LETTERS FROM A RECLUSE.
NO. vi.
A COMEDY by a lord is surely a curiosity ; but greater yet, to my mind, and at my distance, is the curiosity of the critiques on it. The Chronicle, in its first notice of the Follies of Fashion—about six feet long—instanced one scene borrowed from the School for Scandal, and an incident copied from the Duenna ; but concluded by complimenting the noble author on his originality. I thought it was irony ; and perhaps you have observed that the irony of that able paper is often so excessively profound that it has all the effect of earnest: indeed I think it would be an improvement, if the writers would at the end of their articles give notice, "This is," or "This is not irony." In later remarks of the Chronicle on the same piece; I find some praise, the grounds of which I must call upon you to explain to me. The critic declares his contemporaries . . . . " have hardly done justice to the vivacity and satirical point of the dialogue, Without reference to the goodness or badness of the plot. Thus, when Lady Mary tells Lady Splashton the town report that he is in love with Ms own wife, he exclaims with the most unaffected surprise, and vexation, 'I-low malicious I' " My playgoing days are long past, and my memory not very clear ; but do tell me whether there is not a stock comedy in which a cha- racter is in love with his own wife, or quizzed on that imputation ? The comment "How malicious!" reminds me of the exclamation of Lady Teazle on the wish that her husband may live a hundred years. I proceed with the critique admonitory of wit- " The supercilious and servile civility of the great when they have an end to gain, isfine/y described by Old Counter ia a few words, when his wife re- minds him of the honour he had enjoyed in walking with Lord Mounteagle across St. James's Square : Yes (replies the old cit), and he asked me to lend him money before we got to Pall Mall."
Is that "finely described," my friend ? If it be, how sadly deficient must be my sense of the fine! To my poor taste, it seems a rasping coarseness—significant indeed, but in the broadest way. Again,
" Madile. Squintim's mode of teaching singing to young ladies who have no voice, by showing them how to warble with their eyes,' is a refined piece of satire, and reminds one of the 'music which may be seen and not heard,' spoken of by the Clown in Othello as particularly grateful to the Moor.'"
" A refined piece of satire ! "—the refinement of " brown stout"— malt liquor refined with coarse brown paper—a bright brewage for pewter pots—a smack of Whitbread's entire! Excellent wit for the mess-room, the tavern, the Blue party !
But are these indeed the refinements of 1829 ?—if so, my friend, how delicate was Swivr ! how impalpably pointed SHERIDAN ! Your satire is not like the Irish widow's sword, " through your body twice, before you feel it once ;"—no, it has a good obvious wear and tear point, not easily blunted, and fit for every-day: use. It is a harrow, that tickles clods of clay with nice spikes of iron—the refinement of the forge, the small tooth work of the blacksmith, the bijouterie of the anvil, the pleasantries of Vulcan. Your wisdom in London does not seem to me to be superior to your wit. What is a hermit to think of such a narrative as this, which I copy from the Chronicle City article of Monday,- " A strong sensation, mixed with some alarm, was created to-day by a temporary suspension of business at the New Annuity Office, and on which the Funds experienced a sudden depression of nearly per cent.; all sorts of conjectures being hazarded as to the occasion of this suspension. Before in- quiry was instituted, a report got into circulation, that :Some important chanwe had occurred for the worse, but whether in reference to foreign politics, or cg- meat nor tiffs, so one seemed to be aware, or to know more than the bare fact that sfalirthiag was amiss at the Annuity Office. The speculators in Consols were observed hurrying in breathless haste to the Old Jewry ; but only a short time elapsed before they were relieved from their anxiety, as we under- stand, on inquiry which we ourselves made at the office, in order to arrive at the truth of the matter, that the dealers in Bank Long Annuities, and who were desirous of making an exchange for the New Annuities, imagined that some mistake had arisen in the calculations made at the New Annuity Office, and therefore immediately proceeded thither to point it out, in order that it might be corrected. This occasioned a delay of about an hour, Mr. Fin- layson, the actuary, not having arrived till about twelve o'clock ; when a sa- tisfactory explanation was given, and business immediately proceeded in the usual way, and as if nothing of the sort had occurred."
How luminous is that apprehension," some important change hail occurred for the worse, but whether in reference to foreign politics or domestic matters, no one seemed to be aware !"
"The fox had a wound, and he did not know where; He hied to the house, and behaved as a bear."
What a strange circumstance it is that the national weather-glass
should be regulated by Mercury, god of Thieves and Commerce ! It seems to me—little knowira, of such matters—the consummation of absurdity, llrat the opinions of such men as your stock-jobbers should move that index to which the country looks as the sign of confidence. Half of these men, I am assured by a competent authority, scarcely know the geographical position of the countries whose interests or intentions make the pretences of their operations.
Read what follows, and, accustomed as you must be to such fool- eries, forbear to laugh, if you can, at the particular instance :—
" At four o'clock the Market again evinced a slight tendency downwards, and in the private bargains Consols for Account left off sellers at 95, from the unertsioess fidt by some (if the dealers touching the health of the Emperor of Rus- sia, who is reported to be litileh worse." " The uneasiness felt by some of the dealers touching the health of the Emperor of Russia!"—" What's he to Hecuba, or Hecuba to him ?"—" Oh my poor dear Emperor of Morocco !" says Quidnunc in the farce.
Po STC m PT.—(Private. Strictly Confidential.)—By no means men- tion the circumstance that advices have been received from Berlin, in which it is stated that on Sunday the 31st ult. the Kine. of Prussia sneezed twice, as such a fact might have the worst effect on the Money Market, and would fill the City politicians with the profoundest apprehensions. Conceive the grave faces in the Alley ;—but, indepen- dent of the. propriety, in any case, of avoiding panic, I have reason to hope that the news is not true; and, therefore, should it by ill luck have got wind, and excited alarm, publish a second edition of the SPEC- TATOR, and observe that the 31st ult, did not fall on a Sunday, whence the accounts of the sneezes, said to have had place on that day, are discredited in the best-informed quarters ; and if that will not satisfy the Alley mind, add, that they write from Brussels that the King of Prussia received two canisters of Irish blackguard snuff on the 30th ult., and that its unaccustomed pungency had extraordinarily sti- mulated the royal nose, but that no ill consequences were appre- hended, and that the report of catarrh was entirely void of foundation. If you love the prosperity of your country, do not mention what I have just heard from an excellent authority, Darkling Dick, a smuggler on the neighbouring beach,—namely, that the Superbe frigate, in Brest harbour, was seen about hay:flood on the 2d instant, WITH HER FORE-TOP-SAIL LOOSE. A haze which came on prevented my in- formant from seeing more ; but the gentlemen in the City would see, in spite of the haze, that a French frigate does not loose her fore-top- sail for nothing, and that airing canvass is a pretence. What would make the suspicion that the frigate had sailed on a secret expedition stronger, is that the King of France was reported to have looked at a map of India only last month. If you would avoid convulsing the City, breathe not a syllable of these facts.
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