1800. ] 
The king prefides, his fubje&’s toil furveys ; 
The fervile rout their careful Czefar praife : - 
Him they extol, they worfhip him alone ; 
They crowd his levees and fupport his throne: 
They raife him on their fhoulders with a fhout; 
And when their fovereign’s quarrel calls them 
out, 
His foes to mortal combat they defy, 
And think it honour at his feet to die. 
This is fomewhat more than 7x/ect-loy- 
alty ; for Ido not believe that any crea- 
ture wi/hout reason would be capable of fo 
paffionate an attachment to a being of its 
own clafs, endeared by no friendfhip, and 
known by no benefits. When Ventidius 
in a noble rapture addrefles Mark Antony 
with 
My emperor! the man I love next heav’n ! 
Had I faid more, t’were {carce a crime,— 
though the fentiment is not perfectly Ro- 
man of that period, yet it may be natu- 
rally fuppofed to be infpired by the fplen- 
did and popular character of Antony, and 
by gratitude for his favours; and the 
pious ejaculation of a great lawyer, 
«* When I forget my king, may God for- 
get me!’ was probably dictated by cir- 
cumftances perfonal to the fpeaker: but 
the warm devotion attached to a mere 
name, in which loyalty confifts (for it is 
transferred with the crown, and expects 
No particular virtues in the wearer) is a 
refinement of fentiment much beyond the 
inftin&tive emotions of common affection. 
A fpaniel may lick the hand that feeds 
him, but a man only can fet up a meta- 
phyfical idol and pay it worfhip. 
After all, confidering the matter philo- 
logically, I find it dificult to account for 
this variation in the ufe of the word /oyalty. 
Perhaps, as the French language was in- 
troduced among us in company with con- 
queft and a high degree of monarchical 
power, fome of its terms might acquire a 
more fervile meaning than they poffefied in 
their native country. I believe it is cer- 
tain that many of our early kings had 
more of the regal ftate and authority than 
their contemporaries of France; and even 
fo late as Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, 
more exterior homage was paid to royalty 
in England than (probably) in any other 
country in Europe. In the perfon of Eli- 
zabeth, the facred charaéter of majefty was 
united with the prerogatives of the fex, 
which, in that age, when the fpirit of 
chivalry was not yet extinct, were of 
high confideration. Accordingly, fhe was 
the obje&t of a moft romantic loyalty, 
which the was wife enough to fupport by 
Preat real or affeéted regard to tne wel- 
fare of her people. When the conteft 
On the Royal Bounty to the Irifh Prefbyterian Clergy. 
397 
between monarchy and republicanifm com-~ 
menced under Charles I. the partifans of 
the firft thought they could not go too far 
in manifefting their alienation from the fe- 
cond; and belides, the fufferings of the 
king, and his heroic conduct under them, 
were calculated to excite the warmeft emo- 
tions in his favour. Loyalty, therefore, 
was renewed in all its force both as a paf- 
fion and aprinciple; and in the breaft of a 
cavalier took place of every public, and 
almoft every private, affection. I€ required 
no perfonal favour for its fupport; for; as 
Butler, in a ferious ftrain, obferves, 
Loyalty is fill the fame, 
Whether it win or Jofe the game 3 
True as the dial to the fun, 
Although it be not fhone upon. 
From_that period, I conceive, the mean- 
ing of the word was exclufively fixed to 
faithful attachment to the prince; for 
Shakefoear (though this is not a fente 
noted by: Jchnfon) has employed it alfo to 
fignify the attachment of a fervant to his 
matter, Old Adam fays to Orlando, in 
“¢ As you like it,” 
‘ I will follow thee 
To the laft gafp with truth and /yalty. 
I fhall conclude this difcuflion with jut 
fugeelting, that it might, perhaps, be as 
well to revert to Clarendon’s idea of this 
political virtue ; for furely a more orthodox 
authority, with refpect to monarchical 
principles, need not be fought. He fays, 
{peaking of a public character, ‘¢ He had 
never any veneration for the court, but 
only fuch /opalty to the king as the Jaw re- 
quired;”? where, by the way, an etymo- 
logy of the word from Jaz (lay), feems to 
be pointed out. Is not this the true one? 
It may be remarked that /ead in the Scot- 
tifh diale&t has the exact French and Ita- 
lian fignification, Your's, &c. WN.N. 
= 
For the Monthly Magazines 
OBSERVATIONS on the large AUGMEN- 
TATION of ROYAL BOUNTY about to 
be granted to the PRESBYTERIAN CLER- 
GY of the NORTH of IRELAND. 
Underftand that the Prefbyterian fynod 
_ of Ulfter ‘nas met once and again, not 
upon any point of religious doétrine or dif- 
cipline ; not for the purpofe of taking in- 
to ferious confideration the fate of their 
church; the progrefs of infidelity; the 
paffivenefs of pattors; the languor and 
indifference pervading one portion of the 
laity; the rapid advance made among the 
lower orders of their people by the mif- 
fionary fpirit of Methodilm; the means 
bef calculated in the prefent times and 
tempers of men for fuftaining the fea: 
ilci- 
