Holland House

(From English Bards and Scotch Reviewers)

ILLUSTRIOUS Holland! hard would be his lot,

His hirelings mention’d, and himself forgot!

Holland, with Henry Petty at his back,

The whipper-in and huntsman of the pack.

Blest be the banquets spread at Holland House,

Where Scotchmen feed, and critics may carouse!

Long, long beneath that hospitable roof

Shall Grub-street dine, while duns are kept aloof.

See honest Hallam lay aside his fork,

Resume his pen, review his Lordship’s work,

And, grateful for the dainties on his plate,

Declare his landlord can at least translate!

Dunedin! view thy children with delight,

They write for food—and feed because they write:

And lest, when heated with the unusual grape,

Some glowing thoughts should to the press escape,

And tinge with red the female reader’s cheek,

My lady skims the cream of each critique;

Breathes o’er the page her purity of soul,

Reforms each error, and refines the whole.