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Requires such a stimulant dose as this car is,
Us'd three times a day with young ladies in Paris.
Some Doctor, indeed, has declar'd that such grief
Should-unless 'twould to utter despairing its
folly push —

Fly to the Beaujon, and there seek relief

By rattling, as Boв says, "like shot through a holly-bush."

I must now bid adieu;—only think, DOLLY, think If this should be the King-I have scarce slept a

wink

With imagining how it will sound in the papers,

And how all the Misses my good luck will grudge, When they read that Count RUPPIN, to drive away

vapours,

Has gone down the Beaujon with Miss BIDDY Fudge.

Nota Bene.-Papa's almost certain 'tis he—
For he knows the Legitimate cut, and could see,
In the way he went poising and manag'd to tower
So erect in the car, the true Balance of Power.

LETTER VI.

FROM PHIL. FUDGE, ESQ. TO HIS BROTHER TIM

FUDGE, ESQ. BARRISTER AT LAW.

YOURS of the 12th receiv'd just now—
Thanks for the hint, my trusty brother!

'Tis truly pleasing to see how

We, FUDGES, stand by one another.
But never fear-I know my chap,
And he knows me too-verbum sap.
My Lord and I are kindred spirits,
Like in our ways as two young ferrets;
Both fashion'd, as that supple race is,
To twist into all sorts of places;—
Creatures lengthy, lean, and hungering,
Fond of blood and burrow-mongering.

As to my Book in 91,

Call'd "Down with Kings, or, Who'd have thought it?"

Bless you, the Book's long dead and gone,
Not ev'n th' Attorney-General bought it.
And, though some few seditious tricks
I play'd in 95 and 6,

As

you remind me in your letter,

His Lordship likes me all the better;

We proselytes, that come with news full,

Are, as he says, so vastly useful!

REYNOLDS and I-(you know Tom Reynolds

Drinks his claret, keeps his chaise

Lucky the dog that first unkennels
Traitors and Luddites now-a-days;

Or who can help to bag a few,

When S-D

-TH wants a death or two;)

REYNOLDS and I, and some few more,

All men, like us, of information,
Friends, whom his Lordship keeps in store,
As under-saviours of the nation *

Have form'd a Club this season, where
His Lordship sometimes takes the chair,

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* Lord C.'s tribute to the character of his friend, Mr. Reynolds, will long be remembered with equal credit to both.

And gives us many a bright oration
In praise of our sublime vocation;
Tracing it up to great King MIDAS,
Who, though in fable typified as
A royal Ass, by grace divine
And right of ears, most asinine,
Was yet no more, in fact historical,

Than an exceeding well-bred tyrant;

And these, his ears, but allegorical,

Meaning Informers, kept at high rent *— Gem'men, who touch'd the Treasury glisteners, Like us, for being trusty listeners ; And picking up each tale and fragment, For royal MIDAS's Green Bag meant. "And wherefore," said this best of Peers, "Should not the R-G-T too have ears+,

This interpretation of the fable of Midas's ears seems the most probable of any, and is thus stated in Hoffmann:"Hâc allegoriâ significatum, Midam, utpote tyrannum, subauscultatores dimittere solitum, per quos, quæcunque per omnem regionem vel fierent, vel dicerentur, cognosceret, nimirum illis utens aurium vice."

† Brossette, in a note on this line of Boileau,

"Midas, le Roi Midas, a des oreilles d'Ane,"

tells us, that "M. Perrault le Médecin voulut faire à notre

"To reach as far, as long and wide as
"Those of his model, good King MIDAS?"
This speech was thought extremely good,
And (rare for him) was understood

Instant we drank "The R-GT's Ears,"

With three times three illustrious cheers,

Which made the room resound like thunder

"The R—G—T's Ears, and may he ne'er "From foolish shame, like MIDAS, wear

"Old paltry wigs to keep them under!"* This touch at our old friends, the Whigs, Made us as merry all as grigs.

In short (I'll thank you not to mention
These things again), we get on gaily;
And, thanks to pension and Suspension,

Our little Club increases daily.

auteur un crime d'état de ce vers, comme d'une maligne allusion au Roi." I trust, however, that no one will suspect the line in the text of any such indecorous allusion.

* It was not under wigs, but tiaras, that King Midas endeavoured to conceal these appendages:

Tempora purpureis tentat velare tiaris.

OVID.

The Noble Giver of the toast, however, had evidently, with his usual clearness, confounded King Midas, Mr. Liston, and the Pe R-g-t together.

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