ABSTRACT
Criticisms on the Rolliad is a fictional review of a mock epic. It derives its name from its principal target, John Rolle, an avid Tory member for parliament and zealous supporter of William Pitt. The Rolliad purports to relate the adventures of Duke Rolle, the MP’s imaginary medieval ancestor, in a form that parodies Virgil’s Aeneid. The impetus of the poem’s content derives from the formation of the Pitt administration in late 1783 and the election of 1784, which saw Pitt’s confirmation as Prime Minister. No opportunity is lost to satirise the new Tory government’s actions in both houses of parliament. In terms of tone, Criticisms on the Rolliad is often vituperative and Juvenalian, with every opportunity taken to lampoon William Pitt and member of the board of control for India, Henry Dundas, the former for his youth and precocity and the latter for his dissolute behaviour.
