SOLILOQUY.

285 existence of such a person as Mr. Fry, conceives that he is acting in the fairest manner, by thus avowing his own name, and that of his respected employers.

P.S. Such noblemen and gentlemen as are desirous of supporting the undertaking, by becoming subscribers, will please to send their names to Messrs. Hum and Hoax, or to any banking-house in London not receiving subscriptions for the plan of Mr. Fry: in suggesting which restriction, Mr. Grill is confident that he does not exclude a single banker in the metropolis.

SOLILOQUY OF A WORTHY ALDERMAN, BARONET, AND M. P. Occasioned by the Common Council negativing the Propo.

sition for a Dinner at the Expense of the Corporation, on the Day of Jubilee.

[From the same, Oct. 21.] Scene- A Dining-room.--Sir William Cm- sitting in an easy

posture-A Translation of Apicius's * work on the means of provoking appetite, in his hand.- A large turecn, filled with turtle-soup, on the table before him.

SDR WILLIAM.
IT must be so :.- Apicius reasons well-

Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after foreign delicacies?
Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror,
Of abstinence and pray'r? Why shrink the guts
Back on themselves, and grumble at starvation?
Self-preservation 't is that stirs within us,
Gaunt Hunger loudly bellows for a banquet,
And point to calipash and calipee!

* Apicius, an epicure, who lived in the time of Nero-he sqyandered a large property in pampering his appetite; and, becoming unable to support his former luxury, hung himself! He wrote a work on the modes of inciting appetite!

O calipash!

286

CUNCTANDO AESTITUIT REM.

O calipash! thou aldernianic food,
Through what variety of transformation,
Through what strange preparations dost thou pass,
Ere thou art fitted for my appetite !
Lo! the capacious basin stands before me,
And sav'ry fat, and spices, swim around it!
Here will I hold-If there's a cook in London,
(And that there is, Sam. Birch proclaims aloud,
On fam'd Cornhill,) he must delight in turtle,
And that which he delights in must be wholesome!
But why this luscious food should be forbidden,
At corporate expense, on Wednesday next-
I'm weary of conjectures--Thus I'll end them.

[Taking a ladleful of soup.
Now am I doubly arm'd-My wine and soup,
My bane and antidote, are both before me!
Wine very quickly robs me of all sense,
But unctuous turtle soon subdues its pow'r!
The man secure of contracts, thus may banquet,
Though Poverty stalk grimly through the land;
Smile at Reformers, and defy the rage
Of those who bellow for economy,
And deprecate thy cost, delicious turtle!
Lamb shall no more be priz'dven' son itself
Shall from the table vanish-e'en roast beef,
Old England's former glory, be forgotten;
But thou shalt flourish at the civic board,
Uomov'd amid the squibs of newspapers-

The shafts of envy-and the wiles of malice!
Johnson's Court.

Quiz.

CUNCTANDO RESTITUIT REM.

[From the Morning Chronicle, Oct. 21.) FROM aguish coasts when modern Fabius came,

Some clouds, 't was own'd, obscur'd his nighty name; Yet friends foretold that, scarcely landed here, The blaze of truth should all his conduct clear; Facts, stubborn facts, in print, his cause should plead; And all should know, they said, and all should read.

Yet THE BATTLE OF PUTNEY.

287

Yet days, and weeks, and months, have pass'd away,
And prudent Fabius yet has nought to say,

True to the lastmin him the world shall find
Consistent actions and delib'rate mind :
At home, abroad, alike to foe and friend-
Slow to attack, and slower to defend.
Like him of Rome, abroad no deeds he wrought;
No foes he vanquish'd, and no fields he fought :
No tumult here his firmness shakes, or draws
To risk his object for the mob's applause.
'T was slowness triunipl’d, thus, in either case
That sav'd his country--this will save his place.

THE BATTLE OF PUTNEY.

[From the British Press, Oct. 24 )
ON Putney, when the sun was low,

The misty vapours hov'ring slow,
We mark'd the chariot rattling go,

Of Canning, driving rapidly!
But Putney saw a stranger sight,
Whon Castlereagh burst forth to light,
Who came clean-harded forth to fight

His former friend's sincerity!
The seconds fix'd the rivals' place;
Each statesman seiz'd the deadly case,
And one had laugh'd to see the face

Of Ellis, grinning horridly!
The dreaded sign the seconds gave,
But Doodle hit not Noodle grave,
And Noodle's shot at Doodle brave

Whisk'd by right harmlessly.
But once again must Putney's heath
Re-echo back the arms of death;
But ne'er before did History's breath

Record such deep duplicity!
'Tis true that not their country's weal,
Or Monarch's honour, could unsteel,
Or make the ralicorous bosom feel,

Of either Secretary!

288

A QUERY.

The signal drops, the bullets fly;
“ Haste, Ellis, haste, nay, do not cry,
He yet may roll the poet's eye,

And still may feed his relatives ;"
But if he falls, will e'er he meet
A nation's woe, that solace sweet,
When he beneath the winding-sheet

Has stabb'd a soldier's memory?

A QUERY. TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE.

[Oct. 24.] SIR,

Monday, Tottenham Court Road. 1

REMARKED in an advertisement of the Olympic

Pavilion, in a Sunday newspaper, that “the first appearance of Young Saunders, who is engaged for twelve nights,” is very triumphantly announced; and the public is also promised, in the same paper, “ Horsemanship by the Double Company, particularly by Young Saunders, who will go through the whole of his equestrian exercises, and also his performances on the tight rope.” As I profess myself very ignorant of political, though extremely curious about dramatic changes, I will thank you to inform me, through the medium of your intelligent paper, ist, if the Young Saunders, above mentioned, is the same gentleman who declined the Secretaryship of State last week? 2dly, If he be; whether, in your judgment, he is likely to become any great acquisition to our pantomimes? The circumstance of never having heard of his speeches, inclines me to hope that he may excel in that line.

A friend of mine assures me, that the Double Company, in the above advertisement, means the rest of His Majesty's Cabinet ; but I cannot help believing that he is attempting to impose on my credulity, or

that,

THE JUBILEE.

289 that, at any rate, he must be mistaken in his supposition. With anxious expectation of an answer, I am, Sir, your constant Reader,

HISTRIONICUS.

THE JUBILEE.

[From the Public Ledger, Oct. 24.] DESIROUS as we are that the approaching jubilee

may be observed with every demonstration of loyalty, and, indeed, convinced that it will be so, we cannot help censuring the conduct of some of our contemporaries on this occasion. Not content with recommending things that are prudent and practicable, they have indulged their imaginations in raising expectations and exciting hopes which will infallibly end in disappointment, and had, therefore, been better kept out of sight and out of mind.

Having taken some pains to inform ourselves about : these matters, we think it our duty to communicate to

or readers the result of our inquiries; and, in the first place, we can assure thein, upon undoubted authority, that

The Secretary of State (wherever he may happen to le on Wednesday) does not mean to send a leiter to the Mansion House, announcing the signature of the preliminaries of peace.

Nor, on that day, does Mr. Canning mean to dine with Lord Castlereagh, and invite Lord Camden to inake a third.

The managers of Covent Garden theatre have no $ intention of concluding the performances of the night with a bonfire, lighted by an iminense mass of lail. londs, belonging to the ladies and gentlemen who do W not like the new prices.

Mr. Sheridan does not mean to call together the proprietors of Drury Lane theatre, and announce that VOL. XIII,

he

$