has been said with respect to the Union of France
-and America, and the probability there is that Spain will soon be
-a party in it. I will not rob many honourable Gentlemen of the
-gift of prophecy, of what Spain will do in this conjuncture; but,
-Sir, surely her interest and her policy should be to resist the Independance
-of America—She will never, by protecting rebellion
-in our colonies, hold out encouragement to her own to follow
-their example. It is idle, Sir, to indulge the idea of the Spanish
-settlements in South America trading with the North Americans,
-by purchasing, with Spanish Bullion, North American commodities.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span>
-The Court of Spain is much too wise, I think, to adopt such
-a measure. What, Sir, might be the consequence? An intercourse
-and trade between the extremes of that great quarter of the globe
-might at last be united by a centre, and establish the greatest
-dominion in the World. For, time may produce daring and flagitious
-characters in that continent also, whose object it may be to
-destroy the sovereignty of Spain over her Colonists—Neither can
-I agree with Gentlemen in thinking, that the union of America
-and France can be lasting. I might as well suppose that different
-religions, Liberty and slavery, in short, that contrarieties can form
-a system, as admit that unity and harmony can ever last between
-France and America—Neither of the countries expect it—The one
-supports, and the other receives, merely for the temporary purpose
-of distressing Great Britain⸺France can have no thoughts of
-establishing herself in the Heart of America. And America will
-only avail herself of the assistance of France, until she is at peace
-with this Country.</p>
-
-<p>In the mean time, however, our exertions must be of a powerful
-nature to resist this unnatural alliance—And here, Sir, let me
-return to the consideration of what is proper to be done in consequence
-of his M[ajes]ty’s speech.</p>
-
-<p>Sir, in giving my entire approbation of what has been proposed
-by the Honourable Gentleman in the motion for the Address,
-I trust I shall be forgiven, if I submit to the House the
-necessity there is at this time of vigour and firmness in all our
-proceedings, in order to give a spirit to national exertion. And,
-whilst we regret that even our unanimity and liberal offers have
-not been productive of peaceable accommodation with America, I
-trust that her ingratitude may yet meet with the recompence
-such a conduct has deserved: in holding out this doctrine, I mean
-not to forget that America is still the offspring of Great Britain:
-that when she returns to her duty, she will be received with open
-arms, and all her faults be buried in oblivion.</p>
-
-<p>In a word, Sir, the period is arrived, when it is no longer a
-question who is to be Minister, who are to compose a party, or
-who have been to blame. Such discussions will not probably obtain<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span>
-conviction on either side—The day has passed for reflexions
-on those who have been alledged to have given confidence to
-Insurgency, or on those who have been said to have provoked it.
-The object of your consideration is now⸺the salvation of your
-Country.</p>
-
-<p>For myself, Sir, I shall no longer desire to remain in my own
-situation, than his Majesty, and this House, think I can be useful
-in it. If any one Man will take it from me, He will relieve me
-from the most anxious tasks that any Minister probably ever experienced:
-But, till then, Sir, I look to the support of this house,
-and to that of all good Men in defending and maintaining the
-glory and honour of Great Britain.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Col. B[a]rré.</div>
-
-<p>Col. <i>B[a]rré</i> began with recounting his predictions.—I foretold
-in the outset of the American contest, that your obstinacy would
-establish independance of the colonies. My first prophecy was, that
-France would join them—was I wrong?—I will boldly hazard one
-prediction more—I say, Spain sooner or later will join both⸺such
-are the allies of America.—Who are your’s? The Onandagas, the
-Tuscaroras, and the Choctaws! These are your copper coloured
-allies, that fix a stain on the name of Britain; and disgrace this
-country even in victory, as well as defeat—I knew of these alliances,
-and their barbarities, so early as the 8th of June last. I have a letter
-from a friend of mine at Poughkeepsie, of that date;—the Indians,
-headed by Col. B[u]tl[e]r, began their rapine in <i>Cherry Valley</i>;
-parties of <i>Indians and Tories</i> (so my friend couples those blood-hounds
-of desolation) butchered the innocent inhabitants of <i>Sacandago</i>,
-and spread ruin and carnage through <i>Minisink</i>—I am sure,
-Col. B[u]tl[e]r, (who is indeed as gallant and amiable an Officer
-as ever I knew, and I know him well) never would have embrued
-his hands in innocent blood, but that he knew he must sacrifice
-his feelings to the speculative, I do not say practical, violence, of
-the American Secretary. Gen. C[a]rlt[o]n lost the Noble Lord’s
-favour by his abhorrence of the tomahawk and the scalping knife:—have
-not we tried those satanic instruments of death too long?
-Is the whole of Miss <i>Macreas</i> race to be sacrificed? Not one innocent
-babe left unbutchered to lisp out the tale of that devoted,
-that unhappy family? Of whom are we now to enquire for any<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span>
-official documents of your war? I see no Secretary of War in this
-house? Does the American Secretary monopolize and consolidate
-all warlike business? I hope not.⸺</p>
-
-<p>Sir, I beg pardon for the heat which I find rising within me—but
-the inexorable hour of vengeance is not far distant; the heavy
-load of black and bloody guilt will sink you all.—The time will
-come when the thunder of the cannon will be heard at your
-walls. Examples will be made. The Tower and the Block must
-expiate the crimes of Ministers. The voice of truth will be heard.
-The Rubicon is passed.⸺Sir, what is the comparative
-state of the revenues of France, and of this country? Mons.
-Neckar, a very able and a very amiable man, has, I understand,
-found taxes, and not oppressive ones, for two years;—is that a
-fact?—The revenue of this country is diminished—it has been
-gradually so during this detestable war—will Ministers deny it?
-Good God, Sir, what a state are we in? Dominica lost!—Sir,
-Monsieur Bouillé was once my particular friend—Sir, he is returned
-to France for fresh powers and orders—look to your West-India
-settlements, callous as we are, we cannot bear the loss of
-them.</p>
-
-<p>Sir, I am astonished at the blind credulity of Ministry—can
-they be so very simple as to trust to vague compliments against
-those decisive words of the Pacte de Famille, the Family Compact,
-“Qui attaque une couronne attaque l’autre;” (I translate
-for the country Gentlemen) whoever attacks one crown attacks
-the other.⸺I know Count Almodovar—I was introduced to
-him by my old friend, Don Francisco Buccarelli:—I never shall
-forget dining with him at a kind of Table d’Hotes, in a tavern
-opposite the Escurial;—as chance would have it, many more illustrious
-characters dined with us that day; there was the Count,
-his wife’s cousin, and myself, on one side of the table;—Count
-Cobentzel, and Baron Reidesdel (who were then on their travels)
-and Duke de Chartres (who had just come from Paris) sat opposite
-to us—Monsieur de Sartine (who came in the Duke’s vis
-a vis) was at the foot of the table; and we put Buccarelli in the
-chair⸺we had an excellent dinner—the wine was good—and
-we toasted the Madrid beauties in bumpers of Packeretti—however,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span>
-I was not so far gone but I can very well remember
-what Almodovar whispered in my ear, while <i>Cobentzel and
-Reidsdale</i> were drinking Maxamilian Joseph of Bavaria’s health.
-Colonel (says he) <i>Il alte se volto Estremadura che molto</i>—I
-won’t translate it. I feel the respect due to Ambassadors.—But,
-will Ministry answer a plain question? I put it roundly, because
-I ask for a positive answer—Is there no treaty now on the tapis
-to cede Gibraltar, or Port Mahon?—I say, the neutrality of Spain
-is to be trucked for by the dismembring this country of its best possessions.—Here
-he proceeded to read variety of Gazettes, American
-News-papers, two or three Treaties, letters from gallant Officers
-in all parts of the world; accounts of Cl[i]nt[o]n’s retreat;
-transactions of Lord H[o]we, and Mons. D’Estaign; Alderman
-Oliver’s letter—affair at Rhode Island, &amp;c. &amp;c. &amp;c. He went also
-into a string of similar surmises, recognized various intimates in
-Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and interspersed the whole
-with a multiplicity of anecdotes, proverbs, quotations, menaces
-and bon mots—concluding, that having then read to the house
-all the various papers he himself could collect, he found it necessary
-to give his vote for the Amendment, as the only way to get
-at more.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr H. St[anle]y.</div>
-
-<p>Mr. H. <i>St[anle]y</i> observed, that many Gentlemen had deviated
-from the business immediately before the house, which, in
-his opinion, was merely this: Whether this house will or will not
-support his M[ajest]y, and the executive powers of government,
-in the endeavours to recal the Americans to obedience, and to punish
-the natural enemies of this country?<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> That his own opinion
-was determined by a conviction of the necessity, in this hour of
-difficulty and distress, for exertion and firmness. Much has been
-said of the wealth and resources of France in comparison of those
-of England. I can only say, Sir, from all the observations I have
-been able to make, that France is, with respect to its finances, certainly
-an impoverished country. It has not yet recovered the impression<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span>
-made by the last war; and, whatever Gentlemen may
-think, neither Mons. Neckar (whom I very much respect) nor
-any other person, will be able, at least for a great length of time,
-to overturn the old mode of attainment of French money; I
-mean, Sir, by the vehicle of the <i>Fermeurs Generaux</i>. It must be a
-minister of great courage indeed, and a King of Terrors, that will
-new model the French finances; new taxes may be imposed, but
-I much doubt of the collection of them. When a good contract has
-been long in possession, it is too sweet to resign easily; and the
-<i>Fermeurs Genereaux</i> are too important to be offended, especially,
-when the state is necessitated to have recourse to their assistance.
-In saying this, I give full credit to Mons. Neckar for his attempt
-to improve the revenue of France, and that too, when the attempt
-is surrounded with so much difficulty and danger.⸺The revenue
-of this country, Sir, has not suffered by the American war; the surpluses
-of the sinking fund, are as great as during the state of perfect
-peace with America. Other countries have taken from us those
-manufactures which we exported before with bounties to America.</p>
-
-<p>As I think Britain is still equal to resist, and, I trust, to subdue
-all its Enemies, I am clearly for the Motion which has been proposed,
-and seconded, by the honourable Gentlemen, with so much
-credit to themselves, and with so particular a desert of the approbation
-of their Country.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Gen. C[o]n[wa]y.</div>
-
-<p><i>Gen. C[o]n[wa]y.</i> Mr. Sp[eake]r, I beg pardon for troubling
-the House with one short word, Sir, at this late hour of the night,
-Sir, when there are many Gentlemen very desirous⸺and much
-more capable than I am, of speaking—upon so material—so important—so
-comprehensive a business—I may say, Sir—as that
-which now immediately comes before us—for our deliberation.⸺In
-doing this, Sir—in offering my poor sentiments—upon this
-matter, Sir⸺I own, I feel some degree of warmth, at the supineness—at
-the coolness—I may say—of the Ministers in so dangerous—so
-hazardous—and, God knows, probably so destructive an hour⸺And,
-Sir, I hope I may suggest my thoughts at so critical
-a period, when, indeed, all Europe and America are convulsed—and
-shaken—by the imbecillity, the inattention, and the indecision
-of Ministers; who have so supinely, so cooly, and so indecisively<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span>
-sat <i>with their hands before them</i>, waiting for events—and
-contingencies⸺In saying this, Sir,—I mean not to throw any
-reflexion upon any of them—Most of them I know to be men of
-honour and ability—but, Sir, I beg pardon, Sir, for taking up the
-time of the house, Sir; I think the moment is past when any system
-can prevail, I mean on the part of this country over America. Your
-West-India Islands are unprotected—Dominica is gone—Who
-knows but Jamaica is gone too? What force have you at Antigua?
-I understand, Admiral Barrington is gone from Barbadoes. What
-is to become of St. Vincents and Grenada? Good God! Sir, will the
-Nation sit still under these apprehensions? Have Ministers taken
-care of Ireland? Does the Noble Lord underneath me know the
-state of Guernsey and Jersey? Will they be able to resist Count Broglio
-with 50,000 men? Is your force, particularly at Jersey,
-equal to resistance—Sir, at this moment, I tremble for Jersey.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>⸺</p>
-
-<p>In one short word, Sir, I beg pardon—I do trust in God, Sir
-... in the King ... Sir, and in the spirit of this unhappy Nation,
-Sir, that we shall be relieved from these dreadful apprehensions,
-and difficulties, and that we shall see once more, Peace,
-Harmony, and Wisdom, resume their order in this country, in
-the stead of weakness, irresolution, wavering folly, absurd doubts,
-and indecision, Sir.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">Mr S[aw]b[rid]ge.</div>
-
-<p>Mr <i>S[aw]b[rid]ge</i>⸺Example—impeachment—axes—Tower—blood—Sister
-Mac[au]ly—republicanism—Washington,
-greatest man in the World—will be heard—tyranny at Warley-Common—militia
-men turned to road-pioneers—undermining
-trees—sand in bread—waste of powder—Middlesex election—vast
-expence of flints—triennial parliaments—body politic—ill
-humours—state-surgeons—example—axes—Tower—blood⸺<i>Da
-Capo</i>.</p>
-
-<p>The question being now called for with most violent impatience,
-the House prepared to divide.⸺The Editor cannot
-but lament that the eloquence of the day is compriseable in so
-small a compass.—He regrets, with many others, the silence of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span>
-those who might have been supposed, from attachment, from
-principle, and a sense of honour, to have taken a more decided
-part in the debate. Probably it might be considered too severe to
-impute the conduct of those Gentlemen to the precariousness of
-the times, to the expectation of new Administrations, or to the
-fretfulness of an insatiable avarice of wealth and power.</p>
-
-<p>Little more remains to add, than that the House having become
-very clamorous for a division, at half past three the question on
-the Amendment being put, the motion was rejected by a majority
-of 261 to 148. Tellers for the Ayes, Mr T. T[ownshe]nd and
-Mr B[y]ng—for the Noes, Sir G[re]y C[oope]r and Mr
-C[harles] T[ownshe]nd.⸺The main question being then
-put, the original Address was carried in nearly the same proportion.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<p>Immediately after the division, the H[ous]e were much astonished
-at Mr C[harle]s T[u]rn[e]r’s calling their attention to a
-most libellous, nefarious, and enormous pamphlet, entitled <i>Anticipation</i>,
-calculated to misrepresent the debates, and vilify the proceedings
-of P[arliamen]t; observing, that the publication of Honourable
-Gentlemen’s speeches <i>before</i> they could possibly have been
-spoken, was infinitely more dangerous to the constitution than
-mistaking them after they had actually been delivered; as not only
-the public were thereby much more likely to be deceived, but
-many country Gentlemen were most illegally hurried up to town
-before the time, to the great annoyance of themselves and cattle.
-Besides, what struck at the very heart-strings of debate, many
-good speeches were marred thereby, and Honourable Gentlemen
-stopt from repeating their own words, lest they should authenticate
-the said publication.</p>
-
-<p>For all which reasons, he humbly moved, that the Publisher
-of a pamphlet, entitled, <i>Anticipation</i>, be immediately taken into
-custody by a Messenger of this House, together with all papers in
-his shops and warehouses, in order that this House may be enabled
-to discover the Author or Authors of this very black conspiracy.
-He moved also, that the several statutes against forgery, coining,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span>
-and uttering, knowing to be false, forestallers, and regraters, &amp;c.
-&amp;c. be forthwith all read. And further⸺But, the laughter
-having now become intense, the remnant of his oratory was cut
-short by a most clamorous repetition of <i>Adjourn</i>, <i>Adjourn</i>; so
-that it was impossible for the Editor to collect the result of this
-important motion.</p>
-
-<p>And then the House adjourned till the morning, nine of the
-clock.</p>
-
-<p class="titlepage">FINIS.</p>
-
-<div class="footnotes">
-
-<h3>FOOTNOTES</h3>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> It was observed the S[peake]r was remarkable civil to the new Att[o]rn[e]y
-G[e]n[e]r[a]l, as supposed upon his succeeding to that
-great object of his wishes, which leaves Sir F[letche]r some chance of a
-Chief Justiceship and a Peerage.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Exempli gratiâ, for whether it is his Lordship’s Speech, or Lord J.
-C[a]v[e]nd[i]sh’s, or Sir W. M[e]r[e]dith’s, or Sir G. Y[ou]ng’s, &amp;c.
-the subject matter and stile, with a few exceptions, is of course much the
-same.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Here Mr. B[a]mb[e]r G[a]sc[oy]ne headed the dinner troop,
-which followed him with great precipitation—at the same time departed
-Sir John Irw[i]n and Mr. S[e]lw[y]n, with his Honour Mr.
-Br[u]d[e]n[e]ll, of whom great enquiries were made, respecting the
-present arrangements of the Opera.—Nor were there wanting many
-cries for the question.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> Here Sir <span class="smcap">Gr[e]y C[oo]p[e]r</span> caught at a pen, and began to take
-notes.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> Probably, from supposing the first origin of their connection to have
-arisen (at least on the part of Dr. Franklyn) from a philosophical rather
-than a political curiosity. And certainly, no two projectors in Science
-were ever more strikingly contrasted: the one, like a modern Prometheus,
-collecting fire from vapour to inflame the terrestrial mass by its pernicious
-infusion: the other employing his magic <i>plates</i> to freeze its ardour and
-quench its malignity.—Happy for this country, if these professors had
-shifted their pursuits! as the former, could his inclinations have been
-propitious to the peace of mankind, might then have become a powerfull
-<i>Extinguisher</i>, while the other, however malignant his intentions, must
-always have been acknowledged an <i>innocent</i> Incendiary.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> The Editor was furnished with copies of this speech from the Printers
-of the respective News Papers, many weeks ago.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> Gentlemen were here desired by the Sp[ea]k[e]r to take their seats,
-and the Serjeant to clear the bar—places! places! was repeated with
-great vehemence.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> As the Noble Lord was almost the only Speaker on the side of Administration,
-the Editor felt it the duty of impartiality, after giving so
-many excellent speeches on the opposite side, to collect this with particular
-accuracy, which he was the better enabled to do, from the deliberate
-manner of its being delivered, and the respectful attention with which
-it was received.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> Here Lord N[o]rth took up Sir G[re]y C[oo]p[e]r’s notes.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> Whilst Mr. St[anle]y was speaking, Mr. B[yn]g was making
-numerical criticisms on the state of the House, which Mr. R[o]b[i]ns[o]n
-had done before, with his usual assiduity; and had taken his place
-at the door accordingly.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> N.B. G[enera]l C[onwa]y is Governor of it.—Query, Whether he
-had not better be there at this dangerous crisis?</p>
-
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="NOTES">NOTES</h2>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span></p>
-
-<h3>NOTES</h3>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 22</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>The Gentlemen trading to the East-Indies, &amp;c.</i> The publisher’s advertisement
-burlesques a practice of the bookseller John Almon (1737-1805), friend
-and biographer of John Wilkes, and between the years 1761-81 publisher-in-ordinary
-to the Whig Opposition. Almon had extensive connections in the
-American colonies and was the compiler of <i>The Remembrancer</i>, 1775-84, a
-valuable collection of materials relating to the Revolution. In his satire on the
-French ministry, <i>The Green Box of Monsieur de Sartine</i>, 1779, Tickell
-represents a French spy in London reporting ruefully:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="noindent">News-papers, pamphlets, parliamentary debates, remembrancers, and all
-the infinite variety of periodical libels, under the conduct of our good
-friend Mr. Almon, leave but a scanty and beaten field of politics for
-private discovery (pp. 12-13).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 23</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Sir Francis Molyneux.</i> Sir Francis Molyneux (d. 1812), Knt.; succeeded his
-father as seventh Baronet, 1781.</p>
-
-<p><i>the Speaker.</i> Sir Fletcher Norton (1716-1789), Knt.; M.P. for Guildford;
-Speaker of the House of Commons, 1770-80; cr. Baron Grantley of Markenfield,
-1782.</p>
-
-<p><i>the merit of those speeches.</i> Since the speech from the throne rarely contains
-more than generalities, Tickell was able to approximate its substance fairly
-closely. In the debate on the opening day John Wilkes had the temerity to
-say that there were only two particulars in the King’s speech to which he
-could assent: “They are, that we are called together in a conjuncture, which
-demands our most serious attention, and that a restoration of the blessings of
-peace ought to be our first wish” (<i>Parliamentary History</i>, XIX, 1334).</p>
-
-<p><i>the new Attorney General.</i> Alexander Wedderburn (1733-1805), M.P.
-for Bishop’s Castle; succeeded Edward Thurlow as Attorney-General, June
-1778; elevated to the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas as Baron
-Loughborough of Loughborough, 1780; cr. Earl of Rosslyn, 1801. In the
-spring of 1778 Sir Fletcher Norton, by a threat of impeachment, had blocked
-Wedderburn’s intrigue to obtain the Chief Justiceship; see Walpole to Mason,
-31 May 1778 (<i>Letters</i>, ed. Toynbee, X, 254).</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span></p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 25</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Lord Granby.</i> Charles Manners (1754-1787), second son of the Marquis
-of Granby famous as a military hero; M.P. for Cambridge University; succeeded
-his grandfather as fourth Duke of Rutland, 1779.</p>
-
-<p><i>Pulteny.</i> Sir William Pulteney (1684-1764), Earl of Bath; long the leader
-of the “patriot” opposition during Sir Robert Walpole’s administration, but
-politically ruined by his acceptance, upon Walpole’s fall, of an earldom.</p>
-
-<p><i>Cavendish ... Meredith ... Young.</i> Three supporters of the Whig
-Opposition: John Cavendish (1732-1796), fourth son of the third Duke
-of Devonshire, M.P. for York, friend and correspondent of Burke; Sir William
-Meredith (1725?-1790), third Baronet, M.P. for Liverpool; Sir George
-Yonge (1731-1812), fifth Baronet, M.P. for Honiton.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 26</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>that inestimable character of our own times.</i> William Pitt (1708-1778),
-first Earl of Chatham. The “Great Commoner’s” acceptance of a peerage in
-1766 occasioned a storm of popular indignation.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 27</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Admiral Keppel ... Vice Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser.</i> Augustus Keppel
-(1725-1786), second son of the second Earl of Albemarle; M.P. for Windsor;
-Admiral of the Blue and Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet,
-1778; cr. Viscount Keppel, 1782. Sir Hugh Palliser (1723-1796), first
-Baronet; M.P. for Scarborough and a Lord of the Admiralty; Vice-Admiral
-of the Blue, 1778.</p>
-
-<p>The allusions are to the indecisive action off Ushant between the Channel
-fleet under Keppel, with Palliser as third in command, and the Brest fleet
-under D’Orvilliers, 27 July 1778; see Introduction, p. 10. On the third
-day of the session an altercation broke out in the House of Commons between
-the two admirals, and a few days later Palliser applied to his colleagues at
-the Admiralty Board for a court-martial on Keppel. After a protracted trial
-the court declared Palliser’s charges “malicious and ill-founded.” This verdict
-so delighted the populace that street riots ensued in which the Admiralty
-was attacked and Palliser’s house in Pall-Mall was gutted. Palliser was obliged
-to resign all his public appointments. See Sir G. O. Trevelyan, <i>George the
-Third and Charles James Fox: The Concluding Part of the American Revolution</i>,
-New York, 1912-14, I, ch. v.</p>
-
-<p><i>Philip Stevens, Esq.</i> Philip Stephens (1723-1809), M.P. for Sandwich
-and First Secretary to the Admiralty; cr. a baronet, 1795.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 28</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Mr. George Sutton.</i> George Manners-Sutton (1751-1804), nephew of the
-famous Marquis of Granby; M.P. for Newark.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span></p>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Welbore Ellis.</i> Welbore Ellis (1713-1802), M.P. for Weymouth and
-Treasurer of the Navy; cr. Baron Mendip of Mendip, 1794; see Introduction,
-p. 12.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 29</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>David Hartly, Esq.</i> David Hartley the younger (1732-1813), son of the
-philosopher; M.P. for Kingston-upon-Hull; published <i>Letters on the American
-War</i>, 1777-79, which critically reviewed the history of British colonial
-policy; friend and correspondent of Franklin (whose letters he sometimes
-read in the House of Commons); British plenipotentiary at Paris to negotiate
-peace with America, 1783. He was the Cassandra of the House and a tireless
-advocate of peace, but his long-windedness made him disliked. In <i>The Abbey
-of Kilkhampton</i>, 1780, Sir Herbert Croft’s satirical garland of epitaphs,
-Hartley’s epitaph reads as follows (Part II, p. 124):</p>
-
-<p class="center">Here rests,<br />
-If we may trust the Silence of his Grave,<br />
-D.... H....y, Esq.<br />
-His abilities were the Subject of Admiration, and the<br />
-public Utility was the generous Object they had<br />
-in view,<br />
-But⸺he was <i>troublesome</i>.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Bamber Gascoyne.</i> Bamber Gascoyne (1725-1791), M.P. for Truro
-and a Lord of Trade and Plantations. Of this footnote and the speech by
-Hartley, <i>The London Magazine</i> observed:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>The description of a certain fat member heading the dinner troop
-and drawing them out of the house, upon a dry, metaphysical, long
-winded speaker getting up, is truly characteristic; and strangers frequenting
-the gallery may congratulate themselves on this happy stroke,
-for it has partly silenced the tedious declaimer, who never considered
-that if each speaker claimed the same right, to pay no regard to time,
-a whole session might be passed in adjourned debates from <i>three</i> in the
-afternoon to <i>three</i> in the morning, day after day (XLVII, 566).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><i>Sir John Irwin.</i> Sir John Irwin (1728-1788), K.B.; M.P. for East Grinstead;
-Major-General and Commander-in-Chief in Ireland; famous for his
-sartorial elegance and convivial habits.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Selwyn.</i> George Augustus Selwyn (1719-1791), M.P. for Gloucester;
-the celebrated wit and club-man. Though he sat in Parliament for about
-thirty years, Selwyn was notoriously apathetic towards politics. But since he
-returned two members besides himself, and always woke up in time to give
-his vote for the ministers when a division was called, Selwyn was amply
-rewarded by successive administrations. He was, wrote Sir George Otto
-Trevelyan,</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span></p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>at one and the same time surveyor-general of crown lands—which he
-never surveyed—registrar in chancery at Barbadoes—which he never
-visited—and surveyor of the meltings and clerk of the irons in the
-mint—where he showed himself once a week in order to eat a dinner
-which he ordered, but for which the nation paid (<i>The Early History of
-Charles James Fox</i>, New York, 1881, pp. 94-95).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><i>his Honour Mr. Brudenell.</i> James Brudenell (1725-1811), second son
-of the third Earl of Cardigan; M.P. for Marlborough; cr. Baron Brudenell
-of Deene, 1780; succeeded his brother as fifth Earl of Cardigan, 1790.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 30</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Wilkes.</i> John Wilkes (1727-1797), M.P. for Middlesex; the radical
-politician and hero of the London populace. He had a reputation for facetious
-wit, and he made a practice of sending his speeches in advance to the newspapers.
-Wilkes was another, like Fox and Burke, who enjoyed Tickell’s
-anticipation of his speech. Boswell reported Wilkes as saying to Tickell in
-April 1779: “Much obliged for your speech for me. If you’ll make me another
-for next session, I’ll be damn’d if I don’t speak it” (<i>Private Papers of
-James Boswell</i>, XIII, 231).</p>
-
-<p><i>Here Sir Grey Cooper caught at a pen.</i> Sir Grey Cooper (1726?-1801),
-third Baronet; M.P. for Saltash and a Secretary of the Treasury. The allusion
-is to Lord North’s habit of sleeping through Whig speeches and answering
-them from the notes of his favorite secretary. The following lines are
-from <i>The London Magazine</i>, XLVIII, 1779, 186:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent0">Whilst B[ur]ke and B[arr]é strain their throats</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">The mild <span class="smcap">Sir Grey</span> is taking notes;</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">And, wise as owl, is seen <i>composing</i>,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">For the good Premier, who is <i>dozing</i>:</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Whilst to each patriot’s loudest roar</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">N[or]th answers with a well-tim’d <i>snore</i>.</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Till by some shriller trebles vex’d,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">He discants on the <i>good Knight’s</i> text.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p><i>magic plates.</i> Hartley had invented an arrangement of thin iron strips to
-be placed as a lining under floors and above ceilings to prevent fire. An
-anonymous handbill of four quarto pages, dated July 1776 and called <i>An
-Account of Some Experiments Made with the Fire-Plates, Together with a
-Description of the Manner of Application, and an Estimate of the Expence</i>,
-contains newspaper accounts of unsuccessful attempts to burn a house near
-Reading equipped with Hartley’s plates.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 31</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>the Noble Lord, who presided in the American department.</i> George Sackville
-Germain (1716-1785), called Lord George Germain, third son of the
-first Duke of Dorset; M.P. for East Grinstead and Secretary of State for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span>
-Colonies; cr. Viscount Sackville, 1782. As minister in charge of military
-operations in America, Germain bore the brunt of frequent and savage onslaughts
-by Opposition. His famous Kentish holiday, which delayed dispatches
-to Sir William Howe in New York, was long supposed to have caused Burgoyne’s
-defeat at Saratoga; Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, <i>Life of William,
-Earl of Shelburne</i>, 1875-76, I, 358-359; but cf. Troyer Steele Anderson,
-<i>The Command of the Howe Brothers during the American Revolution</i>,
-New York, 1936, ch. xiv. Germain’s resignation was forced in January 1782,
-two months before North’s government fell.</p>
-
-<p><i>the Earl of Bute.</i> John Stuart (1713-1792), third Earl of Bute; favorite
-of George III in the early years of the reign; First Lord of the Treasury,
-1762-63, but forced to resign on account of his unpopularity, to which the
-anti-Scots propaganda of Wilkes largely contributed. Lord North was popularly
-regarded as the political heir of Lord Bute.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 32</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>one North Briton.</i> George Johnstone; see last note on this page.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Laurens.</i> Henry Laurens (1724-1792), of South Carolina; President
-of Congress, 1777-78. The quoted phrases that follow are from Johnstone’s
-letter to Laurens, 10 June 1778, soliciting a private interview. This letter,
-with Laurens’ answer, was promptly made public by Congress.</p>
-
-<p><i>Ethan Allen.</i> Ethan Allen (1738-1789), famous for his partisan exploits as
-leader of the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont; surprised and took Fort
-Ticonderoga, May 1775; a captive in England, Canada, and New York,
-September 1775-May 1778; author of a deistic treatise, <i>Reason the Only
-Oracle of Man</i>, Bennington, Vermont, 1784.</p>
-
-<p><i>Dr. Adam Ferguson.</i> Adam Ferguson (1723-1816), LL.D.; Professor of
-Pneumatics and Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh; secretary
-to the British commissioners to treat with America, 1778.</p>
-
-<p><i>Sir John Dalrymple.</i> Sir John Dalrymple (1726-1810), fourth Baronet;
-author of the Tory <i>Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland</i>. <i>From the Dissolution
-of the Last Parliament of Charles II until the Sea-Battle off La Hogue</i>,
-1771, the design of which (according to Horace Walpole) was “to degrade &amp;
-blacken the brightest names in English Story, &amp; more particularly the Protomartyrs
-of the Revolution, Lord Russel &amp; Algernon Sydney” (<i>Satirical
-Poems Published Anonymously by William Mason with Notes by Horace
-Walpole</i>, ed. Paget Toynbee, Oxford, 1926, p. 115).</p>
-
-<p><i>the great Sidney.</i> Algernon Sidney (1622-1683), son of the second Earl
-of Leicester; tried before Jeffreys and executed, December 1683, for complicity
-in the Rye House Plot to murder Charles II and the Duke of York.</p>
-
-<p><i>Governor Johnson.</i> George Johnstone (1730-1787), M.P. for Appleby;
-formerly Governor of West Florida; one of North’s commissioners to treat<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span>
-with America; see Introduction, p. 9. His conduct as commissioner was quarrelsome,
-clumsy, and ineffectual; Carl Van Doren, <i>Secret History of the American
-Revolution</i>, New York, 1941, pp. 96-104. Of his speech on the opening day
-of the session Walpole reported:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="noindent">Governor Johnston made a strange, unintelligible speech (it was impossible
-for him to make a clear one without condemning himself); he
-endeavoured to wipe off some of his attempt to bribe some of the Congress,
-yet owned at much as he denied, condemned and approved the
-march to Philadelphia, and rather insinuated blame on Keppel than on
-anybody else. He was soon after called upon in several newspapers to
-say, whether he did not still retain his pay of Commissioner, though he
-had so long quitted the office. He made no answer—consequently was
-by that sinecure retained by the Court (<i>Last Journals</i>, II, 209).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 33</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Mons. D’Estaign.</i> Jean-Baptiste-Charles-Henri-Hector, Comte d’Estaing
-(1729-1794), French admiral in command in American waters, 1778-80.</p>
-
-<p><i>a noble Lord opposite to me.</i> Richard, Lord Howe; see below, note to
-p. 34.</p>
-
-<p><i>D’Estaign’s fleet ought to have been attacked.</i> In August Howe pursued
-D’Estaing to Newport, but a storm prevented an engagement.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 34</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Byron’s squadron.</i> John Byron (1723-1786), Vice-Admiral; sailed from
-Plymouth with a squadron in pursuit of D’Estaing, June 1778; his ships
-joined Howe’s fleet piecemeal during the summer.</p>
-
-<p><i>Lord Howe.</i> Richard Howe (1726-1799), fourth Viscount Howe in the
-peerage of Ireland; M.P. for Dartmouth; Vice-Admiral; Commander-in-Chief
-on the North American station, 1776-78; resigned his command because
-of discontent with the ministry, September 1778; cr. an English peer,
-1782, and Earl Howe, 1788.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Rigby.</i> Richard Rigby (1722-1788), M.P. for Tavistock and Paymaster
-of the Forces. Reputed to have derived immense profits from his office during
-the American war, Rigby served as the model for Disraeli’s corrupt
-politician of the same name in <i>Coningsby</i>, 1844.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 35</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Mr. T. Townsend.</i> Thomas Townshend (1733-1800), nephew of the third
-Viscount Townshend; M.P. for Whitchurch, 1754-83; cr. Baron Sydney of
-Chislehurst, 1783, and Viscount Sydney, 1789, the city in Australia being
-named for him. He was one of the most voluble and pertinacious speakers
-in debates. His contemptuous reference in the House of Commons to Johnson’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span>
-pension earned Townshend a passing glance in Goldsmith’s <i>Retaliation</i>,
-where Burke is said to be,</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent0">Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his throat</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 36</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>the blunders of Administration, with respect to Falkland’s Islands, &amp;c.</i>
-Townshend views with alarm an assortment of the events, momentous and
-trivial, that had agitated the public mind in the preceding decade.</p>
-
-<p>As to <i>Falkland’s Islands</i>, west of the southern tip of South America, a
-dispute over their possession nearly brought on war between Great Britain and
-Spain in 1770-71. After a display of force by Spain and a demand for
-restitution by the British government, diplomatic exchanges resulted in a
-conciliation that was unpopular in England (<i>The Annual Register</i> for 1771,
-“History of Europe,” chs. i-v). At the request of the ministers, Dr. Johnson
-wrote a spirited defence of their conduct, <i>Thoughts on the Late Transactions
-respecting Falkland’s Islands</i>, 1771.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Middlesex Election</i> was a remarkable exploit in the career of John
-Wilkes, who in 1768 returned from France still an outlaw for his offence
-in <i>North Briton</i> No. 45, and was elected to Parliament for the county of
-Middlesex. Expelled before he could take his seat, he was thrice re-elected
-and as many times expelled. After his fourth victory at the polls Parliament
-declared his opponent, the ministerial candidate, duly elected. This breach
-of electoral rights led to street-rioting, protracted debates in and out of
-Parliament, and, eventually, the formation of a Radical party. See Horace
-Bleackley, <i>Life of John Wilkes</i>, 1917, chs. xii-xiii.</p>
-
-<p>The revolt of <i>Corsica</i> under Pasquale Paoli against the French, who had
-purchased the island from Genoa in 1768, won wide public sympathy in
-England. The leading advocate of British intervention in favor of the
-Corsicans was James Boswell. See Chauncey Brewster Tinker, <i>Nature’s Simple
-Plan</i>, Princeton, 1922, ch. ii.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>massacre in St. George’s Fields</i>, 10 May 1768, occurred when a crowd
-of London citizens waiting for Wilkes to attend the opening of Parliament
-taunted a detachment of foot-guards into firing on them. Several persons
-were killed and about a dozen wounded. This “massacre” was the forerunner
-and partly the inspiration of that in King Street, Boston, two years later.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Horne’s imprisonment</i> resulted from the zeal of that radical parson in
-the cause of America. The Rev. John Horne (1736-1812), afterwards
-Horne Tooke, wrote and circulated an advertisement for the Constitutional
-Society, June 1775, stating that 100<i>l.</i> was to be raised for “the relief of the
-widows, orphans, and aged parents of our beloved American fellow-subjects,
-who, faithful to the character of Englishmen, preferring death to slavery,
-were, for that reason only, inhumanly murdered by the king’s troops” at Lexington
-and Concord on the 19th of April. In July 1777 Horne was brought to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span>
-trial before Lord Mansfield, found guilty, and in November sentenced to a
-year’s imprisonment and a fine of 200<i>l.</i> (<i>The Annual Register</i> for 1777,
-“Appendix to the Chronicle,” pp. 234-245).</p>
-
-<p>The <i>fatal example of the Justitia</i> is an allusion to the <i>Justitia</i> hulk, a convict-ship
-stationed at Woolwich by an act of 1776 for the purpose of dredging
-the Thames.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>frequent exhibition of the Beggar’s Opera</i> evidently alludes to remarks
-by Townshend that had excited mirth in a debate on a bill for licensing a
-play-house in Birmingham, 29 April 1777. Townshend opposed the bill
-because, he said,</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="noindent">He had heard from good authority that the theatre licensed at Manchester,
-in consequence of a similar application, had done a great deal
-of mischief already: nor could it be wondered at, if we consider what
-pieces are sometimes represented, which, not being new, are not subject
-to the controul of the Lord Chamberlain: the Beggar’s Opera, for instance,
-which had brought more unhappy people to the gallows, than
-any one thing he could name. As to the country gentlemen, surely this
-was not such an age of domestic retirement, but what they might find
-sufficient amusement in visiting their neighbours in the summer, without
-wanting to frequent a theatre.... Considering, then, the circumstances
-of Birmingham as a great manufacturing and trading town,
-depending on the industry and frugality of the poorer class of people,
-he was of opinion it would be highly improper to license any theatre
-there (<i>Parliamentary History</i>, XIX, 202).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><i>Is Omiah to pay us another visit?</i> Omiah or Omai, a native of Otaheite
-(Tahiti), was brought to England in 1774 by Captain Tobias Furneaux of
-the <i>Adventure</i>. As the first South Sea Islander ever seen in England, Omiah
-made a stir in fashionable and literary society, sat for his portrait to the
-most eminent artists, and was the subject of countless newspaper paragraphs
-and several pamphlet poems. There are well-known lines by Cowper on
-Omiah in the first book of <i>The Task</i>, 1785:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent0">The dream is past; and thou hast found again</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Thy cocoas and bananas, palms and yams,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">And homestall thatch’d with leaves. But hast thou found</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Their former charms? And, having seen our state,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Our palaces, our ladies, and our pomp</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Of equipage, our gardens, and our sports,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">And heard our music; are thy simple friends,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Thy simple fare, and all thy plain delights,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">As dear to thee as once?</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p><i>Sir Harry Clinton.</i> Sir Henry Clinton (1738?-1795), K.B.; Major-General;
-succeeded Sir William Howe as Commander-in-Chief in America,
-May 1778.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span></p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 37</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Vyner.</i> Robert Vyner (1717-1799), M.P. for Lincoln. He was, said
-Nathaniel Wraxall, a gentleman of large property in Lincolnshire, whose
-person suggested “the portraits of ‘Hudibras’” (<i>Historical and Posthumous
-Memoirs ... 1772-1784</i>, ed. H. B. Wheatley, 1884, V, 203).</p>
-
-<p><i>his offer of fifteen shillings in the pound.</i> In a debate on the budget, 3 May
-1775, Vyner defended the motives of the country gentlemen in supporting
-the ministers’ coercive American policy. He said, in part:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="noindent">In support of such a cause ... he was willing to pay not only 4s. but
-14s. in the pound: and as he entertained not a single doubt but we
-should prevail in the contest, we ought to oblige America to pay the
-expence she had wantonly put us to, and which would likewise enable
-us to bring back our quondam peace establishment, that of a land-tax
-of 2s. in the pound (<i>Parliamentary History</i>, XVIII, 625).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><i>a great statesman had once boasted, &amp;c.</i> William Pitt the elder, during the
-Seven Years’ War.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Van.</i> Charles Van, prior to his death, in April 1778, M.P. for Brecon.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 38</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Hon. T. Luttrel.</i> Temple Simon Luttrell (d. 1803), third son of the first
-Earl of Carhampton; M.P. for Milborne Port. A florid orator, Luttrell was
-always pertinacious in debates on naval affairs. Tickell’s parody perhaps
-reflects an interminable speech on the state of the navy, 11 March 1778, in
-which Luttrell described the timber used for ship-repairs as so “singularly
-spungy and porous” that “your seamen ... are frequently set afloat in their
-hammocks, from the water soaking in, over-head, through the planks,” related
-an instance of a seaman’s driving his fist, “without much pain to his
-knuckles,” through the hull of a man-of-war, and entered into a detail of
-the twenty-four invasions of Great Britain and Ireland since the Norman
-Conquest (<i>Parliamentary History</i>, XIX, 874-892).</p>
-
-<p><i>the noble Earl who is now at the head of that department.</i> John Montagu
-(1718-1792), fourth Earl of Sandwich; First Lord of the Admiralty. Sandwich
-was notorious for the dissoluteness of his private life.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 40</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Regattaites.</i> Not a tribe or nation, but participants in the summer regattas
-on the Thames. In <i>The Annual Register</i> for 1775 appears “Some Account of
-the new Entertainment, called a <i>Regatta</i>, introduced from <i>Venice</i> into <i>England</i>,
-in the Course of the Year 1775,” from which the following sentences
-are extracted:</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span></p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>Before five o’clock, Westminster bridge was covered with spectators,
-in carriages and on foot, and men even placed themselves in the bodies
-of the lamp-irons. Plans of the regatta were sold from a shilling to a
-penny each, and songs on the occasion sung, in which <i>Regatta</i> was the
-rhyme for <i>Ranelagh</i>, and <i>Royal Family</i> echoed to <i>Liberty</i>.... Before
-six o’clock it was a perfect fair on both sides the water, and bad liquor,
-with short measure, was plentifully retailed.... The Thames was
-now a floating town. All the cutters, sailing-boats, &amp;c. in short, every
-thing, from the dung-barge to the wherry, was in motion (“Appendix to
-the Chronicle,” pp. 216, 217).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><i>the Captain of the Licorne.</i> The <i>Licorne</i> frigate, encountered and detained
-by Admiral Keppel on the 17th of June, yielded Keppel information respecting
-the strength of the French fleet.</p>
-
-<p><i>the wretched deficiency in our late naval equipments.</i> War-profiteering is
-not of recent origin; in the Eighteenth Century the loose organization of
-finance and supply in both services gave large opportunities to contractors and
-commissaries. “You must not think of persuading us that you are no gainer,”
-Lord Loudoun remarked to Benjamin Franklin when the latter sought reimbursement
-for outlays in connection with Braddock’s expedition in 1755;
-“we understand better those affairs, and know that every one concerned in
-supplying the army finds means, in the doing it, to fill his own pockets”
-(Franklin, <i>Writings</i>, ed. A. H. Smyth, New York, 1905-07, I, 430). Satirists
-frequently exposed this form of parasitism. Samuel Foote produced a
-comedy called <i>The Commissary</i> in 1765. In Sheridan’s <i>The Camp</i>, 1778,
-the commissary Gage supplied a regiment with lime (which he dug himself,
-at no expense) instead of hair-powder. It did very well, he reported, while
-the weather was fine, but when a shower came up the troops’ heads were
-all slacked in an instant. “I stood a near chance of being tied up to the halberts;
-but I excused myself by saying, they looked only like raw recruits
-before; but now they appeared like old veterans of service” (I, i).</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 42</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Penton.</i> Henry Penton (1736-1812), M.P. for Winchester and a Lord
-of the Admiralty.</p>
-
-<p><i>a certain Great Personage.</i> On their tour of the militia camps at Winchester
-and Salisbury in September, the King and Queen “alighted at Mr. Penton’s
-house [in Winchester], where they were waited on by the Mayor and
-Corporation” (<i>The Annual Register</i> for 1778, “Appendix to the Chronicle,”
-p. 235).</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Burke.</i> Edmund Burke (1729-1797), M.P. for Bristol. The dominant
-theme of Burke’s speech, “the ruin of this declining empire” was a favorite
-one among anti-ministerial orators, pamphleteers, and poets during the Revolution.
-Soon after the appearance, in 1781, of the second and third volumes
-of Gibbon’s <i>Decline and Fall</i>, Thomas Powys, M.P. for Northamptonshire,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span>
-read extracts from that work in a debate on a motion for putting an end to
-the American war. Powys ventured to say that the description of Rome in the
-Fifth Century by Mr. Gibbon,</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="noindent">whose enrolment in the administration was the only accession of which
-his Majesty’s ministers had to boast, ... was so strong, so expressive,
-so applicable, that though it was said to belong to Rome, he could not
-help thinking that it alluded to a nearer country, and a nearer period
-(<i>Parliamentary History</i>, XXII, 805).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 43</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>the pageantry of domestic warfare.</i> An allusion to the vogue of the militia
-encampments as places of fashionable resort.</p>
-
-<p><i>important depredations at—Martha’s Island.</i> Early in September Major-General
-Grey, under orders from Sir Henry Clinton, invested Martha’s
-Vineyard and carried off “a considerable and most desirable contribution,
-consisting of 10,000 sheep, and 300 oxen, for the public service at New
-York” (<i>The Annual Register</i> for 1779, “History of Europe,” p. 2).</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 45</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Mr Dunning.</i> John Dunning (1731-1783), M.P. for Calne; the leading
-Whig lawyer in the House of Commons; cr. Baron Ashburton of Ashburton,
-1782.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 46</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Sollicitor-General.</i> James Wallace (d. 1783), M.P. for Horsham; succeeded
-Wedderburn as Solicitor-General, June 1778.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 47</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Mr Fox.</i> Charles James Fox (1749-1806), third son of the first Baron Holland;
-M.P. for Malmesbury and leader of the Opposition in the House of
-Commons. Either out of personal regard for Fox or at the request of Lord
-North, Tickell does not burlesque Fox’s oratory. It is stated in the review of
-<i>Anticipation</i> in <i>The Town and Country Magazine</i> that Fox’s speech actually
-“was noticed by that gentleman in the house, who, at the same time, lamented
-his incapacity of making so good an harangue upon the occasion” (XI, 1779,
-45). According to a note in Horace Walpole’s copy of <i>Anticipation</i>, “Charles
-Fox said, ‘he has anticipated many things I have intended to say, but I shall say
-them nevertheless.’”</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 48</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>General Lee.</i> Charles Lee (1731-1782), Lieutenant-Colonel in the British
-army; appointed Major-General by Congress, 1775; court-martialed and suspended
-from service for disobedience to orders and misbehavior before the
-enemy during the battle of Monmouth Court House, June 1778.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span></p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 49</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>the Prince of Brunswick.</i> Either Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick (1721-1792),
-Commander of the English and Hanoverian forces in the Seven Years’
-War; or his nephew, Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand (1735-1806), Hereditary
-Prince of Brunswick, who commanded a division in his uncle’s army. Clinton
-served in Germany, 1760-63, acting for a time as aide-de-camp to the Hereditary
-Prince.</p>
-
-<p><i>the noble Lord who planned that expedition.</i> Lord George Germain; see
-above, note to p. 31.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 50</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Monsieur Vaugelin.</i> Not further identified. The name is unusual and may
-be misspelled.</p>
-
-<p><i>Colonel Tufnell.</i> George Foster Tufnell. (1725-1798), M.P. for Beverly
-and Colonel of the East Middlesex Militia.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 51</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>their Bavarian contest.</i> The War of the Bavarian Succession, 1778-79, occasioned
-by the extinction of the electoral house of Bavaria upon the death of
-Maximilian Joseph.</p>
-
-<p><i>Lord North.</i> Frederick, Lord North (1732-1792), eldest son of the first Earl
-of Guilford; M.P. for Banbury; First Lord of the Treasury, 1770-82; succeeded
-as second Earl of Guilford, 1790; see Introduction, <i>passim</i>.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 52</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>a great Character.</i> William Pitt, Lord Chatham.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 58</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Col. Barré.</i> Isaac Barré (1726-1802), M.P. for Calne. Barré, who had served
-with Wolfe in America, was a devoted friend of the colonists and in Parliament
-was regarded as a master of invective and the special antagonist of Lord North.
-North had his revenge in <i>Anticipation</i>; see Introduction, p. 12.</p>
-
-<p><i>the Indians, headed by Col. Butler, began their rapine in Cherry Valley.</i> John
-Butler (1725-1796), Indian agent under the Johnsons in the Mohawk Valley;
-Lieutenant-Colonel of Militia, 1768; Major in command of Butler’s Rangers,
-1777. Under his leadership parties of Loyalists and their Indian allies of the
-Six Nations systematically harried the back settlements in New York and Pennsylvania
-during the Revolution. Their raids reached a peak of frequency and
-destructiveness in the early summer of 1778, the notorious “Wyoming Massacre”
-occurring 3-4 July. None of the settlements mentioned by Barré had
-been attacked at the time his informant is supposed to have written; but rumors
-were rife on the frontier as well as at the Poughkeepsie headquarters of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span>
-Continental Army; and the worst fears of the settlers were realized when Butler’s
-son, Captain Walter Butler, together with the Mohawk chief Joseph Brant,
-sacked the village of Cherry Valley on the 11th of November. See Howard Swiggett,
-<i>War out of Niagara: Walter Butler and the Tory Rangers</i>, New York,
-1933, chs. vi-vii.</p>
-
-<p><i>Gen. Carlton.</i> Guy Carleton (1724-1808), Lieutenant-General; Governor
-of Quebec, 1775-78; requested his recall because of differences with Lord
-George Germain, May 1777; cr. Baron Dorchester of Dorchester (Oxford),
-1786.</p>
-
-<p><i>Miss Macrea.</i> Jane MacCrea, daughter of a Tory clergyman residing near
-Fort Edward on the upper Hudson, was scalped by a marauding party of Burgoyne’s
-Indian allies, 27 July 1777. This incident, about which a mass of romantic
-legend soon grew up, proved highly embarrassing to Burgoyne and the
-Administration.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 59</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>no Secretary of War in this house.</i> “Ld Barrington [William Wildman Barrington
-(1717-1793), second Viscount] was out of Parliament, and no successor
-was then appointed” (note by Horace Walpole in his copy of <i>Anticipation</i>). Barrington,
-Secretary at War since 1765, had given notice of his retirement in the
-previous May; in December Charles Jenkinson was named his successor.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mons. Neckar.</i> Jacques Necker (1732-1804), Director-General of Finances
-in the French government, 1777-81; famous for his fiscal and administrative
-reforms.</p>
-
-<p><i>Monsieur Bouillé.</i> The island of Dominica, ceded by France to Great Britain
-by the Treaty of Paris, 1763, was retaken, 7 September 1778, by the French
-under the command of the Marquis de Bouillé (1739-1800), Governor of
-Martinique.</p>
-
-<p><i>the Pacte de Famille.</i> The defensive alliance formed in 1761 among the
-Bourbon states of France, Spain, and the Two Sicilies.</p>
-
-<p><i>Count Almodovar.</i> Pedro Jiménez de Góngora, Marquès (later Duque) de
-Almodóvar (d. 1794), Spanish Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s, 1778-79.</p>
-
-<p><i>Don Francisco Buccarelli.</i> Spanish Governor of Buenos Aires who ordered
-the expedition against the Falkland Islands that led to the surrender of the
-English garrison at Port Egmont, June 1770, and aroused great indignation in
-England; see above, note to p. 36, on Falkland’s Islands. Probably a member
-of the family of Bucareli y Ursúa, of Seville, several of whom held high military
-and colonial posts at that period.</p>
-
-<p><i>Count Cobentzel.</i> This may refer either to Johann Philipp, Graf von Cobenzl
-(1741-1810), Austrian statesman who drafted the Peace of Teschen, 1779; or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span>
-to his cousin, Johann Ludwig Joseph, Graf von Cobenzl (1753-1809), Austrian
-Ambassador to the Court of Catherine II, 1779-97.</p>
-
-<p><i>Baron Reidesdel.</i> Joseph Herman, Baron Riedesel (1740-1785), Prussian
-diplomat, traveler, and archeologist.</p>
-
-<p><i>Duke de Chartres.</i> Louis-Philippe-Joseph de Bourbon (1747-1793), Duc
-de Chartres, son of the Duc d’Orléans, whom he succeeded, 1785; later known
-as Philippe Égalité.</p>
-
-<p><i>Monsieur de Sartine.</i> Antoine-Raimond-Jean-Gualbert-Gabriel de Sartine
-(1729-1801), Comte d’Alby, French statesman; Lieutenant-General of Police,
-1759-74; Minister of Marine, 1774-80. He was satirized in Tickell’s <i>Green
-Box of Monsieur de Sartine</i>, 1779; see Bibliography, pp. 88-90.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 60</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Il alte se volto, &amp;c.</i> This defies translation. Tickell perhaps deliberately garbled
-Barré’s Italian.</p>
-
-<p><i>Alderman Oliver’s letter.</i> Richard Oliver (1734?-1784), Alderman of Billingsgate
-Ward and M.P. for the City of London; remembered for his defiance
-of the House of Commons in the case of the printer Millar, for which he was
-committed to the Tower, 1771. On 6 September 1778 Oliver wrote a letter,
-soon published in the papers, declining nomination as Lord Mayor and quitting
-his seat in Parliament in view of a prospective visit to his property in Antigua,
-W.I., which he feared stood in danger of seizure by France; <i>The Annual Register</i>
-for 1778, “Chronicle,” pp. 200-201.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr. H. Stanley.</i> Hans Stanley (1720?-1780), M.P. for Southampton, Governor
-of the Isle of Wight, and Cofferer of the Household. He had lived for
-some years in France and was regarded as an authority on the affairs of that nation.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Byng.</i> George Byng (1735-1789), nephew of the third Viscount Torrington;
-M.P. for Wigan. An ardent supporter of Fox, he here acts in the role of
-party whip.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr. Robinson.</i> John Robinson (1727-1802), M.P. for Harwich and a Secretary
-of the Treasury. A favorite of George III’s, Robinson managed the Treasury
-boroughs and served as the King’s personal agent in Parliament. In <i>The
-Castle of Infamy</i>, 1780, an anonymous satirist describes</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent20">how Rob[in]son’s quick Eye</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Controll’d the <i>pension’d, plac’d</i>, expectant Fry....</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">At his shrewd Look, his pregnant Nod, or Wink,</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">The Spirits of all Parties rise or sink.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 61</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>the Fermeurs Generaux.</i> The <i>Fermiers-Généraux</i> were the body of French
-officials who, under the <i>Ancien Régime</i>, leased as a concession the collection of
-taxes.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span></p>
-
-<p><i>Gen. Conway.</i> Henry Seymour Conway (1721-1795), second son of the first
-Baron Conway; M.P. for Bury St. Edmunds; General; Governor of Jersey;
-cousin and correspondent of Horace Walpole.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 62</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>Admiral Barrington.</i> Samuel Barrington (1729-1800), fifth son of the first
-Viscount Barrington; Rear-Admiral; Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies
-until superseded by Byron in January 1779.</p>
-
-<p><i>Count Broglio.</i> Victor-François, Duc de Broglie (1718-1804), Marshal of
-France; appointed Commander-in-Chief on the Coasts on the Ocean, May 1778.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr Sawbridge.</i> John Sawbridge (1732?-1795), Radical M.P. for the City of
-London; an intimate of John Wilkes’, and active in founding the Society of the
-Supporters of the Bill of Rights.</p>
-
-<p><i>Sister Macauly.</i> Catharine Sawbridge Macaulay (1731-1791), afterwards
-Mrs. Graham, sister of the foregoing; republican bluestocking; wrote <i>The
-History of England from the Accession of James I to That of the Brunswick
-Line</i>, 1763-83, much praised and damned in its day for its republicanism; visited
-America and stopped with Washington for ten days, 1785. Dr. Johnson
-took satisfaction in having exposed her principles by once desiring her to invite
-her footman to sit at table with her; <i>Boswell’s Johnson</i>, ed. Hill and Powell,
-I, 447.</p>
-
-<p><i>Warley-Common.</i> In Essex, where one of the militia camps was situated.</p>
-
-<h4><span class="smcap">Page 63</span></h4>
-
-<p><i>a majority of 261 to 148.</i> The motion for the amendment to the address was
-rejected on the opening day of the session by a vote of 226 to 107, an indication
-that the House was less crowded than had been expected.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr Charles Townshend.</i> Charles Townshend (1728-1810), nephew of the
-third Viscount Townshend; M.P. for Yarmouth; cr. Baron Bayning of Foxley,
-1797.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mr Charles Turner.</i> Charles Turner (1726?-1803), M.P. for York; cr. a
-baronet, 1782. He was a staunch Whig and according to Nathaniel Wraxall
-“one of the most eccentric men who ever sat in Parliament” (<i>Historical and
-Posthumous Memoirs</i>, II, 267).</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="BIBLIOGRAPHY">BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TICKELL’S WRITINGS</h2>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span></p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" />
-
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span></p>
-
-<h3>BIBLIOGRAPHY OF TICKELL’S WRITINGS</h3>
-
-</div>
-
-<p>The entries in this bibliography, with a few necessary exceptions, are
-arranged as follows:</p>
-
-<p class="hanging"><i>a.</i> a transcript of the text of the title-page of the first edition;</p>
-
-<p class="hanging"><i>b.</i> a collation of the first edition by pages;</p>
-
-<p class="hanging"><i>c.</i> locations of copies of the first edition that I have used and have had
-reproduced or consulted for me;</p>
-
-<p class="hanging"><i>d.</i> a list of later editions, variant issues, and reprints.</p>
-
-<p>Under <i>c</i> a complete census has not been attempted, and not every copy
-located may be assumed to be perfect. Under <i>d</i> sufficient information is
-given to identify the various editions, but differences in title, text, and
-collation are not recorded unless they are essential for identification. To
-give complete descriptions of all the issues of Tickell’s writings would require
-from two to three times the space of the present bibliography.</p>
-
-<p>The symbols for locations should be expanded thus: <span class="allsmcap">BA</span> = Boston
-Athenæum, <span class="allsmcap">BM</span> = British Museum, <span class="allsmcap">BP</span> = Boston Public Library, <span class="allsmcap">C</span> =
-Library of Congress, <span class="allsmcap">HC</span> = Harvard College Library, <span class="allsmcap">HEH</span> = Henry E.
-Huntington Library, <span class="allsmcap">JCB</span> = John Carter Brown Library, <span class="allsmcap">LHB</span> = the present
-editor, <span class="allsmcap">NEWB</span> = Newberry Library, <span class="allsmcap">NYP</span> = New York Public Library,
-<span class="allsmcap">WLC</span> = William L. Clements Library, <span class="allsmcap">YU</span> = Yale University Library.</p>
-
-<p>As stated earlier, the place of publication, unless otherwise indicated, is
-London.</p>
-
-<h4>i</h4>
-
-<p>The Project. A Poem. Dedicated to Dean Tucker. Verum, ubi, tempestas,
-et cæli mobilis humor Mutavêre vias, et Jupiter uvidus Austris
-Densat erant quæ rara modo, et quæ densa, relaxat; Vertuntur species
-animorum;⸺Virgil. London: Printed for T. Becket, Adelphi, in the
-Strand. M DCC LXXVIII.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">4to. P. [i], title, verso blank; pp. [iii—iv], “Dedication”; pp. [1]-12,
-text.</p>
-
-<p>Copies: <span class="allsmcap">BM</span>, <span class="allsmcap">HC</span>, <span class="allsmcap">LHB</span>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span></p>
-
-<p>Second, Third, and Fourth Editions, Becket, 1778. Fifth Edition,
-Becket, 1779. Sixth Edition, Becket, 1780. Reprinted in <i>The New Foundling
-Hospital for Wit.... A New Edition.... In Six Volumes</i>, J.
-Debrett, 1786, I, 307-317. Reprinted in <i>Bell’s Classical Arrangement of
-Fugitive Poetry</i>, British Library, 1789-94, IV, [92]-101.</p>
-
-<h4>ii</h4>
-
-<p>The Wreath of Fashion, or, the Art of Sentimental Poetry. ⸺
-Demetri, teq; Tigelli, Discipularum inter jubeo plorare cathedras. Horace.
-London: Printed for T. Becket, Adelphi, in the Strand. M DCC
-LXXVIII. [Price One Shilling.]</p>
-
-<p class="tb">4to. P. [i], title, verso blank; pp. [iii]-iv, “Advertisement”; pp. [1]-14,
-text; p. [15], advertisement of <i>The Project</i>, Second Edition, verso
-blank.</p>
-
-<p>Copies: <span class="allsmcap">BM</span>, <span class="allsmcap">HC</span>, <span class="allsmcap">LHB</span>.</p>
-
-<p>Second, Third, and Fourth Editions, Becket, 1778. Fifth Edition,
-Becket, 1778 or 1779 (I have traced no copy). Sixth Edition, Becket,
-1780. Dublin: Wm. Wilson, 1779. Reprinted in <i>The New Foundling
-Hospital for Wit.... A New Edition.... In Six Volumes</i>, J. Debrett,
-1786, I, 295-306. Reprinted in <i>Bell’s Classical Arrangement of Fugitive
-Poetry</i>, British Library, 1789-94, V, [76]-85. Reprinted in <i>The
-School for Satire: or, A Collection of Modern Satirical Poems Written during
-the Present Reign</i>, Jacques and Co., 1801 (sometimes 1802), pp.
-143-159.</p>
-
-<h4>iii</h4>
-
-<p>Prologue to the Camp. Written by Richard Tickell, Esq.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">This entry is from <i>The London Chronicle</i>, 23 October 1778. Though
-printed in several magazines at the time of the production, the Prologue
-seems first to have accompanied the text of the play in John Murray’s edition
-of Sheridan’s <i>Works</i>, 1821, II, 161-162.</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p><i>The Camp</i>, “a musical entertainment,” was first performed 15 October 1778, at
-Drury Lane Theatre; it was first printed, without publisher’s name, London, 1795.
-Sheridan’s authorship was universally accepted by the press of the time and in the
-early biographical notices of Sheridan; see R. Crompton Rhodes’ edition of Sheridan’s
-<i>Plays and Poems</i>, New York, 1929, II, 271. The first to question it was Tate Wilkinson,
-who asserted that Sheridan “never wrote a line” of this “catchpenny for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span>
-time” (<i>The Wandering Patentee</i>, York, 1795, IV, 124). Later, Thomas Moore likewise
-thought <i>The Camp</i> “unworthy” of Sheridan’s genius and declared, on the evidence
-of a rough copy in Tickell’s hand, that Tickell was the author (<i>Sheridan</i>, 2nd
-ed., 1825, I, 264). Following Moore, some editors have omitted it from editions of
-Sheridan. Library catalogues and recent bibliographies, apparently following Walter
-Sichel (<i>Sheridan</i>, I, 443), whose statements on these matters are sometimes merely
-conjectures, generally assign <i>The Camp</i> to Tickell as “revised” by Sheridan.</p>
-
-<p>A rough copy in Tickell’s hand is very inconclusive evidence of his authorship.
-In view of known “catchpenny” work by Sheridan, the alleged inferiority of <i>The
-Camp</i> is still less conclusive. Tickell may of course have contributed to the dialogue,
-as he later did in many of the Drury Lane productions. But there are no adequate
-grounds for denying the contemporary attribution to Sheridan.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4>iv</h4>
-
-<p>Anticipation: Containing the Substance of His M⸺y’s Most Gracious
-Speech to both H⸺s of P⸺l⸺t, on the Opening of the approaching
-Session, together With a full and authentic Account of the Debate
-which will take Place in the H⸺e of C⸺s, on the Motion for the Address,
-and the Amendment. With Notes. “So shall my Anticipation Prevent
-your Discovery.” Hamlet. London: Printed for T. Becket, the Corner of
-the Adelphi, in the Strand. 1778.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp. [v]-vi,
-“Advertisement”; p. [vii], “The Gentlemen trading to the East-Indies ...,”
-verso blank; pp. [1]-74, text. (The last leaf of the text is signed
-L, and it is likely that a blank leaf should follow as the conjugate. In all
-the copies I have seen and in all but one of those consulted for me by
-librarians, this final leaf is wanting. Miss Anne S. Pratt reports a copy in
-the Mason-Franklin Collection at Yale that, though closely bound, appears
-to have been issued with this final blank leaf.)</p>
-
-<p>Copies: <span class="allsmcap">BA</span>, <span class="allsmcap">BP</span>, <span class="allsmcap">C</span>, <span class="allsmcap">HC</span>, <span class="allsmcap">HEH</span>, <span class="allsmcap">JCB</span>, <span class="allsmcap">NEWB</span>, <span class="allsmcap">NYP</span>, <span class="allsmcap">WLC</span>, <span class="allsmcap">YU</span>. Sabin #95788.</p>
-
-<p>Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Editions,
-Becket, 1778. Also a variant “Second Edition,” with the same imprint
-and date but with a different number of blanks in the words containing
-deleted letters in the title and with different collation: p. [i], title,
-verso blank; pp. [iii]-iv, “Advertisement”; pp. [5]-67, text; p. [68],
-blank. Tenth Edition, Becket, 1780. A New Edition, Becket, 1794. Dublin:
-Byrn and Son, 1778. Philadelphia: T. Bradford, 1779; called “The
-Sixth Edition.” New York: James Rivington, 1779 (no copy traced; announced<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span>
-as published in Rivington’s <i>Royal Gazette</i>, 17 March). Reprinted
-in <i>The Pamphleteer</i>; <i>Dedicated to Both Houses of Parliament</i>,
-A. J. Valpy, XIX, 1822, [309]-345.</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p>Of the numerous continuations and imitations that appeared in the next few years,
-none except <i>Common-Place Arguments</i>, 1780 (no. viii, below), is by Tickell. <i>Opposition
-Mornings: with Betty’s Remarks</i>, J. Wilkie, 1779, is assigned to him in Halkett
-and Laing (<i>Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature</i>, new ed., Edinburgh,
-1926-34, IV, 265), in Sabin (#95797), and in library catalogues generally.
-Not made by earlier bibliographers, this attribution is probably based on a
-conjecture in <i>The Monthly Review</i> that <i>Opposition Mornings</i> might be an inferior
-work by Tickell (LX, 1779, 473). The tract makes use of several of Tickell’s satirical
-devices of the kind easily borrowed. But there is no good evidence that he wrote
-it, and the lack of a spark of wit in the whole performance is strong evidence to
-the contrary.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4>v</h4>
-
-<p>La Cassette Verte de Monsieur de Sartine, Trouvée chez Mademoiselle
-Du Thé. Ipse dolos tecti ambagesque resolvit. Virgil. (Cinquième Edition
-revue &amp; corrigée sur celles de Leipsic &amp; d’Amsterdam.) A La Haye: Chez
-la Veuve Whiskerfeld, in de Platte Borze by de Vrydagmerkt. M,DCC,LXX,IX.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp. [1]-4,
-“Avis au Lecteur”; p. [5], “Avant Propos,” verso blank; pp. [7]-71,
-text; p. [72], blank.</p>
-
-<p>Copies: <span class="allsmcap">HEH</span>, <span class="allsmcap">NYP</span>, <span class="allsmcap">YU</span>. Sabin #95793.</p>
-
-<p>Sixième Edition, with identical title (except for change in number of
-edition), identical imprint and date; the text is set largely from the same
-type but extended by new matter to p. 76, and there is no blank page at
-the end. The Cinquième Edition described above may be safely regarded
-as the <i>editio princeps</i>; there were, however, at least three variant issues, two
-of which are easily confused with the original edition. One of these corresponds
-exactly in imprint, pagination, and signatures with the regular
-Cinquième Edition but is set from different type, has a different title-page
-border, and uses less elaborate printer’s ornaments throughout; it may be
-at once distinguished from the original by the fact that the words “Monsieur
-de Sartine” in the title are printed, not in red as in the original, but
-in black; copies in <span class="allsmcap">BA</span>, <span class="allsmcap">NYP</span>. A second variant has the same imprint as
-the regular Cinquième Edition, but the title-page has a still different border,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span>
-no rubrication, and the word “Cinquième” is erroneously printed with
-an acute instead of a grave accent; the pagination is the same as that of
-the regular Cinquième Edition, but the variant is a smaller octavo, the type
-is not the same, nor are the signatures (regular: []², B-K⁴; variant:
-[]², B-E⁸, F⁴); copies in <span class="allsmcap">NYP</span>, <span class="allsmcap">YU</span>. There is, finally, in the Yale University
-Library an issue called the “Cinquieme [<i>sic</i>] édition,” with a title-page
-border different from any in the preceding issues, with the same
-pagination as the regular Cinquième Edition, but from different type, with
-signatures[]¹, B⁸, C-I⁴ (half-title doubtless wanting), and with the
-puzzling date “M. DCC. LXXXII.”</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p><i>La Cassette verte</i> is a political and bibliographical hoax. The text purports to be
-secret papers found in a dispatch-box belonging to M. de Sartine, French Minister
-of Marine. (On Mademoiselle Du Thé, i.e., Rosalie Duthé, a Parisian courtesan who
-had recently visited England, see Pierre Larousse, <i>Grand dictionnaire ... du XIXᵉ
-siècle</i>, Paris, 1866-90, VI, 1447-1448.) The papers expose the motives of the French
-government in aiding the United States and satirize Franklin’s activities in Paris,
-English sympathizers with the American cause, and the like. A letter supposedly written
-by one of Sartine’s agents in London provides a gloss on certain passages in
-<i>Anticipation</i>. I quote from the English version (no. vi, below):</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>Alas! in these times, a spy’s office here is almost a sinecure: a dozen newspapers
-in the morning, and as many fresh ones every evening, rob us of all
-our business: a secret even in private affairs is a prodigy in London; but as to
-public matters, it is the patriot’s boast, that a free constitution abhors secrecy:
-and so indeed it seems; for, not only the minutest accounts of the army, the
-navy, and the taxes, but the minister’s letters, official instructions, and in short,
-every paper, the disclosure of which may serve opposition, and tend to prejudice
-the ministers by a premature discovery of their plans, are perpetually
-called for, and must lie on the tables of Parliament; where, as soon as they
-are once brought, their contents one way or other get into print; consequently,
-... the French ministers are not only as much in possession of them as the
-English, but study them far more attentively, and to ten times more advantage
-than <i>they</i> do who called for their disclosure in England⸺All this is bad encouragement
-to a spy at London.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p>Bibliographically, the pamphlet raises questions that cannot be answered with complete
-certainty. How is the number of variant issues to be accounted for, and what
-are their relations to the <i>editio princeps</i>? The satire was originally written by Tickell
-in English and was then translated into bad French to circulate on the Continent
-as propaganda against the Franco-American alliance (see the extract from <i>The
-Monthly Review</i> under the next entry, and that from Bachaumont’s <i>Mémoires</i> further
-on in the present entry). However, the French version, purporting to be the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span>
-“Cinquième Edition,” published “A La Haye,” and “revue &amp; corrigée sur celles de
-Leipsic &amp; d’Amsterdam,” appeared in England earlier than the English original (<i>La
-Cassette verte</i> was noticed in <i>The Monthly Review</i> for May 1779, p. 394; <i>The
-Green Box</i> in the following month, p. 473). It seems most likely that the regular
-Cinquième and the Sixième Editions were printed on the Continent and that the variant
-issues were English reprints. Typographical evidence tends to confirm this supposition.
-The type and ornaments of the regular Cinquième Edition and the Sixième
-seem clearly not to be English. The variants, on the other hand, all appear to be
-English in origin, and it may be noted that their less elaborate ornaments give the
-impression of feeble imitation.</p>
-
-<p>There is evidence that the hoax was disliked in certain high quarters. In Louis
-Petit de Bachaumont’s <i>Mémoires secrets pour servir à l’histoire de la republique des
-lettres en France</i>, 1780-89, appears an “Extrait d’une lettre d’Amsterdam du 22 Mai
-1780,” which reads, in part:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>Il a paru dans ce pays, il y a déja du tems, peut-être un an, une brochure très
-courte, intitulée <i>la cassette verte</i>.... On ne sait si M. de Sartine en a été
-piqué, ou si c’est un zele de ses partisans dans ce pays; mais on mande de la
-Haye que le jeudi 19 de ce mois, on y a arrêté une Dame Godin, comme ayant
-eu quelque part à cette <i>cassette verte</i> &amp; qu’elle en est partie le jour même avec
-des gardes qui la conduisent jusqu’aux frontieres de France, d’où vraisemblement
-elle sera transférée à la Bastille (XV, 189).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4>vi</h4>
-
-<p>The Green Box of Monsieur de Sartine, Found at Mademoiselle du
-Thé’s Lodgings. From the French of the Hague Edition. Revised and
-corrected by those of Leipsic and Amsterdam. “I translate for the Country
-Gentlemen.” Anticipation. London: Sold by A. Becket, corner of the
-Adelphi, Strand; and R. Faulder, Bond-street. M DCC LXXIX.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp. [1]-4,
-“Advertisement”; p. [5], note by the “Editor,” verso blank; pp. [7]-71,
-text; p. [72], advertisement of <i>Anticipation</i>, Ninth Edition, <i>La Cassette
-verte</i>, and other works by Tickell.</p>
-
-<p>Copies: <span class="allsmcap">BP</span>, <span class="allsmcap">HC</span>, <span class="allsmcap">HEH</span>, <span class="allsmcap">NYP</span>. Sabin #95796.</p>
-
-<p>Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Editions, Becket and Faulder, 1779.
-Dublin: James Byrn and Son, 1779. Also an edition dated 1779 without
-place or publisher’s name and with different collation; evidently a piracy.
-Heartman’s Historical Series No. 19; “Sixty-five copies printed for Charles
-F. Heartman, New York City 1916”; this is an independent translation
-of <i>La Cassette verte</i>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span></p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p>“It now appears that this pretended English translation is the <i>original work</i>, as it
-came from the ludicrous pen of Mr. Tickell ...; and that the French edition ...
-was only a <i>circumstance</i> in the <i>joke</i>” (<i>The Monthly Review</i>, LX, 1779, 473).</p>
-
-<p>A number of imitations followed <i>La Cassette verte</i> and <i>The Green Box</i>. Among
-these are <i>An English Green Box</i> ..., G. Kearsly, 1779; <i>Histoire d’un pou françois</i>
-..., “A Paris, de l’Imprimerie Royale,” 1779, and the English version of the
-latter, <i>History of a French Louse</i> ..., T. Becket, 1779—all of which have been
-erroneously ascribed to Tickell.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4>vii</h4>
-
-<p>Epistle from the Honourable Charles Fox, Partridge-Shooting, to the
-Honourable John Townshend, Cruising. London: Printed for R. Faulder,
-New Bond Street. M DCC LXXIX.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">4to. P. [1], half-title, verso blank; p. [3], title, verso blank; pp. [5]-14,
-text; pp. [15-16], blank.</p>
-
-<p>Copies: <span class="allsmcap">BM</span>, <span class="allsmcap">HC</span>. Sabin #95795.</p>
-
-<p>A New Edition, Faulder, 1779. Third Edition, Faulder, 1780. Dublin:
-R. Marchbank, 1779. Reprinted in <i>The New Foundling Hospital for
-Wit ... A New Edition ... In Six Volumes</i>, J. Debrett, 1786, I,
-318-323. Reprinted in <i>Bell’s Classical Arrangement of Fugitive Poetry</i>,
-British Library, 1789-94, IV, [86]-91.</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p>The <i>Epistle</i> is a pleasing Horatian piece that makes good-natured fun of the
-Whig wits and politicians of Brooks’s Club. On John Townshend (1757-1833),
-later called Lord John, second son of the first Marquis Townshend, see W. P.
-Courtney, <i>Eight Friends of the Great</i>, 1910, pp. 172-183. Fox, in the country, is
-depicted urging on his pointers with “patriot names”:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
- <div class="stanza">
- <div class="verse indent0">No servile ministerial runners they!</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Not <span class="smcap">Ranger</span> then, but <span class="smcap">Washington</span>, I cry;</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Hey on! <span class="smcap">Paul Jones</span>, re-echoes to the sky:</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Toho! old <span class="smcap">Franklin</span>—<span class="smcap">Silas Deane</span>, take heed!—</div>
- <div class="verse indent0">Cheer’d with the sound, o’er hills and dales they speed.</div>
- </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent">But as he toils through fields of stubble he yearns for “The long lost pleasures of
-<span class="smcap">St. James’s Street</span>,” which are set forth by Tickell in graceful and glowing lines.
-The <i>Epistle</i> was very highly praised by the reviewers and by others, but Horace
-Walpole, in a letter to Lady Ossory of 2 December 1779, recorded an acute dissent:
-“Towards the end there seems some very pretty lines; but, upon the whole, <i>à quoi bon?
-à quel propos?</i> I believe it was meant for a satire, but the author winked, and it
-flashed in the pan (<i>Letters</i>, ed. Toynbee, XI, 74-75).”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span></p>
-
-<h4>viii</h4>
-
-<p>Common-Place Arguments against Administration, with Obvious Answers,
-(Intended for the Use of the New Parliament.) London: Printed
-for R. Faulder, New Bond Street. M DCC LXXX.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp. [v]-viii,
-“Advertisement”; pp. [an inserted leaf], “Contents”; pp. [9]-101,
-text; p. [102], blank.</p>
-
-<p>Copies: <span class="allsmcap">HC</span>, <span class="allsmcap">NYP</span>. Sabin #95794.</p>
-
-<p>Second, Third, and Fourth Editions, Faulder, 1780. Dublin: R. Marchbank,
-1780; called “The Third Edition.”</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p>A transparent attempt to repeat the success of <i>Anticipation</i>, this satire was unanimously
-assigned to Tickell by the reviews and is clearly his. Opposition charges and
-ministerial replies are provided on such topics as “Best Officers drawn from the
-Service,” “The last Campaign, and State of the Nation,” and the like, together with
-a section of “Miscellaneous Eloquence, or, Collateral Rhetoric for the Gallery,”
-which contains the best mimicry the tract affords. The reviewers justly taxed Tickell
-with writing for hire and borrowing from himself.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4>ix</h4>
-
-<p>Select Songs of the Gentle Shepherd. As It Is Performed at the Theatre-Royal,
-Drury-Lane London: Printed for T. Becket, Adelphi, Strand.
-M DCC LXXXI. [Price Six-pence.]</p>
-
-<p class="tb">8vo. P. [1], title, verso blank; pp. [3]-19, text; p. [20], blank.</p>
-
-<p>Copy: <span class="allsmcap">HEH</span>.</p>
-
-<p>There were no other issues.</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p>This pastoral opera in two acts, performed as an afterpiece at Drury Lane, 29
-October 1781, is an alteration of Allan Ramsay’s <i>Gentle Shepherd</i>, 1725, which had
-already had a long stage history. It ran for twenty-two nights and remained the
-standard stage version until after 1800. In an article entitled “Reviving ‘The Gentle
-Shepherd,’” W. J. Lawrence condemned Tickell’s alteration out of hand because
-“the abounding Doric had been bled white, and new music had been substituted for
-the fine old Scots melodies” (<i>The</i> [London] <i>Graphic</i>, CVIII, 1923, 340). The music
-has not survived, but the discriminating review in <i>The Universal Magazine</i>
-praised Linley’s skill in preserving the original airs while providing accompaniments
-for an expanded orchestra (LXIX, 1781, 237). The dialogue, however handled,
-was certain to produce disagreement, but Tickell was more faithful to the
-original than previous adapters had been. On this point James Boaden wrote:</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span></p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="noindent">The simple beauties of the poem were ... felt on this occasion, and the lovers
-of rustic nature were obliged to Mr. Tickell for the restoration of its original
-language—the <i>pronunciation</i>, and still more the <i>cadence</i>, suffered as might be
-expected from diffidence and badness of ear (<i>Memoirs of Mrs. Siddons</i>, 1827,
-I, 252).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4>x</h4>
-
-<p>Songs, Duos, Trios, Chorusses, &amp;c., in the Comic Opera of the Carnival
-of Venice, as it is Performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. London.
-1781. Pr. Iˢ.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">8vo. P. [1], title, verso blank; p. [3], “Dramatis Personæ,” verso
-blank; pp. 5-27, text; p. [28], blank.</p>
-
-<p>Copy: <span class="allsmcap">BM</span>.</p>
-
-<p>There were no other issues.</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p><i>The Carnival of Venice</i> opened on 13 December 1781 and played twenty-three
-times during the season but was never revived. It was written to suit what Tickell
-himself, in a letter to an aspiring playwright, called “the present taste for complicated
-plot and perplexed incidents” (unpublished letter to A. Becket, August 1781,
-in the Widener Collection, Harvard College Library); for the plot, see the review
-in <i>The Universal Magazine</i>, LXIX, 1781, 328. The music was provided by Linley,
-and the elaborate sets and costumes by De Loutherbourg. In particular the songs
-were admired: Tom Moore and Samuel Rogers remembered and quoted them in the
-next century (Moore, <i>Sheridan</i>, 2nd ed., 1825, II, 227; Rogers, <i>Table-Talk</i>, p. 72).
-Mary Young, in her <i>Memoirs of Mrs. Crouch</i>, 1806, said that “Many of the songs
-in this piece so perfectly resemble, in poetic beauty, those which adorn the Duenna
-[by Sheridan], that they declare themselves to be the offspring of the same Muse”
-(I, 127). Sheridan’s biographers have variously ascribed the songs, in part or entirely,
-to him and Mrs. Sheridan, but on what grounds save their excellence does not
-appear (Sichel, <i>Sheridan</i>, I, 443, and II, 459; Rae, article on Tickell in the <i>DNB</i>).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4>xi</h4>
-
-<p>[Prologue to] Variety; A Comedy, in Five Acts: as it is performed at
-the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. London: Printed for T. Becket, Adelphi,
-Strand, Bookseller to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and
-Their Royal Highnesses the Princes. MDCCLXXXII.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">Copies: <span class="allsmcap">BM</span>, <span class="allsmcap">C</span>.</p>
-
-<p>8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp. [v-vi],
-“Prologue, by Richard Tickell, Esq;”; p. [vii], “Epilogue”; p. [viii],<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span>
-“Epilogue,” continued, and “Dramatis Personæ”; pp. [1]-71, text; p.
-[72], publisher’s advertisements.</p>
-
-<p>Subsequent issues disregarded here.</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p><i>Variety</i> was written by Richard Griffith (d. 1788), and was first performed 25
-February 1782.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4>xii</h4>
-
-<p>Remarks on the Commutation Act. Addressed to the People of England.
-London: Printed for T. Becket, in Pall-Mall. M DCC LXXXV.
-[Price One Shilling and Six-pence.]</p>
-
-<p class="tb">8vo. P. [i], title, verso blank; pp. [1]-81, text; p. [82], blank.</p>
-
-<p>Copy: <span class="allsmcap">YU</span>.</p>
-
-<p>Second, Third, and Fourth Editions, Becket, 1785.</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p>Assigned to Tickell by a MS. note on the title-page of a copy of the Fourth Edition
-in the New York Public Library. It is characteristically Tickell’s in substance
-and style. Intended as an attack on a proposed reduction of the tea-duty, it enlarges
-into a satire on Pitt’s administration, especially the ascendancy of the East India
-Company interest therein. While the Company continues its corrupt sway, Pitt directs
-the energies of Parliament to “Edicts against the Waste of Wafers in Public Offices,
-and Registrations of the Nett Consumption of Quills; together with Sworn Meters
-of Sand, and a Comptroller-General of Blotting-Paper.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4>xiii</h4>
-
-<p>Contributions to <i>The Rolliad</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p>The work known as <i>The Rolliad</i> is only for the sake of convenience so styled. The
-name serves as a collective title for a group of many works, differently titled and
-separately published, ranging from squibs a quatrain long to extended mock-heroic
-poems. These collaborative Whig satires began to appear in Henry Bate’s <i>Morning
-Herald</i> late in 1784; and the inclusive editions, issued from 1795 on under the title
-of <i>The Rolliad</i>, contain <i>Criticisms on The Rolliad</i>, <i>Political Eclogues</i>, <i>Probationary
-Odes for the Laureateship</i>, and <i>Political Miscellanies</i>. Many ancillary pieces by the
-same group of authors appeared in newspapers and fugitive miscellanies but were
-never reprinted.</p>
-
-<p>A good deal has been written in appreciation of the literary and political satire of
-the <i>Rolliad</i> pieces, but no thorough study of their history and bibliography has been
-attempted. So complex is their bibliography that it is impossible to give a satisfactory
-account of any single author’s share. The principal information on authorship will
-be found in several contributions to <i>Notes and Queries</i>, 1st ser., II, 1850, and III,
-1851, from copies of <i>The Rolliad</i> annotated by the authors or by those who knew<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span>
-them, as follows: French Laurence’s notes, II, 373, and III, 129-131; George Ellis’
-notes, II, 114-115; Alexander Chalmers’ notes, II, 242; Sir James Mackintosh’s
-notes, III, 131. To these should be added Sheridan’s notes in a copy used by Walter
-Sichel; see his <i>Sheridan</i>, II, 87ff. There is much other scattered information, of
-which full use has not yet been made, in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century
-memoirs and journals.</p>
-
-<p>According to French Laurence, who acted as editor, “the piece first published, and
-the origin of all that followed,” was the “Short Account of the Family of the Rollos,
-now Rolles,” written principally by Tickell and purporting to be a genealogy of the
-family of John Rolle, M.P. for Devon, the unlucky hero of the projected mock epic.
-Tickell designed the absurd family tree that served as frontispiece for <i>Criticisms on
-The Rolliad</i> (information from Sheridan, in Lord Broughton [John Cam Hobhouse],
-<i>Recollections of a Long Life</i>, ed. Lady Dorchester, 1909-11, I, 202). He
-had also a leading hand in the next project of the group, the <i>Probationary Odes</i>,
-for which he provided the editorial preliminaries, the first of the trial odes, supposed
-to be by Sir Cecil Wray, and the ninth, supposed to be by Nathaniel Wraxall
-and one of the best in the series. (According to Mackintosh, the ninth ode was
-“sketched by Canning, the Eton boy, finished by Tickell.”) The most successful of
-the <i>Political Eclogues</i>, a satire on Lord Lansdowne called <i>Jekyll</i>, was the collaborative
-work of Tickell and Lord John Townshend; it first appeared as a quarto poem
-published by J. Debrett, 1788. For the smaller contributions of Tickell, which are
-numerous, the lists in <i>Notes and Queries</i> may be consulted.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4>xiv</h4>
-
-<p>A Woollen Draper’s Letter on the French Treaty, to His Friends and
-Fellow Tradesmen All over England. “The clothiers all not able to maintain
-“The many to them ’longing, have put off “The spinsters, carders,
-fullers, weavers.” Shakespeare’s Henry VIII. London: Printed for
-the Author, and sold by J. French, Bookseller, No. 164, Fenchurch-street,
-by the Booksellers near the Royal Exchange, Pater-Noster-Row,
-Fleet-street, &amp;c. &amp;c. &amp;c. M,DCC,LXXXVI.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">8vo. P. [i], title, verso blank; pp. [I]-48, text.</p>
-
-<p>Copies: <span class="allsmcap">HC</span>, <span class="allsmcap">NYP</span>.</p>
-
-<p>Second Edition, French, 1786.</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p>This tract is here first assigned to Tickell, who stated he was the author in a letter
-to Samuel Parr, 20 February [1787] (Parr, <i>Works</i>, ed. J. Johnstone, 1828, VIII,
-131). It is assigned to a different author in Halkett and Laing (new ed., 1926-34,
-VI, 252), where a copy is reported that contains a MS. dedication signed “Lieut. J.
-Mackenzie.” Tickell’s statement of authorship, the lack of any information about
-J. Mackenzie, and various circumstances (too involved to detail here) relating to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span>
-Whig propagandist activity at this time, all suggest that Lieut. J. Mackenzie is a
-fictitious person. As the Foxites’ chief pamphleteer Tickell did his duty, but as a
-member of Brooks’s he did not care to associate his name with a sober commercial
-tract.</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>This supposed Woollen Draper, who seems to be well acquainted with the
-subject he treats, endeavours to shew his fellow tradesmen the very great injuries
-to which the woollen trade is exposed, by the commercial treaty, lately
-signed at Paris.... In his own style, the sample, which he hath here offered
-to the Public, is well wrought, and of a good fabric (<i>The Monthly Review</i>,
-LXXVI, 1787, 71).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4>xv</h4>
-
-<p>The People’s Answer to the Court Pamphlet: Entitled A Short Review
-of the Political State of Great Britain. Quid prius dicam solitis Parentis
-Laudibus?⸺Printed for J. Debrett, opposite Burlington-house Piccadilly.
-MDCCLXXXVII.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp. [1]-50,
-text; pp. [51-52], blank.</p>
-
-<p>Copies: <span class="allsmcap">HC</span>, <span class="allsmcap">NYP</span>, <span class="allsmcap">WLC</span>.</p>
-
-<p>Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Editions, Debrett, 1787. Dublin:
-White, Byrne, Moore, and Jones, 1787.</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p>This tract is here first assigned to Tickell. His letter to Parr of 20 February
-[1787], mentioned in the preceding entry, begins:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>From some enquiries in your letter to Mrs. Sheridan, I believe you thought
-it was right to answer <i>the Political Review</i>. I mean the pamphlet that traduced
-the Prince of Wales and every one else except Hastings. I now send you
-the answer I gave it, because, as you thought it right it should be answered,
-you will excuse faults in a paper written in a hurry (Parr, <i>Works</i>, VIII, 131).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent">The pamphlet to which Tickell refers is <i>A Short Review of the Political State of
-Great-Britain at the Commencement of the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and
-Eighty-Seven</i>, Debrett, 1787, a collection of political portraits and cursory observations
-as thin in substance as they are florid in style. Its authorship was acknowledged
-in the <i>Posthumous Memoirs</i>, 1836, of Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, who told there of its
-immense success upon publication: it ran through six editions in the last ten days of
-January, sold 17,000 copies, and elicited a half-dozen replies within a month (<i>Historical
-and Posthumous Memoirs</i>, 1884, IV, 372-375). <i>The People’s Answer</i> was
-written from Tickell’s precise political position at this time and displays his characteristic
-style.</p>
-
-<p>Beginning in his usual brisk and pointed manner, Tickell suggests that the celebrity
-of the <i>Short Review</i> is due largely to such a total want of polite wit among the
-supporters of Administration “that even a Charade from one of the <i>King’s Friends</i><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span>
-would excite ... admiration.” The author has provided “the dull desponding train
-of an unlettered Court” with</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p class="noindent">a sort of handy manual for the Levee ..., lightly touching on the topicks
-most in vogue, and sketching out handy sentences for the Lords of the Bedchamber
-to retail, or the Maids of Honour to scribble on their fans.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent">Here is the hand of the author of <i>The Wreath of Fashion</i>. In his treatment of Pitt’s
-commercial treaty, his gift of mimicry is also apparent. Tickell the elegant amateur
-cannot resist parodying the style of writers on commercial subjects:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquote">
-
-<p>Every leaf of these motley compositions displays an epitome of all the tricks
-of invitation, that are practised by the trades they discuss; some of them intoxicating
-the eye, like Vintners’ windows, with BRANDY! RUM! and
-BRITISH SPIRIT! in capitals—while others denote their beaten track, and
-towns of baiting; like the lettered pannels of a stage coach, in characters of a
-most extensive and convincing size; as,</p>
-
-<table summary=" ">
-<tr>
-<td>
-<ul>
-<li>HULL,</li>
-<li>LEEDS,</li>
-<li>WAKEFIELD,</li>
-<li>YORK,</li>
-</ul>
-</td>
-<td class="valign">
-<p class="center">or</p>
-</td>
-<td>
-<ul>
-<li>BOCKING,</li>
-<li>BRAINTREE,</li>
-<li>DUNMOW,</li>
-<li>COLCHESTER, &amp;c.</li>
-</ul>
-</td>
-</tr>
-</table>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class="noindent">Perhaps the most amusing thing about this passage is that Tickell is ridiculing,
-among others, himself, for these are the very devices of the honest Woollen Draper’s
-<i>Letter</i>. The defence of the Prince of Wales’ conduct and friends, which occupies the
-later pages of <i>The People’s Answer</i>, is in a more serious tone.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h4>xvi</h4>
-
-<p>[Prologue to] The Fugitive: A Comedy. As it is performed at the
-King’s Theatre, Haymarket. By Joseph Richardson, Esq. Barrister at Law.
-Ætherias, lascive cupis, volitare per auras I, fuge, sed poteris, tutior esse
-domi. Martial. London: Printed for J. Debrett, opposite Burlington-House,
-Piccadilly. MDCCXCII.</p>
-
-<p class="tb">8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp. [v-viii],
-“Advertisement”; pp. [ix-x], “Prologue written by Richard Tickell,
-Esq.”; p. [xi], “Dramatis Personæ,” verso blank; pp. [1]-83, text;
-p. [84], blank; pp. [85-86], “Epilogue, written by the Right Hon. Lieutenant
-General Burgoyne.”</p>
-
-<p>Copies: <span class="allsmcap">BM</span>, <span class="allsmcap">C</span>.</p>
-
-<p>Subsequent issues disregarded here.</p>
-
-<div class="smaller">
-
-<p>Joseph Richardson (1755-1803) was an intimate of the Sheridan circle, a Foxite
-politician, and one of the largest contributors to <i>The Rolliad</i>. <i>The Fugitive</i> was
-first performed 20 April 1792.</p>
-
-</div>
-
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