Part 10

The pamphlet to which Tickell refers is _A Short Review of the Political State of Great-Britain at the Commencement of the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-Seven_, Debrett, 1787, a collection of political portraits and cursory observations as thin in substance as they are florid in style. Its authorship was acknowledged in the _Posthumous Memoirs_, 1836, of Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, who told there of its immense success upon publication: it ran through six editions in the last ten days of January, sold 17,000 copies, and elicited a half-dozen replies within a month (_Historical and Posthumous Memoirs_, 1884, IV, 372-375). _The People’s Answer_ was written from Tickell’s precise political position at this time and displays his characteristic style.

Beginning in his usual brisk and pointed manner, Tickell suggests that the celebrity of the _Short Review_ is due largely to such a total want of polite wit among the supporters of Administration “that even a Charade from one of the _King’s Friends_ would excite ... admiration.” The author has provided “the dull desponding train of an unlettered Court” with

a sort of handy manual for the Levee ..., lightly touching on the topicks most in vogue, and sketching out handy sentences for the Lords of the Bedchamber to retail, or the Maids of Honour to scribble on their fans.

Here is the hand of the author of _The Wreath of Fashion_. In his treatment of Pitt’s commercial treaty, his gift of mimicry is also apparent. Tickell the elegant amateur cannot resist parodying the style of writers on commercial subjects:

Every leaf of these motley compositions displays an epitome of all the tricks of invitation, that are practised by the trades they discuss; some of them intoxicating the eye, like Vintners’ windows, with BRANDY! RUM! and BRITISH SPIRIT! in capitals—while others denote their beaten track, and towns of baiting; like the lettered pannels of a stage coach, in characters of a most extensive and convincing size; as,

HULL, LEEDS, WAKEFIELD, YORK,

or

BOCKING, BRAINTREE, DUNMOW, COLCHESTER, &c.

Perhaps the most amusing thing about this passage is that Tickell is ridiculing, among others, himself, for these are the very devices of the honest Woollen Draper’s _Letter_. The defence of the Prince of Wales’ conduct and friends, which occupies the later pages of _The People’s Answer_, is in a more serious tone.

xvi

[Prologue to] The Fugitive: A Comedy. As it is performed at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket. By Joseph Richardson, Esq. Barrister at Law. Ætherias, lascive cupis, volitare per auras I, fuge, sed poteris, tutior esse domi. Martial. London: Printed for J. Debrett, opposite Burlington-House, Piccadilly. MDCCXCII.

8vo. P. [i], half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp. [v-viii], “Advertisement”; pp. [ix-x], “Prologue written by Richard Tickell, Esq.”; p. [xi], “Dramatis Personæ,” verso blank; pp. [1]-83, text; p. [84], blank; pp. [85-86], “Epilogue, written by the Right Hon. Lieutenant General Burgoyne.”

Copies: BM, C.

Subsequent issues disregarded here.

Joseph Richardson (1755-1803) was an intimate of the Sheridan circle, a Foxite politician, and one of the largest contributors to _The Rolliad_. _The Fugitive_ was first performed 20 April 1792.