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has several meanings, such as-" sincere," "small," "fair," &c.; but whatever the latter part of the name may be, we should conceive the air to be a kind of lullaby, hummed or played to sooth the slumbers of a child,-and no drinking song. We have treated it as an instrumental air, conceiving that it has claims to be so classed. The accompaniment in the Scotch work is a common bass, both meagre and faulty; and, instead of following it, we have substituted an accompaniment, in which we intend to indicate ideas which sometimes haunt us, as to the capability of our native strains for musical expansion. If in this, or any of our other settings for the piano-forte, any little Miss or Master should complain that there are too many notes; (we have heard of such complaints,) please to tell them that the short remedy is, to play the top and bottom notes only, omitting all those in the middle; and they will be surprised how simply and smoothly the airs will move on at the tips of their fingers.

We have preserved the 6-4 time of the old copy, which, though of late seldom used, we have the high authority of Spohr, for considering as peculiarly suited for denoting that particular rhythm of music, in which this air was conceived.

We annex a copy of the old words:

A FIG FOR THE CARES OF THIS WHIRLIGIG WORLD.

"A fig for the cares of this whirligig world,"
Shall still be my motto wherever I'm twirled.
From the spring of my youth to the autumn of life,
It has cheered me and whisked me thro' labour and strife,
It has taught me to rise to the summit of ease,
By calmly submitting to fortune's decrees.

Thus I'm rich without pelf, for content is true wealth,
And the best vade mecum in sickness and health.

Just as full of defects as the rest of my kind,

At peace with all sects, I ask no man his Credo-
In points of real import to none I say Cedo.
Content if my course from the daybreak of youth,
Has been steer'd by the compass and rudder of truth.
Full of life, fun and glee, with a jig in my heel,
Once I revelled with Bacchus, and joined in the reel;
But these frolics are past, and their relics declare
There's no jig in a crutch, and no reel in a chair.

From a prodigal, now grown a miser of pleasure,

"Give and take" is my measure for specks in the mind; I begin (with Anacreon) to hug my last treasure ;
For who in another should pry for a spot,

When he knows in his heart he has blot upon blot?
In the mere War of Posts 'twixt the "In's" and the "Out's"
It little boots me, who is routed or routs;

Still I gain by their sallies, whene'er they combine
To give salt to my muffin and zest to my wine.

And the better to manage and spin out my store,
I make one go as far as I used to make four.
Light in freight as a cutter returned from a cruise,
"Finding little to gain, having little to lose,"*
My anchor is cast, and my sails are all furled,
So "a fig for the cares of this whirligig world."

The author of this song, was a man, whose name is too closely connected with the most remarkable period of Irish history, ever to be forgotten, even if his pleasing lyrics should fail to preserve it. A brief account of him may be acceptable to our readers.

RICHARD FITZPATRICK, (born 30th January, 1747-died 25th April, 1813,) was the second son of John, Earl of Upper Ossory, and the Lady Evelyn Leveson Gower. Connected by the mother's side with some of the most powerful Whig families in England, he derived his Irish blood from the ancient princes of Ossory,-the Fitzpatricks being, according to Dr. Ledwich, "in possession of pa"trimonies descended through an unbroken line of progenitors, for more than a thousand years;—an "instance unparalleled in Europe."

Fitzpatrick entered the army at an early age, rose rapidly of course, as his high birth entitled him to do, and distinguished himself a good deal in the American war. Before the close of that memorable contest, in which, if England lavished treasure, Ireland spilled too wantonly the blood of thousands of her bravest sous, he appears to have returned to England, and formed an intimate acquaintance with the leaders of the Whig party there; as, in 1780, he was elected Member of Parliament for the Duke of Bedford's Borough of Tavistock, and in 1782 came over to Ireland in the capacity of Private Secretary to the Duke of Portland, appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by the Rockingham administration. It would be a nice speculation, had we room for it, to determine what amount of influence, the unusual step of sending over a warm-hearted, headlong, inconsiderate Irishman, as confidential adviser to a man of such limited abilities as the plain-mannered, thick-witted,

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Sancho Panza's consolatory proverb-" If little I gain, as little Ï lose.”

well-meaning Duke, had upon the peaceful attainment of Irish Independence. Sent across the channel to rule a strange people, in the hey-day of the Volunteer enthusiasm, his Grace must have been too frequently in a sad dilemma. We can compare his perplexity, and the degree of similarity between him and the men with whom he had to deal in Ireland, to nothing so well as to that of a bear, appointed to conduct the orchestra at the first performance of a new opera, and expected, because of his shaggy hide and solemn visage, to prove himself an accomplished musician. For some time after his arrival His Grace appears to have had no one on whom he could rely, except his clever, but not too cautious, secretary; and the latter was of course the channel (through Mr. Charles Sheridan, for Grattan refused to communicate personally with the Secretary,) of those communications between the Viceroy and the leaders of the independent party in the House of Commons, which ended in the acceptance and confirmation of the Declaration of Independence. If Colonel Fitzpatrick was thus, to a degree he suspected not, a contributor to the welfare of his country, he managed in a very short time to negative his good deserts, by doing her a proportionate mischief. It was a piece of official dexterity on his part, that, in the memorable debate of the 27th of May, 1782, brought about a division on the address, and led the too confiding Grattan into an assertion of the finality of the compact between the nations, which prevented the matter being re-considered, and additional guarantees procured, while there was still the disposition to concede them. On a subsequent occasion, when Government offered the viceregal palace, in the Phoenix Park, to Mr. Grattan, and his heirs for ever, as their share of the nation's tribute to him, it was Colonel Fitzpatrick's indiscreet admissions that discovered the real tendency of that insidious proposal. In the words of Barrington :-"Though the secretary was ex'tremely disposed to serve Mr. Grattan individually, the entire failure of the plan, and the frigid "manner in which the Royal offer had been received on every side, hurt his official pride, and affected "him extremely. He recollected his ministry, but forgot his discretion; and he could no longer "restrain himself from some observations equally ill-timed and injudicious.

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Though not an

expert diplomatist, he was well selected to make his way amongst the Irish gentry, and conse"quently to carry into effect the objects of the British ministers, and the deceptions of the Duke of "Portland. He was ingenious and convivial; friendly and familiar; and theoretically honest, even "in politics. His name was musical to the ear of that short sighted community, (the Irish gentry,) "and his casual indiscretions in parliament were kindly attributed to his undesigning nature; and of "all qualities, an appearance of unguarded openness is most imposing upon the Irish people."

After the death of the Marquis of Rockingham, the Duke of Portland was superseded by Earl Temple. Colonel Fitzpatrick, we presume, returned to England and his old associates, as on the formation of the Coalition ministry, we find him appointed to the office of Secretary at War, which he again filled in the Whig administration of 1806. His general demeanour, in public and in private, in the ministry and in the opposition, is thus described by a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine :

"By the side of Mr. Fox, after his return from America, he declaimed against that war, in which, 68 according to his duties as a soldier, he had fleshed his sword. Though devoted to his party, the "General's fine manners attracted the intercourse of his political adversaries. His society was culti“ vated by many high persons on the other side of almost all questions; one of whom, the Duke of "Queensbury, left to him a useful and noble memorial of regard, in a legacy, which reflected honour "both upon the Duke and the General. Had Fitzpatrick's utterance been equal to his intellect, he "could not have failed to attain a prominent place in oratorical classification; but he seldom mingled in debate beyond his official obligations. An occasion however occurred, on which Fitzpatrick gave

The best account yet published of these transactions will be found in the "Life of Grattan by his Son," vol. II. pp. 200-300. The letters of Fox, the Marquis of Rockingham, the Duke of Portland, Lord Charlemont, and Fitzpatrick; are well worthy of attention. Of the latter, Mr. Henry Grattan, the younger, remarks:"Throughout the entire proceeding Mr. Fitzpatrick was perfectly sincere: that was his character. He was open "and honest, and by no means a weak adviser; his councils were bold, and there was nothing like timidity in his "composition. It was this that made Mr. Flood apply to him and to the Duke of Portland the terms he used "when he said that they were desperate gamblers; they hazarded every thing upon a throw, and kept no "reservc.''

On two different occasions (in 1785 and in 1800) Fitzpatrick had to defend himself against the accusation of shar. ing the duplicity of the Duke of Portland; and he did go in both instances with great spirit and success. By his letter to Grattan, in 1800, he appears to have been a hearty opponent of the Union. With those proceedings of the Duke, which Pitt afterwards used as an argument in favour of the Union, Colonel Fitzpatrick was unacquainted. The Viceroy's adviser therein was Mr. Ogilvie, a Scotchman (step-father to the Duke of Leinster). Mr. Hardy, a contemporary, and an anti-unionist, speaks of Fitzpatrick as "a gentleman, who to very agreeable and excellent talents, added a most firm and manly mind."

"demonstration that he was capable of bolder flights. This was upon his motion respecting the Mar"quis de la Fayette. Never was praise more just than that of the late Lord Melville on this subject, "namely, that the Hon. General's two friends had only impaired the impression made by his speech. "Never was praise more flattering, when these two friends were no other than Fox and Sheridan. "But the reputation of that speech, as of every exercise of his mental powers, came upon Fitzpatrick "unlooked for. His excellence, even in his best talent, was the effect of relaxation, not of industry. "There was not an atom of foppery in his whole character. Natural, easy, unaffected, supremely "well-bred, Fitzpatrick, like his great friend, neither sought nor shunned any particular subject. "Whatever the discussion, he took a share in it; but without intrusion or usurpation. Though a "charming member of a social circle, he never strove to shine in conversation; whatever came from "him, came without effort. He laboured at nothing, except where labour was wholly invisible-in "his poetry; and on this thousands have feasted, in total ignorance of their gratifier; for, as he was "a politician without ambition, so he was a poet without vanity."

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Fitzpatrick was, as might have been expected, a great favourite with the Prince of Wales, and a constant guest at Carlton House. The Rev. George Croly has, consequently, sketched his character with his accustomed vigour, in his "Life and Times of George IV.": "Fitzpatrick was one of the prince's circle, which he adorned by his wit and courtly manners. He "was a handsome man, with the air of fashion, and the acquirements which belong to a life spent in "the first opportunities of cultivating both mind and manners. Like all the leading whigs, he was 'distinguished for those poetical jeux d'esprit, those toyings about the foot of Parnassus, which en"abled them to possess the pleasures, and some of the reputation of poetry, without challenging "criticism. They wrote in the spirit of the French school of royal and noble' poets, and with that "easy mixture of sportiveness and sarcasm, which raised the laugh of the moment, and passed away "the true spirit of the vers de société. But they sometimes affected a graver strain; and Fitz"patrick's 'Inscription on the Temple of Friendship at St. Anne's Hill,' has, with Horatian lightness, "a touch of that melancholy which so delicately shades the mirth of the Epicurean bard." Fitzpatrick, educated with Fox, brought into public life with him, initiated at Brookes's, and "familiar with the whole round of high life, was inevitably a Foxite. Fox made him secretary at 'war, and his faith was never impeached, among the changes of a time rich in political versatility. It "would have been fortunate for this attractive personage, if he had not urged his fidelity into an "imitation of more than the public life of his friend. But he played deep, and exhausted his income "and his life together in a round of dissipation. Fox, by some marvellous power, resisted the effects "of gaming, politics, and pleasure alike; misfortune seemed to rebound from him, until it was at last "weary of its attacks; and Fox was left to almost the tranquil age of a philosopher; but Fitzpatrick's "powerful frame broke down into premature decay, and for some years before his death he could be "scarcely said to live."

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Fitzpatrick was, nevertheless, with the exception of the Earl of Fitzwilliam, the last survivor among Fox's most intimate friends. But we are exceeding all bounds in this little sketch of one who, though, we believe, English by the accident of birth, was a thorough Irishman by blood and character. So numerous are the materials with which a short search has furnished us, that we could easily have extended it to three times the length. But we must content ourselves with referring to some most amusing letters of Fitzpatrick to Mrs. Benwell, published in the Westminster Review, vol. iv. (1825) p. 339. We should have liked to quote a couple of them; though we don't know-letters to a chere amie !—what would the prudish world have said to it?

General Fitzpatrick (he died a general) was buried in the church-yard of Sunninghill, Berks. His tombstone is inscribed with characteristic verses, written by himself. His various poetical compositions, if collected, would make a considerable volume, but we are not aware of any such publication.

Colonel Fitzpatrick twice drew the attention of the House of Commons to this subject;-) ;-March 17th, 1794, and December 16th, 1796. It is his speech on the latter occasion that is here alluded to. - Vid. Cobbett's Parliamentary History, Vols. xxxi. 38; xxxii. 1350.

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