Other specimens of his quality do not exhibit the inspiration of those lines, and indeed he is found to be too concerned with moral analogies to please greatly, even in the best of them. Thus:
Where'er the diamond's busy point could pass, See! what deep wounds have pierced the middle glass! While partial and untouching, all the rest, Highest and lowest panes, shine, unimpressed: No wonder, this!--for, e'en in life, 'tis so; High fortunes stand, unreached--unseen the low, But middle states are marks for every blow.
Whig and Tory scratch and bite, Just as hungry dogs we see: Toss a bone 'twixt two, they fight, Throw a couple, they agree.
There is some just observation in that last, although how you are to give a bone apiece, and at the same time, to Whig and Tory, would, as I conceive the situation, be a difficult, not to say an impossible, matter in our scheme of politics. When a Government comes into power, be it Whig or Tory, or any other fancy label you please, it takes _all_ the bones, and the other dog merely does the growling, until the times do alter.
With two more specimens we practically exhaust Hill's well of fancy:
Tender-handed, stroke a nettle, And it stings you, for your pains: Grasp it, like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains. 'Tis the same with common natures, Use 'em kindly, they rebel: But be rough on Nutmeg-graters, And the rogues obey you well.
Here, in wet and windy weather, Muse and I, two mopes together, Far from friends and short of pleasure, Wanting everything but leisure: Scarce content, in any one sense, Tell the showers, and scribble nonsense.
Bay Tree Tavern, St. Swithin's Lane, ii. 290
Birch Tree Tavern, St. Swithin's Lane, ii. 290
Blue Bell, Barnby Moor, i. 60, ii. 55, 81
-- Lion, Muggleton, _i.e._ Town Malling, i. 226
Bottom Inn, Chalton Downs, near Petersfield, i. 270-274
Bull and Mouth, St. Martin's-le-Grand, i. 228
Burford Bridge Hotel, near Dorking, ii. 273
Chapel House, near Chipping Norton, ii. 100-106
Coach and Horses, Chalton Downs, near Petersfield, i. 270
Cock and Pymat, Whittington, near Chesterfield, i. 181-184
Craven Arms, near Church Stretton, ii. 47
Crispin and Crispianus, Strood, i. 292-295
Cross Hands, near Chipping Sodbury, ii. 85