 the greatest officers in Christendom.«
»I think he be (said Mr. Bramble); but who are these young gentlemen that stand
beside him?« »Those! (cried our friend) those are his royal nephews; the princes
of the blood. Sweet young princes! the sacred pledges of the Protestant line; so
spirited, so sensible, so princely -« »Yes; very sensible! very spirited! (said
my uncle, interrupting him) but see the queen! ha, there's the queen! - There's
the queen! let me see - Let me see - Where are my glasses? ha! there's meaning
in that eye - There's sentiment - There's expression - Well, Mr. Barton, what
figure do you call next!« The next person he pointed out, was the favourite
yearl; who stood solitary by one of the windows - »Behold yon northern star,
(says he) shorn of his beams - What! the Caledonian luminary, that lately blazed
so bright in our hemisphere! methinks, at present, it glimmers through a fog;
like Saturn without his ring, bleak, and dim, and distant - Ha, there's the
other great phænomenon, the grand pensionary, that weathercock of patriotism
that veers about in every point of the political compass, and still feels the
wind of popularity in his tail. He too, like a portentous comet, has risen again
above the court-horizon; but how long he will continue to ascend, it is not easy
to foretel, considering his great eccentricity - Who are those two satellites
that attend his motions?« When Barton told him their names, »To their characters
(said Mr. Bramble) I am no stranger. One of them, without a drop of red blood in
his veins, has a cold intoxicating vapour in his head; and rancour enough in his
heart to inoculate and affect a whole nation. The other is (I hear) intended for
a share in the ad--n, and the pensionary vouches for his being duly qualified -
The only instance I ever heard of his sagacity, was his deserting his former
patron, when he found him declining in power, and in disgrace with the people.
Without principle, talent, or intelligence, he is ungracious as a hog, greedy as
a vulture, and thievish as a jackdaw; but, it must be owned, he is no hypocrite.
He pretends to no virtue, and takes no pains to disguise his character - His
ministry will be attended with
