Hic nigræ succus loliginis; hæc est "Erugo mera; quod vitium procul afore chartis, HORACE, Sat. i. 4. 100. LONDON: PRINTED FOR RICHARD PHILLIPS, BRIDGE-STREET, BLACKFRIARS, By T. Gillet, Wild-court. 1807. [Price Half-a-Guinea in Boards.] PUBLIC CHARACTERS OF 1806-7. IT MR. WHITBREAD, M. P. FOR BEDford. "Since all must life resign, Those sweet rewards which decorate the brave 'Tis folly to decline, And steal inglorious to the silent grave." Sir Wm. Jones's Ode in imitation of Alcæus. T is impossible to recur to the early periods of our history without exultation, or to trace the various epochs that have led to our national greatness without an honest pride. Yet candid men will sometimes be inclined to pause, and wise men to discriminate. Perhaps, amidst all the supposed degeneracy of modern days, it will be found that a middle class of society, unknown to ancient times, has arisen; which constitutes the surest barrier against the despotism of a monarch, and the best defence against the inroads of a foreign foe. Perhaps too, wealth by being at once increased, and more equally divided, has, on the whole, produced a greater sum of happiness; and notwithstanding the immense load of taxes, which threaten certain ranks 1806-1807. B of society with annihilation, the present age is better than a former. The feudal times must always be contemplated with disgust. The king, only considered as the most powerful baron, commanded in parliament where he ought to have obeyed; and was a mere cypher in that camp in which he ought to have been the commander. The great landholders, on the other hand, were so many petty despots, ruling their own vassals with an unbridled authority; making war not unfrequently on each other, and sometimes committing the most horrid devastations with impunity. Meanwhile the situation of the peasantry was wretched in the extreme. At one period absolute slaves, and literally appertaining to the soil;* at another in a state of vassalage; and obliged, in both cases, to toil and to fight for the interests, and according to the caprice, of their lords; they had no will of their own, and possessed neither money nor property. Thus the circle of misery was complete; and the chain which connected the tyrant and the helot did not possess one intermediate link, to which the happiness of individuals was attached: for all not barons were bondmen, and in a state of inconceivable degradation, both mental and corporeal. It is not here attempted to be denied, indeed, that some noble struggles incidentally took place; and that from the occasional collision of two distinct *Adscripti glebe. classes of despotism some glorious events were produced. Perhaps the practical foundation of all our liberties, although their origin may be traced much further back, originated in the mutual jealousies of king and nobles; and it is to the famous compact at Runnymede, in a former age, that we are indebted for the rights enjoyed during the present. The whigs of England, while engaged in a hopeless struggle against corruption, solemnly promised to commemorate the event by means of a noble pillar; and it is to be hoped, now they have once more obtained power, that they will redeem their pledge. But after all, the event, to which we have just alluded, can scarcely be considered in any other point of view than a mere struggle for authority, in which the superior weight of property naturally preponderated. This, it must be owned, is still one of the great political landmarks that designate the ancient coast; but our present chart was formed and produced in a different manner, and by different means. Had the bulk of our population continued to consist of villains, the barons would have fought and bled and conquered, not for the public, but for themselves. We are therefore to recur to another period, for a solution of our inquiries. The franchises granted to cities produced the first germs of civilization. The long and bloody wars between the rival roses secretly inclined the minds of men towards peace and tranquillity; while the introduction of commerce, manufactures, and the |