AUTUMN. CROWN'D With the sickle and the wheaten sheaf, Onslow! the muse, ambitious of thy name, 10 *This dedication to Arthur Onslow, the celebrated Speaker, first appeared in the earliest quarto edition of the Seasons, with a poem to the memory of Sir Isaac Newton, printed by subscription in 1730. It contained the first edition of the Autumn. Arthur Onslow was descended from an old Shropshire family. He was the second son of Sir Richard Onslow, Bart., member of Parliament for Bramber, in the reign of Charles I., during the Usurpation, and for some time after the Restoration, by his second wife, Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Foot, Bart., Lord Mayor of the City of London. The name of the family was derived from Ondeslow, a manor which has since been named Kenilworth. The family gave three Speakers to the House of Commons. The subject of the present brief sketch has been termed "clarum ac venerabile nomen. S He The patriot virtues that distend thy thought, A roll of periods sweeter than her song. 15 was elected Speaker in January, 1728, and continued in office for a period of thirty-three years. During a great part of the time that Mr. Onslow held the office of Speaker, he enjoyed, also, the lucrative office of Treasurer of the Navy; yet with both these appointments, his private fortune suffered from his liberality. He had great knowledge of English parliamentary history. At the Revolution, under James II., his Notes on the Constitution were considered so valuable, that they were afterwards extensively used by Mr. Hatsell, in his Parliamentary Precedents. Although Mr. Onslow was strict in the performance of his duties as Speaker, yet, on every occasion, he was civil and polite in preserving order in the House. His probity was undoubted, and on more than one occasion, when he had to give the casting vote, the propriety of his decision was unquestioned. Mr. Onslow resigned the chair, which, during thirty-three years, he had so ably filled, on the 18th March, 1761, on account of his years and increasing infirmities. The thanks of the House of Commons were unanimously voted to him, with a recommendation to the Crown to grant a pension of three thousand a-year to him and to his son; which was granted. No Speaker had ever more firmly maintained the dignity of his office, and supported the privileges of the House, than Mr. Onslow. "His knowledge of the constitution was only equalled by his attachment to it."1 In his valedictory address, whilst he spoke of his retirement, he concluded with a prayer for the perpetuity of the constitution, and accepted the pension only on account of his family. This address was followed by the thanks of the House. The address to the king received for answer that his Majesty would do "what shall appear to him to be most proper, agreeably to the desire of his faithful Commons; " and the above-mentioned pension was conferred. On the fifth of the following month, the Common Council voted him the freedom of the City, which was presented to him in a gold box, of the value of one hundred pounds, as a testimony of the gratitude of the citizens for his support of the rights, privileges, and constitutional independence of the Commons of Great Britain. Mr. Onslow, although retired from Parliament, yet did not wholly withdraw from public life; for in June of the same year we find him elected one of the Trustees of the British Museum. 1 Horace Walpole. But she too pants for public virtue; she, Though weak of power yet strong in ardent will, Assumes a bolder note, and fondly tries To mix the patriot's with the poet's flame. When the bright Virgin gives the beauteous days, And Libra weighs in equal scales the year,* From heaven's high cope the fierce effulgence shook With golden light enliven'd, wide invests Falls from its poise, and gives the breeze to blow. These are thy blessings, industry! rough power! Whom labour still attends, and sweat, and pain; Yet the kind source of every gentle art, And all the soft civility of life: Raiser of human kind! by Nature cast, 20 26 30 35 40 45 * When the sun passes from the sign of the zodiac, termed Virgo, the Virgin, and enters the Balance or Libra, the autumnal equinox commences. Naked, and helpless, out amid the woods. Still unexerted, in the unconscious breast, Even desolate in crowds; and thus his days 50 55 60 65 70 *It is by no means certain that the acorn was ever employed as the food of man in this country: that which is used in the south of Europe is not the acorn of our oak (Quercus Robur), but the fruit of the Quercus Ballota, which is abundant in Spain, and bears an agreeable and nutritive acorn. His feeble force by the mechanic powers; Taught him to chip the wood, and hew the stone, Nor stopp'd at barren bare necessity; And, breathing high ambition through his soul, And bade him be the lord of all below. 80 85 90 95 100 Then gathering men their natural powers combin'd, And form'd a public; to the general good Submitting, aiming, and conducting all. For this the patriot council met, the full, The free, and fairly represented whole; For this they plann'd the holy guardian laws, Distinguish'd orders, animated arts, And with joint force oppression chaining, set Imperial justice at the helm-yet still To them accountable: nor slavish dream'd That toiling millions must resign their weal, And all the honey of their search, to such As for themselves alone themselves have rais'd. Hence every form of cultivated life 105 |