The Poetry of Mary Robinson: Form and Fame

176 The Poetry of Mary Robinson

up his satirical cause in London and extend it beyond the literary

sphere:

Wan was his cheek! his eye’s sunk sphere,

Gleam’d dimly thro’ a frozen tear!

And while the bounding chords he smote,

The night- breeze paus’d, to hear the note—

That dying on the gale,

Told lorn VELINA’S tender tale—

Piercing the heart with softer trills,

Than MONA’S harp e’er pour’d on CAMBRIA’S sounding hills!

“Haste,” said the Spectre sad, “to Britain’s shores,

“And from the central mart of busy care,

“To where the circling Ocean roars,

“My fateful lessons bear!”

He sigh’d and vanish’d! I obey’d,

To warn a daring race, and sooth a brother’s shade! (1: 348;

85–98)

So the poem ends, including the most concrete evidence of Macdonald’s

inf luence—the reference to his Velina, a Poetical Fragment, a narrative

poem in Spenseria n sta nzas t hat appea red in 1782 under Macdona ld’s

own name.

Heeding Matthew’s command, the first batch of Tabitha Bramble

poems turns out to be broader political satire, filled with references

to specific events, figures, and policies. The second and third poems,

for example, refer sarcastically to Burke’s phrase “the swinish multi-

t ude.” T he second ode, “A Si mple Ta le,” at t ack s P it t a s a jugg ler, t hu s

recalling Robert Merry’s “Signor Pittachio” satire of 1794 (Craciun,

British 78). This poem ends with a direct allusion to Peter Pindar’s

most famous poem, The Lousiad, and his now- clichéd phrase “save

our bacon” (1: 351; 90). The third ode explicitly mocks the King’s

proclamation of December 19 as a day of national thanksgiving

for recent British naval victories. Recalling Robinson’s Humanitas

poem, Tabitha skewers the ceremonial procession of HR H to St.

Paul’s Cathedral accompanied by Prime Minister Pitt, clergy, mem-

bers of Parliament, naval officers, and sailors. She attacks Pitt in par-

ticular, describing how “WILLY, like an Ostrich hides / His head

in DUNCAN’S well- earn’d glory!” (55–6), referring to the success of

Admiral Adam Duncan, who commanded the British f leet to vic-

tory at the Battle of Camperdown (11 October 1797). But the poem

begins with a deliberate exposition of the Tabitha Bramble character

9780230100251_06_ch04.indd 1769780230100251_06_ch04.indd 176 12/28/2010 11:08:52 AM12/28/2010 11:08:52 AM

10.1057/9780230118034 - The Poetry of Mary Robinson, Daniel Robinson

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