BOOK THE FIRST.

INTRODUCTORY LINES TO BOOK THE FIRST.

TO, CAPTAIN BASIL HALL, R.N., &c. &c.

WHILE Sovereigns-save our royal Sire,
Who justly has become the rage-
Are goods that have begun to tire

The humours of the ripening Age;

While thanks to whiskered peers*-the clown
In print, at least, can play the rover-
Cross seas whose depth can never drown,
And shores untrod-in Truth discover;
While ermined "INFLUENCE" half-forsakes
Her flock to no contemn'd attacks;
While Pelham for his boroughs quakes,
And Jersey trembles for "Almack's ;"
While thus the old world;-Captain Hall
Writes foolish books about the new-
Weeps tears of ink when despots fall,

And damns poor Murray's lost Review.
O model of the travelling tribe,

Though homage Satire always pays ill,
She must, with great respect, inscribe
This book to you, illustrious Basil!
How well you scourge the Yankee race-

Their codes uncouth, their garbs unsightly;

* See a certain speech of Lord Wilton, in which the people are said to owe their knowledge to the Aristocracy. It is very true!-their knowledge

of taxes!

Should Yankees answer,—in their face
You smile your wise contempt politely.*
How well you show, O sapient bore!
The curse from taxes to be free ;-
And prop the parsons with " one more
Apt illustration from the sea."†
If he be great who nobly dares

The greatest things with least resources,
Oh! who, most learned Hall, compares
With you his courage

and his forces?

You ridicule a mighty state,

Without a grain of wit for satire ;
On knottiest points, with ease debate,
Without one just thought on the matter;
With scarce the Traveller's art to gaze,
You ape the Sage's to distinguish-
And while dear England's laws you praise,
You quite forget the laws of English.
Ev'n now, while Freedom through the lands
Sweeps gathering on-behold in all
His might-on Murray's counter stands
And fires his popgun-Captain Hall!

'Tis said when famed Alcides slew

The earth's dread son-that Slumber bound him—‡

* "In short, said I, unable to suppress a smile."-Hall's Travels in North America, vol. iii. p. 411. "I merely smiled, and said nothing." *****«The lady's suspicions instantly took fire, on seeing the expression of my countenance."-Ibid, vol. i. p. 110. A nice, agreeable fellow, for a disputant or a guest!

"To borrow one more illustration from the sea, I should say, that the Established Church may be compared to the rudder, and the country, with its multifarious arrangements of society, to the ship," &c.--Ibid, vol. iii.

405.

This charming metaphor occurs in the most entertaining conversation imaginable. Captain H., resolved to prove the blessings of an aristocracy, rotten boroughs, tithes, and lord-I beg pardon-the devil knows what! sets up an unfortunate Yankee, by way of an argumentative ninepin. Away bowls the Captain, blunder after blunder, folly after folly, as glibly as possible; and not a syllable of rational defence, ever by accident, comes out of the mouth of the ninepin. I cannot say whether a full-grown American could have answered Captain H.; but I know, that an English boy of ten years old, with a tolerable private education, would have been a great deal too much for him.

There is an old tradition, that when Hercules (the great reformer of the ancient world) had conquered the giant Antæus (a sort of Charles the Tenth) -he fell asleep in the Libyan desert, and was suddenly awakened by an attack of the Pigmies.