Chapter I: Front Matter

_The GIANT FACTOTUM amusing himself_ ]

POETRY
OF
THE ANTI-JACOBIN:
COMPRISING THE CELEBRATED
POLITICAL AND SATIRICAL POEMS,
OF
THE RT. HONS. G. CANNING, JOHN HOOKHAM FRERE, W. PITT, THE MARQUIS
WELLESLEY, G. ELLIS, W. GIFFORD, THE EARL OF CARLISLE, AND OTHERS.

EDITED, WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, ETC.

BY
CHARLES EDMONDS,
EDITOR OF THE “PYTCHLEY HUNT, PAST AND PRESENT,” ETC., ETC.

_THIRD EDITION, CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED, WITH SIX ILLUSTRATIONS BY JAMES
GILLRAY._

NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS.
LONDON: SAMPSON LOW & CO., _Limited_.
1890.

EDITOR’S PREFACE.

The fate which usually attends political and satirical writings that owe their origin to passing events, has in no way affected the POETRY OF THE ANTI-JACOBIN, which, after a lapse of more than ninety years, still continues to interest and amuse. Public opinion never fails, sooner or later, to arrive at a just conclusion as to the merits both of individuals and actions; and though it may often neglect to preserve a meritorious work, never perpetuates a worthless one. Poetry which lashed with so remorseless a hand the patriotic proceedings, and held up to ridicule the persons and habits, of the most distinguished Whig leaders, must have possessed no common merit to have won the encomiums of such liberal politicians and such critics as MACKINTOSH and JEFFREY, MOORE and BYRON.

MOORE, in his _Life of Sheridan_, observes: “_The Rolliad_ and _The Anti-Jacobin_ may, on their respective sides of the question, be considered as models of that style of political satire whose lightness and vivacity give it the appearance of proceeding rather from the wantonness of wit than of ill-nature, and whose very malice, from the fancy with which it is mixed up, like certain kinds of fire-works, explodes in sparkles”. This criticism might be applied to some of his own political squibs.

As the poems refer to occurrences long since past, a rapid glance at the state of events at that time (1797–8) may render them more intelligible to the generality of readers.

The affairs of England were then in a critical position. The ministry of PITT was carrying on a fierce war with republican France, the necessity for which had split the public into two great parties. The liberal party alleged, that “the whole misfortunes of Europe and all the crimes of France had arisen from the iniquitous coalition of kings to overturn its infant freedom;—that, if its government had been left alone, it would neither have stained its hands with innocent blood at home nor pursued plans of aggrandizement abroad; and that the Republic, relieved from the pressure of external danger, and no longer roused by the call of patriotic duty, would have quietly turned its swords into pruning-hooks, and, renouncing the allurements of foreign conquests, thought only of promoting the internal felicity of its citizens”.

These sentiments, though supported by the extraordinary eloquence of FOX, SHERIDAN, ERSKINE, and others, had but little weight with the minister or the great body of the public. It was impossible to deny that the power of the French Republic was daily increasing, and threatened the subjugation of the greater part of Europe. BUONAPARTE had overrun Italy, and broken the power of Austria, which, by the treaty of Leoben, was compelled to cede the Netherlands to France, allow the free navigation of the Rhine, and recognise the independence of the newly-erected Italian republics. Spain, also, had declared war against Britain, which was thus left to contend singly against the power of France; for the Directory had refused the basis of peace proposed by LORD MALMESBURY, that of a mutual restitution of conquests. To add to these embarrassments, during the year 1797 credit became affected, and the Bank of England suspended cash payments; mutinies broke out in the fleets at Spithead and the Nore; and Ireland was on the verge of rebellion. But the talents of PITT were equal to the occasion, and his power rose higher than ever, when his prognostications were shortly after (in December, 1797) confirmed by the unprovoked attack upon Switzerland by the French. The impolicy of this proceeding was equal to its infamy; for nothing ever done by the revolutionary government contributed so powerfully to cool the ardour of its partisans in Europe, and to open the eyes of the intelligent and respectable classes in every other country to its ultimate designs. Its effect on the friends of freedom in England may be judged of from the indignant protest of SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH, himself once a warm admirer of the French Revolution, who, in his defence of JEAN PELTIER, in 1803, for a libel on BUONAPARTE, declared, “the invasion and destruction of Switzerland an act, in comparison with which all the deeds of rapine and blood perpetrated in the world are innocence itself”. Even before this, the true character of the revolution had been detected by the democratic COLERIDGE, who gave public utterance to his feelings of horror and disgust in that noble _Ode to France_ written in February, 1797. In a word, to say nothing of her other conquests, France, at the beginning of 1798, had three affiliated republics at her side, the Batavian, Cisalpine, and the Ligurian; before its close she had organized three more, the Helvetic, the Roman, and the Parthenopeian.

PITT’S influence was further increased by the threatened invasion of Great Britain by the French, a proceeding which, as it affected every class in the country, raised the national enthusiasm to the highest pitch, inflamed as it already was by the recent glorious victories off Cape St. Vincent and Camperdown. That they were likely to be in earnest had been already shown by their expeditions to Bantry Bay and Pembrokeshire, and BUONAPARTE’S boast at Geneva, that “he would democratize England in three months,” proved how much he relied upon the support of the malcontents both in Great Britain and Ireland. The estimates and preparations for defence were, enormous; taxes, to an extent utterly unknown before, were laid on; the Volunteer Bill was passed (SHERIDAN assisting), by which, in addition to the regular army, a hundred and fifty thousand volunteers were, in a few weeks, in arms; THE KING was authorized by another bill, in the event of an invasion, to call out the levy, _en masse_, of the population; the Alien Bill was reenacted; and the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act continued for another year.

But the genius of one man, however great, can effect but little, unless suitably supported by others. The sagacious mind of PITT had long seen that his party in Parliament were, with very few exceptions, no match for his numerous opponents, powerful both in talent and social position; among whom were FOX, SHERIDAN, ERSKINE, HORNE TOOKE, WHITBREAD, NICHOLLS, COURTENAY, FITZPATRICK, the DUKES of NORFOLK and BEDFORD, LORD STANHOPE, the DUCHESS of DEVONSHIRE, and others. He was always anxious, therefore, to secure whatever available talent presented itself, and immediately on their appearance enlisted under his banners CANNING, JENKINSON, HUSKISSON, and CASTLEREAGH, all men of the same standing, for the first three were born in 1770, and the last in 1769.

The important assistance of CANNING was immediately felt, for he was, in the words of BYRON, “a genius—almost a universal one; an orator, a wit, a poet, a statesman”. Though he entered Parliament at the early age of 23 (in 1793), and attained the post of Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign Department two years after, he was by no means inexperienced either as a writer or as an orator; for while a student at Eton he had won distinction by his contributions to _The Microcosm_, a weekly paper published by the more advanced Etonians, and also in the discussions of their Debating Society, which were conducted with strict regard to parliamentary usages. And afterwards, while studying for the law, he took an active part in the proceedings of the debating societies of the metropolis, in which he achieved so much reputation as to lead to his introduction to PITT, whose party he unhesitatingly joined.

CANNING early saw the necessity of the Government’s possessing some literary engine, which, like the Whig _Rolliad_, published some years before, should carry confusion into the ranks of its enemies. In a lucky hour he conceived the idea of _The Anti-Jacobin_, a weekly newspaper, interspersed with poetry, the avowed object of which was to expose the vicious doctrines of the French Revolution, and to turn into ridicule and contempt the advocates of that event, and the sticklers for peace and parliamentary reform. The editor was WILLIAM GIFFORD, whose vigorous and unscrupulous pen had been already shown in his _Baviad_ and _Mæviad_; and among the regular writers were: JOHN HOOKHAM FRERE, JENKINSON (afterwards EARL OF LIVERPOOL), GEORGE ELLIS (who had previously contributed to the Whig _Rolliad_), LORD CLARE, LORD MORNINGTON (afterwards MARQUIS WELLESLEY), LORD MORPETH (afterwards EARL OF CARLISLE), BARON MACDONALD, and others. These gentlemen entered upon their task with no common spirit. Their purpose was to blacken their adversaries, and they spared no means, fair or foul, in the attempt. Their most distinguished countrymen, whose only fault was their being opposed to government, were treated with no more respect than their foreign adversaries, and were held up to public execration as traitors, blasphemers, and debauchees. So alarmed, however, became WILBERFORCE and others of the more moderate supporters of ministers at the boldness of the language employed, that PITT was induced to interfere, and, after an existence of eight months, _The Anti-Jacobin_ (in its original form) ceased to exist.

_The Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin_ is not exclusively political. _The Loves of the Triangles_, a parody on DR. DARWIN’S _Loves of the Plants_, is, in the opinion of a celebrated critic (Lord Jeffrey) of the highest degree of merit; as is also _The Progress of Man_, a parody on PAYNE KNIGHT’S _Progress of Civil Society_; and _The Rovers_, a burlesque on the German dramas then in vogue, the extraordinary plots of which, as well as their language, alternately ultrasentimental and domestically bathotic, well marked them out for ridicule, is distinguished by sharp wit and broad humour of the happiest kind. CANNING and his coadjutors in this piece did a real service to literature, and assisted in a purification which GIFFORD, by his demolition of the Della Cruscan school of poetry, had so well begun. Of _The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-grinder_ it is unnecessary to speak; perhaps no lines in the English language have been more effective, or oftener quoted.

But CANNING’S greatest power is shown in _New Morality_, which, being the last of the series, seems to have been reserved as a concentrating medium for his pent-up scorn and contempt of the Whigs and their adherents. So that their blows fall thick (for he was powerfully seconded by Frere, Gifford, and Ellis), they care little who suffer from them, and the modern reader is surprised to find CHARLES LAMB and other non-intruders into politics, figuring as congenial conspirators with TOM PAINE!

It is somewhat difficult to regard PITT in the character of a Wit and a Poet, as from the narrative of most of his biographers, he might be considered as uniformly cold, stiff, and unbending; but his intimate friend WILBERFORCE, in his _Memoirs_, thus describes him: “PITT, when free from shyness, and amongst his intimate companions, was the very soul of merriment and conversation. He was the wittiest man I ever knew, and what was quite peculiar to himself, had at all times his wit under entire controul. Others appeared struck by the unwonted association of brilliant images; but every possible combination of ideas seemed always present to his mind, and he could at once produce whatever he desired. I was one of those who met to spend an evening in memory of Shakespeare, at the Boar’s Head, Eastcheap. Many professed wits were present, but PITT was the most amusing of the party, the readiest and most apt in the required allusions.” It is not, therefore, at all unlikely, that he now and then contributed witty verses to _The Anti-Jacobin_, in addition to those which the Editor has, on probable grounds, ascribed to him in the present volume.

“Critical commentary,” says a critic of the previous edition, “on the merits of _The Anti-Jacobin_, would be superfluous. Its satire is distinguished for the terse language of its poignant personality, which was often excessively stinging, but seldom offensively coarse. Its best contributors, CANNING and FRERE, were not mere pamphleteers in verse, like the writers for _The Rolliad_. They had poetical inspiration and a sprightly joyousness springing from a genial play of the mental faculties. They were ‘Conservatives’ not only in their politics but in their loyal adherence to the ordinances and traditions of classical English literature. False sentiment, tumid diction, mawkish cant, were chastised by them with exemplary efficacy. On the fourth edition of the complete work (1799, 2 Vols. 8vo, containing both prose and poetry), they placed the epigraph, _Sparsosque recolligit ignes_; and in the very last paper (No. 36), the motto on discontinuance was exquisitely happy:—

“‘We shall miss thee;
But yet thou shalt have freedom.
So to the elements
Be free; and fare thou well!’

“And these lines, taken from _The Tempest_ (probably by CANNING), have been prophetic of the popularity of their witty verse, still quoted and admired by all lovers of the genius that is airily elegant and strong.”

CHARLES EDMONDS.

WATER ORTON, BIRMINGHAM.

ADDITIONS TO THE PRESENT EDITION.

Numerous new Biographical and other Notes.

Additions and Corrections to the List of presumed AUTHORS of “THE
POETRY”.

Selections from the PROSE portion of the work, written by the RT. HON.
G. CANNING and his coadjutors.

Account of the various EDITIONS of _The Anti-Jacobin_, and its
successors.

Enlarged articles on the opposition NEWSPAPERS abused by _The
Anti-Jacobin_ writers.

The curious ABUSIVE AND SATIRICAL INDEX to _The Anti-Jacobin_; and
specimens of a similar Index to _The Anti-Jacobin Review and
Magazine_.

Selections from _The Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine_—the successor
to _The Anti-Jacobin_—showing that though written by a different
body of Authors, both works were animated by the same spirit.

EDITIONS OF THE ANTI-JACOBIN;
AND ITS SUCCESSORS.

THE ANTI-JACOBIN, or WEEKLY EXAMINER. Sparsosque recolligit ignes.
From Nov. 20, 1797, to July 9, 1798. 4to.

London.

Nos. 1 to 36; with a Prospectus (complete).

—— The Same. Second and third editions, in 4to.

—— The Same. Fourth edition, revised and corrected. 2 vols. 8vo.

London, 1799.

Every Number contained Poetry, the presumed Names of the Authors of which will be found in the Table of Contents of the present volume.

* * * * *

THE POETRY OF THE ANTI-JACOBIN. 4to.

London, 1801.

This volume includes the whole of the POETRY contained in the original _Anti-Jacobin_, with a few verbal corrections. Previous to its publication, it was announced that it would be illustrated by 40 plates expressly designed by GILLRAY; but they never appeared. Numerous editions in 12mo subsequently appeared, but without any additions, till those mentioned below.

* * * * *

THE POETRY OF THE ANTI-JACOBIN. A New Edition, with Explanatory Notes
by CHARLES EDMONDS. 12mo.

London, 1852.

—— The Same. Second edition, by CHARLES EDMONDS; with additional
Notes, the original Prospectus (by the Rt. Hon. G. CANNING), and a
complete List of the Authors. Illustrated by six etchings after
the designs of JAS. GILLRAY. 12mo.

London, 1854.

* * * * *

THE ANTI-JACOBIN REVIEW AND MAGAZINE; or Monthly Political and
Literary Censor. From the commencement in July, 1798, to its close
in 1821. (_The first few vols. contain engravings by Gillray and
others, and much_ POETRY _is scattered through the volumes_.) 61
vols. 8vo.

London, 1798–1821.

For reasons stated on a previous page, CANNING and other political friends of PITT thought it prudent to withdraw themselves from the original _Anti-Jacobin_, but by a preconcerted arrangement it was determined that the spirit which had pervaded that work, and which had had so powerful an effect on the popular mind, and thereby, in connection with Gillray’s caricatures, so undoubtedly strengthened the hands of the Ministry, should not die, if it could be kept alive by other and congenial writers. In the words of MR. FOX BOURNE (in his valuable work on _English Newspapers_, 1887): “Though _The Anti-Jacobin_ made its last appearance on July 9, 1798, there was started a few days before a monthly _Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine_ of the same politics, but much less brilliant, and more ponderous. Strange to say, it also was edited by a GIFFORD, or one who so called himself. JOHN RICHARDS GREEN was a bold and versatile adventurer, who, having to fly from his creditors in 1782, returned from France in 1788, as JOHN GIFFORD, and was connected with several newspapers [including the establishment of _The British Critic_], besides editing _The Anti-Jacobin Review_. [He also wrote a _History of France_, and other works.] Befriended in many ways by PITT, he wrote a four-volume pamphlet [3 vols. 4to, and also 6 vols. 8vo, both dated 1809], styled the _Life of William Pitt_, after his patron’s death. JAMES MILL, the friend and associate of JEREMY BENTHAM, was glad to earn money in his struggling days by writing non-political articles for _The Anti-Jacobin Review_. WILLIAM GIFFORD, it is hardly necessary to state, besides editing Ben Jonson’s Works, and other useful occupations, was the first editor of _The Quarterly Review_ in 1809.”

In the British Museum are two copies of _The Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine_. In one of them the first six vols. contain the Names of the Authors of most of the articles, among whom are the REV. JOHN WHITAKER, author of _The History of Manchester_, the REV. SAM. HENSHALL, author of works on Domesday Book, the REV. C. E. STEWART, a copious poetaster, etc., and many other clergymen.

* * * * *

THE NEW ANTI-JACOBIN REVIEW. Delenda est Carthago.

Nos. 1 to 3 seem to be all that were published, and appeared May 6, June 9, and June 23, 1827; price two shillings each.

No. 2 includes what is called a _Patriot Portrait Exhibition_, which is continued in No. 3. In the latter No. is also an article entitled _Canningiana_. Published by Saunders and Otley.

* * * * *

THE NEW ANTI-JACOBIN; a Monthly Magazine of Politics, Commerce,
Science, Literature, Art, Music, and the Drama.

Consists of only Nos. 1 and 2. Published by Smith, Elder, & Co., and Carpenter & Son; dated respectively April and May, 1833.

No. 2 contains _Horace in Parliament_; an Ode to William Cobbett; being a Parody on Horace—_In Barinen_, Ode 4, Lib. 2. It is accompanied by a full-length portrait of Cobbett.

The above two works, in accordance with their titles, advocate high Tory principles; but though written with great spirit they had but a very short existence. Copies of both will be found in the British Museum.

* * * * *

ENGLISH ACTORS IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, AND EYE-WITNESSES OF THE
SAME.

The most complete details hitherto furnished on these interesting subjects will be found in the Nos. for October, 1887, and July, 1888, of _The Edinburgh Review_, the work of MR. JOHN G. ALGER, the Paris correspondent of _The Times_. They have since been published in a volume. (_Englishmen in the French Revolution_: Low & Co., 1889.)

CONTENTS OF THE POETRY OF THE ANTI-JACOBIN,
WITH THE NAMES OF THE AUTHORS.

The following notices of the writers of the POETRY OF THE ANTI-JACOBIN are derived from the copies mentioned below, and each name is authenticated by the initials of the authority upon which each piece is ascribed to particular persons:—

C. CANNING’S own copy of the Poetry.
B. LORD BURGHERSH’S copy.
W. WRIGHT the publisher’s copy.
U. Information of W. UPCOTT, amanuensis.

[Although many of the pieces in the following list are attributed to wrong authors, it has been thought more convenient to reprint them as they stood in the previous edition, in order to insert any corrections, as far as FRERE is concerned. These are derived from the information of FRERE himself given to his nephews, who afterwards edited his works in 1872. They are therefore placed beneath the Title of the piece—between brackets.

The pieces, printed in _Italics_—between brackets—appear for the first time in an edition of _The Poetry_.—ED.]

PAGE. AUTHORS.

PROSPECTUS OF THE ANTI-JACOBIN 1 Canning.

Introduction 12 Canning.

Inscription for the Apartment in Chepstow
Castle, where Henry Marten, the Regicide, 16 Southey.
was imprisoned thirty years

Inscription for the Door of the Cell in
Newgate, where Mrs. Brownrigg, the 16 Canning, C.
Prentice-cide, was confined previous to Frere, C.
her execution

The Friend of Humanity and the Knife 23 Frere, C.
Grinder Canning, C.

The Invasion; or, the British War Song 25 Hely Addington, W.

La Sainte Guillotine: a New Song, attempted Canning, C.
from the French 29 Frere, C.
Hammond, B.

[By _Canning_ and _Frere_ only.]

[_Meeting of the Friends of Freedom_] 32 Claimed by Frere.

Canning, C.
The Soldier’s Friend 38 Frere, C.
Ellis, B.

[By _Canning_ and _Frere_ only.]

Sonnet to Liberty. 39 Lord Carlisle, B.

Quintessence of all the Dactylics that ever 41 Canning, B.
were, or ever will be, written Gifford, W.

Latin Verses, written immediately after the 43 Marq. Wellesley, U.
Revolution of the Fourth of September

Translation of the above 45 Frere, B.

[PEARCE, in his _Memoirs of the Marquis Wellesley_, gives the credit of
this translation to the sixth EARL of CARLISLE.]

The Choice; imitated from _The Battle of
Sabla_, in Carlyle’s Specimens of Arabian 48 G. Ellis, B.
Poetry

The Duke and the Taxing Man 52 Bar. Macdonald, C.,
B.

Epigram on the Paris Loan, called the Loan 54 Frere, B.
upon England

[Not claimed by _Frere_.]

Ode to Anarchy 55 Lord Morpeth, B.

Song, recommended to be sung at all
_convivial_ meetings convened for the 58 Frere, B.
purpose of opposing the Assessed Tax Bill

[By _Canning_, _Ellis_, and _Frere_.]

Lines written at the close of the year 1797 61

Translation of the New Song of _The Army of 63
England_

Epistle to the Editors of _The 68
Anti-Jacobin_

[This _Epistle_ is now known to have been written by the HON. WM. LAMB, (afterwards second VISCOUNT MELBOURNE, and Prime Minister). He was then only in his nineteenth year.]

To the Author of the _Epistle to the 71 Canning, C.
Editors of the Anti-Jacobin_ Hammond, B.

Ode to Lord Moira 78 G. Ellis, C., B.

A Bit of an Ode to Mr. Fox 83 G. Ellis, C.
Frere, B.

Acme and Septimius; or, the Happy Union. 88 G. Ellis, C.

[_Mr. Fox’s Birth-Day_] 90

To the Author of the Anti-Jacobin 95 Mr. Bragge,
afterwards Bathurst.

Lines written under the Bust of Charles Fox 99 Frere, B.
at the Crown and Anchor

Lines written by a Traveller at Czarco-zelo
under the Bust of a certain Orator, once 99 G. Ellis, B.
placed between those of Demosthenes and
Cicero

[JAS. BOSWELL, jun., asserts, on the authority of the nephew of the
great statesman, that the above lines were written by PITT. This is not
improbable: see Note on page 101.]

Canning, C.
The Progress of Man. Didactic Poem 102 Gifford, W.
Frere, B.

[Cantos 1 and 2 by _Canning_ only; and Canto 23 by _Canning_ and
_Frere_ only.]

The Progress of Man, _continued_ 107 Canning, C.
Hammond, B.

Imitation of Bion. Written at St. Anne’s 111 G. Ellis, B.
Hill Gifford, W.

The New Coalition: Imitation of Horace, 114
Lib. 3, Carm. 9

[_The Honey-Moon of Fox and Tooke_, another
version of the same by the REV. C. E. 116
STEWART; published in the _Anti-Jacobin
Review_, vol. i.]

Imitation of Horace, Lib. 3, Carm. 25 119 Canning, C.

Chevy Chase 125 Bar. Macdonald, C.,
B.

Ode to Jacobinism 129

Canning, C.
The Progress of Man, _continued_ 133 Frere, C.
G. Ellis, B.

The Jacobin 141 Nares, W.

The Loves of the Triangles. A Mathematical 150 Frere, C.
and Philosophical Poem Canning, B.

[All but the last three lines _Frere’s_.]

The Loves of the Triangles, _continued_ 158 G. Ellis, C., W.
Canning, B.

[Down to “Twine round his struggling heart,” by _Ellis_. From “Thus,
happy France,” to “And folds the parent-monarch,” by _Canning_,
_Ellis_, and _Frere_. The next twelve lines, which were not in the
_first_ edition, 1798, were added by _Canning_.]

Brissot’s Ghost 165 Frere, B.

[Not claimed by _Frere_.]

Canning B., W., C.
The Loves of the Triangles, _continued_ 170 Gifford C.
Frere C.

[By _Canning_, _Ellis_, and _Frere_.]

A Consolatory Address to his Gun-Boats. By 182 Lord Morpeth, B.
Citizen Muskein

Canning, B., C.
Elegy on the Death of Jean Bon St. André 185 Gifford, C.
Frere, C.

[By _Canning_, _Ellis_, and _Frere_.]

Frere, C.
Ode to my Country, MDCCXCVIII 193 B. B., C.
Hammond, B.

[This is not claimed by _Frere_.]

Ode to the Director Merlin 199 Lord Morpeth, B.

Frere, C.
The Rovers; or, the Double Arrangement 205 Gifford, C.
G. Ellis, C.
Canning B., C.

[Act 1, Sc. 1 and 2, by _Frere_—Song by _Canning_ and _Ellis_; Act 2,
Sc. 1 and 3, and Act 3, by _Canning_; Act 2, Sc. 2, and Act 4, by
_Frere_. The preliminary prose by _Frere_ and _Canning_.]

Frere B., C.
The Rovers; or, the Double Arrangement, 224 Gifford C.
_continued_ Ellis, C.
Canning, C.

An Affectionate Effusion of Citizen Muskein 236 Lord Morpeth, B.
to Havre-de-Grace

Translation of a Letter from Gifford, C., B.
Bawba-dara-adul-phoola, to 242 Ellis, C., B.
Neek-awl-aretchid-kooez Canning, C., B.
Frere, C., B.

[By _Canning_, _Ellis_, and _Frere_.]

[_Buonaparte’s Letter to the Commandant at 248
Zante_]

Ode to a Jacobin 251

Ballynahinch; A New Song 255 Canning, C.

De Navali Laude Britanniæ 257 Canning, B.

[Translation of the above 260 The late A. F.
Westmacott.]

[_Valedictory Address_] 263

Canning, B. C.
New Morality 271 Frere, C.
Gifford, C.
G. Ellis, C.

LINE.

1 From Mental Mists Frere, W.

15 Yet venial Vices, &c. Canning, W.

Bethink thee, Gifford, &c. These lines were
29 written by CANNING some years before he had
any personal acquaintance with GIFFORD.

71 Awake! for shame! Canning, W.

158 Fond Hope! Frere, W.

168 Such is the liberal Justice Canning, W.

Frere, W.
249 O! Nurse of Crimes! Canning, W.
G. Ellis, W.

261 See Louvet Canning, W.

287 But hold, severer Virtue Frere, W.
Canning, W.

Frere, W.
302 To thee proud Barras bows Canning, W.
Ellis, W.

318 Ere long, perhaps Gifford, W.
Ellis, W.

328 Couriers and Stars Frere, W.
Canning, W.

356 Britain, beware Canning, W.

372 So thine own Oak attributed to W.
Pitt.

“WRIGHT, the publisher of the _Anti-Jacobin_, lived at 169, Piccadilly, and his shop was the general morning resort of the friends of the ministry, as DEBRETT’S was of the oppositionists. About the time when the _Anti-Jacobin_ was contemplated, OWEN, who had been the publisher of BURKE’S pamphlets, failed. The editors of the _Anti-Jacobin_ took his house, paying the rent, taxes, &c., and gave it up to WRIGHT, reserving to themselves the first floor, to which a communication was opened through WRIGHT’S house. Being thus enabled to pass to their own rooms through WRIGHT’S shop, where their frequent visits did not excite any remarks, they contrived to escape particular observation.”

“Their meetings were most regular on Sundays, but they not unfrequently met on other days of the week, and in their rooms were chiefly written the poetical portions of the work. What was written was generally left open upon the table, and as others of the party dropped in, hints or suggestions were made; sometimes whole passages were contributed by some of the parties present, and afterwards altered by others, so that it is almost impossible to ascertain the names of the authors. Where, in the above notes, a piece is ascribed to different authors, the conflicting statements may arise from incorrect information, but sometimes they arise from the whole authorship being assigned to one person, when, in fact, both may have contributed. If we look at the references, 167, 185, we shall see CANNING naming several authors, whereas LORD BURGHERSH assigns all to one author. CANNING’S authority is here more to be relied upon. _New Morality_ CANNING assigns generally to the four contributors. WRIGHT has given some interesting particulars by appropriating to each his peculiar portion.”

“GIFFORD was the working editor, and wrote most of the refutations and corrections of the _Lies_, _Mistakes_, and _Misrepresentations_.”

“The papers on finance were chiefly by PITT: the first column was frequently kept for what he might send; but his contributions were uncertain, and generally very late, so that the space reserved for him was sometimes filled up by other matter. He only once met the editors at WRIGHT’S.”

“W. UPCOTT, who was at the time assistant in WRIGHT’S shop, was employed as amanuensis, to copy out for the printer the various contributions, that the author’s handwriting might not be detected.”—_E. Hawkins._

“THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE CANNING AS A MAN OF LETTERS.”

[The following is part of a review, under the above title, of the present editor’s previous edition of _The Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin_, and appeared in _The Edinburgh Review_ of July, 1858. It is reprinted in the _Biographical and Critical Essays_ of A. HAYWARD, Esq., Q.C., 2 vols., 8vo., 1873. It is introduced here as throwing some additional light on the _Writers of the various pieces_.]

“... We can hardly say of CANNING’S satire what was said of SHERIDAN’S, that—

“‘His wit in the combat, as gentle as bright,
Never carried a heart-stain away on its blade’.

But its severity was redeemed by its buoyancy and geniality, whilst the subjects against which it was principally aimed gave it a healthy tone and a sound foundation. Its happiest effusions will be found in _The Anti-Jacobin_, set on foot to refute or ridicule the democratic rulers of revolutionary France and their admirers or apologists in England, who, it must be owned, were occasionally hurried into a culpable degree of extravagance and laxity by their enthusiasm....”

“We learn from MR. EDMONDS that almost all his authorities practically resolve themselves into one, the late MR. W. UPCOTT, and that he never saw either of the alleged copies on which his informant relied. As regards the principal one, CANNING’S own, after the fullest inquiries amongst his surviving relatives and friends, we cannot discover a trace of its existence at any period. LORD BURGHERSH (the late EARL OF WESTMORELAND) was under fourteen years of age during the publication of _The Anti-Jacobin_; and we very much doubt whether either the publisher or the amanuensis (be he who he may) was admitted to the complete confidence of the contributors, or whether either the prose or poetry was composed as stated. In a letter to the late MADAME DE GIRARDIN, _à propos_ of her play, _L’École des Journalistes_, JULES JANIN happily exposes the assumption that good leading articles ever were, or ever could be, produced over punch and broiled bones, amidst intoxication and revelry. Equally untenable is the belief that poetical pieces, like the best of _The Anti-Jacobin_, were written in the common rooms of the confraternity, open to constant intrusion, and left upon the table to be corrected or completed by the first comer. The unity of design discernible in each, the glowing harmony of the thoughts and images, and the exquisite finish of the versification, tell of silent and solitary hours spent in brooding over, maturing, and polishing a cherished conception; and young authors, still unknown to fame, are least of all likely to sink their individuality in this fashion. We suspect that their main object in going to WRIGHT’S was to correct their proofs and see one another’s articles in the more finished state. Their meetings, if for these purposes, would be most regular on Sundays, because the paper appeared every Monday morning. The extent to which they aided one another may be collected from a well-authenticated anecdote. When FRERE had completed the first part of _The Loves of the Triangles_, he exultingly read over the following lines to CANNING, and defied him to improve upon them:—

“‘Lo, where the chimney’s sooty tube ascends,
The fair TROCHAIS from the corner bends!
Her coal-black eyes upturned, incessant mark
The eddying smoke, quick flame, and volant spark;
Mark with quick ken, where flashing in between,
Her much-loved _Smoke-Jack_ glimmers through the scene;
Mark, how his various parts together tend,
Point to one purpose,—in one object end;
The spiral grooves in smooth meanders flow,
Drags the long chain, the polished axles glow,
While slowly circumvolves the piece of beef below:’

“CANNING took the pen and added—

“‘The conscious fire with bickering radiance burns,
Eyes the rich joint, and roasts it as it turns’.

“These two lines are now blended with the original text, and constitute, we are informed on the best authority, the only flaw in FRERE’S title to the sole authorship of the First Part. The Second and Third Parts were by CANNING.

“By the kindness of [the late] LORD HATHERTON, we have now before us a bound volume containing all the numbers of _The Anti-Jacobin_ as they originally appeared, eight pages quarto, with double columns, price sixpence. On the fly-leaf is inscribed: ‘This copy belonged to the Marquess Wellesley, and was purchased at the sale of his library after his death, January, 1842. H.’ On the cover is pasted an engraved label of the arms and name of a former proprietor, CHARLES WILLIAM FLINT, with the pencilled addition of ‘Confidential Amanuensis’. In this copy CANNING’S name is subscribed to (amongst others) the following pieces, which are also assigned to him (along with a large share in the most popular of the rest) by the most trustworthy rumours and traditions:—_Inscription for the Door of the Cell in Newgate where Mrs. Brownrigg, the Prenticide, was confined previous to her execution; The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder_; the lines addressed _To the Author of the Epistle to the Editors of The Anti-Jacobin_; _The Progress of Man_ (all three parts); and _New Morality_.[1]

“With the single exception of _The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder_, no piece in the collection is more freshly remembered than the _Inscription for the Cell of Mrs. Brownrigg_, who

“‘Whipp’d two female ’prentices to death,
And hid them in the coal-hole’.

“The Answer to _The Author of the Epistle to the Editors of The Anti-Jacobin_ is less known, and it derives a fresh interest from the fact, recently [_c._ 1854] made public, that _The Epistle_ (which appeared in _The Morning Chronicle_ of January 17, 1798) was the composition of WILLIAM LORD MELBOURNE. The beginning shows that the veil of incognito had been already penetrated.

“‘Whoe’er ye are, all hail!—whether the skill
Of youthful CANNING guides the ranc’rous quill;
With powers mechanic far above his age,
Adapts the paragraph and fills the page;
Measures the column, mends whate’er’s amiss,
Rejects THAT letter, and accepts of THIS;
Or HAMMOND, leaving his official toil,
O’er this great work consume the midnight oil—
Bills, passports, letters, for the Muses quit,
And change dull business for amusing wit.’

“After referring to ‘the poetic sage, who sung of Gallia in a headlong rage,’ _The Epistle_ proceeds:—

“‘I swear by all the youths that MALMESBURY chose,[2]
By ELLIS’ sapient prominence of nose—
By MORPETH’S gait, important, proud and big—
_By Leveson Gower’s crop-imitating wig_,
That, could the pow’rs which in those numbers shine,
Could that warm spirit animate my line,
Your glorious deeds which humbly I rehearse—
Your deeds should live immortal as my verse;
And, while they wonder’d whence I caught my flame,
Your sons should blush to read their fathers’ shame’.

“Happily the eminent and accomplished sons of these fathers will smile, rather than blush, at this allusion to their sires, and smile the more when they remember from which side the attack proceeded. It is clear from the Answer, that, whilst the band were not a little ruffled, they had not the remotest suspicion that their assailant was a youth in his nineteenth year. Amongst other prefatory remarks they say:—

“‘We assure the author of the epistle, that the answer which we have here the honour to address to him, contains our genuine and undisguised sentiments upon the merits of the poem.

“‘Our conjectures respecting the authors and abettors of this performance may possibly be as vague and unfounded as theirs are with regard to the EDITORS of _The Anti-Jacobin_. We are sorry that we cannot satisfy their curiosity upon this subject—but we have little anxiety for the gratification of our own.

“‘It is only necessary to add, what is most conscientiously the truth, that this production, such as it is, is _by far the best_ of all the attacks that the combined wits of the cause have been able to muster against _The Anti-Jacobin_.’

“The Answer opens thus:—

“‘BARD of the borrow’d lyre! to whom belong
The shreds and remnants of each hackney’d song;
Whose verse thy friends in vain for wit explore,
And count but _one good line_, in eighty-four!
Whoe’er thou art, all hail! Thy bitter smile
Gilds our dull page, and cheers our humble toil!’

“The ‘one good line’ was ‘By Leveson Gower’s crop-imitating wig,’ but the Epistle contains many equally good and some better. The speculations as to its authorship afforded no slight amusement to the writer and his friends....

“_New Morality_ is commonly regarded as the master-piece of _The Anti-Jacobin_; and, with the exception of a few lines, the whole of it is by CANNING. It appeared in the last number, and he is said to have concentrated all his energies for a parting blow. The reader who comes fresh from DRYDEN or POPE, or even CHURCHILL, will be disappointed on finding far less variety of images, sparkling antithesis, or condensed brilliancy of expression. The author exhibits abundant humour and eloquence, but comparatively little wit; _i.e._, if there be any truth in SYDNEY SMITH’S doctrine ‘that the feeling of wit is occasioned by those relations of ideas which excite surprise, and surprise _alone_’. We are commonly prepared for what is coming, and our admiration is excited rather by the justness of the observations, the elevation of the thoughts, and the vigour of the style, than by a startling succession of flashes of fancy. If, as we believe, the same might be said of JUVENAL, and the best of his English imitators, JOHNSON, we leave ample scope for praise; and _New Morality_ contains passages which have been preserved to our time and bid fair to reach posterity. How often are the lines on _Candour_ quoted in entire ignorance or forgetfulness of their author....

“The drama of _The Rovers_, or _Double Arrangement_, was written to ridicule the German Drama, then hardly known in this country, except through the medium of bad translations of some of the least meritorious of SCHILLER’S, GOETHE’S, and KOTZEBUE’S productions. The parody is now principally remembered by Rogero’s song, of which, Mr. Edmonds states, the first five stanzas were by CANNING. “Having been accidentally seen, previously to its publication, by PITT, he was so amused with it that he took a pen and composed the last stanza on the spot....”

“CANNING’S reputed share in _The Rovers_ excited the unreasoning indignation, and provoked the exaggerated censure, of a man who has obtained a world-wide reputation by his historical researches, most especially by his skill in separating the true from the fabulous, and in filling up chasms in national annals by a process near akin to that by which CUVIER inferred the entire form and structure of an extinct species from a bone. The following passage is taken from NIEBUHR’S _History of the Period of the Revolution_ (published from his Lectures, in two volumes, in 1845):—

“‘CANNING was at that time (1807) at the head of foreign affairs in England. History will not form the same judgment of him as that formed by contemporaries. He had great talents, but was not a great Statesman; he was one of those persons who distinguish themselves as the squires of political heroes. He was highly accomplished in the two classical languages, but without being a learned scholar. He was especially conversant with Greek writers. He had likewise poetical talent, but only for Satire. At first he had joined the leaders of opposition against PITT’S ministry: LORD GREY, who perceived his ambition, advised him, half in joke, to join the ministers, as he would make his fortune. He did so, and was employed to write articles for the newspapers and satirical verses, which were often directed against his former benefactors.

“‘Through the influence of the ministers he came into Parliament. So long as the great eloquence of former times lasted, and the great men were alive, his talent was admired; but older persons had no great pleasure in his petulant, epigrammatic eloquence and his jokes, which were often in bad taste. He joined the Society of the Anti-Jacobins, which defended everything connected with existing institutions. This society published a journal, in which the most honoured names of foreign countries were attacked in the most scandalous manner. German literature was at that time little known in England, and it was associated there with the ideas of Jacobinism and revolution. CANNING then published in _The Anti-Jacobin_ the most shameful pasquinade which was ever written against Germany, under the title of _Matilda Pottingen_. Göttingen is described in it as the sink of all infamy; professors and students as a gang of miscreants; licentiousness, incest, and atheism as the character of the German people. Such was CANNING’S beginning: he was at all events useful, a sort of political Cossack’ (_Geschichte des Zeitalters der Revolution_, vol. ii., p. 242).

“‘Here am I,’ exclaimed RALEIGH, after vainly trying to get at the rights of a squabble in the courtyard of the Tower, ‘employed in writing a true history of the world, when I cannot ascertain the truth of what happens under my own window.’ Here is the great restorer of Roman history—who, by the way, prided himself on his knowledge of England—hurried into the strangest misconception of contemporary events and personages, and giving vent to a series of depreciatory misstatements, without pausing to verify the assumed groundwork of his patriotic wrath. His description of ‘the most shameful pasquinade,’ and his ignorance of the very title, prove that he had never seen it. If he had, he would also have known that the scene is laid at Weimar, not at Göttingen, and that the satire is almost exclusively directed against a portion of the dramatic literature of his country, which all rational admirers must admit to be indefensible. The scene in _The Rovers_, in which the rival heroines, meeting for the first time at an inn, swear eternal friendship and embrace, is positively a feeble reflection of a scene in GOETHE’S _Stella_; and no anachronism can exceed that in SCHILLER’S _Cabal und Liebe_, when Lady Milford, after declaring herself the daughter of the Duke of Norfolk who rebelled against Queen Elizabeth, is horrified on finding that the jewels sent her by the Grand Duke have been purchased by the sale of 7000 of his subjects to be employed in the American war.[3]

“Amongst the prose contributions to _The Anti-Jacobin_, there is one in which, independently of direct evidence, the peculiar humour of CANNING is discernible,—the pretended report of the meeting of the Friends of Freedom at the Crown and Anchor Tavern.[4] The plan was evidently suggested by TICKELL’S _Anticipation_, in which the debate on the Address at the opening of the Session was reported beforehand with such surprising foresight, that some of the speakers, who were thus forestalled, declined to deliver their meditated orations.

“At the meeting of the Friends of Freedom, ERSKINE, whose habitual egotism could hardly be caricatured, is made to perorate as follows, &c.... A long speech is given to MACKINTOSH, who, under the name of _Macfungus_, after a fervid sketch of the Temple of Freedom which he proposes to construct on the ruins of ancient establishments, proceeds with kindling animation, &c....[5]

“The wit and fun of these imitations are undeniable, and their injustice is equally so. ERSKINE, with all his egotism, was, and remains, the greatest of English advocates. He stemmed and turned the tide which threatened to sweep away the most valued of our free institutions in 1794; and (we say with LORD BROUGHAM) ‘Before such a precious service as this, well may the lustre of statesmen and orators grow pale’. MACKINTOSH was pre-eminently distinguished by the comprehensiveness and moderation of his views; nor could any man be less disposed by temper, habits, or pursuits towards revolutionary courses. His lectures on _The Law of Nature and Nations_ were especially directed against the new morality in general, and GODWIN’S _Political Justice_ in particular.

“At a long subsequent period (1807) CANNING, when attacked in Parliament for his share in _The Anti-Jacobin_, declared that ‘he felt no shame for its character or principles, nor any other sorrow for the share he had had in it than that which the imperfection of his pieces was calculated to inspire’. Still, it is one of the inevitable inconveniences of a connection with the Press that the best known writers should be made answerable for the errors of their associates; and the license of _The Anti-Jacobin_ gave serious and well-founded offence to many who shared its opinions and wished well to its professed object. In WILBERFORCE’S _Diary_ for May 18, 1799, we find ‘PITT, CANNING, and PEPPER ARDEN came in late to dinner. I attacked CANNING on indecency of _Anti-Jacobin_.’ COLERIDGE, in his _Biographia Literaria_, complains bitterly of the calumnious accounts given by _The Anti-Jacobin_ of his early life, and asks with reason, ‘Is it surprising that many good men remained longer than perhaps they otherwise would have done adverse to a party which encouraged and openly rewarded the authors of such atrocious calumnies?’

“Mr. Edmonds says that PITT got frightened, and that the publication was discontinued at the suggestion of the Prime Minister. It is not unlikely that CANNING, now a member of the House of Commons and Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, found his connection with it embarrassing, as his hopes rose and his political prospects expanded. Indeed, it may be questioned whether a Parliamentary career can ever be united with that of the daily or weekly journalist without compromising one or both. At all events, the original _Anti-Jacobin_ closed with the number containing _New Morality_, and CANNING had nothing to do with the _monthly review_ started under the same name.”

THE _ANTI-JACOBIN_ AS AN AID TO GOVERNMENT.

[Considering _The Anti-Jacobin_ from a national as well as a
literary point of view, we cannot do better than use a portion of an
Essay on English Political Satires by the late JAS. HANNAY, in the
_Quarterly Review_, April, 1857.]

“... In the case of _The Anti-Jacobin_, what are we to say? A hundred opinions may be adopted respecting the French Revolution. Some hate it with unmitigated hatred. Some regret it, but accept its consequences as beneficial to mankind on the whole. Some cherish its memory as a new political revelation of which they hope to see still further results. But a candid man of any of these persuasions must remember that the aim of _The Anti-Jacobin_ was to keep _Britain_ from revolution during 1797–8. It was therefore necessary to fight as our soldiers afterwards did in Spain—to wage such a _literary_ war as suited the agitated spirit of Europe. While we blame CANNING, therefore, for speaking as he did of MADAME ROLAND, we must not forget the indecorum of her Memoirs, or that it was from persons of her party that vile aspersions were cast upon the character of MARIE ANTOINETTE. There were men quite ready to begin the same work over here that had been done in France, and that in a spirit of vulgar imitation, and under quite different circumstances. They had to be shot down like mad dogs; for a cur, though contemptible in ordinary cases, becomes tragic when he has hydrophobia.

“For _The Anti-Jacobin_ must be claimed an honour which can be claimed for scarce one of the works we have passed under review. Let us waive the question how much we may have owed it for helping to inspire that unity and stout insular self-confidence which carried us through the great war,—whole within and impervious without. Let us consider it only in a literary point of view, and we shall find it enjoying the rare distinction that its best Satires live in real popular remembrance. The _Knife-Grinder_, with his

“‘_Story! God bless you, I have none to tell, sir_,’

is almost as widely known as our nursery rhymes.

“But if _The Anti-Jacobin_ excels all similar works in popularity, and in the eminence of its contributors, it also excels them in another important particular. It contains on the whole a greater number of really good things than any one of them. The _Loves of the Triangles_, in which,

“‘Th’ obedient Pulley strong Mechanics ply,
And wanton Optics roll the melting eye!’

is an irresistible parody, and likely to keep the original of Darwin [_Loves of the Plants_] in remembrance. Gray’s Odes have survived the burlesques of Colman; and the _Country and City Mouse_ of Prior and Montague is neglected by nine-tenths of those who read with admiration the _Hind and the Panther_. But Darwin’s case is peculiar. Other poems live in spite of ridicule; and his _Loves of the Plants_ in consequence of it. The Attic salt of his enemies has preserved his reputation.

“There is always a purpose in _The Anti-Jacobin’s_ view something more important than the mere persiflage that teases individuals. Like the blade of Damascus, which has a verse of the Koran engraved on it, its fine wit glitters terribly in the cause of sacred tradition.”

DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.

THE GIANT FACTOTUM AMUSING HIMSELF. (FRONTISPIECE.)

PITT, with his right hand is playing at cup and
ball; the latter being a globe to denote his
influence over foreign countries as well as at home.
His right foot is supported by DUNDAS and
WILBERFORCE, and is extended to be submissively
kissed by his ministerial followers, foremost of
whom is CANNING. With his left foot he has crushed
the Opposition. On the same side is a document
labelled “Resources for supporting the War,” with a
collection of coin, evidently destined for foreign
subsidies. On his right side are various official
returns of volunteers, seamen, regulars, and
militia. He is thus prepared to carry on the war
abroad, and maintain tranquillity at home.

THE FRIEND OF HUMANITY AND THE KNIFE-GRINDER. Page 23

Scene, the Borough of Southwark, with a portrait of
GEORGE TIERNEY, its able and radical representative.
Published Dec. 4, 1797, as a graphic illustration of
the Parody of Southey’s poem, _The Widow_.

LORD LONGBOW, THE ALARMIST, DISCOVERING THE MISERIES OF
IRELAND. Page 78

A characteristic portrait of the gallant and
excellent EARL OF MOIRA, afterwards MARQUIS OF
HASTINGS, and Governor-General of India. The
engraving is in ridicule of his complaint, in the
House of Lords, of the cruelties exercised by the
Government troops on the Irish Rebels. In the
distance is seen Moll Coggin, an Irish witch,
mounted on a black Ram with a blue tail, and on the
hill an Oak-boy, carrying an uprooted oak, on the
branches of which are numerous swans—in allusion to
the unfounded nature of his charges.

THE LOYAL TOAST. Page 94

Representing the DUKE OF NORFOLK giving at a dinner
at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in honour of the
birth-day of FOX his famous toast, “Our Sovereign’s
Health—The Majesty of the People”. On the left is
JOHN NICHOLLS, Member for Tregony; next to him is
the DUKE OF BEDFORD; on the other side of the table
are SHERIDAN and FOX.

DESIGN FOR THE NEW GALLERY OF BUSTS AND PICTURES. Page 99

The statue of FOX was placed between those of
Demosthenes and Cicero, by the EMPRESS CATHERINE OF
RUSSIA, as a compliment to him for having
successfully opposed the sending of the armament
prepared by PITT, in conjunction with Prussia and
Holland, to compel her to give up Ockzakow which she
had seized. As this caricature, including the
verses, was originally published in March, 1793, the
latter in _The Anti-Jacobin_ must have been
suggested by them.

THE REPUBLICAN RATTLESNAKE FASCINATING THE BEDFORD
SQUIRREL. Page 285

In allusion to the influence exercised by FOX over
FRANCIS, fifth DUKE OF BEDFORD, who had become one
of the most zealous of the popular party.

PROSPECTUS
OF
THE ANTI-JACOBIN;
OR,
WEEKLY EXAMINER,

The FIRST NUMBER of which will be published on MONDAY, the 20th of
NOVEMBER, 1797, to be continued every Monday during the sitting of
Parliament. Price 6d.

——_Possit quid vivida virtus
Experiare, licet: nec longe scilicet hostes
Quærendi._

At a moment, when whatever may be the habits of inquiry and the anxiety for information upon subjects of public concern diffused among all ranks of people, the vehicles of intelligence are already multiplied in a proportion nearly equal to this encreased demand, and to the encreased importance and variety of matter, some apology may perhaps be necessary for the obtrusion of a new Paper upon the World; and some account may reasonably be expected of the views and principles on which it founds its pretensions to notice, before it can hope to make its way through the crowd of competitors which have gotten the start of it in the race for public favour.

[As this _Prospectus_ was written by MR. CANNING, and it has been
prefixed only to the former edition of the _Poetry_ by the present
Editor, it is again considered an interesting addition to the
present one.]

The grounds upon which such pretensions have usually been rested by those who have engaged in undertakings of this kind, are accuracy, variety, and priority of Intelligence, connections at home, correspondence abroad, and, above all, a profession of impartial and unprejudiced attention to all opinions, and to all parties and descriptions of men.

On none of these Topicks is it Our intention to enlarge.

Of Our means of information, and of the use which We make of them, our readers will, after a very short trial, be enabled to form their own opinion. And to that trial We confidently commit ourselves: professing, however, at the same time, that if the only advantage which We were desirous of holding out to our Readers, were that of having it in our power to apprize them an hour or a day sooner than those Journals, which are already in their hands, of any event however important—We should bring to the undertaking much less anxiety for success, and should state our claims on public attention with much less boldness, than We are disposed to do in the consciousness of higher purposes, and more beneficial views.

Novelty indeed We have to announce. For what so new in the present state of the daily and weekly PRESS (We speak generally, though there are undoubtedly exceptions which we may have occasion to point out hereafter) as THE TRUTH? To this object alone it is that Our labours are dedicated. It is the constant violation, the disguise, the perversion of the Truth, whether in narrative or in argument, that will form the principal subject of our WEEKLY EXAMINATION: and it is by a diligent and faithful discharge of this duty—by detecting falsehood, and rectifying error, by correcting misrepresentation, and exposing and chastising malignity—that We hope to deserve the reception which We solicit, and to obtain not only the approbation of the Country to our attempt, but its thanks for the motives which have given birth to it.

These are strong words. But We are conscious of intending in earnest what they profess. How far the execution of our purpose may correspond with the design, it is for others to determine. It is ours to state that design fairly, and in the spirit in which we conceive it.

Of the utility of such a purpose, if even tolerably executed, there can be little doubt, among those persons (a very large part of the community) who must have found themselves, during the course of the last few years, perplexed by the multiplicity of contradictory accounts of almost every material event that has occurred in that eventful and tremendous period; and who must anxiously have wished for some public channel of information on which they could confidently rely for forming their opinion.

But before We can expect sufficient credit from persons of this description, to enable us to supply such a defect, and to assume an office so important, it is natural that they should require some profession of our principles as well as of our purposes; in order that they may judge not only of our ability to communicate the information which We promise, but of our intention to inform them aright.

To that freedom from _partiality_ and _prejudice_, of which We have spoken above, by the profession of which so many of our Contemporaries recommend themselves, We make little pretension—at least in the sense in which those terms appear now too often to be used.

We have not arrived (to our shame perhaps we avow it) at that wild and unshackled freedom of thought, which rejects all habit, all wisdom of former times, all restraints of ancient usage, and of local attachment; and which judges upon each subject, whether of politicks or morals, as it arises, by lights entirely its own, without reference to recognized principle, or established practice.

We confess, whatever disgrace may attend such a confession, that We have not so far gotten the better of the influence of long habits and early education, not so far imbibed that spirit of liberal indifference, of diffused and comprehensive philanthropy, which distinguishes the candid character of the present age, but that We have our feelings, our preferences, and our affections, attaching on particular places, manners, and institutions, and even on particular portions of the human race.

It may be thought a narrow and illiberal distinction—but We avow ourselves to be _partial_ to the COUNTRY _in which we live_, notwithstanding the daily panegyricks which we read and hear on the superior virtues and endowments of its rival and hostile neighbours. We are _prejudiced_ in favour of _her_ Establishments, civil and religious; though without claiming for either that ideal perfection, which modern philosophy professes to discover in the other more luminous systems which are arising on all sides of us.

The safety and prosperity of _these kingdoms_, however unimportant they may seem in abstract contemplation when compared with the more extensive, more beautiful, and more productive parts of the world, do yet excite in our minds a peculiar interest and anxiety; and will probably continue to occupy a share of our attention by no means justified by the proportional consequence which speculative reasoners may think proper to assign to them in the scale of the universe.

We should be averse to hazarding the smallest part of the practical happiness of _this Country_; though the sacrifice should be recommended as necessary for accomplishing throughout the world an uniform and beautiful system of theoretical liberty: and We should at all times exert our best endeavours for upholding its constitution, even with all the human imperfections which may belong to it, though We were assured that on its ruins might be erected the only pillar that is yet wanting to complete the “_most glorious fabrick which the Integrity and Wisdom of man have raised since the Creation_”.

If, as Philosopher MONGE[6] avers, in his eloquent and instructive address to the Directory, “_The Government of England and the French Republick cannot exist together_,” We do not hesitate in our choice; though well aware that in that choice we may be much liable, in the opinion of many critics of the present day, to the imputation of a want of candour or of discernment.

Admirers of military heroism, and dazzled by military success in common with other men, We are yet even _here_ conscious of some qualification and distinction in our feelings: We acknowledge ourselves apt to look with more complacency on bravery and skill, when displayed in the service of our Country, than when We see them directed against its interests or its safety; and, however equal the claims to admiration in either case may be, We feel our hearts grow warmer at the recital of what has been atchieved by HOWE, by JERVIS, or by DUNCAN, than at the “_glorious victory of Jemappe_,” or “_the immortal battle of the bridge of Lodi_”.

In MORALS We are equally old-fashioned. We have not yet learned the modern refinement of referring in all considerations upon human conduct, not to any settled and preconceived principles of right and wrong, not to any general and fundamental rules which experience, and wisdom, and justice, and the common consent of mankind have established, but to the internal admonitions of every man’s judgment or conscience in his own particular instance.

We do not dissemble,—that We reverence LAW,—We acknowledge USAGE,—We look even upon PRESCRIPTION without hatred or horror. And we do not think these, or any of them, less safe guides for the moral actions of men, than that new and liberal system of ETHICS, whose operation is not to bind but to loosen the bands of social order; whose doctrine is formed not on a system of reciprocal duties, but on the supposition of individual, independent, and unconnected rights; which teaches that all men are pretty equally honest, but that some have different notions of honesty from others, and that the most received notions are for the greater part the most faulty.

We do not subscribe to the opinion, that a sincere conviction of the truth of no matter what principle, is a sufficient defence for no matter what action; and that the only business of moral enquiry with human conduct is to ascertain that in each case the principle and the action agree. We have not yet persuaded ourselves to think it a sound, or a safe doctrine, that every man who can divest himself of a moral sense in theory, has a right to be with impunity and without disguise a scoundrel in practice. It is not in our creed, that ATHEISM is as good a faith as CHRISTIANITY, provided it be professed with equal sincerity; nor could We admit it as an excuse for MURDER, that the murderer was in his own mind conscientiously persuaded that the murdered might for many good reasons be better out of the way.

Of all these and the like principles, in one word, of JACOBINISM in all its shapes, and in all its degrees, political and moral, public and private, whether as it openly threatens the subversion of States, or gradually saps the foundations of domestic happiness, We are the avowed, determined, and irreconcileable enemies. We have no desire to divest ourselves of these inveterate prejudices; but shall remain stubborn and incorrigible in resisting every attempt which may be made either by argument or (what is more in the charitable spirit of modern reformers) by force, to convert us to a different opinion.

It remains only to speak of the details of our PLAN.

It is our intention to publish Weekly, during the Session of Parliament, a Paper, containing,

First, An Abstract of the important events of the week, both at home and abroad.

Secondly, Such Reflections as may naturally arise out of them: and,

Thirdly, A contradiction and confutation of the falsehoods and misrepresentations concerning these events, their causes, and their consequences, which may be found in the Papers devoted to the cause of SEDITION and IRRELIGION, to the pay or principles of FRANCE.

This last, as it is by far the most important, will in all probability be the most copious of the three heads; and is that to which, above all others, We wish to direct the attention of our Readers.

We propose diligently to collect, as far as the range of our own daily reading will enable us, and We promise willingly to receive, from whatever quarter they may come, the several articles of this kind which require to be thus contradicted or confuted; which will naturally divide themselves into different classes, according to their different degrees of stupidity or malignity.

There are, for instance (to begin with those of the highest order), the LIES of the Week; the downright, direct, unblushing falsehoods, which have no colour or foundation whatever, and which must at the very moment of their being written, have been known to the writer to be wholly destitute of truth.

Next in rank come MISREPRESENTATIONS which, taking for their groundwork facts in substance true, do so colour and distort them in description, as to take away all semblance of their real nature and character.

Lastly, The most venial, though by no means the least mischievous class, are MISTAKES; under which description are included all those Hints, Conjectures, and Apprehensions, those Anticipations of Sorrow and Deprecations of Calamity, in which Writers who labour under too great an anxiety for the Public Welfare are apt to indulge; and which, when falsified by the event, they are generally too much occupied to find leisure to retract or disavow:—A trouble which We shall have great pleasure in taking off these Gentlemen’s hands.

To each of these several articles We shall carefully affix the name and date of the Publication from which We may take the liberty of borrowing it.

With regard to the PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT, We shall not fail to mark to Our Readers the progress of the public business; though it does not enter into our Plan to give a regular detail of the Debates: nor would the limits of our Paper allow of it.

We have a further reason for not occupying this province, which will equally account for our determination, not to receive Advertisements—our earnest desire not to lessen the circulation of any existing Public Print.

It is obvious upon every ground of fairness and of policy, that We must entertain this desire very strongly with regard to the respectable Papers which are directed by principles and attachments like our own: an attachment (We have no wish to disguise it) to the cause of a GOVERNMENT, with whose support, whose popularity and consequent means of exertion, the circumstances of the present times have essentially connected the existence of THIS COUNTRY as an independent Nation.

As little should we wish to circumscribe the sale of those JOURNALS, upon whose errors or perverseness, upon whose false statements and pernicious doctrines We reckon for the main support, as they have been the principal cause of our undertaking. These We would entreat to proceed with fresh vigour and increased activity. It is our wish to be seen together, and to be compared with them. Every week of misrepresentation will be followed by its weekly comment; and with this corrective faithfully administered, the longest course of MORNING CHRONICLES or MORNING POSTS, of STARS or COURIERS, may become not only innocent but beneficial.

With these views then We commence our undertaking. Whatever may be the success or the merit of its execution in our hands, the want of something like it has so long been felt and deplored by all thinking and honest men, that We cannot doubt of the approbation and encouragement with which the attempt will be received.

We claim the support, and We invite the assistance, of ALL, who think with US that the circumstances and character of the age in which We live require every exertion of every man, who loves his COUNTRY in the old way, in which till of late years the LOVE of one’s COUNTRY was professed by most men, and by none disclaimed or reviled; of ALL who think that the PRESS has been long enough employed principally as an engine of destruction, and who wish to see the experiment fairly tried whether that engine, by which many of the States which surround us have been overthrown, and others shaken to their foundations, may not be turned into an instrument of defence for the one remaining COUNTRY which has ESTABLISHMENTS to protect, and a GOVERNMENT with the spirit, and the power, and the wisdom to protect them; of ALL who look with respect to public honour, and with attachment to the decencies of private life; of ALL who have so little deference for the arrogant intolerance of JACOBINISM as still to contemplate the OFFICE and the PERSON of a KING with veneration, and to speak reverently of RELIGION, without apologizing for the singularity of their opinions; of ALL who think the blessings which we enjoy valuable, and who think them in danger; and who, while they detest and despise the principles and the professors of that NEW FAITH by which the foundations of all those blessings are threatened to be undermined, lament the lukewarmness with which its propagation has hitherto been resisted, and are anxious, while there is yet time, to make every effort in the cause of their COUNTRY.

* * * * *

Published by J. WRIGHT, No. 169, opposite Old Bond Street,
Piccadilly: by whom Orders for the Papers, and all Communications of
Correspondents, addressed to the Editor of the ANTI-JACOBIN, or
WEEKLY EXAMINER, will be received. Sold also by all the Booksellers
and Newsmen in Town and Country.

POETRY

OF

THE ANTI-JACOBIN.

No. I.