Tyler, Royall, 1757-1826 [1797], The Algerine captive, or, The life and adventures of Doctor Updike Underhill, six years a prisoner among the Algerines, volume 1 (, Walpole, NH) [word count] [eaf407v1].
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CHAP. XXVI.
Now mark a &longs;pot or two,
That &longs;o much beauty would do well to parge;
And &longs;hew this queen of cities, that &longs;o fair,
May yet be foul, &longs;o witty, yet not wi&longs;e.
Cowper.
ARGUMENT.
London.
[figure description] Page 171.[end figure description]
The &longs;hip being &longs;old, and another
purcha&longs;ed, while the latter was sitting
out, at Plymouth, for her voyage to
Africa. I was ordered, by the captain, to
London, to procure our medicine che&longs;t,
and ca&longs;e of &longs;urgical in&longs;truments. Here
a field of boundle&longs;s remark opened it&longs;elf
to me.
Men of unbounded affluence, in plain
attire, living within the rules of the mo&longs;t
rigid economy; crowds of no &longs;ub&longs;tance,
&longs;trutting in embroidery and lace;
-- 172 --
[figure description] Page 172.[end figure description]
people, who&longs;e little &longs;moky fire of coals was
rendered cheerle&longs;s by exci&longs;e, and their
daily draught of beer embittered by taxes
es; who admini&longs;ter to the luxury of pensioners
and place men, in every comfort,
convenience, or even nece&longs;&longs;ary of life they
partake; who are entangled by innumerable
penal laws, to the breach of
which, bani&longs;hment and the gallows are
almo&longs;t univer&longs;ally annexed; a motley
race, in who&longs;e mongrel veins runs the
blood of all nations, &longs;peaking with pointed
contempt of the fat burgo ma&longs;ter of
Am&longs;terdam, the cheerful French pea&longs;ant,
the hardy tiller of the Swi&longs;s cantons, and
the independent farmer of America; rotting
in dungeons, langui&longs;hing wretched
lives in fœtid jails, and boa&longs;ting of the
GLORIOUS FREEDOM OF ENGLISHMEN:
hereditary &longs;enators, ignorant and inattentive
to the welfare of their country,
and unacquainted with the geography of
its foreign po&longs;&longs;e&longs;&longs;ions; and politicians,
-- 173 --
[figure description] Page 173.[end figure description]
in coffee hou&longs;es, without one foot of &longs;oil,
or one guinea in their pockets, vaunting,
with national pride, of our victories, our
colonies, our mini&longs;ter, our magna charta,
and our con&longs;titution! I could not refrain
from adopting the language of Doctor
Young, and exclaiming in parody,
How poor, how rich, how abject, how augu&longs;t,
How complicate, how wonderful are Britons!
How pa&longs;&longs;ing wonder they who made them &longs;uch,
Who center'd in their make &longs;uch &longs;trange extremes
Of different nations, marvelou&longs;ly mix'd,
Connexion exqui&longs;ite of di&longs;tant climes,
As men, trod worms, as Engli&longs;hmen, high gods.
-- 174 -- p407-181
Tyler, Royall, 1757-1826 [1797], The Algerine captive, or, The life and adventures of Doctor Updike Underhill, six years a prisoner among the Algerines, volume 1 (, Walpole, NH) [word count] [eaf407v1].
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