The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 03 (of 12)Hazlitt, William
General
The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 03 (of 12)
Hazlitt, William
English essays -- 19th century
John Bull, John Bull, John Bull, read the above account twice over,
think well of it, and then say why you should not wear the yoke, which
you have put round the neck of others, round your own. Ah! John, thou
art not a metaphysician: thou dost lack a concatenation of ideas!—We are
not proud of the share which as Englishmen we had in the proceedings
recorded by Mr. Macirone: but we have one consolation for our national
pride, Fouché and Talleyrand are Frenchmen. These two pettifogging
miscreants seem to have made themselves perfect in the advice of the
fool in _Lear_: ‘Let go thy hold, when a great wheel runs down hill,
lest it should break thy neck with following it: but the great one that
goes upwards, let it draw thee after. When a wise man gives thee better
counsel, give me mine again: I would have none but knaves follow it.’
The great wheel, however, in this instance, kicked off the two knaves,
that followed the fool’s advice. One of these famous persons now writes
letters of apology to the Duke of Wellington, and the other to Lord
Castlereagh. They are not so well off as Murat and Berthier, one of whom
was legitimately shot through the head, and the other legitimately
thrown out of a window, if we are to believe Mr. Macirone, that he might
die in _the good cause_—‘a master-leaver, and a fugitive.’
WAT TYLER; A DRAMATIC POEM.
THE QUARTERLY REVIEW: _Article_, ‘ON PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.’
‘So was it when my life began,
So is it now I am a man:
So shall it be when I grow old and die.
The child’s the father of the man:
Our years flow on
Link’d each to each by natural piety.’—WORDSWORTH.
_March 9, 1817._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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