Entroductory Lines to Book the Fourth.

TO THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL GREY, &c. &c.

ERE yet, my Lord, you held the place
Whence Sense and Parnell drove his Grace,*

* It is not because a man fails in one province, that we are to withhold him merit for succeeding in another. With all his late political errors, no one can read the history of the Duke of Wellington's campaigns, (which makes indeed the history of his character,) without acknowledging the evidence, not more of a great general than of a great mind. To deny that his is deservedly one of the most illustrious of the proud names of this country, is to betray the stolidity of the dunce, or the bigotry of the partizan, or the audacity of the time-server. Like other men, in what his education adapted him for, he excelled, but beyond others; in what his education unfitted him for, he failed; but not even then, let it be remembered, without showing certain qualities which, in the old times of cabal and plot, might have won him the reputation and power happily in civil respects denied him now. With a profound admiration for his merits-rejoicing as an Englishman, to ac

The Muse had seized the rights of Fame,
And decked eulogium with your name.
Power stills the praise that Freedom pour'd—
A colder hand retunes the chord ;
And if I give to Flattery scope,
"Tis less in homage than in hope.

Time, when it lowers on states, inspires
Some thoughts above self's low desires;
And if I speak of hope, the word
Hath scarce the construing of the herd;
Since nor with careless glance-my soul
First gazed on dark Time's riddled scroll-

knowledge the justice of his fame-I cannot, however, but consider that the greatest benefit he ever conferred on his country, is to be found in the nature of his fall. He depended on the people, and he was safe; in vain the Aristocracy combined against him-in vain the Church. He deserted the people, and he fell at once. Never was fall so sudden-so complete! It was the revenge of the common Sense and the common Interest he had outraged. What a lesson against the intrigues by which states were formerly governed! What a warning to future ministers! What an incentive to the vigilance of the people! It is for Lord Grey to profit by this example; if he do so, he will triumph over the two great and substantial causes of dread-the ardour of theorists, and the tendency of the times to hurry events, not in accordance with, but beyond, the intellect of the multitude. His order' is in danger-it can be saved ---by a prompt surrender of all that it contains obnoxious. To the dominion of the Aristocracy may be given the same advice given by Augustus in respect to the dominion of Rome---you can only support its strength by limiting its boundaries!

First conned the food of Truth, and wrought
The chyle of memory into thought,

In my still heart I learnt to rear,
Beyond all lowlier hope or fear,

Beyond the harlots of the hour,

The lusts that burn for wealth or power,
The snake-like arts, that while they wind
Aloft, are track'd in slime behind;
Beyond the day's brief praise or blame-
Beyond the angel-wings of Fame—
Beyond the smiles of kings—the loud,
Not lasting, worship of the crowd-
Beyond all,―save the heart's-applause ;
O God-O Earth! your common cause.

What then my hope?-Oh, if thy youth
Bow'd Ease to Toil, and Pride to Truth :
If thy stern manhood never faltered,
Unawed-unbought-untired-unaltered ;
If yet the ends thou sought'st to gain,*
The same eternal truths remain ;
If to enforce those ends, the Hour
Hath sceptered Liberty with Power,

* Turn to any page in the political life of Lord Grey, what is the cause for which we find him the advocate ?-Economy-peace-reformliberty allowed abroad, and enlarged at home. Was there ever before a minister in this country to whom the people had merely to say, “Be consistent ?"

May we not hope from thee for more
Than Might ere gave to Right before?
And tho' deep wrongs contemn'd—at length
Have roused Submission into Strength,
Thy glory will not be the less

To raise Concession to Redress.*
"Tis but-the bitter struggle past-
To share the victory earned at last—
To hail free thought to action grown,
And in man's triumph crown thine own.

If this thy glory, not in vain

Was nurst the dream that urged the strain.
And mirrors now in faithful lays,

Men's present hope, and future praise.
If not thy glory-all that burns
In beacon now, to ruin turns;
The hovering halo shuns thy name,
And homage blackens into shame.

Montesquieu, in the "Grandeur et Decadence des Romains," (chap. viii.,) the work in which the rare and brilliant genius of that great writer is perhaps displayed with the fullest concentration and the least alloy, has observed, "Le gouvernement de Rome fut admirable en ce que depuis sa naissance, sa constitution se trouva telle, soit par l'esprit du peuple, la force du sénat ou l'autorité de certains magistrats que tout abus du pouvoir y put toujours être corrigé." Yet this very power, which he afterwards calls the salvation of a free government, our statesmen, till now, have represented as its ruin.