Chapter XXVIII: Act IV: Scene 4

_Mr. Pye’s._ Henry James Pye (1745–1813), Southey’s predecessor in
the laureateship.

110. _Mr. Croker was wrong, etc._ See _ante_, p. 48.

_Once a Jacobin, etc._ ‘This charitable adage was at one time
fashionable in the ministerial circles; and Mr. Pitt himself, in
one of his most powerful speeches, gave it every advantage, that
is derivable from stately diction.’ Coleridge, _Essays on his
own Times_, II. 542. Coleridge refers to Pitt’s speech of Feb.
17, 1800. See _ante_, note to p. 99.

_Old Sarum._ See _post_, note to p. 157.

_‘The friendship,’ etc._ _Carmen Nuptiale_, Proem, Stanza 9.

‘_Glassy essence._’ _Measure for Measure_, Act II. Scene 2.

111. _Joseph Fox or Joseph Lancaster._ Joseph Fox, a Quaker and trustee
of the Lancastrian Society. Southey was a vehement supporter of
Lancaster’s rival, Bell.

‘_Practice of Piety._’ ‘The Practice of Piety, directing a
Christian how to walk that he may please God,’ by Lewis Bayly,
Bishop of Bangor, was published early in the seventeenth
century, and became enormously popular.

112. _Geo. Fox._ George Fox (1624–1690), the founder of the Society of
Friends.

_‘Bear thou,’ etc._ _Carmen Nuptiale_, The Dream, Stanza 50.

113. _‘Yea in this now,’ etc._ _Ib._, Proem, Stanzas 9 and 10.

_As to Spenser._ Spenser received a pension of £50 a year from the
Crown in 1590–1, but was not formally poet-laureate. William
Whitehead (1715–1785) was laureate from 1757.

114. _‘Look to thy sire,’ etc._ _Carmen Nuptiale_, The Dream, Stanza
32.

THE LAY OF THE LAUREATE, _etc._ (concluded). From _The Examiner_,
July 14, 1816.

_‘Hamlet, thou hast,’ etc._ _Hamlet_, Act III. Scene 4.

115. _‘Proudly I raised,’ etc._ _Carmen Nuptiale_, Proem, Stanza 11.

_‘This lovely pair,’ etc._ _Ib._, The Dream, Stanzas 73–7.

116. ‘_Old, old Master Shallow._’ _Henry IV._, Part II., Act III. Scene
2.

_Snug’s the word._ _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, Act III. Scene 1.

_‘The wars,’ etc._ _The Faerie Queene_, Book II. Canto ix. Stanza
56.

117. ‘_Brunswick’s fated line._’ _Carmen Nuptiale_, The Dream, Stanza
30.

‘_Re-risen cause of evil._’ _Ib._, Proem, Stanza 14.

_‘Speed thou the work,’ etc._ _Ib._, The Dream, Stanza 81.

118. _The massacres of Nismes._ In July 1815, after the restoration of
the Bourbons.

119. ‘_Quite chopfallen._’ _Hamlet_, Act V. Scene 1.

_As Christopher Sly says._ _Taming of the Shrew_, Induction, Scene
2.

_The death of Porlier._ General Porlier revolted against Ferdinand
of Spain, but, being captured, was put to death in Nov. 1815.

120. _‘Que peut inspirer,’ etc._ _Athalie_, Act III. Scene 3.

Note 1. See Vol. I., note to p. 214.

Note 2. _One of them_, Leigh Hunt. _The other_, Charles Lamb. ‘A
celebrated General,’ the Duke of Wellington. George Garrard
(1760–1826) and Peter Turnerelli (1774–1839) exhibited busts at
the Royal Academy.

121. ‘_Two of the fearfullest wild-fowl living._’ _Midsummer Night’s
Dream_, Act III. Scene 1.

_A British Lion, etc._ _Carmen Nuptiale_, The Dream, Stanza 19–21.

A NEW VIEW OF SOCIETY, _etc._ _The Examiner_, Literary Notices,
No. 6., Aug. 4, 1816.

For an account of Robert Owen (1771–1858) and his schemes see
Leslie Stephen’s _English Utilitarians_, II. 119–124.

122. _‘Old, old,’ etc._ See _ante_, note to p. 116.

_My Lord Shallow._ Lord Castlereagh, presumably.

_‘Applaud him,’ etc._ _Macbeth_, Act V. Scene 3.

_‘Chaunting remnants,’ etc._ _Hamlet_, Act IV. Scene 3.

_‘No, no,’ etc._ _Ib._ Act IV. Scene 5.

‘_Like a cloud over the Caspian._’ _Paradise Lost_, II. 714–716.

_‘Thy bones,’ etc._ _Macbeth_, Act III. Scene 4.

123. _Lubber-land._ A name given in the 16th century to the imaginary
Land of Cockaigne. See Ellis, _Specimens of the Early English
Poets, I._ 95.

‘_Durham’s golden stalls._’ ‘Though placed in golden Durham’s
second stall.’ Cowper, _Truth_, 120.

_There was one head._ Hazlitt refers to George III.

_‘Thus repelled,’ etc._ _Hamlet_, Act II. Scene 2.

124. ‘_An old saw._’ _As You Like It_, Act II. Scene 7.

_‘If to do,’ etc._ _Merchant of Venice_, Act I. Scene 2.

_Two of our most loyal booksellers._ John Murray (1778–1843),
publisher of the _Quarterly_, and John Hatchard (1769–1849)
bookseller to the Queen.

_Mr. Wilberforce._ For William Wilberforce (1759–1833) see
Hazlitt’s _Spirit of the Age_.

‘_To pull an old house about their ears._’ Cf. ‘Let them pull all
about mine ears.’ _Coriolanus_, Act III. Scene 2.

125. _The Lord-Chancellor._ Eldon.

126. ‘_The good and wise._’ Southey’s _Carmen Nuptiale_, Proem, Stanza
9.

_Dr. Parr, etc._ See _ante_, p. 86.

In _The Examiner_ for Sept. 1, 1816 (Literary Notices, No. 10)
were published two letters referring to this article of
Hazlitt’s, one, signed ‘Z’ defending Owen, the other, signed ‘A.
C.,’ denying that the improvements claimed by Owen had actually
taken place at New Lanark. The letters are followed by two
columns of editorial comment which may or may not be the work of
Hazlitt.

127. _The Speech of Charles C. Western, etc._ _The Examiner_, Literary
Notices, No. 7. August 11, 1816.

Charles Callis Western (1767–1844), an Essex landowner and member
for the county. For his long services in Parliament and as a
pamphleteer on behalf of the agricultural interest and of prison
reform, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Western in 1833,
after having been defeated at the first election after the
passing of the Reform Bill. Henry Peter Brougham (1778–1868) was
at this time (1816) member for Winchelsea. See Hazlitt’s sketch
of him in _The Spirit of the Age_, and the notes thereon. He was
Lord-Chancellor from 1830–1834.

_The tale of Slaukenbergius._ _Tristram Shandy_, Vol. IV.

‘_Aye, there’s the rub._’ _Hamlet_, Act III. Scene 1.

_Lord Camden._ The son of Lord-Chancellor Camden. In 1780 he was
appointed one of the tellers of the exchequer, a post which he
held for sixty years. In 1808 the emoluments of the office
amounted to £23,000 per annum. In 1812 Camden relinquished the
income, and so before his death in 1840 had sacrificed a quarter
of a million.

128. _Mr. Horner._ Francis Horner (1778–1817), one of the founders of
the _Edinburgh Review_, and one of the chief hopes of the Whigs
in Parliament.

130. Note. _The Friend_, Section 1. Essay 7, ‘On the vulgar Errors
respecting Taxes and Taxation.’

131. Note. _‘The road had done,’ etc._ _The Beggar’s Opera_, Act
II. Scene 1.

132. _Walcheren._ Seven thousand men died during the disastrous
expedition to Walcheren.

SPEECHES IN PARLIAMENT, _etc._ (_concluded_). _The Examiner_,
Literary Notices, No. 8, Aug. 18, 1816.

_‘Come, let us,’ etc._ Swift’s _Polite Conversation_, Dialogue 1.

_‘Relieve the killing languor,’ etc._ Burke’s _Reflections on the
Revolution in France_ (_Select Works_, ed. Payne, II 120).

_‘If the poor,’ etc._ Burke, _Thoughts and Details on Scarcity_
(1795), _Works_, Bohn, V. 84.

133. _Like the dagger._ Burke’s dagger scene occurred during a debate
on the Alien Bill, Dec. 28, 1792. See _Parl. Hist._, XXX. 189.

134. _As the vapours, etc._ See p. 231.

136. _‘They toil not,’ etc._ _St. Matthew_, vi. 28.

_Like Lord Peter, in the ‘Tale of a Tub.’_ See Section 4.

138. A LAY-SERMON, _etc._ _The Examiner_, Literary Notices, No.
11, Sept. 8, 1816. Cf. Hazlitt’s sketch of Coleridge in _The
Spirit of the Age_.

_‘Function,’ etc._ _Macbeth_, Act I. Scene 3.

_‘Or in Franciscan’ etc._ _Paradise Lost_, III. 480.

_‘Omne ignotum,’ etc._ Tacitus, _Agricola_, Chap. XXX.

_Cock-Lane Ghost._ For ‘the story of a Ghost in Cock-Lane, which,
in the year 1762, had gained very general credit in London,’ see
Boswell’s _Life of Johnson_ (ed. G. B. Hill), I. 406–8, and
Lang’s _Cock-Lane and Common Sense_.

‘_A penny for his thoughts._’ An old saying embalmed in John
Heywood’s _Proverbs_ and Swift’s _Polite Conversation_
(Introduction).

139. ‘_Secret Tattle._’ Congreve’s _Love for Love_.

‘_Yet virgin of Proserpina from Jove_,’ _Paradise Lost_, IX. 396.

_The Friend, etc._ _The Friend; a literary, moral, and political
weekly Paper, excluding personal and party politics and the
events of the day_ (1809–1810), was re-issued in one volume in
1812, and with additions and alterations (rather a _rifacimento_
than a new edition), in 1818. The articles in the _Courier_ and
the _Watchman_ and the _Conciones ad Populum_ were posthumously
republished in _Essays on his own Times_ (3 vols. 1850), edited
by his daughter Sara.

_Barmecide._ _Arabian Nights’ Entertainment_, The Barber’s Story
of his Sixth Brother.

_‘He never is,’ etc._ Altered from Pope’s _Essay on Man_, I. 96.

_Marplot._ Mrs. Centlivre’s (1667?–1723), _Busy Body_ (1709).

_‘Sublime piety’ of Jordano Bruno._ See _The Friend_, Essays
Introductory, Essay 16.

140. _Damns a tragedy, etc._ See _Satyrane’s Letters_ (Biographia
Literaria, Bohn, p. 258).

_The late Mr. Howard._ John Howard (1726–1790), the prison
reformer.

_Voltaire dull._ _The Friend_, The First Landing-Place, Essay 1.
Cf. _The Round Table_, Vol. I. p. 116.

_‘Ample scope’ etc._ Gray’s _The Bard_.

141. _‘That wantons,’ etc._ _Romeo and Juliet_, Act II. Scene 6.

141. _‘Or like,’ etc._ Burns’s _Tam O’ Shanter_.

_‘Like to a man,’ etc._ _Hamlet_, Act III. Scene 3.

142. _‘Less than arch-angel’ etc._ _Paradise Lost_, I. 593–4.

_The ——._ The poet-laureate (Southey) presumably.

_‘To stand himself’ etc._ _The Beggar’s Opera_, Act I. Scene 1.

_When his six Irish friends, etc._ See _The Round Table_, Vol. i.
p. 54.

143. THE STATESMAN’S MANUAL, _etc._ _The Examiner_, Literary
Notices, No. 21, Dec. 29, 1816.

_Here is the true Simon Pure._ Mrs. Centlivre’s _A Bold Stroke for
a Wife_ (1718).

_‘And tis a kind of good deed,’ etc._ _Henry VIII._, Act III.
Scene 2.

144. ‘_Still harping on my daughter._’ _Hamlet_, Act II. Scene 2.

146. _The impertinent barber, etc._ _The Thousand and One Nights_, The
Story told by the Tailor.

_‘And the time that Solomon reigned’ etc._ See I _Kings_ xi. 42–3,
and xii. 1–20.

Note. In _The Examiner_ this note continued: ‘Hypocrisy does not
relate to the degree of success with which a man imposes on
himself, but on the motives which make him attempt it. The
greatest hypocrites are those who can impose most successfully
on themselves, that is, conceal from their own minds their
sinister motives for judging, or suppress their real,
_under_-opinions. We think it a piece of hypocrisy for a man to
insinuate, after reading this part of the Bible, that that
Manual of the Statesman is favourable to the doctrine of Divine
Right.’

147. _‘Imposture,’ etc._ Quoted from Coleridge’s _Statesman’s Manual_.

148. _Burs and kecksies._ _Henry V._, Act V. Scene 2.

_A Colquhoun._ Patrick Colquhoun (1745–1820), London Police
magistrate and social reformer, author of _A Treatise on the
Police of the Metropolis_ (1795).

‘_Oh thou particular fellow._’ _Henry VI._, Part II. Act IV. Scene
2.

‘_Secret Tattle._’ See _ante_, note to p. 139.

149. _We well remember, etc._ See Hazlitt’s Essay, ‘My First
Acquaintance with Poets,’ from which it appears that it was
Coleridge himself who made the remark about Thomson. The
‘solitary ale-house’ was at the Valley of Rocks near Lynton.

_Mr. Southey’s ‘Tract on the Madras System.’_ An article of
Southey’s in the _Quarterly Review_ for October 1811, reprinted
as ‘Origin, Nature, and Object of the New System of Education.’
Hazlitt has in mind a note of Coleridge’s in the _Lay Sermon_
(Bell’s edition, p. 328), where he says, ‘See Mr. Southey’s
tract on the new or Madras system of education: especially
towards the conclusion, where with exquisite humour as well as
with his usual poignancy of wit he has detailed Joseph
Lancaster’s disciplinarian inventions,’ etc. For an account of
the Madras system of education and of the warfare between Joseph
Lancaster (1770–1838) and Andrew Bell (1753–1832), and between
their respective followers, see Leslie Stephen’s _The English
Utilitarians_, II. 17 _et seq._

_The late African expedition._ Lord Exmouth’s successful
bombardment of Algiers in August 1816.

152. MR. COLERIDGE’S LAY-SERMON. This letter is the germ of the
well-known essay entitled ‘My First Acquaintance with Poets,’
which Hazlitt afterwards contributed to the third number of
Leigh Hunt’s short-lived review _The Liberal: Verse and Prose
from the South_. The present letter (except the two last
paragraphs) was repeated in the essay which was first
republished in _Literary Remains_ (1836).

152. _‘Il y a des impressions,’ etc._ A favourite quotation from
Rousseau’s _Confessions_.

_His text._ _St. John_ vi. 15.

_‘Rose like a steam,’ etc._ _Comus_, l. 556.

_‘Of one crying,’ etc._ _St. Matthew_ iii. 3–4.

153. _‘Such were the notes,’ etc._ Pope’s _Epistle to Robert, Earl of
Oxford_, l. 1.

_‘Like to that sanguine flower,’ etc._ _Lycidas_, l. 106.

_Like Timon._ _Timon of Athens_, Act III. Scene 6.

Note.—‘The Correspondent; consisting of letters, moral, political,
and literary, between eminent writers in France and England.’
The English articles were arranged by Dr. Stoddart.

154. _Bonaparte and Müller._ This fragment appeared in _The Examiner_
on Dec. 15, 1816. Johannes von Müller (1752–1809) was introduced
to Napoleon after the battle of Jena (1806). His collected works
appeared in 27 vols. (1800–1817).

155. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE TIMES NEWSPAPER. _The Examiner_,
Literary Notices, No. 19, Dec. 15, 1816.

_‘Out of these convertites,’ etc._ _As You Like It_, Act V. Scene
4.

‘_All honourable men._’ _Julius Caesar_, Act III. Scene 2.

_‘But all is conscience,’ etc._ Chaucer, _Prologue_, 150.

156. _The Recruiting Officer._ Farquhar’s _The Recruiting Officer_, Act
I. Scene 1.

_Miss Lucy Lockitt._ _The Beggar’s Opera_, Act II.

157. _Here comes one of them._ Wordsworth. Hazlitt perhaps refers to a
conversation with Wordsworth at Alfoxden, though that must have
been in 1798, not 1800.

_A Sonnet to the King._ The Sonnet (entitled ‘November 1813’)
beginning ‘Now that all hearts are glad,’ etc.

_‘Such recantation,’ etc._ _The Excursion_, Book III.

_‘Proud Glaramara,’ etc._ Wordsworth, _To Joanna_.

_Sir Robert Wilson’s gallant conduct._ In assisting Lavalette to
escape from Paris on Jan. 10, 1816. Wilson and two others,
Captain Hutchinson and Mr. Bruce, were tried in Paris and
sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

_Joan of Arc._ Published in 1796. The first edition contained in