Lansdowne
Think not these sighs denote one thought unkind,
Wonder, not Envy, occupies my mind;
For well I wot on that unhappy day,
When Britain mourn'd an empire giv'n away;
When rude impeachments menaced from afar,
And what gave peace to France—to us was war;
For awful vengeance Heav'n appear'd to call,
And agonizing Nature mark'd our fall.
Dire change! Dundas's cheek with blushes glow'd,
Grenville was dumb, Mahon no frenzy showed;
Though Drake harangu'd, no slumber Gilbert fear'd;
And Mulgrave's mouth like other mouths appear'd;
In vain had Bellamy prepared the meat;—
In vain the porter—Bamber could not eat;
When Burke arose, no yell the curs began,
And Rolle, for once, half seem'd a gentleman;
Then name this god, for to St. James's Court,
Nor gods nor angels often make resort.
Pitt
In early youth misled by Honour's rules,
That fancied Deity of dreaming fools;
I simply thought, forgive the rash mistake,
That Kings should govern for their People's sake!
But Reverend Jenky soon these thoughts supprest,
And drove the glittering phantom from my breast;
Jenky! that sage, whom mighty George declares,
Next Schwellenbergen, great on the back stairs:[1]
'Twas Jenkinson—ye Deacons catch the sound!
Ye Treasury scribes the sacred name rebound!
Ye pages sing it—echo it ye Peers!
And ye who best repeat, Right Reverend Seers!
Whose pious tongues no wavering fancies sway,
But like the needle ever point one way.[2]
- ↑ One of the two Keepers of the Robes to the Queen.
- ↑ "That during many years Jenkinson enjoyed more of the royal confidence than any other subject can hardly be denied." Wraxall, Posthumous Memoirs, i. 98, ii. 166. In 1884 during the debate on the Westminster Election Petition, Fox denounced Jenkinson as "that obstinate, dark and short-sighted spirit, which like a species of infatuation, pervades, as it has uniformly guided and overshadowed the councils of this unfortunate country, throughout the whole progress of the present disgraceful and calamitous reign" (Wraxall, Posthumous Memoirs, i. 98): a passage closely resembling the views recorded by Shelburne in his Autobiography, i. 53. It must however be recollected, in justice to the object of these denunciations, that he was a man of great financial and economic knowledge, and an acknowledged authority on the currency. His work on The Coins of the Realm is still recognized as the leading work on the subject. It was published in 1805; and republished by the Bank of England in 1880.
