Yon rev'rend prelates, rob'd in sleeves of lawn, Too meek to murmur, and too proud to fawn, Who still submissive to their Maker's nod, Adore their sov'reign, and respect their God; And wait, good men! all worldly things forgot, In humble hope of Enoch's happy lot.
We apprehend that the fourth line, by an error in the press, the words "adore and respect," must have been misplaced; but our veneration for our author will not permit us to hazard even the slightest alteration of the text. The happy ambiguity of the word "Maker," is truly beautiful.
We are sorry, however, to observe, that modern times afford some instances of exceptions to the above description, as well as one very distinguished one, indeed, to that which follows of the sixteen Peers of Scotland:--
Alike in loyalty, alike in worth, Behold the sixteen nobles of the north; Fast friends to monarchy, yet sprung from those Who basely sold their monarch to his foes; Since which, atoning for their father's crime, The sons, as basely, sell themselves to him: With ev'ry change prepar'd to change their note, With ev'ry government prepar'd to vote, Save when, perhaps, on some important bill, They know, by second sight, the royal will; With royal _Denbigh_ hearing birds that sing, "Oppose the minister to please the king."
These last lines allude to a well authenticated anecdote, which deserves to be recorded as an instance of the interference of divine Providence in favour of this country, when her immediate destruction was threatened by the memorable India bill, so happily rejected by the House of Lords in the year 1783.
The Earl of _Denbigh_, a Lord of his Majesty's Bed-chamber, being newly married, and solacing himself at his country-seat in the sweats of matrimonial bliss, to his great astonishment heard, on a winter's evening, in the cold month of December, a nightingale singing in the woods. Having listened with great attention to so extraordinary a phoenomenon, it appeared to his Lordship that the bird distinctly repeated the following significant words, in the same manner that the bells of London admonished the celebrated Whittington,
"Throw out the India bill; Such is your master's will."
His Lordship immediately communicated this singular circumstance to the fair partner of his connubial joys, who, for the good of her country, patriotically, though reluctantly, consented to forego the newly tasted delights of wedlock, and permitted her beloved bridegroom to set out for London, where his Lordship fortunately arrived in time, to co-operate with the rest of his noble and honourable brethren, the lords of the king's bed-chamber, in defeating that detestable measure; a measure calculated to effect the immediate ruin of this country, by overthrowing the happy system of government which has so long prevailed in our East-India territories.--After having described the above-mentioned classes of nobility, he proceeds to take notice of the admirable person who so worthily presides in this august assembly:--