As _liberal_ criticism appears to be a great desideratum with this sublime poet, I trust he will gratefully acknowledge the specimens of my liberality towards a worthy brother, which I propose hereafter to exhibit.
Or, it is possible, may it please your worships, that I--I for the matter of that am a little te--te--tipsy, or so.--But as there may perhaps be, as it were, now and then, one of your Right Worshipful Fraternity, who has been in a similar predicament se--se ipse, I hope I shall receive your worships’ permission to stagger on with a jug full of gas in my noddle, at least, through a stanza or two.
I’m fall’n! fall’n! fall’n! down, flat! flat! flat!
See Dryden’s Feast of Alexander, where one king Darius has a terrible tumble down, beautifully described by half a dozen “fallens.” But I think the Persian monarch did not after all, fall quite so _flat_ as Doctor Caustic.
See the lamentable case of the Lady, page 16th of Dr Beddoes’s pamphlet, who, taking a drop too much of this panacea, fell into hysterical fits, &c.
Boerhaave, Steno, De Graff, Swammerdam, Zimmerman, _cum multis aliis_. By the by, gentlemen, this epithet _shoal_ is not always to be taken in a _shallow_ sense; but when applied to such _deep_ fellows, must be considered as noun of multitude, as we say a _shoal_ of herrings.
----discern, prescribe, apply, And cure----
My learned friend, Dr Timothy Triangle perusing the manuscript of this my pithy petition, discovered that my description of the _modus operandi_ on the insect as above, compared with the celebrated “_veni, vidi, vici_,” as a specimen of fine writing, is superior in the direct proportion of _four_ to _three_; consequently Dr Caustic has advanced one step higher in the climax of sublimity than Julius Cesar.
That your worships may be able to form something like an idea of the wonderful ken of our mental optics, it will be necessary to con with diligence the opinions of Dr Johnson on this subject, as expressed in his tour to the Hebrides. The Doctor there tells us, that though he “never could advance his curiosity to conviction, yet he came away at last, _willing_ to believe.” But we would have all those who anticipate the deriving any advantage from our slight at second seeing, not only willing, but absolutely _predetermined_ to “believe,” positive evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.