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"A soft sponginess of character that will easily acquire any hue, or any stain; a tabula rasa of intellect; a spirit invulnerable to insult; that (for example) after vain endeavors to disunite and discourage the Catholics of Ireland, could condescend to [end page 2] truck and chaffer, for the official transmission of their address; and then submit to be passed by with a contemptuous neglect, equally degrading to the honour of the man, and the dignity of the station:--such are the qualities best suited to complete the lustrum of an Irish Lord Lieutenancy."

— Drennan, William (1754-1820)

Author

Drennan, William (1754-1820)

Work Title

A letter to His Excellency Earl Fitzwilliam, lord lieutenant, &c. of Ireland

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Printed for Richard White

Date

1795

Metaphor

"A soft sponginess of character that will easily acquire any hue, or any stain; a tabula rasa of intellect; a spirit invulnerable to insult; that (for example) after vain endeavors to disunite and discourage the Catholics of Ireland, could condescend to [end page 2] truck and chaffer, for the official transmission of their address; and then submit to be passed by with a contemptuous neglect, equally degrading to the honour of the man, and the dignity of the station:--such are the qualities best suited to complete the lustrum of an Irish Lord Lieutenancy."

Metaphor in Context

You come, the successor of a Viceroy, whose name may serve as a date in the margin of Irish history, but will never once be noticed in its page. Public, without being known; little heard of, though often seen; he sat at the council board a listless automaton, or galloped through the city, the terror of old women, and the envy of school-boys. When made Master of the Horse, he has fulfilled his destiny, and arrived at that point of animal perfection, for which alone nature and education had designed him. Yet, my Lord, you will perhaps experience with one or two of you predecessors, that the best qualifications for a continuance in the Lieutenancy of Ireland are those of a negative kind. A soft sponginess of character that will easily acquire any hue, or any stain; a tabula rasa of intellect; a spirit invulnerable to insult; that (for example) after vain endeavors to disunite and discourage the Catholics of Ireland, could condescend to [end page 2] truck and chaffer, for the official transmission of their address; and then submit to be passed by with a contemptuous neglect, equally degrading to the honour of the man, and the dignity of the station:--such are the qualities best suited to complete the lustrum of an Irish Lord Lieutenancy.
(pp. 2-3)