1

When Trotter shall the prince of lies outfib,
And Spencer Perceval shall challenge Cribb;
An eagle you, from your own wing your pen
You draw-then bravely challenge a poor wren !

RICHARD.

Nay, Thomas, sure this flattery's unfit,
Or wish you irony to pass for wit?

moved on the change of Government in the spring of 1783, and reappointed under Pitt in the December following. In this year he also obtained a reversionary grant of the office of Clerk of Parliament. In 1784, he was elected M.P. for Launceston, and in 1788 he vacated that seat, on succeeding to the above-mentioned office, and was returned M.P. for Lymington. In 1790, he sat for Christchurch. In 1801, he resigned his Secretaryship of the Treasury, and in 1804, on Mr. Pitt's return to power, was appointed Joint Paymaster-General of the Forces, and Vice-President of the Committee of Privy-Council for the Affairs of Trade, which he retained till the death of that Minister. In 1807, under the Duke of Portland, he was appointed Treasurer of the Navy, and re-appointed Vice-President of the Board of Trade. He was likewise a Privy-Councillor, Trustee of the British and Hunterian Museums, an Elder Brother of the Trinity House, Deputy Warden of the New Forest, and one of the Verderers of the same. Under these circumstances it is wonderful the Honourable Gentleman did not "demand repose." Sir George Rose died at his seat, Cuffnells, near Lyndhurst, on the 13th of January 1818, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.

1 John Barnard Trotter, Esq., Private Secretary to C. J. Fox, of whose life and career he published a very strange account. This work drew forth some strong animadversions from different writers, and among the rest, Dr. Moseley, who decidedly contradicted the author with respect to the medical treatment of the illustrious statesman. It is probably to Mr. Trotter's book that Sheridan alludes, and to the proverbial saying, "He lies like the d―l."

2 A specimen of Sheridan's drollery; for this unfortunate gentleman was particularly thin, and slightly formed, and not exactly the person who might be expected to throw down his glove to the Champion of England.

Your simile forego,—I dared the test,

Not who was strongest, but whose muse was best;
To cover your retreat retract your theme,

Who hears an eagle's voice must hear a scream ;
Quick then, dear Tom, some new allusion bring,
Till wrens bear thunderbolts, and eagles sing.

THOMAS.

By heavens! I do my lofty spirit wrong,
To grate this jarring pipe with thee so long:
Hast thou not known me in my hour of pride,
When at the bar I led the legal tide?
Who could more surely, by each trick and fudge,
Humbug the jury, or browbeat the judge?
How many patriots 1 has my fluent tongue
Lifted to glory, who had else been hung!
While, advocating freedom's sacred cause,
I won the mob, and gain'd each jail's applause-
Proving the right of treason to upset the laws.

RICHARD.

Nay, not so warm, my dearest Thomas, pray,
I grant your merit, and grant all you say ;
Thou hast indeed saved many of the gang,
Who in return would gladly see thee hang.

THOMAS.

Richard, I scorn thy taunts and wiliest sneers;
The merit's mine, the ingratitude is theirs.
But, grant my labours no due thanks obtain❜d,
Can you forget the higher post I gain'd?
Must I remind you of the seal I bore,

1 Lord Erskine defended Lord George Gordon, Horne Tooke, Hardy, and Thelwall.

The wig and golden tassell'd robe I wore,

The flowing train behind, and broider'd purse before?
Now, by these glorious honours, which again

I surely shall possess-(though God knows when),
In verse with thee I never will contend,

Unless I choose the theme

RICHARD.

Agreed, my friend.

THOMAS.

Then will I sing to our great Master's praise.

CHAPTER XX.

A Dinner Party at Oatlands-Lord Erskine's description of it in Verse -The Company present-Colonel Armstrong-The Honourable William Spencer-Monk Lewis-Kangaroo Cooke-Lady Anne Culling Smith-Miss Fitzroy-Colonel de Lancey BarclayBrummell-Le Chevalier Cainea-Lord Erskine's Childhood-One of his Letters written from School-Goes to Sea in the " Tartar”Letter to Lord Cardcross from Jamaica.

THIS challenge of Sheridan's seems to have had its effect upon Lord Erskine on the 31st of December 1812, on which day, in compliance with the good old custom of seeing the Old year out and the New year in, a dinner party was given at Oatlands; and this he afterwards described in the following lively and agreeable manner.

LORD ERSKINE.

"The fair Princess1 sat first, far the highest in place,
But her rank in eclipse by good-nature and grace-
Her manners no court upon earth could bestow,
To the best of all hearts their perfection they owe;

1 Her Royal Highness Frederica Charlotte Ulrica Catharina, Princess Royal of Prussia, married to the Duke of York, on the 29th of September 1791, and died at Oatlands, on the 6th of August 1820, in the fifty-fourth year of her age.

And her converse, so pleasant, so keen, so refined,
No reading could give-its bright source is the mind;
Her elegant form gives a life to the whole;
Coalition complete of the body and soul.

Next, Armstrong1 was seated; on Armstrong depend,
For wit as companion, for truth as a friend;
As a man of the world he's completely at ease,
No effort he makes to amuse or to please;
Yet is sure to do both, with his manners so quiet,
Sliding in better things than many who try it.

To Armstrong next sat, my friend William Spencer ; 2
Why Spencers such poets are, I would fain ken, sir ;
I hate all monopolies-never was seen

Such a fuss as we had, with the famed 'Faerie Queen.'
Ere England had numbers, this bard took the lead,
And wrote like an angel when few men could read.
Thus centuries pass'd; and now when Old Time
Has exalted our language, and fashion'd our rhyme,
William Spencer runs in, other poets before,
To witch us as Edmund has witch'd us of yore;
And yet not content with this talent divine,
Whenever he speaks, he must sparkle and shine.

1 Lieut. Colonel James Armstrong, originally in the Tenth Foot, and subsequently in the Ceylon and 50th Regiments, was at this time an aide-de-camp of the Duke of York's. He died on the 15th of August 1828.

2 "Polished William Spencer, the Poet of society," as he was usually called, was the second son of Lord Charles Spencer, by the Honourable Mary Beauclerk, daughter of Lord Vere, and sister of Aubrey, fifth Duke of St. Albans. The first of Mr. Spencer's Poetical Works, and published in 1790, was a translation of Bürger's Leonora, embellished by his aunt Lady Diana, the wife of Topham Beauclerk, a great macaroni in his day. Subsequently to this, he wrote a Drama called Urania, or the Illuminé; it was performed at Drury Lane, with some applause, and his friend Lord John Townshend wrote the prologue. In 1811, he published a collection of Poems which were dedicated to Sarah, Lady Jersey. This accomplished gentleman, one of the most agreeable dining-out men of his day, died at Paris, on the 23rd of October 1834.