but merely by way of commentary, to illustrate the poet's meaning.

From the Treasury-bench, we ascend one step to the INDIA-BENCH.

"There too, in place advanc'd, as in command,

"Above the beardless rulers of the land,

"On a bare bench, alas! exalted sit,

The pillars of Prerogative and PITT;

Delights of Asia, ornaments of men,

Thy Sovereign's Sovereigns, happy Hindostan.”

The movement of these lines is, as the subject required, more elevated than that of the preceding yet the prevailing sentiment excited by the description of the Treasurybench, is artfully touched by our author, as he passes, in the Hemistich,

On a bare bench, alas!

which is a beautiful imitation of Virgil's

The

-Ah! filice in nudâ

pompous titles so liberally bestowed on the BENGAL SQUAD, as the pennyless hirelings of opposition affect to call them, are truly in the Oriental taste; and we doubt not, but every friend to the present happy government, will readily agree in the justice of sti

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ling them "pillars of prerogative and Pitt, delights of Asia, and ornaments of man.' Neither, we are assured, can any man of any party object to the last of their high dignities, Sovereigns of the Sovereign of India;" fince the Company's well-known sale of Shah Allum to his own Vifier, is an indisputable proof of their supremacy over the Great Mogul.

As our author has been formerly accused of plagiarism, we must here in candour confess, that he seems, in his description of the Indiabench, to have had an eye to Milton's account of the devil's throne; which, however, we are told, much exceeded the possible splendour of any India-bench, or even the magnificence of Mr. Hastings himself.

High on a throne of royal state, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus, or of Ind;
Or where the gorgeous East, with lavish hand,
Show'rs on her King, barbaric pearl and gold;
Satan exalted fate.-

This concluding phrase, our readers will observe, is exactly and literally copied by our author. It is also worthy of remark, that as he calls the Bengal squad,

The Pillars of Prerogative and Pitt,

So Milton calls Beelzebub,

A Pillar of State :

Though, it is certain; that the expression here quoted may equally have been suggested by one of the Persian titles *, said to be en

* The following is copied from the Morning Chronicle of October 5, 1784.

Mr. HASTINGS'S PERSIAN TITLES, as engraved upon a Seal.
A True Tranflation.

Nabob Governor-General Hastings, Saub,
Pillar of the Empire,

The fortunate in War, Hero,

The most princely offspring of the Loins,
Of the King of the Universe,

The Defender of the Mahomedan Faith,

And Asylum of the World, &c. &c. &c. &c.

Translation of a Perfian Inscription engraven on a large fine Ruby, being the titles either given to or offumed by Mrs. HASTINGS.

Ruby Marian Hastings, Sauby, &c. &c.

N. B. With the Mussulmans, Bilkifs fignifies the person. called in the Bible History the Queen of Sheba; and Zobaide was a favourite wife of Mahomed; and when they wish to pay the highest compliments to a lady, they compare her to Bilkiss and Zobaide, who possessed the most exalted beauty, and perfection of every kind.

graved on a seal of Mr. Hastings, where we find the Governor General styled, "Pillar of the Empire." But we shall leave it to our readers to determine, as they may think proper, on the most probable source of the metaphor, whether it were in reality derived from Beelzebub or Mr. Hastings.

NUMBER VIII.

FROM the above general compliment to the India-bench, the poet, in the person of Merlin, breaks out into the following animated apostrophe to some of the principal among our Leadenhall-street Governors :

All hail! ye virtuous patriots without blot,
The minor KINSON and the major SCOTT:
And thou of name uncouth to British ear,
From Norman smugglers sprung, LE MESURIER;
Hail SMITHS; and WRAXALL, unabash'd to talk,
Tho' none will listen; hail too, CALL and PALK;
Thou, BARWEL, just and good, whose honour'd name,
Wide, as the Ganges rolls, shall live in fame,
Second to HASTINGS: and, VANSITTART, thou,
A second HASTINGS, if the Fates allow.

The bold, but truly poetical apocope, by which the Messrs. At-kinson and Jen-kinson, are called the two kinsons, is already familiar to the public. The minor Kinson, or Kinson the less, is obviously Mr. Atkinson Mr. Jenkinson being confessedly greater than Mr. Atkinson, or any other man, except ONE, in the kingdom.-The antithesis of the Major Scott to the minor Kinson, seems to ascertain the sense of the word Major, as fignifying in this place the greater; it might mean also the elder; or it might equally refer to the military rank of the gentleman intended. This is a beautiful example of the figure so much admired by the ancients under the name of the Paronomasia, or Pun. They who recollect the light in which our author before represented Major Scott, as a pamphleteer, fit only to furnish a watercloset, may possibly wonder to find him here mentioned as THE GREATER SCOTT; but whatever may be his literary talents, he must be acknowledged to be truly great, and worthy of the conspicuous place here assigned him, if we consider him in his capacity of agent to Mr. Hastings, and of consequence chief manager of the Bengal Squad;