'
During the first twelve years of the present century, the influence of
the Lake school was visible in his ~103~~ productions. In my great
work I shall give an elaborate dissertation on his imitations of the
high-priests of that worship; but I must now content myself with a single
illustration:--
'There's ensign Ronnell, tall and proud,
Doth stand upon the hill,
And waves the flag to all the crowd,
Who much admire his skill.
And here I sit upon my ass,
Who lops his shaggy ears;
Mild thing! he lets the gentry pass,
Nor heeds the carriages and peel's.'
He was once infected (but it was a venial sin) by the heresies of the
cockney school; and was betrayed, by the contagion of evil example, into
the following conceits:
'Behold admiral Keato of the terrestrial crew, Who teaches Greek, Latin,
and likewise Hebrew; He has taught Captain Dampier, the first in the
race, Swirling his hat with a feathery grace, Cookson the marshal,
and Willoughby, of size, Making minor serjeant-majors in looking-glass
eyes.'
But he at length returned to his own pure and original style; and, like
the dying swan, he sings the sweeter as he is approaching the land where
the voice of his minstrelsy shall no more be heard.
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