[22] A recent instance of this must not pass unnoticed. In the Public
Advertiser appeared lately the following quaint panegyric, suggested
probably to ROSCIUS himself by his brother GEORGE the attorney.
Nature }
against } Notice of Process.
G---- }
_Dame Nature against G---- now by me
Her action brings, and thus she grounds her plea.
"I never made a man but still
You acted like that man at will;
Yet ever must I hope in vain
To make a man like you again."
Hence ruin'd totally by you,
She brings her suit, &c. &c._
B. Solicitor for the Plaintiff.
In reply to this notice, it is said, the _defendant's plea_ would have
appeared in the same paper; but the cause was obliged to be removed by
_certiorari_ to another court; when it appeared thus:
Nature }
against } Defendant's Plea.
G---- }
_For G---- I without a fee
'Gainst Nature thus put in his plea.
"To make a man, like me, of art,
Is not, 'tis true, dame Nature's part;
I own that Scrub, fool, knave I've play'd
With more success than all my trade;
But prove it, plaintiff, if you can,
That e'er I acted like a man."
Of this we boldly make denial.----
Join issue, and proceed to trial._
A. Attorney for the Defendant.
Tho' shambling BECKET,[23] proud to soothe my pride,
Keeps ever shuflling on my right-hand side;
What tho' with well-tim'd flatt'ry, loud he cries,
At each theatric stare, "See, see his eyes!"
What tho' he'll fetch and carry at command,
And kiss, true spaniel-like, his master's hand;
With admiration NYK ne'er heard me speak,
But press'd the kiss of love upon my cheek;[24]
Incessant clapp'd at th'end of every speech;
And, had I bidd'n him, would have kiss'd my b----!
Let me no longer, then, my loss deplore,
But to his ROSCIUS, Muse, my NYK restore.
But hah! what discord strikes my listening ear?
Is NYKY dead, or is some critic near?
Curse on that Ledger and that damn'd Whitehall,[25]
How players and managers they daily maul!