THE 
 
 PURSUITS OF LITERATURE, 
 
 OR 
 
 WHAT YOU WILL. 
 
 SATIRICAL POEM 
 IN DIALOGUE. 
 
 % WITH NOTES. 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 A1NETH KATA ME2SON, *yoi h ^ \\a7Xxs Aflwtj 
 
 Xzipos i7.Hi\ zvrzp CcXiam <MipVX.Ql fpCfJYiV. 
 
 Horn. TI.4. v. 540. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR J. OWEN, NO. l68, PICCADILLT. 
 
 J 796.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 r*?a P *° 
 
 THE SECOND PART. 
 
 1 WO years have passed since I published '* The First 
 " Part of the Pursuits of Literature." I now offer a conti- 
 nuation of it to the attention of thofe perfons who may feel 
 • themselves interested in such researches ; the fubjects of 
 which indeed, in their event, are perhaps important to all. 
 What I observed of the first part, I observe of this, and the 
 following parts, " that no imitation is intended of any for- 
 mer writer or of any former poem." That it will attract 
 some attention in some places, I am confident ; but it will 
 be idle to make any conjecture as to the author. He is 
 and will be, concealed, upon motives very different from 
 the apprehension of any private resentment. I dissuade eve- 
 ry person from flippant and random application of any 
 supposed name; it is as unjust, as it is absurd. " Flebit et 
 4i insignis tota cantabitur urbe," was said of old; and I 
 
 recommend 
 
 869810
 
 ( viii ) 
 
 ation of the Poem to my readers, not without the spirit 
 of a writer who has endeavoured well. I will also, upon 
 reflection, add the words of a man, not to be named on 
 such an occasion. " I do not look to be asked, where- 
 •* fore I wrote this book; it being no difficulty to answer, 
 •' that I did it to those ends, which the best men propose 
 " to themselves, when they write*"
 
 THE 
 
 PURSUITS OF LITERATURE, 
 
 OR 
 
 WHAT YOU WILL: 
 
 PART THE SECOND.* 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Virtue and worth Pierian strains record : 
 
 Hail then to Him, fam'd Cestria's mitred lord, (§) 
 
 That lawu'd Endymion of a happier age, 
 
 Who wild with rapture, and empiric rage, 
 
 On bolder plume aspiring, could presume 5 
 
 To journey through the vast sethereal gloom ; 
 
 • N. B. It is recommended to the reader to peruse the whole 
 i.f this Poem, or indeed of any other work in verse or prose, once, 
 without referring to any of the notes, but those which are mere- 
 ly explanatory, when the allusion may not be obvious; as note*, 
 to ufe the lawyer's phrase, very often travel out of the record, 
 
 (§) Bishop Wilkins. See the note in the next page. 
 
 B
 
 ( 2 ) 
 
 Who tir'd of earth, and dreams of gowned rest. 
 Sunk in the elysium of his Cynthia 's breast, {a) 
 
 But we our sin-worn garments cannot cast j 
 Weigh'd down with ills, the present or the past, 10 
 We toil anq! groan in this disordered hour, 
 Victors and victims of th* unhallow*d pow'r, 
 That bids the western, world or rouse, or weep, 
 O'erwhelra'd beneath the formidable deep. 
 
 (a) John Wilkins, bifhop of Chester in the last century, 
 wrote a celebrated *' Discourse concerning the possibility of a 
 " passage to the moon." The bishop is, as all bishops should 
 be, very serious on the occasion ; and as an effectual change of 
 air and climate is recommended in so many diseases, I approve 
 most of all of Doctor Wilkin./ s prescription of a flying cha- 
 riot; and instead of raving or storming, or fretting about 
 the accidents of life, to set off directly— -for the moon. This 
 method of translation, (a happy thought in a bishop,) would 
 at once supersede the necessity of suicide, prisons, or revolu- 
 tions, when people are out of humour. Besides Dr. Herschell 
 has told us what an agreeable place the moon is. I believe he 
 has descried the surveyors of the lunar turnpike roads, and ac- 
 tually seen their St. Paul's Church, and some of the Selenites 
 in a solemn procession. This cannot much surprise us, as he 
 has nearly discovered what the sun is made of, which lies a lit- 
 tle- further from us. Upon my word, Philofophy is a very 
 pTeafant thing, and has various uses ; one of the best is, it makes 
 us laugh sometimes*
 
 O CTA VI U S. 
 
 What always France ? forbear awhile to rave 
 O'er those, whose every second thought's the grave. 
 Learning's your theme : go bend before that tomb, 
 Where other palms and other laurels bloom, 
 Where Maro sleeps ; or in the Sabine shade, 
 Or in severe Aquinum's inmost glade, 20 
 
 Or in Volterra's (a) dark Etrurian grove, 
 With Boileau's (Jbi) art, and Dryden's rapture rove. 
 Be wise betimes ; and in resistless prose 
 Leave Burke alone to thunder on our foes. 
 Let Wakefield {/) rant, and pallid Thelwall bawl, 
 Lords of misrule in anarchy's wild hall, 
 
 (a) Juvenal was born at Aquinum, and Pershis at Voltena, 
 in Italy. 
 
 (&) Boileau. — The most perfect of all modern writers in 
 true taste and judgment: his sagacity was unerring; he combi- 
 ned every ancient excellence, and appears original even in the 
 adoption of acknowledged thoughts and allusions. He is the 
 just and adequate representative of Horace, Juvenal, and Per s i- 
 us united, without one indecent blemish; and, for my own 
 part, I have always considered him as the most finished gen* 
 tleman that ever wrote. 
 
 B 2
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 Such prophets, as ere long Home Tookc may save, 
 And hide, and feed by fifties (d) in a cave : 
 
 (c) Wakefield. Whenever I think of the name of Gilbert 
 JFakeftld, and look at the list of his works, (for I would not un- 
 dertake to read them all,) I feel alternately sorrow and indig- 
 nation. His learning and sagacity are indeed sufficient to 
 entitle him to some patronage, and the removal of every want. 
 Cut his spirit is so restless, his temper is so overbearing and ty- 
 rannical, (I speak/row* the confederation of his tvorh alone) his con- 
 tempt for others is so great, and his personal vanity so conspi- 
 cuous, that even literature begins to be weary of him. But 
 when I turn to his religious and political opinions, I find all 
 the virulence and asperity of the reformer, all the insolence 
 and even impudence of the assertors of equality, a want of de- 
 cent or even common respect to dignified characters, and a 
 mind (naturally designed for better exertions, and cultivated in 
 the groves of an university) hostile and implacable to every 
 establishment, and with a strong tendency even to sanguinary 
 persecution. I speak of him as a public man ; I have no con- 
 tempt of his attainments; but I will mver suffer him or arty 
 Other man, obtruding himself and his political principles and 
 measures upon the publick, to pass me without notice ; or, 
 as the poet strongly expresses it, 
 
 pjomerare sub antro 
 Fumiferam noctem, commixtis igne tenebris, 
 without the reprehenfion he deferves. 
 
 (d) By fifties.— ■" Obadiah took the (irohhets % and hid them by 
 fifty in a cave, and fed them tvith bread and water." Kings B. i p 
 ch. 18. v. 4. In the provisions of thst most important, and f 
 wish I could say, perpetual act, (passed in 1795) for preventing 
 seditious assemblies, &c. Sec. &c. it js specified, that none of the 
 prophets, or lecturers., or diviners in democracy, shall meet in. 
 greater numbers than by fifty in a pave, or elsewhere : and consi- 
 
 jlerjng
 
 ( i ) 
 
 Let such call Pitt or Grenville meanly bold, 30 
 
 Who calm'd the terror of Burke's claws in gold. (<?) 
 
 You read perchance a minister in books, (f) 
 And know an honest statesman by his looks ; 
 Think in debates the spirit may be seen, 
 In Thurlow, just, in Wedderburnc, serene ; 35 
 In Grenville, firmness; majesty, in Pitt ; 
 And in Dundas, the courage to submit. 
 Proud of your keen discernment you retire, 
 Smit with the fame of RqIIo's bard (g) and squire, 
 You'd print (poor man !) your satire, and your song. 
 
 dering the inflammatory nature of their disorder, it is devoutly 
 to be wished, that they may be kept upon the same cooling diet 
 by our modern Obadjah. 
 
 (<•) Summos auro mansueverat ungues." Statius— A beau- 
 tiful periphrasis for giving a pension ; but it is a penfion nobly 
 merited. 
 
 (/) I allude to the profound knowledge which busy men 
 acquire of the moft secret designs of the British, or even of 
 foreign Cabinets, — from the news-papers. Nothing is so plea- 
 sant as to hear men assert without the leaft hesitation what they 
 knoxo of the intention of Minifters. I really envy the satisfac- 
 tion they feel, when they communicate their discoveries to such 
 unenlightened and ignorant men as myself. 
 
 (#) The Rolliad, *c,
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Pain of the Press you threaten hard and strong \{]i) 
 Would you, by question of poetic law, 
 Confession from a rhyming culprit draw ? 
 No: to my country's justice I appeal; 
 Nor dread the press, the guillotine, nor wheel, 4$ 
 Nor fulsome praise, nor coldness of neglect, 
 Nor all that poets meet, but scarce expect. 
 
 Plays I could frame, like Ireland, (J) by the score; 
 Memory I have, not Middleton (k) has more ; 
 Could sing of gardens, yet well-pleas'd to see 56 
 Walpole (/) and Nature may, for once, agree j 
 
 (£) The ancient tdrture of the press, now abolished, wa> 
 called the Peine fort et dure. None but authors seem willing to 
 revive it, but it is equitably — in their own persons and works. 
 
 (i) The publisher of the newly-found manuscripts in Shake- 
 speare's own hand-writing. The reader will find more on this 
 subject in the course of the poem. 
 
 (&) The famous witness on Mr. Haftings's trial, the disciple 
 of Themiftocles. 
 
 (/) See that quaint, but curious and learned, writer's excel- 
 lent Efiay on Modern Gardening at the end of his Lives of the 
 Painters.
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 Could give with Darwin, to the hectic kind, 
 Receipts in verse to shift the north-east wind ; (/») 
 With Price («) and Knight grounds by neglect improve, 
 And banish use, for naked Nature's lpve, $$ 
 
 Lakes, forests,, rivers, in one landscape drawn, 
 My park, a county; and a heath, my lawn ; 
 
 (m) See Dr. Darwin's Loves of the Plants.and a long and plea- 
 sant note, in which the Doctor thinks it very feasible to manage 
 the winds, (and every thing else I believe), at his pleasure, by 
 a little philosophy. I never read any thing so comfortable in my 
 life, for I dread a cough in the spring from the bleak north-east 
 blafts. — Martinus Scriblerus will be, after all, a legitimate 
 natural philosopher. It appears to me, that Dr. Darwin's in- 
 genious understanding is peculiarly adapted to solve the follow- 
 ing problem in natural philosophy : " Whether, the liybernal 
 "frigidity of the Antipodes, fiassing in an orthogonal line, through the 
 ** homogeneous solidity of the center, might ivarm the superficial conncx- 
 " ity of our heels by a soft antiperistasis ?" I have given a trans- 
 lation of this great and useful problem, fas the French Philosopher 
 Pantagruel, is not quite so intelligible in the original,) that Dr, 
 Darwin may discuss it at large in the next edition of his Zoonomia, 
 w"hich is much to be desired. I refer the reader to the Create 
 Phdosopihique des Questions Encyclopediques at the end of Rabelais 
 Book 5. The true cream is to be found in the French Revolution, 
 1789. 
 
 (a) Price and Knight.— See the various treatises, all curiou* 
 and in some degree pleasant, on the subject of landscape and 
 the art of laying out grounds. Knight and Price, versus Mason 
 and Brown, Repton, Moderator. I have no doubt of the decision 
 at the bar of tafte, but I certainly would not bring the cause in 
 the court at Guildhall, « ith the ^iautson the jury and Lord Kenyoa 
 the judge there certainly would be a .verdict for the.Brogdi&nag. 
 Gardeners, Knight and Price.
 
 / 
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 Man's social civil Progress (o) could rehearse, 
 Put Gibbon, Hume, or Tacitus in verse; 
 
 (o) See and read (if poflible) what Mr. R. P. Knight calls a 
 Didactic Poem, " The Progress of Civil Society in six books, 
 4to." I protest I speak impartially, when I assert that Mr. Knight 
 seems to have no other ideas of poetry, than that of lines and 
 syllables put into a measure, with some little attention to gram- 
 mar. I mean when he writes verses himself. For if he conceives, 
 that the versification of Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, Tacitus 
 on the Germans, Smith on the Wealth of Nations, Robert- 
 son's Introduction to his History of Charles V, Stuart on the 
 View of Society in Europe, and such works, is poetry ; there is no 
 help for him, he must be suffered to rhyme on. " Dogmatizer en vers, 
 '* et rimer fiar cha/i-tres." It is impossible to criticize or examine 
 the whole in a note, but I will give a specimen of such observa- 
 tions as I should make, if I were to go through the whole of 
 this tedious piece of work. Mr. K. is mighty fond of beginning 
 all his books with doubt, like a true philosopher ; he always uses 
 the words" Whether this, or whether that — or whether the other"— ■ 
 is the case, never deciding the point, nor giving even a doubtful 
 solution of doubtful doubts, as Mr. Hume kindly used to do. 
 But whether Mr. K. understands himself, even in the very begin- 
 ning of his poem, maybe a doubt; but whether his readers un- 
 Jerfland him, is no doubt at all. He begins thus. B. i. v. r. 
 
 M Whether primordial motion sprang to life 
 
 From the wild war of elemental strife, 
 
 In central chains the mass inert confin'd, 
 
 And sublimated matter into mind ; 
 
 Or whether one great, all pervading soul, &c. 
 
 Or 
 
 Whether ■> in Fate's eternal fetters bound 
 
 Mechanic Nature goes her endless round, &c.&c. 
 In all this mist and darkness which he flings around him, he cer- 
 tainly is little better than Punch in the puppet shew, " Hazy 
 
 M weather
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 Or, while Silenus and his votaries nod, 60 
 
 Quaff Paphian grossness from my crystal (fi) God : 
 
 1 
 
 " weather, master Noah;" for I am certain that neither Punch", 
 
 nor Mr. Knight can look through this preparation of the poetical 
 sky for the metaphysical deluge which ensues, when he is to 
 " Trace out the slender social links, that bind 
 " In or der's chain, the chaos of mankind, &c. &c." 
 O/te jam satis — But then I am told there are so many pretty and 
 intelligible passages (I grant it, Horum simjtlicitas miserabilis !) 
 in this and t'other poem (I must mean the Landscape ;) and the 
 ladies say it is so charming to wish to be buried under an oak, and 
 so romantic, see p. 153— I wish from my soul, that all the demo- 
 cracy and infidelity in the kingdom were buried under the great 
 guardian oak of England, and the spirit of Mr. Knight confined 
 in the stem of it. He might cry out as lustily as Polydorus, and 
 all the conjurers of the dilettanti might assist at the disinchant- 
 ment if they pleased. — N.B. I am infinitely indebted to Mr. 
 Richard Payne Knight for the honour he has been pleased to 
 confer on my note in the first part of this poem on the Pursuits 
 of Literature; seep. 17. &c. of his Preface to his "Progress 
 of Civil Society." — If Mr. Knight's bed be a bed of tortures, he 
 has made it for himself. I did not name him, as the author of the 
 Essay " on the Worship of PRiArus," but he has noiu 
 named himself. I am glad however that he has some sense of 
 shame left, by endeavouring to explain away one of the most 
 unbecoming and indecent treatises which ever disgraced 
 the pen of a man, who would be thought a scholar and a philo- 
 sopher,- and 1 persevere in that opinion, and could be tempted 
 to ro/ryevenmy former note.* Mr. K. had better (ju.'tliie New- 
 ton) have kept to his Princifiia, A,B,r,A, xtX. (See his Gretk 
 alphabet.) I hope he will do better in future, and spare me so 
 much trouble as I have had. I am as tired of him as he can be 
 of me. As Mr. Knight is a Member of Parliament, I must fairly 
 tell him, that if he is appointed Chairman of any polite poetical 
 
 * Sec the First Part of the 1'. of L. p. 17. Second Edition, 8\o. 
 
 c
 
 ( io ) 
 
 Or I could scribble, (q) for historic fame, 
 
 Like Gillies, feeble, formal, dull and tame; 
 
 Or tir'd with truth, like Coxe, to fables stray, 
 
 And vie with Croxall in my notes on Gay; (r) 65 
 
 I could, like Seward, if for scraps you call, 
 
 Turn public bag- man, (s) train'd in Walpole's stall ; 
 
 Or to Cythasron, from the Treasury, move, 
 
 And, like Sir James Bland Burgess, (/) murmur love ; 
 
 Committee, and any more " reports Progress, and asks leave to 
 sit again," the motion will be negatived by the •whole house, (1796.) 
 
 (/) «« Vitreo bibit ille Priajio." Juv. Sat. 4. See Mr. 
 Knight's Essay on the Worship ofPriapus, and my note on it 
 in the first part of this Poem. p. 17. 2d edit. 8vo. 
 
 (q) Soon after the late Mr. Gibbon had published the second 
 and third volumes of his history, the late Duke of Cumber- 
 land accidentally met him, and intending to pay him a great 
 compliment said; " How do you do, Mr. Gibbon, I see you are 
 " always at it, the old way, scribble, scribble, scribble." — There 
 are various judges of historical writing, from Qnintilian to the 
 late Duke of Cumberland.— Dr. Gillies wrote the Hiftory of 
 Greece, &c. 
 
 (r) Fables by John Gay, illustrated with notes by Willi aM 
 CoxE,Rectorof Bemerton, &c.&c.&c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. (1796) 
 What will Mr. Coxe write next ? To be sure Addison did 
 gravely comment on Chevy Chace. I am not inclined to make 
 any other comparison. 
 
 (j) See (for they are not unentertaining but very dear) Mr. 
 Seward's Anecdotes of distinguished persons, &c. 
 
 (/) I allude to Sir James Bland Burgess's Poem entitled, 
 •* TheBirth andTriumph of Love,"accompanied by the prettiest 
 little designs of the Amorettl alati by one of the fairest and most 
 
 illustrious
 
 ( " ) 
 
 Could furnish feasts for each Parnassian prig, 70 
 A Florence goose, three ducklings, and one (y) pig ; 
 With Spartan Pye (.v) lull England to repose, 
 Or frighten children with Lenora's (^) woes : 
 
 illustrious hands in the kingdom. Sir James, late under Secre- 
 tary of State and still M. P. is very properly, (as all Under Se- 
 cretaries of State, or in the Treasury, should be,)attentive to his 
 character, and is particularly afraid of the smallest Cupid with- 
 out a muzzle. Sir James says, *' That boy and that boy's deeds 
 shall not pollute my measure." St. 1. Now when I consider what 
 Virgil and Tasso have said and sung of " that boy and that 
 boy's deeds," it is a little prudish in Sir James Bland Burgess, 
 Baronet and Poet, on such a subject to have such fears. A poet 
 may be a little playful. But Sir James Bland Burgess is right 
 after all ; there certainly should be none but the most virtuous 
 persons about Secretaries of State, and in the precincts of the 
 Treasury, though now and then a straggler of another descrip- 
 tion will be found, notwithstanding the unremitted diligence 
 and undiverted attention of George Rose, Esq. 
 
 (v) A Florence goose, &c. — See a publication, entitled, u An 
 " Ode to an Eton Boy, Three Sonnets, and One Epigram," by 
 William Parsons Esq. This gentleman is the fairest of all Mr. 
 Gray's Critics ; he even allows the superiority of his genius, and 
 gives his own verses in Mr. Gray's measure. The obliquity of the 
 understanding is sometimes unaccountable. 
 
 (x) Spartan Pye. — Mr. Pye, the present Poet Laureat, with 
 the best intentions at this momentous period, if not with the very 
 best poetry, translated the verses of Tyrtaeus the Spartan. They 
 were designed to produce animation throughout the kingdom, 
 and among the Militia in particular. Several of the Rcvieiving 
 Generals (I do not mean the Monthly or Critical) were much im- 
 pressed with their weight and importance, and at a board of Ge- 
 neral Officers, an experiment was agreed upon, which unfortu- 
 
 C» nj'.tly
 
 ( •* ) 
 
 Since folks can now with royal patience hear, 
 
 And bear their Laureat more than twice a year. 75 
 
 OCT AVI US. 
 
 Truce with the Laureat. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 'Tis but what I think ; 
 For once I hop'd to see the title sink, 
 AVhile piety and virtue grac'd the throne, 
 And genius in lamented Warton shone : 80 
 
 Aye, while Britannia cries from shore to shore* 
 Augustus reigns ; Maecenas is no more. 
 
 nately failed. They were read aloud at Warley Common, and 
 at Barham Downs by the Adjutants, at the head of five different 
 regiments, at each camp, and much was expected. But before 
 they were half finished, all the front ranks, and as many of the 
 others as were within hearing or verse-s/wt, dropped their arms 
 suddenly, and were all found fast asleep ! ! ! Marquis Townshend, 
 who never approved of the scheme, said, with his" usual plea- 
 santly, that the first of all poets observed that H Sleep is the bro- 
 ther of Death" 
 
 {y) A tale from the German, translated by the Laureat ; by 
 J.T. Stanly, Esq. M. P. &c.&c.&c.&c. a sort of Blue-Beard 
 story for the nursery. 
 
 -
 
 ( '3 ) 
 
 Pitt views alike, from Holvvood's sullen brow, 
 (As near-observing (z) friendship dares avow) 
 The fount of Pindus, or Bocotia's bog, S* 
 
 With nothing of Maecenas, but his frog, {a) 
 
 O C T A V I U S. 
 
 Mere spleen to Pitt; (£) he's liberal, but by stealth. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Yes, and he spares a nation's inborn wealth, 
 
 Another Adam (c) in ceconomy, 
 
 For all, but Burke, (V) escape his searching eye. 90 
 
 (z) In confirmation of my opinion, I refer the reader to a 
 pamphlet, published in 1795, " Friendly Remarks on Mr. 
 Pitt's Adminiftration, by a Near Observer." It is written by a 
 man of fortune, independent spirit, and the principles of a gen- 
 tleman. It has been ascribed to M. Montagu Esq. M. P. He 
 boldly tells the Minister of his fault, namely, an improvident and 
 systematic contempt and neglect of all ability and literary talents. 
 ** They had no poet, and they died." What then ? says Mr. 
 Pitt ; history will speak. But &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. 
 
 (a) In the time of Augustus, during the administration of 
 Maecenas, that Minifter's seal, bearing the figure of a frog, was 
 annexed to all money-bills, I mention this anecdote, as curious, 
 
 and
 
 ( i4 ) 
 
 Stiff from old Turgot, (e) and his rigid school, 
 He never deviates from this wholesome rule ; 
 
 and perhaps not generally known. It is recorded in the 
 procemium to the 37th book of Pliny's Natural Hiftory, 
 ch. 1. " Ma-cenatis Ran a, ob collationem Jiecuniarum y in magno 
 terrore erat." — Nothing is so like as one Minister to another 
 in this respect; but really Mr. Pitt and his colleagues play rather 
 too much at this ministerial game of Leapfrog. 
 
 {}) Octavius is wrong : I am neither a personal, nor a political 
 enemy to Mr. Pitt. I think him a powerful and efficient Minis- 
 ter, eminently adorned with natural gifts and endowments, and 
 solemnly marked out and elected to his great office. He has 
 talents to conduct, to persuade, and to command. He is a scho- 
 lar ; / know him to be such, and a ripe and good one. The 
 low passion of avarice has no root in his mind ; but the sin, *' by 
 " which the angels fell," ranges in him without measure and 
 ■without control. To tell a minister, that pride was not made 
 for him oviov any man, because he has nothing which he has not 
 received, would be to argue a gross ignorance of our fallen nature. 
 He has no servility in him : firm, constant, and unbending, he 
 has the principles of a man, who knows and feels what is de- 
 manded of him by his country. He comes into the House of 
 Commons, not to bow, but to do the business of the state, and 
 he does it. There is not a subject presented to him, even casu- 
 ally, in which his ability is not conspicuous. He treats it, as if 
 it had been the subject of his continued meditation. In the conduct of 
 the French war, he, his colleagues, and his allies have been all 
 found iv anting ; but in the principle just, if not steady. — I will add, 
 that in respect to personal individual gratification J. regard Mr. Pitt 
 as the most fortunate man upon record. Called by the cir- 
 cumstances of the times beyond human control, and by events 
 not in the wildest range of expectation, he was placed, almost 
 
 without
 
 ( »5 ) 
 
 M Left to themselves, all find their level price, 
 u Potatoes, verses, turnips, Greek, and rice." 
 
 without his seeking it, in the highest public station. He passed 
 at once to the innermost of the temple, without treading the 
 vestibule. In the bloom and vigour of his faculties, (for he bore 
 the blossom and the fruit at once) and in the prime of life, when 
 every thing can charm, that which can charm the most, Power, 
 was voluntarily offered to him, accepted, confirmed, continued, 
 and establifhed, by his king and by his country. His faults, his 
 follies, and his blemishes, (for he has all) might be easily removed, 
 but I think he will not remove them. He felt at once, as many have 
 done, the highest ability in himfelf ; and he found, what is denied to 
 most,afull zn&adequatc exertion of it in high office. My hope and ear- 
 nest prayer is, that the termination of his political labours, and the 
 result of this just and tremendous war with the Republic of France, 
 may be finally to establish " Glory to God in the highest, and on 
 
 ** earth peace." Is this the language of an enemy ? I refpect, 
 
 nay, I would defend Mr. Pitt ; I wish him a long continuance in 
 office ; but — perfonally I never can love him. 
 
 (r) Adam Smith, the great writer on wealth and finance, from 
 whom Mr. Pitt learned his art. 
 
 (d) This is not mentioned as a censure on Mr. Pitt for his li- 
 berality, for I think the whole of his pension merited by Mr. 
 
 Burke. On this subject, I may fay, that in " Mr. Burke's Letter 
 
 on the Duke of Bedford's attack on Him," I perceive genius, abi- 
 lity, dignity, imagination, and sights more than youthful poets 
 ever dreamed, and fometimes the philofophy of Plato and the wit 
 Lucian. But what I esteem most of all, I hear again the '■earning 
 voice of one ivho saw the apocalypse, and first cried aloud in 
 England, and to all the inhabitants of Europe. — I cannot describe 
 
 the
 
 ( 16 ) 
 
 OCTAVIUS. 
 
 Strange times, methinks, to banter on finance ; 
 Pray, if you call him frugal, think of France. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Of France ? why ere these lines were scarce begun, 
 France was the very theme you bade me shun. 
 Well, I'll be brief ; with France he must contend ; 
 There I will own, and feel myself his friend, ioo 
 And sing with Burke's, or Maro's, borrowed fire, 
 *-' Arms and the man," till anarchy (/) expire. 
 
 the whole composition better than in the words of that Poet, who 
 would have been proud to record the workmanship of Edmund 
 Burke. Brontes, Steropes,znd Pyracmon, it will be allowed, have all 
 had their share in the fabrication of this informatumfultnen. 
 
 '* Tres imbris torti radios, tres nubis aquosas 
 
 Addiderant, rutili tres ignis et alitis austri ; 
 
 Fulgores nunc terrificos, sonitumque metumque 
 
 Miscebant open, flammisque sequacibus iras." 
 
 (e) Mr. Turgot, ci devant Controller General of French Fi- 
 nance : the founder ot the modern Oeconomic School, 
 
 (f) " Till anarchy expire." — In the tremendous war in which 
 we are engaged, and in which all Europe has bled, and yet bleeds 
 
 and
 
 ( i7 ) 
 
 Sedition's crew is bound ; the gloomy band, 
 
 In chains of penal silence musing stand ; 
 
 Or doom'd in classic (g) impotence to rave 105 
 
 Their ceaseless round, within the smouldring cave, 
 
 and shakes in every nerve, the first object we look for is, 
 m stability of peace. But no stability can as yet be found in all the 
 convulsive labours of the sanguinary nation. That modern Gallic 
 Julia has done nothing but conceive, one mis-lhapen lump after 
 another, in the fceculency of her political womb, conception upon 
 conception, abortion upon abortion : and what can we say, 
 Cum tct aborli'vis facundam 'Julia 'vulvam 
 Solvent, et pati uo similes ejfunderet offas. 
 We must, I fear, yet wait a season * and whatever we have paid, or 
 must still pay, muft be confidered as the avrfavrpov, the great price 
 of delivery and redemption from slavery, revolution, French anar- 
 chy, and the disruption of focial order ; when the earth is bursting 
 afunder, and hell yawning from beneath ; or in language, which 
 Edmund Burke alone could reproduce in English, 
 
 Avapf^ywfXivriS tx. GuQpuv yr,s t oluxh re yypi.v«/xeVH Txpraptt. 
 And what wonder ? It is Longinus who speaks of Homer. 
 
 (g) Since the passing of the Bills (in 1795) a g a ' nst treason, 
 seditious meetings, assemblies, lectures, harangues, hcz. John 
 Ihehuall read during the Lent season, 1796, what he termed Clas- 
 sical Lectures, and most kindly and affectionately pointed out the 
 defects of a\\ the an. ient governments of Greece, Rome, CW France, 
 &c. &c. and the causes of rebellion, insurrection, regeneration of 
 governments, terrorifm, massacres, or revolutionary murders; 
 without the least hint or application to England and its constitution. 
 Shewing bwui the Gracchi were great men, and so, by implication, 
 the Bedford', the Lauderdale?, &c. —I muft own, I fear nothing 
 from such Lecture?. 
 
 I)
 
 ( i8 ) 
 
 The dark Vulcanian chamber, whence they strove 
 To forge and hurl the bolts of Stygian Jove. 
 
 O CT A VI US 
 
 Nay ifyou thus proceed, I'll read the bill, 
 In Hatsell's (^)clerkly tone, clear, loud,and shrill, 1 10 
 And Jekyll's (/) comment too. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Pray, heav'n, forbear : 
 Come then, I'll breathe at large zethereal air, 
 Far from the bar, the senate, and the court, 
 And in Avonian fields with Steevens sport, 1 1 5 
 
 (Whom late from Hampsteadjourneying(£)to his book, 
 Aurora oft for Cephalus (/) mistook, 
 What time he brush'd her dews with' hasty pace, 
 To meet (m) the Printer's dev'let face to face :) 
 
 (h) John Hatsell, Efq. the learned and refpeftable Clerk of 
 the Houfc of Commons. 
 
 (i) There is too much of pertness and self-fumciency in that 
 gentleman's remarks ; and I do not apprehend that his wit will 
 ever shake a minister like the Rt. Hon. William Pitt.
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
 With dogs(«) blacMetm'd for the Stratford Hunt, 1 20 
 Thick-flued and coated 'gainst the public brunt ; 
 For well I mark'd them (0) all with curious heed. 
 
 (k) He used to leave his Tusculum, the seat of Steevens and 
 of wisdom, at Hampstead, between four and five o'clock every 
 morning to revile the proof sheets of the last edition of Shaks- 
 peare, 1793, in 15 vol. 8vo. at his friend Reed's chambers. I heard 
 of nothing else at the time. 
 
 (I) '[ Hunc ne pro Cephalo raperes, Aurora, timebam. 
 
 Sappho to Phaon, 
 I will own, I was always apprehensive of a rape fo very soon in 
 the morning, on Primrofe hill, a earth's freshest sof:est lap," but 
 notwithstanding thefe early freaks, the youth is still safe, as I hear. 
 
 (m) " To meet — the Sun upon the upland lawn.'' 
 
 Gray's Elegy, 
 
 (n) See the first part of the Pursuits of Literature, v. 256, 
 p. 35, 2d. edit, in 8vo. 
 
 Co) I termed the Commentators on Shakespeare out of mere 
 pleasantry, " black-letter dogs." But if among these scholars, or 
 in any other description of the learned, there should be found a man, 
 who, with the grace of exterior accomplishment, or the fulsome 
 semblance of it ; with the gifts of fortune, and the rank of a gen- 
 tleman ; with a strong devotion to literature without remission and 
 almost without example ; with acuteness of mind and extensive 
 classical erudition, who,I fay, should so far forget himself as to prac- 
 tise arts which would disgrace the meanest retainer to learning :— If 
 such a man should be found, with fair professions, and obliging 
 attentions, simular of friendship, but at the bottom, false, hollow, 
 designing, and malicious; who jealous of every little advancement 
 or lucky discovery, even of a professional artist, should strive to 
 depress the efforts of struggling laborious merit, or to blast the 
 rival ingenuity of his learned contemporaries ; who should inflict a 
 D 2 wound
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 OCTAVIUS. 
 
 Not all ; you pass'd the grave laborious (//) Reed, 
 Friend to most traders in researches quaint, 
 Layman or priest, the sinner or the saint ; 1 25 
 
 Farmer he loves, and Steevens will receive, 
 Though not Mie Master re (j) Ireland, by your leave. 
 
 wound with more than Parthian dexterity, and yet be studious of 
 frequenting the company of men of character to countenance his 
 own; and finally, who should collect and scatter around him the 
 virus lunare, the vaporous drops that hang in any region of infec- 
 tion, that the objects of their influence may feel the blast of the 
 enchanter, and know not whence it comes. If I fay, such a 
 man should be found, I shall not name him, and it is not for him 
 to lay bare his own conscience by a foolish, appropriating indif- 
 cretion. I have only sketched out at present fuch a character in 
 prose; and all I shail say further is, may He, if such a man 
 exist, strive to wipe out such actions by more than literary con- 
 trition, and deeply feel and know that he has lived, throughout 
 the course of a life, not inconsiderable in its duration, under a fatal 
 e:ror, and a wretched abuse of time, learning, talents, and accom- 
 plLhmentr. 
 
 (p) Isaac Reed, Efq. editor of Dodfley's old plays, lately re- 
 published ; a gentltman of learning, information, and ingenuity, 
 and greatly respected. 
 
 (q) The possessor and editor of the MSB. asserted to be Shak- 
 eptare's ; from whose off.cina in Norfolk street, issued the tragedy 
 
 of
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
 He laughs to see our new Salmoneus stand, 
 
 (His mimic thunder rattling o'er the Strand,) 
 
 On fiery coursers from Olympia's plain, 130 
 
 Tossing the torch, in sov'reign splendor vain, 
 
 Command the world's prostration from afar, 
 
 " SHAKSPEAREand Jove" grav'd on the burning car 
 
 In letter'd radiance ! 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Hold : now is it well, 135 
 
 In strains like these of manuscripts to tell? 
 Of notes, bonds, deeds, receipts, fac-similes, 
 And all that lawyers feign for proper fees ? 
 Monks and attorneys may engage Malone ; 
 Annius, (;•) or Ireland, (s) 'tis to me all one. 140 
 
 of Vortigem, claiming to be the compofition of Shakspeare, acted 
 in March, 1796, at Drury Lane Theatre, and received in such a 
 flattering manner. 
 
 Sjevus ubi jEacida: telo jacet Hector, etingens 
 
 Sarpedon ! 
 
 (r) Annius was a monk ofViterboin the 15th century, and 
 celebrated for many forgeries of ancient manufcripts and infcrip- 
 tions. See his seventeen books of antiquities. It may be proper 
 to obfcrve, that mere vanity was his motive ; he never idlicited 
 any lubscription fox bis ancients.
 
 ( 22 ) 
 
 Give me the soul that breathes in Shakspeare'spage j 
 Strength from within ; the unresisted rage ; 
 The thought, that stretch'd beyond creation's bound, 
 And in the flaming walls no barrier found ; 
 The pen, he dipt in mind ; — I'll hush to rest 145 
 The little tumults of a critic's breast. 
 Wherever found, for genuine they shall pass, 
 Golden the volume, though the clasps are brass ; 
 Then o'er the poet's art, and sounds divine, 
 Boaden (/) may bray in vain, and Waldron whine : 
 So Ireland deems, and all for Shakspeare's love, 
 In placid plausibility will prove. 
 
 What though no Vatican unbarrs the door, 
 No Palatine to Ireland yields it's store, 
 Treasures he has, and many a prouder tome, 155 
 Than kings to Granta gave, or Bodley's dome. 
 
 (s) See (for you may) all the farrago of which Mr. Ireland 
 possesses the originals^ numerous beyond any belief; I will 
 not attempt to describe them. 
 
 (t) One Boaden, and one Waldron wrote two pamphlets on 
 this business ; but I have other affairs to do, than to give any ao 
 count of them.
 
 ( 2 3 ) 
 
 Pages, on which the eye of Shakspeare (<y) por*d, 
 
 The notes he made, the readings he restor'd, 
 
 The very gibes he scribbled, and the joke 
 
 That from the laughing bard on margins broke. 160 
 
 But where \s the dark array, the vesture plain, 
 
 With many a mould 'ring venerable stain ? 
 
 All fled : a wonder opens to our view ; 
 
 The shield is scowcr'd, and the books are new : (*) 
 
 " In her own hues great Nature best is seen,'* 165 
 
 So Ireland spoke ; and made the black — One Green. 
 
 Eternal verdure bloom in Shakspeare *s grove ! 
 Where, led by light from heav'n, he oft would rove 
 
 (v) Mr. Ireland asserts that he has the very library of Shak- 
 speare, with his signature, his notes and remarks &c. in the books, 
 all in bis onxn band-writing, 
 
 (x) Mr. Ireland has not thought proper to preserve the books 
 of Sbaks/uare , s Library in their original and curious old black 
 binding, (as could have been wished ;) but, like the nurse employed 
 by Dr. Cornelius Scriblcrus, he has scowered them well, and made 
 them a// new, and with singular felicity has re bound tbem all 
 in creen morocco /// — N.B. I have written this whole passage in 
 the Poem and the Notes, to /ter/tetuate the memory of this extra- 
 ordinary event in literary history, which seems to be passing into 
 •blivion.
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 In solitude and sacred silence blest ; 
 
 And in the musings of his mighty breast, 170 
 
 All as he scann'd the volume of the past, 
 
 O'er Greece and Rome one wishful glance would cast; 
 
 Mourn not,pleas'd Nature cried, their sounds unknown, 
 
 My universal language is your own. 
 
 OCTAV1US. 
 
 Enough for'me great Shakspeare's words to hear, 
 Though but in common with the vulgar ear, 
 Without one note, or horn-book in my head. 
 Ritson's coarse trash, or lumber of the dead. 
 When flippant wit, and book-learn'd confidence, 
 Alone give right to science, taste, and sense, 1 80 
 When modest worth by idle boasting's shewn, 
 Then, nor till then, will I approve Malone (y) 
 
 (y) See Mr. Malone's Enquiry into the authenticity of 
 Mr. Ireland's Shakspeare MSS. &c. which he calls, (not 
 improperly) a Vindication of Shakspeare. The subject is 
 indeed rather overlaid by the learned critic, but there 
 is much sagacity and ingenuity in the treatment of it, and I 
 think it is satisfactory and proves the point. Still Mr. Malone
 
 ( 2S ) 
 
 In the wild squabbles of a wordy war, 
 
 Let rabid (z) Porson tell, or griesly Parr, (</) 
 
 Coombe, Travis, Ireland, or whate'er the name, 185 
 
 The breeding of mere critics 'is the same : 
 
 From royal Phalaris let the search descend, 
 
 To Bristol's wizard stripling, and his end. 
 
 Hear Catcott (b) cry,, in chearlcss life's decline, 
 Thus Rowley once, and Chatrerton were mine. 190 
 
 is too confident and presumptuous, and not always attentive to 
 that character and politeness, which at least all amateur critics 
 should maintain. I think Mr. Ireland will now hardly say, of 
 these manuscripts and original plays of Shakfpeare, 
 Nunc non e manibus illis, 
 
 Nunc non e tumulo, fortunatique favilla, 
 
 Nasrentur violse ? 
 No, Mr. Ireland, neither 'violets wr guineas. — u Go to bed, 
 Basil ; good night, go to bed." (See the Spanish Barber.) 
 
 (z) See Mr. Porson's Letters to Archdeacon Travis, conspi- 
 cuous for their erudition, aiuteness, accuracy, virulence, bitterness, 
 and invective. 
 
 (la) Dr. Parr's Controversy with Dr. Coombe, the celebrated; 
 critic and man-midwife, about Horace. It seems Dr. Parr was 
 angry that he did not assist the little critical man-midwife at tb* la- 
 bour, " rite maturos aperire partus" Dr. Parr is more fond of a 
 Cxsarian operation in criticism. See more in a future note to the 
 Third Part of this Poem. 
 
 E
 
 ( *6 ) 
 
 He saw/w Bard by Milles's ponderous length 
 O'erlaid, revive in splendor, fame, and strength. 
 For Bryant (7) came ; the muses all return, 
 And light their lamps at Rowley's fruitful urn. 
 
 (b) When I published the first part of this poem, I had casually 
 glanced on the subject of Rowley (p. 22. P. of L. 2d. Ed. 8vo ) 
 but since that time having had some leisure and more curiosity, 
 I have perused many of the learned treatises upon it. I neither 
 have, nor will have, any thing to do with the decision of such a 
 controverfy as this, which is, even now, scarcely at rest ; but hav- 
 ing the feelings of a gentleman, I was struck, as I was reading, 
 with the cruel treatment of poor Mr. Catcott, the sneers upon the 
 peivterer, and the illiberal reflections on a man, without whose 
 zeal and sollicitude, (as it seems by the accounts) these singular 
 poems never would have appeared. He seemed to say,with justice, 
 Oro, miserere laborum 
 Tantorum, miserere anitni non digna ferentis. 
 
 (<:)No man of literature can passby the nameof Mr. Bryant, 
 without gratitude and reverence. He is a gentleman of attain- 
 ments peculiar to himself, and of classical erudition, without an 
 equal in Europe. His whole life has been spent in laborious re- 
 searches, and the most curious investigations : with a youthful 
 fancy, and a playful wit; with the mind, and occasionally with the 
 pen, of a poet; with an ease and simplicity of style, aiming only 
 at perspicuity, and, as I think, attaining it. He has contended 
 in various fields of controverfy with various success ; but always 
 with a zeal for truth, and a soberness of enquiry. In speaking of 
 Mr. Bryant, I have no necessity, as I too often have, to qualify 
 my commendations. He has lived to see his eightieth solflice 
 (and may he yet long live) with the efteem of the wise and good; 
 in honourable retirement from the cares of life; with a gentleness 
 
 of
 
 ( *7 ) 
 
 The boy, whonvonce patrician pens adorn'd, 19; 
 Ficst meanly flatter'd, then as meanly scorn'd, 
 Drooping he rais'd, and lent his little aid, 
 The gleanings of a hard and humble trade. 
 Innoxious man ! yet what may truth avail ! 
 Blameless his life, and simple as his tale j 200 
 
 Each rude enquirer's sneering taunt he feels, 
 Contempt or insult dogs him at his heels j 
 No kind support subscribing fondne?s pours, 
 For him no wealth descends infost'ringshow'rs j 
 Yet be this truth to future times reveal'd, 205 
 
 " The wound a Varro gave, lapis heal'd."(tf) 
 
 Go now, for moths, and rolls, and parchments search, 
 Ransack the chest, the closet, or the church ; 
 
 of manners, and a readiness.and a willingness of literary communi- 
 cation seldom found : admired and sought after by the young, 
 who are entering on a course of study; and revered, and often 
 followed, by those, who have completed it. Above all, he has 
 gone forth in the strength given unto him, in defence of the 
 holy law ; he has put on the wv <xv«9ev irawnXixv, the panoply 
 from above ; and having enlarged his mind, and sanctified his 
 studies, he may expect with humble confidence the consummation 
 of his reward. 
 
 NOMEK IN EXEMPLUM SERO SKRVaBIMUS JEVO! 
 
 («) Sec Atterbury's comment on tbt lapis of Virgil
 
 ( •« ) 
 
 Brave all the joint associates of A. S. 
 The jest insipid, and the idle guess ; 2,10 
 
 Bind, copy, comment, manuscript and print, 
 Take from good-natur'd friends some useful hint ; 
 From Bewick's (d) magic wood throw borrow'd ray* 
 O'er many a-page, in gorgeous Bulmer's blaze; 
 Alas, for thee! the profit and the fame, 215 
 
 A tale, that ends in penury, or shame. 
 
 Go rather, and indulge Dramatic ragej 
 All love a public, or a private stage : 
 Our nobles now, as players, will be seen, 
 A duke's chaste daughter, or a Margravine : 220 
 Fled is the soft reserve, and nicer sense, 
 Those primal guards of love and innocence, 
 Unzon'd the nymphs, like Highland Charlotte, clad. 
 
 AUTHO R. 
 Why not all bare ? less shame's in being mad. (e) 
 
 (d) Mr. Bewick, the great restorer of the long lost art of engrav- 
 ing upon wood. I need only mention his figures of the quadru- 
 peds, and his plates to Bulmer's edition of Goldsmith's poems. Mr. 
 Bulmer is the printer of Boyd ell's magnificent edition of Shak- 
 speare ; a work, which, having been uniformly conducted on li- 
 beral principles, and intended ' for the honour of the country, 
 should be patronised by the English nation.
 
 ( *9 J 
 OCTAVIUS. 
 
 Nay, speak not harsh ; relent the : ne severe ; 225 
 Jn milder accents win the tender ear •, 
 O'er female failings lightly would I pass, 
 .And let Aglaia (/) lead them to their glass; 
 Connubial glories rising o'er their head, 
 As life's domestic happier stage they tread ; 230 
 
 There may they look, well-pleas'd themselves to find 
 The guardians, comforts, teachers of mankind. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 I listen with delight : that strain again ; 
 I'll bless the sex. 
 
 (t) The dress of the present period has warranted the caricatures 
 of the day, particularly one, which is called " The dress of ladies 
 as it will be." I write in A. D. Seventeen Hundred and Ninety Six. 
 Juvejial, who wrote about the year Ninety Six, said on a similar 
 subject ; " Nudus agas ; minus est insania turpis." Sat. i. 
 
 But strange to say, he was speaking of tbt dress of the men. 
 
 (/) Aglaia is the name of one of the Graces ; she dictated t* 
 Mr. Pope the following lines : 
 
 Let not each beauty EVERY WHERE be spied. 
 Where half the skill is decently to bide. 
 The ladies should remember that imagination is a busy power.
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
 OCTAVIUS. 
 
 Now pass to titled men. 235 
 
 Mark, where Thalia calls, in graceful air, 
 The soft patrician of St. James's square :(g) 
 Mountmorres comes, but, strange to tcll,(^) umpired, 
 And lyric Carlisle purrs (/) o'er love transferr'd. 
 Nay Thurlow once, ('tis said) could sing or swear, 
 Like Polyjiheme (k) <c I cannot, cannot, bear;" 
 
 (g) His Grace the Duke of Leeds, a great patron of the drama 
 and its concerns. 
 
 (b) It is impossible to decide whether Lord Mountmorres is 
 more famous in the city of London for his pamphlets or his spun. 
 I believe the noble Lord thinks the muses or the booksellers migh- 
 ty dull, as he is never seen in the morning 'without his spurs, even 
 in the hardest frost in Parnassus or London. Lord Mountmorres 
 has a pretty taste for a theatre, and sometimes pens a dramatic 
 thing or two. 
 
 (i) Purrs."— Dr. Johnson says, " to purr is to murmur as a 
 cat or leopard in Jileasure.^ I have heard that Lord Carlisle 
 (Quel d'amor travagliato Sacri/iante) is writing an opera entitled 
 *' Angelica e Medoro." Angelica is suppofed to be rather ad- 
 vanced in life ; and I think her grand-daughter is brought on the 
 stage. — 2uv£Totffj (1796.) 
 
 (k) Like Polypheme.— I allude to a circumstance not generally 
 known ; but which, as I have never seen any public notice of ir, 
 
 thest
 
 ( 3' ) 
 
 For all ! presumptuous Acts wrests the prize, 
 
 And ravishes the nymph before his eyes : 
 
 Such feats his honour little Pepper saw, 
 
 In all the pride of music and of law. 245 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 If truth and joke, though pleasingly, combine, 
 What credit will attend the motley line ? 
 Where is your trust ? 
 
 these lines are meant to record. About two years ago, the Serena- 
 ta of Acis and Galatea (with some violation, I believe, of the 
 fable, and not a little of the harmony and of the melody) was per- 
 formed in Downing Street to a private company. The part of 
 Mis by Mr. Pitt, Polyjibeme* by Lord Thurlow, and Galatea, 
 by Lord Loughborough. Mezzi Soprani, by Lord Kenyok 
 and Pepper Arden, with a fort of Messa Bassaf by Edmund 
 Burke; the other vocal parts by a select Committee of both 
 Houses a due cori. I was not present at the entertainment myself, 
 but was informed, that Mr. Pitt, in the execution of the difficult pas- 
 sages, did not sufficiently attend to his ajiftoggiaturas ; that the bari- 
 tono of Lord Thurlow was quite Polypheme-ish, and fully sus- 
 tained ; but that it was impossible to do justice sufficiently to Lord 
 Loughborough's diminuendo, when— be died away in the arms ef 
 Acts. — 
 
 N.B. Bishop Hurd would say this note is allegoric,or eleusinian ; 
 the late Mr. Gibbon and Lord Sheffield would as stoutly deny it. 
 (Written in 1796.) 
 
 •J- All the CathoUct Know (and we have enough of them to tell us, at the Mar- 
 quit and Marchioness of Buckingham know to their own and their company\ 
 cost) that the.Xfeua Buna ;'s a iilent man, whispered by the priest during a muti- 
 (*1 ferjormanct.
 
 ( 3* ) 
 OCTAVIUS. 
 
 To this discerning land 
 I'd trust and laugh; there are who understand. 250 
 If from state-farces, when the House is up, 
 Some seek the green room, and with Kemble sup, 
 (For who 'gainst modest merit struts the door ?) 
 Leeds says, 'twas just what Ltelius did before; 
 Lselius, in whom each graceful act could please, 
 In wisdom mild, and dignified in ease, 
 Would oft with Terence to their Skaksjieare run. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Terence and Kemble ! — the dispute is done. 
 I ever mark'd, nor deem'd. the thought severe, 
 What bounds divide the actor from the peer : 260 
 Confound 'em, I'll believe a saint's a rogue ; 
 Andrews writes farce, a Duke the epilogue ; 
 Burke may the right of property invade ; 
 Steevens contract the Commentator's trade. ; 
 To Erskine, Kenyon seem a classic wit'; 365 
 
 Or Payne apologize for holy writ ;
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 The Dramatist (J) himself and fame belie, 
 And quit the stage for truth and honesty ; 
 Ireland prove Shakespeare ; Bentley be Malone ; 
 Thelwall dread preaching, or high-treason, Stone s 
 Who hates not Merry, Jeningham may love ; 
 And Gyffard Delia Crusca's self-approve. 270 
 
 ^ OCTAVIUS. 
 
 Merry anc\ Crusca ! — Gyffard's right : beware ; 
 The very ground is his, and Bavian air. 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 No : I'll not seek the tracts his arrows fire 
 "\Y T ith light that marks, but marks not to expire : 
 The climes he roams, where'er his footsteps sped, 
 I pass with caution., or but lightly tread ; 
 Or pleas'd with flow'rs, his fancy best can strewT/ 
 I sit, and think I read my Pope anew. (/) -^ 
 
 F 
 
 (X) See a Poem entitled, M The Political Dramatist of the House 
 " of Commons in 1795 ; a Satire, 2d Ed. with a Postscript con- 
 M taining Remarks on the Declaration of the Whig Club on the 
 «' 23d of January 1796." Printed for J. Parsons, in Paternoster 
 Row. This poem is recommended to the public on those public 
 principles, which I consider as of the highest importance to 
 these kingdoms. 
 
 (/) The author oftheBaviad and the Maeviad. Mr. Gyffard L; 
 the most correct poetical writer I have read, since the days of 
 Pope. Upon the whole, I give the preference to the Baviad after 
 much consideration, though both the Poems may be ftudied with 
 pleasure and advantage. — I have not the pleasure of Mr. Gyffard's 
 acquaintance; and indeed, from the nature of my retirement, I 
 probably may never see him.
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 But grant, the stage is noble ; I believe 
 Greek's still plebeian, with LordBelgrave's leave. 280 
 Translation's all : Herodotus who knows ? 
 The sost Ionic melts in Beloe's prose. 
 For Homer most in Pope, or Cowper, (w) look, 
 (The only task he ever undertook :) 
 Yet for translated sense, who e'er decried 285 
 
 Our India's modern Strabo, and the guide ? (;/) 
 
 Still nought but wonders strike this wayward age , 
 Not Athens can escape the plund'rer's rage : 
 There are who laugh, but some great critics chafe, 
 To think, not iEschylus himself is safe. 290 
 
 Go take his text, revise, digest, compare. 
 With Porson's shrewdness, or with Valcknaer's care, 
 
 (m) Cowper. — Themostor/£/«<z/poetofourtime,and author of 
 " The Task," and as I have been informed, one of the best men. 
 The translation of Homer is an arduous task indeed ; in passages 
 he has succeeded ; but as a whole, the work is defective. Milton 
 had once thoughts of translating Homer. {Ohchebeldeliro .') but it 
 will be in vain 71010 to attempt to supersede the poetry of Pope in 
 the mind of an English reader. 
 
 («) Major Ren nell, thegreatlndianGeographerof theprefent 
 time. There is no absolute necessity for a knowledge of the 
 Greek language in the general researches of geography. 
 Translations of the authors may convey sufficient information.
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 Then let the manuscript once quit your sight, 
 Some Scotch Greek swindling printer (o) steals your 
 right. 294 
 
 But mark, the sea-birds sound the note of doom, 
 And venom'd insects (//) cluster round the tomb, 
 The Grecian billows foam along the strand, 
 In angry murmurs deaf 'ning all the land, 
 Ranging for vengeance from his native shore, 
 Archilochus isrous'd, to sleep no more. 303 
 
 (0) I allude to a transaction which fecms to be unwarrantable. 
 ]Mr. Professor Porson lent his manuscript corrections and conjec- 
 tures on the text of jEschylus, to a friend in Scotland ; for he once 
 had, and I hope still has, an intention of publishing that tragedian, 
 though it may now be suspended. His corrected text fell into the 
 hands of the Scotch printer Fowlis, and without the Professor's 
 leave or even knowledge, he published a magnificent edition of 
 jEschylusfromit, without notes. I hope however that Mr. Por- 
 son will not be discouraged, but continue his labours on Photiu< y 
 as the learned world are in eager expectation of a work so long, 
 and hitherto so vainly, desired. 
 
 (/i) The tomb of Archilochus was placed on the sea shore, (I 
 think in the island of Paros), and the poets feigned that in the 
 cavities of the stone, worn away by the waves, a swarm of wasps 
 was concealed, ready to avenge the least insult that could be 
 offered to it.— The fubject of Greek learning is carried on in 
 the Third Part of this Poem. 
 
 END OF THE SECOND PART.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 10, line w.for Sat. 4. r. Sat. 1. P. 11. 1. 6. dele " and 
 " still M. P." P. 14. I.4. dele " the protemiuin to."
 
 THE 
 
 PURSUITS OF LITERATURE, 
 
 OR 
 
 WHAT YOU WILL. 
 
 SATIRICAL POEM 
 
 IN DIALOGUE. 
 WITH NOTES. 
 
 PART THE THIRD. 
 
 ExXay£av Vxp' o'iarot a.71 ufxuv %&»o/xevojo, 
 
 AvTM XJV'/iflsvrOJ" 6 ^' Tih Nl/XTi ZQMWf. 
 
 E£et' ewejt' aTravcfSs ve&/v, /xera V jov euxe, 
 Afivrj Se xXayyn ygvEr' apyvpeoio Cjojo* 
 Ovprtas /aev -npurav iituy^ro, xa« KTNA2 t apyvc, 
 Avrxp £7r£ir' AYTOI2I CeXoj- ejce-jteuxej- a$«i>- 
 BaXX'* a»Ej Je tivpav vexiwv xajovro 6a/x£iai. 
 
 Horn. II. 1. 
 f S<e the First Part, page 35, &c. 2d Ed. 8vo. 
 
 LONDON: 
 TRINTED FOR J. OWEN, NO. l68, PICCADILLY. 
 
 I796.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 TO 
 
 THE THIRD PART. 
 «— — — 
 
 I PRESENT the Third Part of this Poem to the public,* 
 at the same time that I offer the Second : though I had 
 intended to delay it. But some subjects are of an im- 
 portance serious and urgent, not to be deferred. Litera- 
 ture, well or ill 'conducted, is the great engine by which, I 
 am fully persuaded, all civilized states must ultimately be 
 supported, or overthrown. 
 
 It is not enough to say, a book is bulky or voluminous, 
 and therefore can have no effect upon the mass of the peo- 
 ple, because that opinion is not true. Such a book can 
 not only be abridged and dispersed abroad ; but a man like 
 Thomas Payne, with a rude, and wicked, and daring manner 
 of thinking, and with vulgar but impressive language, 
 may blend the substance of the opinions with his own, and 
 in a short popular tract make them familiar and intelligible 
 to every apprehension, Thus are men fooled out of their 
 understanding, fooled out of their security, and fooled out 
 of their happiness : and when they have lost every bles- 
 sing beyond recovery, they look round at each other in a 
 stupid despair, clashing their chains, and unable to shake 
 them off, and ask, ** How has all this been brought about ?" 
 
 I am 
 
 * AH the character* either of persons or of books, which are introduced 
 into any of the parts of this pocm,are considered and brought forward by thcAu- 
 thor upon no private motive luhattoever, direct or indirect : but simply and 
 solely, as the conduct of the persons, or the manner of the compositions, 
 or the principles of the writings, tend to influence and affect the public molality, 
 the public happiness, and the public ie.urity of this nation, and the tiuc and 
 il interests of learning and of religion, which are hutftrattt.
 
 f " ) 
 
 I am no enemy to the liberty of discussion, and the tole- 
 ration of opinions ; I am for NO literary proscription. But 
 I think it is plainly our interest, as well as bur duty, (while 
 we yet may) to strive to support that constitution 
 in church and state, which has hitherto been able to 
 build us up, and to give US an inheritance, or rather the 
 pre-eminence, among all those whohave been strengthened 
 by policy, or sanctified by revelation. What I would con- 
 tend for also, is this ; that among all who are worthy to be 
 called scholars or legislators, criticism, observation, and 
 watchfulness are peculiarly necessary ; that men may hear 
 of their common danger, and be admonished to put a few 
 plain questions to themselves, ; " What are we going to 
 resign or give up, and why? — What are we going to 
 adopt, and wherefore ?'* I repeat it, now, in this our day, 
 while the bitterness of political death is passing upon almost 
 every other nation in Europe. 
 
 1 confess, that I am not such a desperate lover of what 
 is brought to me for abstract political truth, as never to make 
 an inquiry into the character of the proposers of it, their 
 personal views, and the men and measures with which they 
 are connected. 1 feel myself a member of regulated society, 
 and I would maintain an established order. I acknowledge 
 myself a subject of a mild and equitable government, (though 
 under a most severe temporary pressure) and I would 
 preserve that government which gives us all protection. 
 And when I adopt the great rule, that " we should love our 
 neighbour as ourselves," I have not yet made such advances 
 in the theory of political justice, and the new wisdom, as 
 
 coollv
 
 ( IS ) 
 
 coollyto assert, that "this maxim, though possessing consi- 
 " derable merit as a popular principle, is not strictly modelled 
 '* with philosophical precision.*" I have not yet learned 
 to treat the Revelation of God, or the institutions of 
 my country, with contumely ; I have no romantic ideas of 
 virtues without motives, and of actions without regulations. 
 I believe it to be a matter of general safety, that crimes 
 should be discerned, as well as repressed, by legal sanc- 
 tions ; and that the nature of justice and of injustice should 
 be declared, taught, and enforced, by law, by religion, and 
 by education. Experience has instructed me, and reason 
 and reflection have confirmed me in the belief, that 
 Conscience may be erroneous, that it is a monitor which 
 needs advice, and a guide which often calls for superior 
 direction. 1 look upon Justice as the foundation and sup- 
 port, but not as the whole of human duty; and I cannot, 
 in insulting language, resolve the sum and substance of all 
 government and civil society into " Laws proclaimed by 
 Heralds, and expounded by Curates. t" 
 
 It is indeed matter of great patience, as well as of deepest 
 concern, to reasonable men, to observe what is still carrying 
 on in this country.in defiance of the experience, the misery, 
 and the desolation which have been felt, and will long con- 
 tinue to be felt, from the introduction of new primi- 
 plcs among other nations. For the sentence of final 
 destruction seems to be now executing on the various go- 
 vernment* 
 
 * See an Enquiry into Political Justice, &c. by William Godwin, id. edit. 
 8vo. vol. l. page i 
 
 f See Godwin on Justice, as abo*e, vol. 2. p. 299. 
 
 Hxc Ego Hon crtdam Vtnuiina d'tgna luerrna * 
 
 IltCi Ego nut «j£ ■ . .
 
 ( iv ) 
 
 vernments of Europe. Still the last dispensation of mercy i* 
 offered t o this island ,and it is only to be deserved, and con- 
 tinued to us,by firmness, temperance.and piety, and by perse- 
 verance in the constitution sacred and c\\\\,which /wa; z'j, with- 
 out daring' to attempt any present innovation in theory, or in 
 practice. In whatever shape French Philosophy may approach, 
 however recommended, or dignified,or disguised, by scholars 
 or by ignorant and seditious men, in Greek, in Latin, in 
 French, or in English, I would resist and repel 1 it. Whenever 
 the machine appears before the walls, I shall never regard it 
 as the gift of Minerva,but call aloud to try the temper and the 
 substance of it, jerro Argolicas fozdarc latebras, to distrust 
 the present, and to reject the offer. Let the enemy be dragged 
 forth to light and shewn as he is, and I will yet trust that 
 the kingdom and the citadel may stand. 
 
 The third part of this poem opens with a playful sub- 
 ject, and it is treated as such.* But as the poem advance*, 
 I must, (to use a prophet's expression) shew my dark speech 
 upon the harp, and must, now and then perchance, strike the 
 strings somewhat loudly, and descend into a more severe and a 
 more solemn harmony. But what I esteem to be necessary, 
 that I will declare; and what I feel it to be my duty to re- 
 present, that I will have the boldness to publish.Whether men 
 will hear, or whether they will not hear, is not strictly my 
 personal concern ; but my intention no man taketh from me. 
 
 * The subject (from v. i, to about v. 60 of Part 3) is in itself a very tri- 
 fling one : the names of the parties arc obscure and of little note, and the con- 
 cerns of reviewers and their little blue bocks, at the beginning of every month, 
 are of trifling moment. But the example is of deepest consequence, that men, 
 who aspire to be thought scholars, should be warned, even to all posterity, how 
 they conduct their learning and expend their time, and be taught (from tha 
 ridiculous instance which I have selected) to value themselves upon such at- 
 tainments alone as are truly valuable. Q Te y £yova AvflP.xaTTWywa' T«
 
 THh 
 
 PURSUITS OF LITERATURE, 
 
 OR 
 
 WHAT YOU WILL: 
 
 PART THE THIRD. 
 
 N. B. The reader is again requefted to read the Poem once t 
 without referring to any notes, but those which are merely ex- 
 planatory. 
 
 OCTAVIU S. 
 
 W HAT then, shall none remain, to whom belongs 
 The care of Attic bards and Dorian songs ? (f) 
 Shall England boast no more, in order'd clans, 
 Her owls from Athens, and her Delian swans ? 
 Is no memorial left of ancient fame ? 5 
 
 No dirge funereal, nor one Grecian game ? 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 There is : lo, learned Clerks in sable stole, 
 Graceful in years, pant eager for the goal. (<j) 
 
 B 
 
 (t) The subjeel of Greek Literature is rcsujped. See the 
 conclusion of the Second«Part of this Poem.
 
 ( % ) 
 
 Old Norb'ry (b) starts, and with the seventh-form (c) 
 
 boys 
 In weeds of Greek the church-yard's peace annoys, 
 WithclassicWESTON, Charley Coote, andTEW, [d) 
 In dismal dance about the mournful yew. 
 But first in notes Sicilian, (<?) plac'd on high, 
 Bates sounds the soft preluding symphony ; 
 And in sad cadence, as the bands condense, 15 
 
 The curfew tolls the knell of parting Sense. 
 
 (a) I allude to the rage for translating Gray's Elegy into 
 Greek verse, by so many combatants for the prize, of which more 
 in the following notes. 
 
 (b) The Reverend Dodlor Norbury, late one of the Assistants 
 and now one of the Fellows ^or old Boys) at Eton, published the 
 firfl translacion of the Elegy. 
 
 (c) At Eton tve have but six forms, or removes, in the school.— 
 These Reverend Divines, it seems have only taken one ste/i since 
 they left school. 
 
 (d) Monsieur Peltier favoured me with the following record 
 and extract, which I give in his own French terms, as they are 
 very significant and forcible, 
 
 " Place de la Traduction. 
 
 «' Jean Norbury, Docteur en Theologie, Chanoine et Associe 
 •« a Eton. Age soixante et huit ans. 
 
 * : Etienne WESTON.Bachelier en Theologie, Abbe, Voyageur, 
 4< Versificateur, ci-de-vant Recteur. Age cinquante ans. 
 
 •' Charles Coote, Docteur en Theologie, Doien Irlandois, 
 " Age cinquante et deux ans, selon la regiftre. 
 
 '• Edouard Tew, Bachelier en Theologie, Chanoine et As- 
 " socie a Eton, Age cinquante et sept ans. 
 
 u Guillotines a la Grecque t 2.5 floreal Quint tit) 1 796. 
 
 Extrait du Regis tre de la Guillotine Liter aire."
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 Nares (/) holds the prize and stops the Doric din, 
 Elmsley (g) without, and Rivington within, 
 The volumes well arrang'd in order meet, 
 And all their ears erect these accents greet : 20 
 
 (<r) Notes Sicilian. — Joah Bates, Eso^. as an old Etonian, 
 and once Fellow and Tutor of King's College, Cambridge, was 
 so obliging as to offer himself as Mufical Conductor on the occa- 
 sion. Some persons may think, that the " notes Sicilian** allude 
 to the Ap%STc ^,ixeXix.aLi ru inv^tos, apy^sre ISAuoai, but they 
 are no musicians, if they think so. Mr. Bates's judgment natu- 
 rally led him to adopt the Siciliana for this famous solemnity, as 
 it is a movement slower and more marked than the Giga, 
 While the Siciliana was playing, the combatants, before they en- 
 tered the lists, approached the Critic's throne, moving in a sort of 
 measured step.The Rev. Mr.NARES, (editor of the British Critic, 
 and in my estimation, and I believe in that of every member of 
 Lincoln's- lnn y a gentleman of worth, learning and ability, and 
 to whom not the slightest disrespect is here intended) was ap- 
 pointed the judge or BpaGsus on the occasion, and beheld them 
 without emotion, though the sight was luxuriant in the extreme. 
 O'er their warm cheeks and rising bosoms move 
 The bloom of young desire, and fiurjilc light of love. 
 — Had the combatants been political personages, I would have 
 described the whole game, and the characters, and their speech- 
 es in the poem ; but what interest have mankind in a few old 
 Greek boys in gowns and cassocks. — I learned early from Cer- 
 vantes the necessity of limitation and propriety in fiction ; 
 though this is a mere record of a matter of fact. 
 
 if) I always admired the solemn irony, with which the Re- 
 viewers in The British Critic treated this Gicccian game among the 
 old boys. It appeared to me as if I were at Eton again, and saw 
 them had u/t to Dr. Davies, who said, " Norburv, you have 
 
 " done
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 " Haii my fond masters of the Grecian lyre, 
 " Hear a Reviewer's verse yourselves inspire, 
 *' These books are yours, (oh, heed my tuneful voice) 
 " Take'em or (/) d-mn'em, as best suits your choice : 
 
 " done firetty well ^ — M Tew, vou had a few faults, but a lit- 
 " tie more s/iirit than Norbury ;" — " Weston, \ ou have trans- 
 " lated with some elegance, but you have no authority for 
 " your genitive absolute." — " Master Coote, I think you had but 
 ** one false quantity, but it is a doubtful syllable, and I shall fiass- 
 " it this time." It is something odd, that a Westminster man 
 should be the Judge of these old Eton boys. 
 
 (g) Elmsley and Rivington, two London booksellers, one 
 famed for shrewdness, and the other for orthodoxy. Very pro- 
 per assessors to the Critic. Mr. Elmsley was stationed at 
 the door to keep the peace among the combatants, who were ra- 
 ther noisy and troublesome from their number. Afterwards 
 Mr. Elmsley took his seat with the Critic. The place of 
 the meeting is mentioned in a subsequent note. 
 
 (/) D — mn 'em. * — " This (word) is to be underftood in a 
 very sober and decent sense." See Bishop Warburton's note on one 
 of the concluding lines of Pope's Story of Sir Balaam, Moral 
 Ep. 3. *' The devil and the king divide the prize;" watch line 
 the bishop with the utmost gravity declares to be "a satire only 
 *' on such minijiers of .flat e, which history informs us have been 
 " found, -who aided the devil in his temjitations, in order to, &c. 
 " &c." See the remainder of the note, or afk Mr. Pitt, or the 
 Bishop of Lincoln, Dr. Prettyman.— This it is to be a com- 
 mentator on a mere badinage ! ! t There certainly are books 
 
 which 
 
 * Longinus (who gives excellent directions in his treatise on the sublime for 
 swearing to the best advantage) observes, " £<TTiV 8 TO OTTOKTHV TJVflC 
 
 OMOSAI /xsya.ro £e 9Tw,xai Ttus^cti £$' u>v x.zipajv,x.ai rims svexa." 
 De Subl. S. 16. The substance of which may be this ; " Swearing, considered 
 in itself and without reference to the matter and the mznner,is by no means an ac- 
 complishment or a source of the sublime, and should nev.-r be introduced, but in the 
 proper place and occasion, and then only upon the most urgent motives and for 
 the strongest reasons." From all which it appears that discipline and instruc- 
 tion in this art are necessary before a man can swear as a gentleman, a scholar, 
 an orator, or a man of fashion. Therefore, no man should ever swear at ran- 
 dom in conversation. See the Kev. Dr. Longinus's Sermon, as above, in tc-to; 
 to which the Rev, Mr. Naies certainly paid due attention,
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 u For some are new, some foolish, and some old, 
 " Some pert in calf, and some in sheets are bold. 25 
 
 " Twelve British Critics, new or little read ; 
 u Horsley's chaste sermon, (£)and his copper head ; 
 " Letters from Alciphron (/) to cool love's flame, 
 *' And prove Greek wh-res and English just the same 5 
 " The Hymns, that Taylor, (w) England's gentile 
 priest, 30 
 
 " Sung spousal at fair Psyche's marriage feast ; 
 •« The alphabet in Greek by R. P. Knight ;(//) 
 " Some rules for men to think and study right ; 
 
 which may make a Reviewer or a Divine swear a little. I rea* 
 dily excuse Mr. Nares (as 1 do Mr. Grubb in the farce) for 
 being a little hasty in his expressions. 
 
 (i) See his Sermon before the Magdalens, on April 22, i/95« 
 1 wish the Bishop had put an appendix (as the fashion is) to ex* 
 plain a little of it. 
 
 (/) Translated from the Greek by the Reverend Mr. Beloe, 
 Divine ; and corrected by Mr. Porson, Layman. 
 
 (w) Thomas Taylor, Translator of Plotinus,partsof Plato,/ii<r/"<z- 
 bleofCujtid and Psyche from Apuleius, Hymns, &c. the would-be 
 restorer of unintelligible mysticism and superstitious pagan 
 nonsense. All that Iamblichus revealed to jfcdesius. — Mr. Tay- 
 lor, in conjunction with Dr. Darwin, might folve the following 
 problem; " Whether a Platonic idea, hovering to the right on the 
 o> ifice of chdos, might drive aivay the squattrons c/'democratical atoms? 
 Rabelais, at the end of book 5. Questions Phtlosc/ihi que s. . 
 
 («) An analytical Essay on the Greek Jl/thahet, by R. P. y 
 Knight,— P. may stand for Paynt or Priajtus Knight. 
 
 C
 
 ( 6 J 
 
 " An Eton foolscap, with the game of goose 
 
 * Printed by Pote, types large and cover loose >3£ 
 
 " An education sermon, rather long, 
 
 " By Doctor Parr, all in the vulgar tongue ; 
 
 " Last, Horsley's master-piece, (j:) and merry plans, 
 
 •" To accent right th-e goods of courtezans. 
 
 " Nor books alone attend the Conqueror Bard, 
 (i Him shall await a more sublime reward. 40 
 
 *' Not the coarse joy a Grecian once could feel ; 
 " Apples (o).for sauce, or parsley for his veal ; 
 " No loppings from spruce firs, or barren pines , 
 " No oil from Pisa's olive, when he dines %. 
 
 (:\^) See a treatise on the Prosodies of the Greek and Latin 
 Languages, dedicated to Lord Thurlow by (Bishop Horsley). I 
 allude to the Bishop's pleasant comment, p. 47, so universally ad- 
 mired, on the Attic Law, Krxipx y^cvaia. zi <popon oV,ptoffi« zero). 
 My gallantry forbids me to use any accents at all upon these ladies.- 
 especially since the Bisho/i has shewn rae how dangerous it is to 
 middle nvitb them. Qu. Does the Bishop mean Accents or compa- 
 nionable Ladies?* (Er«^«r.) 
 
 (0) Apples, &c. — There is now such an affectation in modem 
 ■roung gentlemen, as soon as they have left their college, particularly 
 in young lawyers and b^oy-members of parliament, of forgetting 
 their Greek (\f they ever knew any), that I shall without ceremony 
 remind them of the ancient rewards in the Grecian games, 
 which consisted of some afifiles consecrated to Apollo, in the 
 Pythian, of a chaplet of parsley, in the Nemasan, of an olive gar- 
 land, in the Olympic games, and of a wreath of _/r/«e-leaves in 
 the Isthmian solemnity. 
 
 * In this short passage there are four personages virtually concerned ; Alex- 
 ander (JlpkroJuienmJ. Aristotle, Venus, and Bishop Horsley !!!! 1 assure his 
 Lordship, I have as great an affection, as human infrmity can allow, for an, 
 Cxyton, a Varcxyton, or even a J?r6*par-oxyton\ Ladies never before- knew the 
 .pclitical importance of an acstnt.
 
 ( I ) 
 
 * No ode to praise the binding of his books ; (/<) 
 
 " No print frc in Sheffield of historic cooks, 45 
 
 M Of beauteous Gibbon's fair proportion'd shape, ( j) 
 
 " An old baboon, or foetus of an ape ; 
 
 " No robe, that, waves in many a Tuscan fold ; 
 
 " No lawn, that wraps a bishop from the cold; 
 
 {/i) I am sure Pindar* very seldom had so good a subject foe 
 hist/ec/i mouth. Mr. B. White, of Fleet street, and Mr. Edwards, 
 ofPallmal^booksellerSjWouId furnish me with much better mate- 
 rials for an ode than Pindar's,in their florid descriptions, (so ani- 
 mating to purchasers,) of gorgeous binding and it's insignia. They 
 would tell me of the gold from the depths of Peru andMexico,the 
 skins of calves and creamy vellum, the skins from Morocco of all 
 hues, &c. &c. Think, hoiv easy it would be for a true ode-writer 
 to bring in the discovery of America by Columbus-, a beautiful 
 digression on the Dey of Algiers, and a pathetic touch on the 
 slave trade for Mr. Wilberforce. A man of ingenuity finds 
 life in every subject. Shakspeare says somewhere that there are 
 "sermons in stones," or sticks, I forget which. 
 
 (q) See in the title page to the posthumous Works of Ed- 
 ward Gibbon, Esq. in 2 v. 4to. published by Lord Sheffield, an 
 engraving of The Historian? of the Roman Empire, 
 which his lordship declares to be " as complete a likeness of 
 " Mr. Gibbon, as to person, face, and manner, as can be con- 
 ** ceiveJ^VA I have no doubt of Lord S.'s friendship for Mr. 
 Gibbon, but why hang up one's friend in effigy to the ridicule 
 of the present age and of all posterity ? " Figuram animi magis 
 u quam corporis complectantur,"sayl Tacitus ; and couldMr.Gib- 
 bon have seen this print, he certainly would have wished such a 
 simulacrum vultus as this to be imbecillum et mortale, or in plain En- 
 glish, 
 * Not that detestable writer, calling himself Pkter. Pindar, ofwhu 
 the First Part of the Pursuits of L. p. 7. id Ed. 8vo. 
 
 " There on the rack of satire let him lie, 
 
 *' Fit garbage for the hell-hound Infan. 
 
 C:
 
 ( s ) 
 
 " But fine broad cloth,in choicest fashion wrought, 50 
 
 u By modern hands to full perfection brought ; 
 
 " Tis His,— "to wear four Sundays,/;/ thePark^q) 
 
 " The best black suit of Doctor Courtney's Clerk ///" (r) 
 
 glish.td see the impressions burned, and the plate broken. f — I just 
 remind all collectors of prints, that there is pofonly to be had the 
 head of Dr. Gillies, and other historic cooks, of Dr. Denman. the 
 man -midwife, of Mr. William Coxe, traveller and friend to half 
 tlie crowned heads in Europe, ivith his age at the bottom of the 
 prjnr, and of other great personages; but there are still left some 
 choice proof impressions of the it iking head and likeness of Mr. 
 'John Fdr/ef t principal cook at the London Tavern, (to be had 
 separate from his great culinary work) being all that were left 
 •unsubscribed for by the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, by 
 the Eail Ipdia and Bank Directors, and by Mr. Pitt, and the elder 
 Brethren of the Trinity House; but I cannot ascertain the age of 
 Mr. John Farley,\vhich is a matter of the last importance, and for 
 yyhich I am truly sorry. The Homeric jucundity from Martial 
 jhou'd have been the motto to our modern Mystillus ; 
 t* Si tib'i fylistyllus cocus, Tf.miliane, vocatur : 
 *• Dicetur qu?re non < T , arat''aUa\ mihi ? Mart. Ep. 1. I, 
 The reader of ta te in print-collecting will thank me for remind- 
 ing him of Mr. John Farley's head, whpje works are more re- 
 ii shed than any travellers or historian's that I know. 
 
 (q) Or in Kensington Gardens, 
 
 (>■) I forgot to inform my reader, that the scene of action was 
 the celebrated Musical Room in Hanoi er square, which was deco- 
 rated on the occasion with appropriae scenery, laid out in belts 
 und clump of funereal pees, to represent a church vard with the 
 
 ' belfry 
 
 f 1 have been much interested and gratified by the perusal of the posthu- 
 mous memoirs of Mr. Gibbon ; and the account of the growth and progress ci" 
 his studies from his own pen is peculiarly pleasing. It is an unique in biogra- 
 jhy. I am not insensible to their faults and blemishes; but without subscrib- 
 ing to all Mr. G's opinions, I CJI admire the productions of an accomplished 
 M-hc hr and a most original genius. He must be veiy nice indeed who has ail 
 Cbj crion to take a walk in the School of Vanity. 
 
 j- M»o-Ti/?.Xov Vap r*oXXa. xtX. Horn. II. passim*
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 Nares rising paus'd ; then gave (the contest done) 
 To Weston, Taylor's Hymns and Alciphron ; $$ 
 To Tew, Parr's sermon, and the game of goose, 
 And Rochester's (j) address to lemans loose; 
 To Coote, the foolscap, as the best relief 
 A Dean could hope ; last to the hoary Chief 
 He fill'd a cup ; then plac'd on Norbury's back 6p 
 The Sunday suit of customary black. (/) 
 
 belfry.the yew tree.not forgetting/^ mul, with distant viewsof groups 
 of labourers and of cattle returning home by moonlight, highly pic- 
 turesque. This was the scene of the famed solemnity, whero 
 Mr. Nares, with his assessors, Messrs. Elmsley and Rivington, 
 booksellers, and the combatants, Doctors Norbury, Coote, &c. assem- 
 bled. Dr. Courtney, the present Bishop of Bristol and Rector of 
 St.George's Hanover square, was very kind on the occasion, as th© 
 decision \as made in his parish ; and, 'with the consent of theParish 
 Clerk, made a liberal and voluntary offer of "The Sunday Suit" 
 furnifhed at the expence of the parish, and which, 1 understand, is 
 worn by theCUrk during divine fervice in the morning only, on that 
 day, and is very becoming. After the morning service the parish 
 clerk appears in his ordinary dress, as a common man. Such 
 was the Ecclesiastical suit of armour, made by the rpisctpal tayier, 
 and hung up as the Conqueror's prize (not pleno jure, but«j«- 
 fructuario,) for the juntas of the Sunday. 
 
 (s) Not Lord Rochester, but my good Lord Bishop of Roches- 
 ter, bishop Horslcy's Address or Sermon to the Magdalens, men- 
 tioned above ; not forgetting his lordship's Greek prosody fox Lord 
 Thurlow and the ladies. 
 
 (/) I must transcribe the concluding sentence of the review of 
 these famous translation;, in the British Critic for March 
 1795, vol. p. 243, 1 give Mr. Nares the fullest credit foF the 
 conduct of this solemn irony, and confess, that I can conceive no- 
 thing superior in this species of wit. The British Critic thus 
 condudes : ** We wish to avoid any iniidious distinction, any 
 " undue preference. But were we absolutely called on to decide, 
 
 '* we
 
 ( «o > 
 
 The gabbling ceas'd : with fix'd and serious look 
 Gray glanc'd from highland own'd his rival Cook.(v) 
 
 *' we should from the purest and most unbiassed motives (see II. 23. 
 M v. 615) Jill the go 'den cup with the most exquisite oiws z^airos, 
 " and not considering it as left without a claimant, £y the fall 0/ any 
 41 Eumilus, we should respectfully place it in the hands of the 
 ** Etonian Nestor : 
 
 t'/j vvv, xo.s ool thto, tepon, jcej/x7jaj0v ejtw." 
 
 (v) I select this extraordinary genius, poet.critic, scholar, and ora- 
 tor, William Cook, m. a. Fellow of King's college Cambridge. 
 " I knew him well, Horatio," melioribus dim ausjiiciis. I select 
 him,as well for the singular and original excellency of his perform* 
 ance, (though there are some oversights and even verbal faults in 
 it)as for the manner in which he published it.There was a spare leaf 
 or two at the end of his very sensible edition of Aristotle's Poe- 
 tics, and there he printed it, Not in the pompous manner, and 
 with dedications to Lord Chancellors and I know not whom, as 
 some of these old Boys have done. I must own that in many pas- 
 sages, Nature,Gray, and Cook do sepm to contend for the mastery j 
 )nit above all, in. that famous stanza j 
 
 * The boaft of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, 
 *f And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
 N Await alike the inevitable hour ; 
 
 *' The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 
 
 Gray, 
 A %ctf*s tvyenim yjxp .?r n Qciaikrii^os apyjzs, 
 Amm tvyjt?, yjpvccLs- Atypo^iTczs Y.%Ka. to. 'Supcc, 
 ITavS' u(xa rxvra rsSyaxE, xai tjvQsv ^psi^ov uuap' 
 Ileum has' oawXs, *<?» wyjiro £vyov zs Actay. Coot, 
 
 Bion or Moschus never exceeded, I think, they never equalled 
 these lines. I write this Note, I will confess it, with all ths- 
 friendly Jondnefs of an Etonian ; 
 
 HOC JUVENEM EGRECIUM FR^TAtfTI MUNKRE DONO,
 
 ( II ) 
 
 OCTAVlUS. 
 
 Contract your smile, and quit this playful search j 
 These arejthe lay amusements of the church, I 65 
 Mere cobweb labours of their learned thought ; 
 Though sometimes teachers must themselves be 
 
 taught 
 To weigh their office, raise their pow'rful breath, 
 Nor leave the world to darkness and to death. 
 Short be their folly : let example tell 70 
 
 Their life, their morals pure, and all is well. 
 
 But should proud churchmen vie in sumptuous halls, 
 In wines and soups, Carthusian Bacchanals, 
 
 think th' unwieldy superilux to shake, 
 Where curates starve, and helpless orphans quake, 75 
 \Vav'rrng I ask, in this dark scene beneath, 
 
 Why lightnings scathe yon desolated heath ?(x') 
 
 (x) The unbounded luxury and extravagance of the French 
 and Italian Ecclesiastics should be a warning to the priests antf 
 ministers of all Christian altars, however dignified cr distin- 
 guished, of whatever church or of whatever persua«ion. Mankind 
 will know and value them by their fruits. " Tor now is the axe 
 laid to the root c/the tree, and every tree which brin^tth Hot forth 
 good fruit will (most afiuredly) be hewn down." This is the warn- 
 ing voice which should be heard, and heard aloud in assemblies' 
 frequent and full, in churches, and in cathedral?, but chief in thofe 
 twin-fillers of learning, the Universities of England, Oxford and 
 Cambridge, which can be supported on those principles alone., oa 
 which they were founded, and by which they have flourished. — 
 While your place may yet be found, I will honour and will hail you 
 both, 
 
 *• Mothers of arts 
 And eloquence, native to famous wits 
 Or hospitable, in your sweet recess, 
 City or suburban, studious walks and shades!" • 
 But chief with pious gratitude, and with filial reverence, 5aV>
 
 ( ft ) 
 
 And hark, the voice has thunder'd : and the word, 
 Borne on the blast, a trembling world has heard 
 In consummation dread ! the bonds of Rome 83 
 Are burst j and Babylon's prophetic doonij 
 With more than mortal ruin headlong cast, 
 Proclaims the measure full : she groans her last. 
 From climes* (jy) where piety no more was found, 
 Where superstition wither'd all around, 85 
 
 The rights of nature barr'd, byheav'n resignM 
 To vile affections, in corruption blind* 
 While, in the terrors of the world beneath, 
 Permitted .fiends of darkness round them breathe; 
 Britain securely fix'd, invites from high, 90 
 
 With charity's sedate, unalter'd eye; 
 The sacred > exil'd, melancholy band, 
 Passing from death and France, revere the land, 
 Where streams of inexhausted bounty pour, 
 And Christ still reigns, and bigotry's no more. 95 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Blestbe the voice of mercy, and the hand 
 Stretch'd o'er affliction's wounds with healing bland, 
 
 (y) Alluding to the grand emigration of French Priests and 
 others to England at jhc late revolution in France. Sec more in 
 future notes.
 
 ( H ) 
 
 In holiest sympathy ! our best of man 
 Gave us to tears, ere misery well began. 
 
 Still, still I pause : goodnature's oft a fool, 1 00 
 Now slave to party, and now faction's tool : 
 Attend, nor heedless slight a poet's name ; 
 Poet and prophet once were deem'd the same. 
 Say, are these fertile streams thus largely spread 
 A filial tribute o'er a mother-bed? 105 
 
 Say, are these streams (think while avails the thought) 
 To Rome through Gallic channels subtly brought ? (2) 
 Rome touches, tastes, and takes ; and nothing loth : 
 But have tve virtues ? yes, of jiagan growth, (a) 
 
 (z) This is one of the most important points in the prefenC 
 situation of England and of Europe, in regard to national policy. 
 I propose these questions. 1. How far, are the ministers of the 
 public treasure of any Protestant kingdom justified in issuing large 
 sums of money, for the express purpose of maintaining emigrant 
 Catholic priests, as a body? 2. If they are justified in issuing 
 any sums, in what manner and under what control should this public 
 money be expended and distributed ? 3. Whether in England at 
 this time, there are not peculiar and paramount considerations, 
 which call for wisdom and prudence to regulate and restrain the 
 first natural and honourable impetuosity of mercy and humanity, to 
 the end that the constitution ofEngland.in her church 
 and state, be preserved inviolate from open attacks, or insidious 
 attempts ? — These questions are proposed for the public security, 
 with sobriety, seriousness, and charity to ell % as of common im- 
 portance. 
 
 D
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 Ask,where Rome's church is founded ? ona steep, 1 10 
 Which heresy's wild winds in vain may sweep, 
 Alone where sinners may have rest, secure, 
 ; One only undefil'd, one only pure. 
 Blame you her cumbrous pomp, her iron rod, 
 Or trumpery relics of her saints half-shod ? 115 
 
 Lo, Confessors, in every hamlet found, 
 With sacred sisters walk their cloyster'd round : 
 There read the list : (b) and calm the fate expect, 
 When crafty, meddling, thankless priests direct. 
 
 (a) It is well known that rigid Catholics hold, that the virtues 
 ef heretics, or protestants, are to be considered in the light of pa- 
 gan virtues. 1 think the bishop of St. Pol de Leon would agree 
 to this opinion. 
 
 (b) See " The Laity's Directory for 1796, (printed 
 for J. P. Coghlan, Duke-street, Grosvenor-square) to which is 
 added *' The Colours of the Church j" words rather omi- 
 nous. It is a pamphlet at the low price of sixpence, which I re- 
 commend to public notice, and to which I refer the reader. It 
 is a matter of some surprise and concern, to read the list of the 
 almost incredible number of little books and tracts at the smallest 
 prices, published and to be published, calculated/^;- the general 
 dissemination of Pop ery in these realms j— the fatal display of all 
 the existing and rising Romish seminaries, Romish boarding 
 houses, and Romish schools for youth ;— the plenary indulgences 
 (for one another:) — and theSettlements of Nuns Professed in monas- 
 teries erected in this kingdom, Clares, Benedictines, Sepulcharias, 
 Austins, and Dominicanesses. Then,in this very same pamphlet, as 
 
 if
 
 ( 'S ) 
 
 Think you, their hate unquench'd can e'er expire r 1 20 
 The torch not tipt with sleeping sulphurous fire ? 
 
 if by a strange fatality, and in the blunder of papal metaphor, 
 they advertise even their drugs. The very medicine, it seems, is 
 papal : behold their " Laxative sulphurated pills (once exhibited 
 in another form in these realms,),—" The Jesuits nervous pill," — 
 The Jesuits Balsamic cordial." In short, dectrnunt quodiur.qu: 
 <volunt de corfore nostro; body and soul, fortune and state. 
 I understand them but too well. They know their hour, their 
 protectors of noble rank, their opportunity, their advantages, 
 their revenue from the state. They advance by approaches, not 
 desultory, but regular. The papal genius never sleeps, no, not 
 for a moment ; but cirects and animates, and acts uniformly and 
 constantly, at home and abroad, in cities, in towns, in villages; it 
 takes aid from stupidity and from ability, from above, and from 
 beneath. Their bishops, as yet, arc but titular, but depend upon 
 
 it, 
 
 Per solis radios, Tarpeiao^u e fulmina jurant, 
 
 Siuidquid habent t thrum armamtntaria cali ; 
 
 Depend upon it, I say, they sivtar — but what the oath is, I shall 
 not take upon me to describe. It may be well understood, and, 
 for ought I know, it is already registered.— I have compassion lor 
 the unfortunate ; I have charity for plundered exiles ; I have pity, 
 and would wish and would give relief to the wretched and the suf- 
 fering; I have veneration for the truly pious of every persuasion 
 in the Christian faith. " There is one Lord!" But I have, and 
 it is an Englishman's duty to have, a watchful eye upon the insi- 
 nuating or domineering spirit of the Romish church. I have no 
 opinion of the sincerity of their attachment to us, or of their gra- 
 titude for our favours. I insist upon it, they regard themselves 
 as the original and rightful inheritors efeur land. I call upon the 
 guardians of our church and state to be watchful, and to regard 
 with attention the proceedings of all the emigrants. If they re- 
 fuse to hear, I wish most fervently, that Great Britain may never. 
 
 Da ia
 
 ( 16 J 
 
 Their doctrines round a careless land are blown ; 
 They blast the cottage, and would sap the throne. 
 What ? are my words too warm ? I love my King, 
 My Country, and my God ! the sounds shall ring 
 Ceaseless, till Pit^t (will all his host awake) 125 
 In our great cause a nation's inquest take; 
 I'll call : norheav'n, nor man, nor laws forbid; 
 The City's on a hill, (r)nor can be hid. (d) 
 
 in the anguish of an inconsiderate spirit, say of these numerous 
 emigrant priests, and of all the rest, sacred or profane ; 
 Ejectos fittore, egenos 
 Exctjiiy tt regni demens in parte locavi ! 
 I send this note into the world, whatever be it's fate, with 
 the famous papal inscription, but without the fpirit, of Sixtus the 
 Fourth, to the Florentine Synod under Lorenzo the Magnificent, 
 «« In puturam rei memoriam !" and the Bishop of St. Pol dc 
 Leon, and his Consistory, resident and acting in England, may 
 reply to it, if they think proper. — (Written in the year 1796.) 
 
 CcJThecreat College of Priests, and Head Quarters 
 of the Catholic C ause , in theCasttt or King! bouse atWincbtiter, 
 tenanted by priests, emigrant and non-emigrant, publickly main- 
 tained at the cxpence of the state. Read the preceding note. I 
 am not speaking to those, who are indifferent abont all or any reli- 
 gion ; but to those, who from their station, political or sacred, 
 should understand the importance of the cause, the interests of 
 Christianity and it's parity, the evidence of history, the nature 
 and the essential and unaltered spirit of the Romish priesthood, 
 and their subtilty and peculiar arts by persuasion, or by terror 
 ever weak consciences. I am speaking to the governors of 
 
 Great
 
 ( « ) 
 
 DCTAVIUS. 
 
 These thoughts are for the state : enough 
 of Rome, 130 
 
 Her Gallic altars, and approaching doom. 
 
 Great Britain, to the ministers of the crown, who should guard, 
 and who, I trust, will guard against the revival of the Romish 
 Church, now working in secret ; as well as againft the more open, 
 and more terrible democracy of some descriptions cf the Dissenters. 
 What is said to us all, is said at this hour, to ministers and rulers of 
 states with a more important and more sacred emphasis. "Watch, 
 " f or J e kncwnet THE hour 'when destruction comttb."-—{\7 '96.) 
 
 {d) Finally: I have to propose one plain and significant ques. 
 tion to Mr. Pitt, or to any great minister of state : it is thif. 
 •J Is there a single instance in the records of any modern history 
 of Europe, where the governing and directing power of the state 
 ever authorised, patronised, and supported with the public money, 
 under ary circumstances whatsoever, a college or priests,/* 
 tbt heart of a kingdom, whose tenets and principles were not only 
 different from the established religion of the country, but were in 
 direct opposition and avowed hostility to it ? — And particularly, 
 when it was the original and fundamental purpose and constitution 
 of that established church, to discountenance and extinguish the 
 superstitious doctrines and the political and ecclesiastical tenets of 
 that Colltgt of Prints, so authorised, patronised, and supported 
 by the public money, as a body:" If this question muit be 
 answered, as I apprehend it must, in the negative, I maintain, 
 (and if necessary will maintain more solemnly, if possible, and 
 more at large,) that the Collbce of Priests in the King's 
 House at Winchester should be immediately disper- 
 sed, and not suffered to stand in that offensive, conspicuous, and 
 
 opprobrious
 
 C is ) 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Home then I'll look; and as the numbers roll, 
 AVarn the recumbent shepherds of the soul. 
 
 OCTAVIUS. 
 
 Nay, if from themes so grave (e) you never roam, 135 
 I'll hire a gown, or send your cassock home ; 
 
 opprobrious light, in the face of the country. I am really speak- 
 ing in mercy to them, and to us all, if I am rightly underftood. I 
 would support and preserve them from every want, private'y, and 
 in detached situations ; but 1 ivould not suffer the ministry of a Catho- 
 lic Bishop to direct the expenditure of that public money so granted, 
 for mere catholic fiurposts; but with the most perfect toleration of 
 all perfuafions in religion, the Governors of the state should de- 
 fend and exclusively support their onun. This is prudence, this is po- 
 licy, this it is, to remember the beginning and progress of all great 
 events. (1796.) 
 
 (e) I am not in the habit of perusing many of the various sin- 
 gle sermons which are published ; but I cannot resist the oppor- 
 tunity of recommending three, which I think are at this time im- 
 portant, and written with ability and spirit. One, by the Rev. 
 Dr. Vincent, head master of Westminster school, for the Weftmin- 
 fier Difpenfary ; another by Dr. Watson, bishop of LandafF.for the 
 WestminsterDispensary alfo, with anAppendix, containing Reflec- 
 tions on the present state of England and France ; the appendix is 
 of peculiar merit ; and a third, " On Gaming," written with great 
 energy, erudition, piety, patriotifm, and eloquence, by the Rev, 
 Thomas Reanell, D. D. prebendary of Winchester.
 
 C 19 ) 
 
 Better go, preach, (/) and blend with happiest care 
 
 The strength of Horsley, and the flow'rs of Blair 5 
 
 You'd rise at last. 
 
 (/) On this subject I think it may be curious and pleasing,and 
 perhaps useful to some persons, to see the list of the books which 
 the great bishop Warburton recommended in some pofthumous 
 MSS. Directions for the ftudy of Theology, which Bishop 
 Hurd published in the 4*0 edition and in the 8vo supplement to 
 his works. I refer to the tract, and merely give the books in the 
 divisions, and order in whichWarburton placed them. — " Locke 
 on the HumanTJnderstanding : Quintilian's Institutions. — Gro- 
 tius de Jure belli et pacis; Woollaston's Religion of Nature; 
 Cumberland on the Law of Nature ; Cudworth's Intellectual 
 System.— Maimonides Ductor Dubitantium ; Spencer de Legi- 
 bus Hebraeorum Ritualibus : Walton's Polyglott Bible ; Critici 
 Sacri. — Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity ; Burnet de fide 
 et officii* Christianorum ; Grotius's Comment on the Gospels; 
 Locke on the Epistles; Joseph Mede on the Apocalypse; Epis- 
 copii Instituta Christ. Theologiae ; Limborch's Theologia 
 Christiana ; Grotius de Veritate Religionis Christiana; ; Stil- 
 lingfleet's Origines Sacrje, 1st. ed. Limborch de Veritate Re- 
 ligionis Christianas Arnica Collatio cum Erudito Judaeo, i. e. 
 Isaaco Orobio ; Chillingworth's Religion of Protestants a safe 
 way to salvation ; Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, 4 first books. 
 Taylor's Liberty of Prophecying; Stillingfleet's Irenicum ; 
 Locke's Letters on Toleration ; Bayle's Comment on the words 
 " Compel them to come in." — Mosheim's Ecclesiastical His- 
 tory ; Collier's Church History; Fuller's Church History; 
 Sleidan Commentarii de statu Religioniset Reipublicai Carolo 
 Quinto Caesare Commentarii ; Burnet's Hift.of the Reforma- 
 tion; Dr. Clarke's Sermons, Dr. Barrow's Sermons; Sermons 
 (hi Pete Bourdaloue." 
 
 The Second Part of these directions could not be found ; but 
 it may surprise some people to hear that Bishop Warburton 's vi- 
 
 gorou»
 
 ( *0 ) 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 How strangely you mistake ; 140 
 The dream deceives not, when the man's awake. 
 Once in the morn of life, a wizard said j 
 •* He ne'er shall rise by benefice, or trade ; 
 " But find, remote from consequence or fame, 
 * c A local something, and a shadowy name ; 145 
 *' Shall brave neglect ; in England's cause contend, 
 ** Hopeless himself of virtue, but her friend ; 
 " Through crowds shall mark his solitary wayj 
 " Ardent, though secret, and though serious, gay ; 
 *' Erect, without a pension, to his end 150 
 
 " Unknown, unheard, unhonour'd shall descend ; 
 11 Bow to no minister for golden views, 
 " His portion, memory, and best gift, the muse." 
 
 OCTAVIUS. 
 
 This of yourself? 
 
 AUTHOR* 
 
 intellect regarded this plan, but as an introduction to the study 
 of Theology. Hac limina Victor Alcides subiit ! Through 
 such a vestibule did this high-priest pass into the temple.
 
 ( *l ) 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 Tis so. 
 OCTAVIUS. 
 
 HS 
 
 You're turn'd plain fool, 
 A vain pert prater, bred in Erskine's school : 
 Talk of yourself? 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 I talk, friend, to be heard ; 
 Mere talkers now, not writers, are preferr'd. 160 
 Look at that paper: (g) if you print the speeches, 
 Pitt seems George Rose, or, like Sir Richard f preaches, 
 Nor tone, nor majesty, nor patriot fires - t 
 JVIethinks the wit of Sheridan expires ; 
 Lost in Dundas the Caledonian twang, 165 
 
 Though Pitt, and port, and property he sang ; 
 Print negro speeches, and in reason's spite, 
 Lo, Wilbcrforce is black, and Francis white s 
 
 (g) Any newspaper, or report of the Debates. 
 
 E
 
 ( M ) 
 
 Who wonders at buffoons, or Courtney's joke ? 
 And we scarce slumber, though Sir William spoke; 170 
 'Tis Grey and grumbling ;Curwen (//)all and clatter; 
 And Dent (/') and Dogs ; and Pewter (k) pot and platter. 
 
 Shall I not talk f Few politics will reacts 
 Though Lauderdale should sketch his Scottish creed : (/) 
 But mercy now to ministers is shewn, 175 
 
 And Pitt is sav'd by writers not his own. {ni) 
 
 Yet all shall read, and all that page approve, 
 Where public spirit meets with public love. 
 
 (b) All the changes rung upon feudality, and tyranny, and I 
 know not what, when the Game Laws were discussed at the close 
 of the laft parliament, April 1796, on the motion of Mr. Curwen. 
 
 (/) Alluding to the long debates on the Dog and Bitch bill, 
 brought into parliament in 1796 by Mr. Dent. The bill is a little 
 allegorical, sometimes unintelligible, and often ludicrous. If Mr. 
 Pitt means, that taxes should be an object of w/V, I shall soon ex- 
 pect to hear Mr. Sheridan, in the House, call the District of Down- 
 ing street " The Borgo Allegro.'' 
 
 (i) This is another curious subject brought into the House in 
 April 1796, and shews that Mr. Fox has eloquence of all materials 
 and of all metals. Gold, for his pension ; brass, for his opinions ; 
 and pewter, for his constituents. 
 
 (/) See his Letters to the Scotch peers. 
 (m) Mr. Pitt will underftand what I mean.
 
 ( *3 ) 
 
 Thus late, where poverty with rapine dwelt, 
 Rumford's (m) kind genius the Bavarian felt ; 1 80 
 Not by romantic charities beguil'd, 
 But calm in project, and in mercy mild, («) 
 Content with peace, and practicable good ; 
 Where'er his wisdom guided, none withstood, 
 Round him the lab'rer throngs, the nobles wait, 185 
 Friend of the poor, and guardian of the state. 
 
 Yet all shall read, when bold in strength divine, 
 
 Prelatic virtue guards the Christian shrine, 
 
 Pleas'd from the pomp of science to descend, 
 
 To teach the peojile, as their hallow'd friend, 190 
 
 In gentle warnings to the unsettled breast, 
 
 In all it's wand'rings from the realms of rest, 
 
 From impious scoffs and ribaldry to turn, 
 
 And Reason's age by reason's light discern, 
 
 (»;) See the Experimental Essays, Politic.il, Economical, and 
 Philosophical, by Benjamin, Count of Rumford, &c. &c. &c. 
 &c. I hope the D : redtors of the interior government of this coun- 
 try will have the sense to profit from this most valuable and 
 important work, whose truly philosophic and benevolent author 
 must feel a joy and self-satisfaction, far superior to any praise 
 which man can bestow. 
 
 ... 
 (n) A distinguishing feature in all his plans for the relief of 
 
 the poor, the idle, the abandoned, and the wretched. 
 
 E 2
 
 ( 24 ) 
 
 Re-fix insulted truth with tempered zeal, 195 
 
 And find that joy, which Watson best can feel. («) 
 
 What uncouth names a politician owns : 
 One Jasper Wilson, and one Abram Jones. (0) 
 Godwin's dry page (//) no statesman e'er believ'd, 
 Though fiction aids what sophistry conceiv'd ; 200 
 
 (») See the important, convincing, and eloquent letters ad- 
 dressed to Thomas Payne, author of the Age of Reason, 2d Part, 
 by Dr. Watson, Bishop of Landaff, stiled " An Apology for 
 the Bible.*' Every person wishes that the Bishop had changed, 
 or even would now change, the word '* Apology" to " Defence" 
 or any other; not that the word apology is absolutely improper, 
 but because the original meaning of it is obsolete. To write 
 such a book as this, is to do a service to mankind. N.B. A 
 cheap edition of it is printed, and it is hoped, will be circulated 
 throughout the kingdom. 
 
 (0) Two assumed names of political pamphlet writers, in- 
 stead of the signatures of Brutus, Cato, &c. — but it is a foolish 
 custom. 
 
 (/) I have given some attention to this work of Mr. Godwin's 
 *' on Political Justice,*" as conceiving it to be the great 
 code of improved modern ethics, morality and legislation. I con- 
 fess I looked not for the republic of Plato, or even for the Oceana 
 of Harrington, but for something different from them all. I looked 
 indeed for a superstructure raised on the revolutionary ground of 
 equality, watered with blood from the guillotine ; and such 1 
 found it. 1 cannot discuss a work in two large volumes in a note, 
 (though some would dispatch it with a single word) but in general 
 I can speak as much of it, as it deserves, in a short compass ; I 
 mean, as it appears to me. — The first trait of the work is, a cer- 
 tain 
 * -First published in 2 vols. 4to. and since in z vols. 8vo.
 
 ( *5 ) 
 
 Genius may droop o'er Falkland's (f) funeral cry-, 
 No patriot weeps when gifted villains die. 
 
 tain cold- blooded indifference to all the mild, pious, and honour- 
 able feelings of our common nature, like all the philosophers of 
 the new sect, which I would describe, if Mr. Burke had not done 
 it already. The next thing observable, is, a most affectionate 
 concern and regard for the welfare of mankind, who are to exist 
 some centuries hence, when the endless perfectibility of the human species 
 (for such is their jargon) shall receive it's completion upon earth; 
 when the difciples of Dr. Darwin have learned to manage the 
 ^vimts and direct their currents at pleasure, and the descendants 
 of Abbe Sieves have calmed the waves of a stormy people with 
 the oil of democracy. Another trait is, that all political justice 
 is essentially founded upon injustice; if plunder, robbery, and 
 spoliation of all property in the outset may be termed injustice;* 
 though to be sure the latter end of his commonwealth rather 
 forgets the beginning. But I must say, he is not without some 
 kind apprehension, that the population of states may be too 
 great under the blessings of equal diffusion of property under the 
 proposed government, for which he provides a remedy; 
 though, for my own part, I think such a government, like Sa- 
 turn of old, will be reduced to the necessity of eating up its 
 children. Again : another discovery seems to be, that as hi- 
 therto we have had recourse to the agency and interference of 
 the Deity and his unalterable laws, to account even for the fall of 
 a stone to the ground, the germination of a blade of grass, or the 
 propagation of the meanest insect; we are now to discard the 
 superintendanceof God in human and terrestrial affairs, and to 
 believe and trust in no Jirovidcnce hut our own, and to re-make 
 ourselves and our faculties. He feems to realise a modern fic- 
 tion, I once read, which supposes an assembly of certain philo- 
 sophers before the Deity, when some of them are said to 
 whisper in his ear, " Between friends, we do not 'believe that 
 
 44 TOO 
 
 * i. c. If Mr. G's principles arc to be adopted in any countrr, where pro- 
 perty is mm secured by the /atvi. 
 
 (f) A character in Mr. Godwin's novel of Ca.'tb H'il!iam>, wiittcn wkh an 
 esident alhuion to his woik on Political Ju
 
 ( *6 ) 
 
 Well pleas'd, as once, who now peruses Moore ? (r ; 
 Safe, if not sound, he comes from. Gallia's shore : 
 
 " you exist at all." Further: as to suppose a divine sanction 
 without a divinity, would be absurd, therefore, every institution, 
 such as marriage, which in all civilized nations has been hal- 
 lowed to the great end for which it was ordained, is to be vili- 
 fied, ridiculed, argued away, and abolifhed : and as a corollary, a 
 few vulgar virtues and once honourable affections, as piety to 
 parents, and love to children, as such, are to be erased from the 
 breast. Gratitude for kindness, and tears for the unfortunate, 
 are but weakness ; there is nothing soothing in compassion, and 
 friendship has no consolation.lt would seem, that a well of water, 
 an apple tree, or any thing /inductive is more valuable than man 
 to m^n,abstractcdfrom the mere use which one man can derive from 
 another. " These are thy gods, O Israel, and this is the worship 
 to which you are called !" — Nevertheless I shall still venture to 
 mention the great moral code, intended for all mankind, once de- 
 livered and ratified by Him, w/w knew what was in man.Thtxt all 
 is practicable, all virtue is founded in mercy, kindness, benevo- 
 lence and comfort, alike to him that gives, and him that takes ; 
 there man plants, and God, not man, gives the increase ; there 
 -we find no wild supposition of an interest which cannot be de- 
 scribed, as it does not exist ; no actions without a motive direct 
 and reflected. I speak here of perhaps the least part of theGospel 
 Code, as having the/iiomise of the life that now is. But if we regard 
 mere human institutions : if a man wishes to see a practicable 
 system of policy and government, founded and confirmed in 
 the experience of ages, let him, if he has been awhile led astray 
 by the meteors of Godwin, walk for a season in the steady light 
 which Blackstone has diffused. Let him study the Commenta- 
 ries on the English Laws, as they exist and uphold all that is 
 valuable, or perhaps attainable, in a rational and civilifed na- 
 tion. Then let him consider the theories of Godwin on poli- 
 tical
 
 ( *7 ) 
 
 His page I mark, yet know not how to call, 205 
 
 His wit and reas'ning's so equivocal ; 
 
 tical justice, and contemplate the government which would be 
 raised on his principles. To me there seems to be no more 
 comparison than between light and darkness. What the great 
 Burnett f affirms of the Deist and Atheist, considered merely as 
 two sects in philosophy, is, I am convinced, not wholly inap- 
 plicable to the two political sects in question. " The hypothe- 
 M sis of the Dent reaches from top to bottom, both through the 
 " intellectual and material world, with a clear and distinct light 
 " everywhere; is genuine, comprehensive, satisfactory; has 
 " nothing forced, nothing confused, nothing precarious; 
 M whereas, the hypothefis of the Atheist is strained and broken, 
 " dark and uneasy to the mind, commonly precarious, often incon- 
 ** gruous and irrational, and sometimes plainly ridiculous."— I can 
 allow Mr. Godwin and other speculative writers on government 
 to be ingenious; they must in the course of their investigation 
 throw out some new ideas ; but in general the greatest part of 
 their works consists of old ideas which have been discussed 
 again and again. They astonish by paradoxes, and allure the 
 imagination by prospects unbounded ; and when they have al- 
 ternately heated and confounded the minds of men, they call 
 them to the great work, namely, the subversion of, what they call, 
 prejudices, and the overthrow of the government, which is. " In 
 nostras fabricataest machina muros." I can laugh at their me- 
 taphysics, and even be pleafed with their fancies, as such. But 
 when I know that their theories are designed to be brought into 
 action, and when they tell us, that they hate violence, blood- 
 shed, revolution, and misery, and that truth and happiness are 
 their objects ; I open my eyes to see, and my ears to hear, and 
 having honestly exerted both faculties, I declare, from private 
 
 con- 
 
 f Burnct'j Theory of the Earth, b. 2. ch. 10. — Sec the tenth and eleventh 
 chapters of that great man's work, " On the Author of Nature, and on Natu- 
 ral Providence ;" — a master treatUc of reason and eloquence. I wilh these two 
 chapters were published in a fepaiate pamphlet.
 
 ( *s ) 
 
 Till journals leave no scrapings on his file, 
 And compilations, nothing to compile ; 
 
 conviction and from public experience, I oppose the admission 
 of their doctrines, whether recommended by Thomas Payne or 
 William Godwin.— —Yet a moment ; take Mr. Godwin as a 
 natural philosopher. What opinion can we entertain of a man 
 •who seriously thinks that, at some future period, the necessity 
 ai sleep in an ani?nal body may be superseded: — that men die 
 merely by their own fault and mismanagement, but, that the im- 
 mortality of the organized human body, as it is now formed, 
 might be attained by proper attention and care : — or who thinks 
 " that, hereafter it is by no means clear, that the most extensive 
 " operations may not be within the reach of one man, or to make 
 " use of a familiar instance, that a plough may -not he turned into a 
 u field ^ and perform its office, without the need of su/terinttndauce ! '.' '/" 
 and then adds, " It was in this sense that the celebrated Franklin 
 "conjectured, that " mind would one day become omnipotent 
 " over matter !!!" — Godwin, vol. 2. p. 494. ed. 8vo. I have 
 quoted from the last edition of Mr. Godwin's book, as he has 
 corrected or omitted many passages which were in the 4to edi- 
 tion. If he will but go on with morelast thoughts, I think he will 
 shortly reduce it to a very little pamphlet. I could make such 
 a collection of Beauties (or what Rabelais might call " Antidoted 
 " Conundrums''') from this work, as would dazzle even a modern 
 philosopher, whose ** mind is omnipotent over matter," in Mr. 
 Godwin's and Dr. Franklin's sense. I think these Beauties 
 would form an assemblage of the most curious and incongruous 
 ideas ever exhibited, fully sufficient to " rouse (any man) from 
 " the lethargic oblivious pool, out of which every finite intellect 
 " originally rose /" (vol. 2. p. 88. 8vo ed.) Good heaven ! what 
 can Mr. Godwin mean by such ideas, and such words? — But I 
 cannot detain the reader any longer with Mr. Godwin. The 
 further I proceed, the more I learn to distrust swelling men and 
 
 swelling
 
 ( *9 ) 
 On all his motley labours as I pore, 
 Forc'd I confess, " there spoke the dubious Moore." 
 
 Who now reads Parr ? whose title who shall give? 
 Doctor (s) Sententious hight, or Positive ? 
 From Greek, or French, or any Roman ground, 
 In mazy progress and eternal round 
 Quotations dance, and wonder at their place, 2 1 5 
 Buzz through his wig, and give the bush more grace. 
 
 swelling words, and swelling ideas, but above all in political 
 subjects, from which most is to be dreaded. And I hope that even 
 Mr. Godwin himself, " when he has looked (again) upon all 
 *' that he has made and mapped out, will (at last) say no other 
 " but contrary to the divine word, That it is all vert 
 " foolish. "f 
 
 (r) John Moore, M.D. author of the Travels in Italy and 
 France, Journal in France, &c. Zeluco &c. &c. &c. I speak of him 
 merely as a public author. His flyle is easy and his wit is playful. 
 But I often dislike the tendency of various parts of his writings 
 on the French affairs. 
 
 (s) Though the reader may poffibly have a very good idea of 
 a sententious or positive doctor, in general ; yet my specific allu- 
 sion is to the theology of the twelfth century, when the Doctor* 
 were divided into Doctores Dogmatici et Positiii and the Doetores 
 Sententiarii, or expounders of the famous Book of Sentences by 
 Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris. — At present Bishop Gregoire 
 and Bishop Sieyes at Paris, give their Doctors some famous books 
 of Sentences to expound, notis et commentariis perpetuis Doctor is 
 Guillotini, who causes great unanimity of sentiment among 
 the Doctors, and arranges their several heads with admirable pre- 
 cision. 
 
 F 
 
 f Words from Milton.
 
 ( 3° ) 
 He prints a Sermon : (/) Hurd with judging eye 
 Reads, and rejects, with critic dignity. 
 Words upon words ! and most against their will, 
 And honied globules dribble through his quill, 
 Mawkish, and thick; Earth scarce the tropes supplies, 
 Heav'n lends her moon and crouded galaxies ; (v) 
 
 (t) The unfortunate Education Sermon, which Bishop Hurd, 
 happened to dislike. Bine tiles lacrymce ! This produced the 
 re-publication of Warburton's and Hurd's tracts, with the 
 splendid and astonishing dedication by Dr. Parr. See the first 
 part of this poem, 1. 241 note (I), p. 3!, Second Edit. 8vo. 
 See also Rabelais's great Chapter, " How Gargantua spent his 
 time in rainy weather,'' and the comment by Du Chat. 
 
 (<v) See the Dedication of Warburton's tracts, p. 151 &c. with 
 all the display of beautiful earthly and coelestial imagery, and all 
 the melliti verborumglobuli, which were exhibited on the occasion. 
 Dr. Parr's strange verbiage reminds me of some persons in 'The 
 Wasps of Aristophanes ,• 
 
 Apyjaioi^iknci^wvo^ pwiy^pa-rx. 
 
 315. S^xer. 
 The Doctor can construe all this, I believe, and the meaning of it. 
 —Dr. Parr is so very learned, and has such a deep mouth, that 
 some conjecture he was not born till the end of the eleventh month, 
 like the great Gargantua — or ^spfnXo^cVH eviolutou, at tht end of 
 a twelve month,as Homer speaks (Od. xi. v. 247.) of one ct Nep- 
 tune's children, and for which Aulus Gellius, (a favourite author 
 with Dr. Parr) gravely assigns a reason, " Convenisse Neptuno 
 " majestatique ejus, ut longiore tempore satus ex eo grandesceret.'* 
 Lib. 3. Cap. 16. etsj ax. acnofuXkoi ivvxi A9a.va.rajv !!! * — A few 
 months after the Doctor's birth, he was found, like Gargantua to be 
 «' a fine boy, and had a burly phyjiognomy ; he monochordized with 
 41 his ringers, and barytonized with his tail." Rabel. B. t.C. 7. 
 J\uctVXTOi } J suppose, may menn Doctors in Divinity.
 
 { 3' ) 
 
 Polemic phrenzy and irreverent rage, 
 Anil dotard impotence, deform the page. 
 
 I him but wrangle, and in any shape 225 
 
 Not insignificance itself can scape : 
 Horace and Coombe (.v) go forth, a gentle pair, 
 Splendid and silly, to unequal war j 
 
 This was a prerage of the noise the Doctor was to make hereafter ; 
 but from the nature of his boyish diet, (for his masters were stiled 
 Tubal Holofernes and Ponocrates Ma:aeologus) it appeared that 
 he was belter fed than taught. If the child wanted a bit of bread, 
 or a slice of mutton, or a common cabbage, he was not suffered to 
 have any, till he had quoted all the authors who ever had mentioned 
 these natural substances, Pliny, Athenaeus, Julius Pollux, Ga- 
 len, Porphyry, Oppian, Polybius, Dionysius Halicarnassensis, 
 Heliodorus, Aristotle, Plato, Aulus Gellius, ^Elian, and Diosco- 
 rides, down to Buffon and Sir J. Hill. This habit the child never 
 lost in his riper years, to the great edification of his hearers or 
 readers, when he was furnished with pen and ink. When he was 
 advanced to the Doctorate, the child was still the same, as appeared 
 in his complimentary and satirical preface toBellendenus,in which, 
 as usual, he discharged all the literary food he ever eat, after theGreek 
 fashion of his masters Tubal Holofernes and Ponocrates Matxolo- 
 gus, and as prescribed by that great and consummate Theologian 
 •' Joanninusde Barrauco in libro de copiositate reverentiarum," a 
 writer who cannot be sufficiently recommended, and who is as well 
 known as " Musameertius in Commonitorio ad Ramircsiuru 
 de Prado," quoted by Mr. Porson in his title page to regalp 
 Archdeacon Travis. 
 
 (x) See the ridiculous controversy between Doctor Parr and 
 Dr. Coombe, about a pompous edition of Horace, published to 
 
 F % be
 
 ( 3* ) 
 
 But while the midwife to Lucina prays, 
 
 The Gorgon glares, and blasts the critic's bays. 230 
 
 Parr prints a Paper : (jy) well • in all things equal, 
 
 Sense, taste, wit, judgment: but pray read The Sequc/> 
 
 Sequel, to what ? no mortal cares or knows, 
 
 Morsels of politics, most chosen prose, 
 
 Of nobles, Priestley, Plato, Democrats, 235 
 
 Pitt, Plutarch, Curtis, Burke, and Rous, and rats , 
 
 The scene ? 'tis Birmingham, renown'd afar 
 
 At once for half-pence, and for Doctor Parr. 
 
 OCTAVIUS. 
 
 Well, if none read such works, yet all admire — 
 
 be sure for no purpose that I can discover ; which the Doctor Po- 
 sicivus mingled and destroyed in the British Critic without any 
 mercy. See also Dr. Parr's strange Letter to Dr. C. on this oc- 
 casion, signed " By an Occasional Writer in the British Critic." 
 
 (j) Dr. Parr published at Birmingham what he called a 
 " printed Pcper ;" and after that, " a Sequel \.Q z. printed P after" 
 a very large pamphlet, de omni scibili, as usual. — N.B. I really 
 think it is impossible to point out any man of learning and abi- 
 lity (and Dr. Parr has both,) who has hitherto wasted his powers 
 and attainments in such a desultory, unmeaning, wild, unconnec- 
 ted, and useless manner, as Dr. Parr. — In nullum reipublic.ee uium 
 amb tiosa loi«e!a inclaruit.** — I have done with him.
 
 ( 33 ) 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 
 The paper ? 240 
 
 OCTAVIUS. 
 
 Yes j ten shillings every quire, (a) 
 The type is Buhner's,^/ like Boydell's plays, 
 E'en Mister Hayley shines in Milton's (b) rays. 
 In one glaz'd glare tracts, sermons, pamphlets vie: 
 Shall hot press'd nonsense lose it's dignity ? 245 
 
 AUTHOR, 
 
 Nonsense or sense, I'll bear, in any shape, 
 In gown, in lawn, in ermine, or in crape. 
 
 (a) Not Dr. Parr's paper or printing ; which in some of his 
 works is sometimes scarce legible ; but the general needlessly ex- 
 pensive manner of publishing most pamphlets and books at this 
 time. See the Pursuits of Literature Part 1. v. 241, note (I) 
 p. 31. Second Edit. 8vo. If the present rage of printing on fine, 
 treamy, wire-wove, vellum, hot-pressed paper is not stopped, the 
 injury done to the eye from reading, and the shameful expenceof 
 the books, will in no very long time annihilate the desire of read- 
 ing, and the possibility of purchasing. No new nuork nvbatsotvtr 
 should be published in this manner, or Literature will destroy it- 
 self.
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 What's a fine type, while truth exerts her rule? 
 
 Science is science, and a fool's a fool. 
 
 £ut where true genius ppints the path to life, 2$<? 
 
 When fame invites, and prompts the noble strife, 
 
 Her temple's everlasting doors unbarr'd, 
 
 Desert is various, various the reward : 
 
 Avaunt, pale envy, and the rival fear, 
 
 And little jealousy and ill-tim'd sneer. 255 
 
 Methinks on Babylon fond fancy dreams, 
 
 Her vale of willows by the mournful streams, 
 
 WhereHebrew lyres hungfV) mute ! — o'er Sion's hill 
 
 Blows the chill blast, and baneful dews distill, (d) 
 
 (I) Mr. Hayley wrote a long life, or rather a sort of a defence 
 of Milton as I think, prefixed to BoydeTTs grand edition, of the 
 poet. 
 
 (c) " The banks of the rivers of Baby Ion, the Euphrates, &c. were 
 so thickly planted <witb nvillonv trees y as the learned Bochart in- 
 forms us, that the country of Babylon was thence called " The 
 Vale of Willows," and on those trees were suspended the lyres of 
 the captive Hebrews, neglected and unstrung." 
 
 See Persian Miscellanies, by William Ouseley, Esq. 4 to. 
 p. 101. abounding with learned, pleasing, and curious informa- 
 tion. It is one of those works, which not being adapted to ge- 
 neral reading, should be patronised and purchased by men of for- 
 tune and education. I beg leave for the same reasons, to recom- 
 mend the very learned, and ingenious Mr. Maurice's Hist, cf 
 Hindostan in 4to. and his Indian Antiquities in 8vo. The subject 
 h indeed in the region of fancy and of conjecture. Mr. M's work 
 abounds with both. But such erudition, such ingenuity, and un- 
 remitting industry, should not fail of an honourable reward. Sim 
 mc etiam sua prazmia laudi.
 
 ( OJ ) 
 
 Where is the charm, that sense to virtue binds ? 
 
 The social sympathy of learned minds, 
 
 The common int'rest, universal cause, 
 
 And all that piety to genius draws ? 
 
 How sweet to hear, on that Parnassian mount, 
 
 Mild waters welling from the favour'd fount : 26 j 
 
 Oh, never may Castalia's streams divide 
 
 From Siloa's brook, and Jordan's hallow'd tide. 
 
 But hark, what solemn strains from Arno's vales 
 Breathe raptures wafted on the Tuscan gales ! 273 
 
 (J) I read with the greatest concern, the following pas- 
 sage in the very learned, ingenious, and venerable bishop of 
 Worcester, Dr. Hurd's Preface to the quarto edition of 
 Warburton's "Work*, concerning Dr. Lowth, one of the greatest 
 men which our times have produced. Dr. Hurd says ; *• Bishop 
 Lowth's reputation as a writer was raised chiefly on his Hebrew 
 Literature, as displayed in those i<wo c worts y his " Latin Lectures 
 on the Hebrew poetry ," and his " English version of the pro- 
 phet Isaiah." The former is well and elegantly composed, but in 
 a vein of criticism not above the common; the latter, I think, is 
 chiefly valuable, as it sheivs hoxu little may he expected from Dr. 
 Kcnnicott's Work, and from a new translation of the Bible for 
 public use." Pref. to Warb. 410 edition, p. 94. The necessity 
 of any observation from me, in this note, is precluded by a very 
 able Letter to bishop Hurd, occasioned by his Strictures on arch- 
 bishop Seeker and bishop Lowth, by a member of the university 
 of Oxford, which I recommend to the reader.
 
 ( 3« ) 
 
 Lorenzo rears again his awful head, 
 
 And feels his ancient glories round him spread; 
 
 The Muses starting from their trance revive, 
 
 And at their Roscoe's bidding, wake and live, (e) 
 
 (e) See «« The Life of Lorenzo de Medici, called the Magni- 
 ficent, by William Roscoe.'' 2 vol. 4W. I cannot but con- 
 gratulate the public upon this great and important addition to 
 Classical History, which I regard as a phenomenon in Literature, 
 in every point of view. It is pleasant to consider a Gentleman, 
 not under the auspices of an university, nor beneath the shelter 
 of academic bowers, but in the practice of the law and business 
 of great extent, resident in a remote commercial town, where 
 nothing is heard of but Guinea-ships, slaves, blacks, and merchan- 
 dise, in the tonun of Liverpool, investigating and describing the 
 frise and progress of every polite art in Italy at the revival of 
 learning, with acutene s, depth, and precision ; with the spirit of 
 the poet, and the solidity of the historian. It is pleasant to con- 
 sider this, and for my own part, I have not terms sufficient to ex- 
 press my admiration of his genius and erudition, or my gratitude 
 for the amusement and information I have received. I may add, 
 that the manner in which Mr. Roscoe procured, from the libraries 
 at Florence, many of the various inedited manuscript?, with 
 which he has enriched the appendix to his history, was singularly 
 curious: not from a Fellow or Traveller of the Dilettanti, but 
 from a commercial man in the intervals of his employment. I 
 shall not violate the dignity of the work by slight objections to 
 some modes of expression, or a few words, or to some occasional 
 sentiments in the Historian of a Republic. But I recommend 
 it to our country as a work of unquestionable genius, and un- 
 common merit. It adds the name of Roscoe to the very first 
 rank of English classical Historians. 
 
 Manet hunc Jtulcbrum suafama labor em, 
 
 MUSARUM SPONDBT CHORUS, ET ROMANUS ApOLLO,
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 The Latjan genius vindicates his state, 375 
 
 And proudly hails the great Triumvirate, (/) 
 Lords of the lyre, and fathers of the song, 
 In Fancy's order as they pass along. 
 There musing deep in philosophic groves, 
 His Tuscan Academe, (j) Lorenzo roves ; 280 
 While prophets of his great reviving name, 
 From isles of fragrance and Athenian fame, 
 Sages and Bards in classic pomp appear : 
 Bessarion, (//) and Filelfo's (/') form severe \ 
 
 (/) Dante, Boccacio, and Petrarch. 
 
 (g) See Mr. Roscoe's account of the institution of the Pla- 
 tonic Academy at Florence, and the Platonic festival, and the 
 effects of it. Vol. 1. p. 160, &c. &c. 
 
 (J>) Cardinal Bessarion, a learned and eloquent prelate, ho- 
 noured with the purple by Pope Eugeniui the 4th in 1439.— For 
 the most ample account of the restoration of Greek literature 
 in Italy the reader must consult the learned Hodius de Gr«cis 
 Illustrious, Linguae Graecas literarumque humaniorum Instau- 
 ratoribus, which may easily be procured, and, if convenient, 
 Tiraboschi's History, which is voluminous. Tiraboschi was 
 the Librarian at Modena. 
 
 (/') Filelfo. — A Professor in various sciencei in different 
 parts of Italy, who introduced many curious Greek MSS. into 
 that country ; a man of erudition, but turbulent and untracu- 
 ble in his temper. '* Ingenium vagum, multiple*, volubile.* 
 See also the Academie des Intcriptiom, torn. 10. p. 691—75 x, 
 
 o
 
 ( 3» ) 
 
 Marsilius, (k) rob'd in olive, Plato's priest ; 285 
 
 AndjANus (/) fraught with treasures from the East ; 
 
 And He, who from Eleusis flaming bore 
 
 The torch of science to his native shore, 
 
 Fam'd ChRysoloras ; (m) and Landino («) bold, 
 
 In studious shades high converse form'd to hold ; 290 
 
 Politian, chief of all th' enlighten'd race 
 
 In Lydian softness, and Horatian grace ; 
 
 And Michael, ' (0) whose bold hand the gods direct, 
 
 The sculptor, painter, poet, architect ; 
 
 (£) Marsilius Ficinus, the great disciple of Plato, whose 
 doctrines alone occupied his attention or rather devotion, and 
 which appeared in all his conduct and conversation. 
 
 (/) Janus Lascaris, a man of eloquence and politeness, and of 
 imperial descent. He was a literary missionary of Lorenzo, and 
 brought with him from the east a treasure of two hundred ma- 
 nuscripts. See also Hodius de Graecis Illustribus, p. 249. for 
 several curious particulars. 
 
 (m) Emanuel Chrysoldras, stiled by his contemporaries, the 
 Patriarch of Literature, principally the Grsecian. 
 
 (») Christophero Landino, a Professor of Poetry and Rhe- 
 toric in Florence, a writer of spirit and depth of knowledge; 
 and author of a work, once celebrated, called the " Disputationes 
 Camaldulenses," formed on a plan similar to the Tusculan 
 disputations.The scene supposed, is a monastery in the wood of 
 Camaldoli. The account of it by Mr. Roscoe, is particularly 
 pleasing and judicious. Vol. 1. p. 103, &c.
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 Michael, to Britain dear, so Genius spoke, 295 
 
 When his last praise from parting (/i) Reynolds broke i 
 
 And all whose brows, with ivy grac'd or bays, 
 
 Brighten'd their Leo's visionary days. 
 
 Names, which I long have blest, nor blest in vain : 
 
 Oh, were I number'd in their sacred train, 300 
 
 To realms of purest light, where heroes dvveH, 
 
 Her bolder notes the willing Muse should swell 
 
 In lyric intonation, grave and deep, 
 
 Nor dream with folly, nor with dullness sleep : 
 
 To Cowper and to GyfTard leave the rod, A 305 
 
 For songs ccelestial, and the Delian God ; 
 
 Then calmly to the secret mount retire, 
 
 Bid Satire glance on folly, and expire. 
 
 (0) Michael Angelo Buonarotti. It would be superfluous ta 
 say any thing here of so great a man. I wish however to refer 
 the readerto Mr. Roscoe, v. 2. p. 201, Sec. who seems to give 
 animation to any subject, new or old. 
 
 {/t) In Sir Joshua Reynolds's final address to the Royal Aca- 
 demy, as their president, he concluded an able panegyric on the 
 mighty master, by saying that the last word he wished to pro- 
 nounce from the Chair was " Michael Angelo." It was a 
 word heard by the audience with the deep silence of regret.— 
 It absolutely repairs me to talk of these great men. Such is 
 the power of departed genius !
 
 ( 40 ) 
 O C T A V I U S. 
 
 Give me my Sabine grove, tir'd Horace cried ; 
 For Cumse thus the great Aquinian (q) sigh'd : 310 
 But when wild waves, and wars, and tempests rage, 
 Ah, who can find the soft Saturnian age ? 
 *Tis your's awhile to frown on classic toys, 
 %\%,t\\tttZZ t»0(J#, or hoar}' seventh-form (r) Boys ; 
 Awhile to war with dunces, fools, and knaves, 3 1 5 
 Hirelings of state, or opposition slaves, 
 And all who dare profane the Muse's dome ; 
 With idle random fierceness they may foam, 
 None shall her column's stately pride deface : 
 The snake winds harmless round the marble base, (s) 
 
 (a) Juvenal was born at Aquinum in Italy. 
 
 (r) The modern Commentators on Shakspeare (see Part I. 
 of this Poem.p. 35. 2d Edit. 8vo.) and the translators (not quite 
 TheS€jttuagiHt»)oi Gray's Elegy into Greek. See P»3. v.i. to v.6o, 
 
 (/) My friend Octavius means by this allusion to observe, 
 that the Jirojier, constant, and undeviating application of time, 
 learning, and talents, must ultimately resist the malignity of cri- 
 ticism, and rise superior to temporary neglect, in any depart- 
 ment of literature, of government, or of society. And as I 
 concluded the first part of this Poem with a sentence from Swift, 
 I wish to recommend another from that great master of life, as 
 obvious perhaps, and as little attended to. The sentence is this: 
 »' It is an uncontrolled truth, that, NO man ever, made an ill 
 
 FIGURE, WHO UNDERSTOOD HIS OWN TALENTS, NOR A GOOD 
 ONE, WHO MISTOOK THEM." 
 
 END OF THE THIRD PART.
 
 THE 
 
 PURSUITS OF LITERATURE 
 
 A SATIRICAL POEM. 
 
 PART THE FOURTH AND LAST. 
 
 [price two shillings and sixpence.]
 
 THE 
 
 PURSUITS OF LITERATURE : 
 
 SATIRICAL POEM 
 
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 PRINTED FOR T. BECKET, No. 81, PALL MALL.
 
 Lately fiuUiJhcd, 
 
 Price One Shilling and Six Pence each, 
 
 A New Edition, revised, of 
 The First, Second, and Third Parts of THIS POEM. 
 
 Lately published^ ' 
 A new Edition, 
 Price One Shilling and Six Pence, 
 
 THE IMPERIAL EPISTLE 
 
 FROM 
 
 KIEN LONG, EMPEROR OF CHINA, 
 
 TO 
 
 GEORGE THE THIRD, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Transmitted from the Emperor, by Lord Macartney, Am- 
 baflador in 1794. 
 
 Translated into English Verse from the original Chinese. 
 
 With Notes by various persons of eminence and distinction, 
 and by the Translator.
 
 advertisement 
 
 T O 
 
 THE FOURTH AND LAST PART 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PURSUITS OF LITERATURE. 
 
 l'ombra sua torna, ch'era dipartita! Dante, 
 
 " Hear bis speech, but say thou nought" ■ 
 
 u But one word more :— " 
 " He will not he commanded!" Macbeth, f 
 
 June i 797 . 
 
 x\S I have now brought my Poem to the conclufiori 
 which I intended, it is proper and, as I think, respect- 
 ful to offer some considerations to the public, tor whose 
 use it was written. No imitation of any writer or of any 
 poem was proposed, except the adherence to the princi- 
 ples of jufl composition, and ^general observation of the 
 finished models of classical literature be considered as 
 such. In the Preface to the Firft Part, I said, what 
 I now repeat, that 1 would not have printed it, but 
 from a full conviction of it's tendency to promote the 
 public welfare. My particular ideas on the nature 
 and subject of Satire I expressed clearly and fully in 
 the Advertisement to the Second Part, and under the 
 influence and impreflion of those sentiments I wrote 
 the Poem. In my introduction to the Third Part, 
 feeling th- importance of my subject in it's various 
 branches, 1 asserted that, " LITERATURE, well or ill 
 '* conducted, is the great engine, by zc/iic/i, lam 
 " fully persuaded, all civilized States must uU 
 " ti match ht supported or overthrown." I am now 
 more ana more deeply impressed with this truth, if we 
 Part IV. b consider
 
 ( n. y 
 
 consider the nature, variety and extent of the Wore?, 
 Literature. We are no longer in an age of ignorance, 
 and information is not partially distributed according to 
 the ranks, and orders, and functions, and dignities of 
 social life. All learning has an index, and every sci- 
 ence it's abridgment. I am scarcely able to name any 
 man whom I consider as wholly ignorant. We no 
 longer look exclusively for learned authors in the usual 
 place, in the retreats of academic erudition and in the 
 seats of religion. Our peasantry now read the Riff/its 
 of Man on mountains, and moors, and by the way ndej 
 and thepherds make the analogy between their occupa- 
 tion and that of their governors. Happy indeed, had 
 they been taught no other comparison. Our unsexed 
 female writers now instruct or confuse us and them- 
 selves in the labyrinth of politics, or turn us wild with 
 Gallic frenzy. 
 
 But there is one publication of the time too peculiar 
 and too important to be passed over in a general reprehen- 
 sion. There is nothing with which it may be compared. 
 A legislator in our own parliament, a member of the 
 House of Commons of Great Britain, an elected guardian 
 and defender of the laws, the religion, and the good man- 
 ners of the country, has neither scrupled nor blushed to 
 depict and to publish to the world the arts of fewd 
 and systematic seduction, and to thruft upon the 
 nation the moft open and unqualified blasphemy againft 
 the very code and volume of our religion. And all this, 
 with his name, style, and title, prefixed to the novel or 
 romance called " The Monk.*" Nay one of our pub-, 
 lie theatres has allured the public attention still more to 
 
 this 
 
 «< * The Monk, a Romance in 3 volumes by M. Lkwis Esq. M.P," 
 pihlted for Bell, Oxford Street. At first I thought that the name and title of 
 the author were fictitious, and some of \\>e public pap.-rs hinted it. But I have 
 been solemnly and repeatedly assured that it is the writing and publication 
 of M. Lewis, Esq. Member of Parliament. It is sufficient for me to point 
 out Chap. 7 of Vol. 2. As a composition the work would have been 
 better, if the offensive and scandalous passages had been omitted, and iris 
 disgraced by a diablerie and nonsense fitted only to frighten children in the 
 nursery. I believe this 7th Chap, of Vol. z. is actionable at £ommcn 
 Law. Edmund Curl in the first year of George II. was prosecuted by 
 the Attorney General (Sir Philip Yorke afterwards Lord Hardwicke) for 
 printing two ebsccne books. The Attorney General set forth the several 
 
 obscene
 
 ( III ) 
 
 this novel, by a scenic representation of an Episode in 
 
 it, not wholly uninteresting. " Proceres, Censors 
 
 b 2 opus 
 
 • bseene passage*, and concluded, that /'/ ioas an offence again/] the 
 King', peace. The defendant was found guilty and set iu the pil-> 
 lory, jj Sec Str. 788. I Barnaidist 29. We know the proceedings 
 against the book, entitled " Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure," 
 by John Cleland. To the passages of obscenity, (which cer- 
 tainly I shul not copy in this place) Mr. Lewis has added blas- 
 phemy against the Scriptures; if the following passage may be consi- 
 dered as such. " He (the Monk.) examined the book which she (Anto- 
 " nia) had been reading, and had now plnccd'upon the table. // was 
 '* thf. Biblk. ' How," said the prior to himself, ' Antonia reads the 
 " Bible, and is still so ignorant ?' But upon further inspection he found 
 " that Llvira (the mother of Ant mia) had made exactly the same remark. 
 " That patient mother, while she admired the beauties of the sacrejj 
 " wr it! «fcs, was convinced, that, unrestricted, no reading more improper 
 " could be permitted a utm woman. Many of the narratives can only tend 
 " to excite ideas the wo> st calculated for a female brcafi ; every thing is called 
 a roundly and plainly by it's own name; and the annals of a brothel 
 " would ttaretlj furnish a greater choice of indecent expressions. Yet this; 
 '* is the book which young women are recommended to study, which is 
 " put into the hands of children, able to comprehend little more than 
 " those passages of which they had better remain ignorant, and which but 
 " too frequently inculcate the first rudiments of vice, and give the first alarm 
 " to the still sleeping pajfiom. Of this Llvira was so fully convinced, 
 M th.-it slke would have p* ef erred putting into her daughter's hands 
 " Amadis dc Gaul, or the Valiant Champion Tirante the White; and 
 » -would sooner have authorised ficr studying the lewd exploits of Don Ga- 
 " laor, or the lascivious j'.kts of the Damzel Flazer de mi vida,.' (p. 247, 
 24S ) Sec. I state only what is printed. It is for others to read it and 
 to judge. The falsehood of this passage is not more gross than it's impi- 
 ety. In the cafe of Thomas WooNton, in the 2d of George II. for blaf- 
 phemous discourses against our Saviour's miracles, when arrest of judg- 
 ment was moved, Lord Raymond and the whole Court declared, they 
 would not suffer it to be debated, whether to write against Christianity 
 in general (not concerning controverted points between the learned, but in 
 general) was not an offence punishable in the temporal courts of Common 
 I. in . Woolston was imprisoned one year, andente;ed into a large recog- 
 nizance /or /i;'f gad b r„.i .; ur during life. Sir Philip Yorkc, afterwards 
 
 Lord 
 
 || The indictment (in Mich. Term 1 G. II.) begins thus " EdmundCurl, 
 " Exijbns homo iniquut et stchratus ne-]ui:e< machinani it intmdens bonot 
 " mores fulnlitotum hujm regni con u- ; nductre, cjiun- 
 
 '< dam tifumtm libetlum intitu'ut," &c. &c. — See Sir John Strangc't 
 Rep. p. 777. Ed. 1782. In two or three days after the point had been so- 
 lemnly argued, and the. Judges had given their respective opinions, Sir J. 
 Strange observes, " Thcv gave it as their unanimous opinion, that this was a 
 temporal offence." And they declared also that if the famous c^se of the 
 Queen against Read (6 Ann. in B. R.) was to be adjudged (by them 
 they should rule it oth.rwiie; i. c. contrary to Ch. J. Holt's opinion. 
 Th fudges were Sir Robert (afterwards Lord) Raymond, Fortcjcuc, Rey- 
 ftuids, and Probyn,
 
 f *r }- 
 
 opus est, an Haruspice nobis?*" I consider this as a new 
 species of legislative or state-parricide. What is it to 
 the kingdom at large, or what is it to all those whose 
 office it is to maintain truth, and to instruct the rising 
 anilities and hope of England, that the author of it is 
 a very young man ? That forsooth he is a man of ge- 
 nius and fancy ? So much the worse. That there are 
 very poetical descriptions of castles and abbies in this 
 novel ? So much the worse again, the novel is more 
 alluring on that account. Is this a time to poison the 
 waters of our land in their springs and fountains ? Are 
 we to add incitement to incitement, and corrup- 
 tion to corruption, till there neither is, nor can be, 
 a return to virtuous action and to regulated life ? 
 Who knows the age of this author ? I presume, very 
 few. Who does not know, that he is a Member of Par- 
 liament ? He has told us all fo himelf. I pretend not to 
 know, (Sir John Scott does know, and pra£lifes too, 
 whatever is honourable, and virtuous, and dignified in 
 learning and profeflional ability) 1 pretend, not, I fay, 
 to know, whether this be an object of parliamentary 
 animadversion. Prudence may poflibly forbid it. But 
 we can feel that it is an object of moral and of national 
 reprehenfion, when a Senator transgresses and violates 
 his first duty to his ^ country. There are wounds, and 
 obstructions, and diseases in the political, as well as in 
 the natural, body, for which the removal of the part af- 
 fecled is alone efficacious. At an hour like this, are 
 
 we 
 
 Lord Hardwicke, was Attorney General at the time. Trie case of the 
 Kingzgninst An let, when the Hon. Chinks Yorkc was Attorney General, 
 (3d of Geo. III.) for a blasphemous book entitled "The Free Inquirer," 
 tending, iniong other points, to ridicule, traduce and discredit the Holy 
 Scriptvres, is well known to the profession. The punishment was 
 ■uncommonly severe, Whether the passage I have quoted in a popular novel, 
 has not a tendency to coirupt the minds of the people, and of the younger 
 unsuspecting part of the female sex, by traducing and discrediting the Holy 
 Scriv r ukh; ;, is a matter of public consideration. — " This book goes attwtr 
 " the h'ngt.om;'' are the words of |udge Reynolds, in the case of E Curl. 
 What Mr. I.f vis has printed put his name, thai I state publicly 
 
 to the nation. Few will dissent from the opinion of Lord Raymond and 
 the Court, ii: the C£*e of Curl above stated, as reported by Strang.- and 
 Barnard is ton to this effect; "Religion i-s p.irt of the common laic, and 
 " therefore whatever is an - nft that, is an offence againft the 
 
 u . Common Law." Witn this opinion, I conclude the note. 
 
 *. Juv. Sat, 2. 
 
 § All members of the legislature, Peers or Commoners, should join in 
 sentiment and in character with the Athenian orator, and be considered
 
 ( v ) 
 
 we to stand in consultation on the remedy, when not 
 only the disease is ascertained, but the very stage of the 
 disease and it's specific symptoms ? Are we to spare 
 the sharpest instruments ot authority and of censure, 
 when public establishments are gangrened in the lite- 
 organs ? 
 
 I fear, if our legislators are wholly regardless of such 
 writings and of such principles among their own mem- 
 bcrs, it may be said to them, as the Roman Satirist said 
 to the patricians of the empire, for offences slight in- 
 deed, when compared to these. 
 
 " At z/0j,Trojugenae, vobis ignoscitis, et q\u6 
 Turpia cerdoni Voiesos Bruiosque deccbunt.\ 
 
 There is surely something peculiar in these days ; some- 
 thing wholly unknown to our ancestors. But men, 
 however dignified in their political station, or gifted with 
 genius and fortune and accomplishments, may at least be 
 made ashamed, or alarmed, or convicted before the tri- 
 bunal of public opinion. Before that tribunal, and to 
 the law of reputation, and every binding and powerful 
 sanction by which that law isentorced, is Air. Lewis 
 this day called to answer. 
 
 But to return. The objects of public regret and of- 
 fence are now so numerous and so complicated, that all 
 the milder offices of the Muse have lost their influence 
 and attraction. It is indeed unfortunate that scarce a 
 subject in literature can be interesting, without the sci- 
 ence and matter of politics*. They give a colour to our 
 
 very 
 
 as speaking to their country in these words.: " H/xe»y, ojf Ufa. xxi 
 «• ra<f>o» irpoyo-vay vxzpxH'n* ev tt» N<zt%i$i, xai Sja-rj-iCai, 
 " xat o-vvwGeiat yaW Cfxajv bXevQeqoi, xai ya^oi xara thc 
 " vo/xny, xcti xritiaarau, xoa rexva, a£ioi ms CfiirtMU viorevs. 
 " xtX. iEschin. 'X£fiYIapa.7rp£<j£eiact. Sect. 11. 
 
 f Juv. Sat. 8. v. i8r. 
 
 * " Quibus oeeufaliis ft obfeffui animus quantulum loci bonis artirnit 
 rcliaqu.it!" Dialog, tic Oratoubus C 29. — I cann ig flu bpi- 
 
 ni' n at tkit time. My prime objection to any proposed Ministry of Mr, 
 Fox and his adherents is this. I believe their principles arc roo f.pu'.ar 
 fur the good, the trfcty, or pcihaps for the existence, of thit country und e
 
 ( vi ) 
 
 very thoughts. We are borne down with a force not to be 
 resisted, when our very existence, as a nation under it's 
 
 ancient 
 
 it's present constitution : I believe, that th iv design is to thiow such a 
 weight of power into the House of Commons, by means cf a Reform, as 
 toculd ultimately mouki the t-wo Houses of Parliament not merely into a 
 resemblance, hut int > the actual form and relative power, of the Council 
 of Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients ; and I am of opinion, that 
 the authority and influence of the Crown, o£ Great Buitain would be re- 
 duced far below that which is lodged in the Executive Directory of France. 
 I think the proposed Reforms It ad, beyond" a controversy, to this issue. 
 I am of opinion that a great Personage, in the rase of a change of Mr. 
 Pitt's Ministry, must be apprehensive, to tvhtun he is to be delivered, and 
 to ivhi't he may be reduced. The pride of a statesman's understanding, 
 like Mr. Fox?s, in the plenitude of dignity will overbear all ideas of a ba- 
 lance of power in the orders of the sta'eand of the safety of the country upon 
 it's ancient principles. He has declared his opinion ; he must not recede. 
 All will be sacrificed to that pride jn a moment of phrenzy. The example 
 of every state, nation and city, subdued by Fren..h arms, French pjMnciples- 
 and French treachery, is to be weighed well, as an aweful warning/* Mm king- 
 dom, which rmyyet he preserved. The encroachments ofsuch a statesman, 
 as Mr. Fox, (paramount as he is in ability and in political eloquence be- 
 yond any man) arc to be wat;hed and resisted by all who thick soberiy„ 
 snd are independent of party. Yet Mr. Fox neither could nor would satisfy 
 the raving and tyrannical ideas of Home Tooke and the French new. They 
 would make use of him to a csrtain point. They would then declare him 
 an enemy to his country, and conduct him to the scaffold. " Corpora lente 
 augefeunt, c\Ta extir:<ju:mtur."+ The security of property, public and pri- 
 vate, is shaken by the proposed system, and a Revolution, (which we never 
 yet have known but in mere name) might then be at hand. A government - , 
 which once relaxes, is not easily recalled to the vigour of it's ancient princi- 
 ples. We have statesmen of de-term incd and of true patriotism, and this final 
 misery may yet be prevented VVc have a King, who has courage, virtue x 
 and firmness. Of his Minister, the Right Hon. Wm. Pitt, 1 h»vt given 
 mv opinion often in another place ;* I have not altered my sentiment. 
 
 I will 
 
 J Tacit. Agric. ap. Ink, 
 
 * I certainly cannot say with the great satirist under Louis the 14th, 
 " Que rna vile a Colbert inspiroit l'allegrcsse." 
 
 Boileau, Ep. ro. 
 I speak, and I have spoken, impartially of Him. I am neither fur a proscrip- 
 tion of any political talents, nor for an hereditary claim to the public of- 
 fice of Prime Minilter.Butif the principles of any statesman are such as to in- 
 duce a real and effectual change inthe govcrnnicnt,that statesman, should not 
 he admitted, iq rule. If the ancient and established principles of the English 
 titittion are maintained, a Prime Minister may conduct public affairs 
 even with a mediocrity of talent. It is neither Mr. Pitt, nor Lord Lans- 
 down. nor Mr. Fox, nor Mr. Grey, who aic necessary to the function. 
 .But,by the dAfaM whole nation and it's Parliament, think- 
 
 ing rightly, ptoposi ig soundly, and meaning honestly, arc nothing •without* 
 : p:-axin~. well. — I wjlj add ft word or two on a subject not quite fo- 
 reign to thi: note, — Tlx c:.arr.rle of a very learned} and in roy opinion
 
 { vii ) 
 
 ancient laws, and constitution, and establishments, hai 
 been rendered dubious. A man ol a poetical mind either 
 
 wanders 
 
 I will brg leave to add a few words. — If any man would peruse the ac- 
 count given by Thucydi.lti <. f the democratic sedition in Corcyra, (Book 3.) 
 be would be convinced that the same peculiarities mark all popuhr sedi- 
 tions and insurrections, the same pn texts, the same motives. The incur* 
 declare the friends of the lawful .in J established government enemies 
 to the popular representation and interest. Sum; of these insurgents have pri- 
 vate enmities to revenge, and others haved-bts to Cancel; death is the uni- 
 versal solveiit.Hcar the great historian : •' Tr,v fjttv xirtxv VtnQtjfatris 
 rots - tov Arj/xov Kar»Xy»7»v. Ane^xvov mer idizs ey^Qcxs 
 ivsxa, xai aXXoi y^fv^xrajv <s$i<Jw o^£»Ko/>tsva/v vno ra/v Xx- 
 CjVTO'V. L 3. Sccl 81. The historian observes, they held forth either 
 Um specious offer of greater eo~ualit\ of power among the citizens, or a more 
 temperate form of arijjocnuy, 01 so':\e state-expedient varying with the 
 hour ; but each leader in reality had his own private views of ambition, or 
 power, or riches, but accommodated his speeches to the prevailing humour 
 of the day. Hear mm again in his o\m language. «* O x ev TXIS jj-oX^y 
 
 vrpoaravres /xet* ovoj/.xr'is cxajroi zvitf-tTras, ftr.rfins \ao- 
 vofjucti Tt'ji^riHrftS, xjci Aprtrox.fxrixs aajtypovos ! 7T^ortt^n<sn i r% 
 fA,zv xojva t.oyuj Qtp'ei4t6V0iiTis ocWka ETroiHVro, xx\ri 5a rcwiu 
 aycovityiAcVoi aXX^X^v repiyiyieaQai —--xxi r, /xsrx nJ/tj^b a&xa 
 .Kac.rayvMtJBu>s f t) x £ 'r* *Tfc;f«v(H to xparav, troi/j.oi %jxv mv 
 avrixcc p»XoV£ixiav Z(J.7Ti.lA'7ZXxvxi''' lb. Sect. 82. This, as wc have 
 all known, has been transacted, step by step, upon a great and tremendous 
 scale in Fiance. The Italian and Belgian states are following them. We 
 in Great Britain, who arejMT m a condition to preserve ourselves, sec and 
 feel and rcadthsc things. The ^rant of ove demand leads necessarily to 
 another when any material alteration '::-. a state or government is conceded. 
 If the second is rcf'.ised, after the first has been granted, we arc then told, 
 that there is a want of consists me in the plan, and that it wot more ad- 
 visable to have kept the state as it wns, than to admit only a partial re- 
 form. We surely cannot be said to be duped and fooled by Reformers 
 Without warning from history and from experience. The conjiitutional states- 
 men of Great Britain cannot noiv be ignorant of the nature of " a modern 
 u Reform in any ft *te of Europe." The grcarerthe difficulty and danger, the 
 greater the fury of the Revolutionists. Pindar was a poet and a states- 
 man; he said : A'XrpffJX-nyv KpcoTWO%VTep&i (/.xi/ixi. (Ncm. Od. 11.) 
 
 a very virtuous and honourable man, to whom the country is under some 
 obligation, Mr. Kuvks, will deter any man from "volunteer effusions in 
 favour of any Minister. It would not be amiss, to be jure, if Mr. R. or 
 auy other writer would read Quintihan on tropes and metaphors, before he 
 adorns his native language with all the richness of imager), and exerts the 
 command, which nature gives him, over the figuresoi speech. Franco, non 
 frondibus, efficit umbram. For my own part, when his pamphlet " The 
 M Thoughts on the English Government " was published, I never felt more 
 indignation than when I saw this gentleman ungenerously and shamefully 
 abandoned and given up by Mr. Pitt in the H. of Commons to the malice of 
 his avowed enemies, and to a criminal prosecution in the Court of King's 
 Bench. He was solemnly acquitted of any libellous intention ; but hii lan- 
 guage was imprudent. Ho t'.ll a victim i* uwaphoncai luxuriance and, 
 itAlc-botany.
 
 ( viii ) 
 
 wanders into futurity, or recals the images of other 1 
 times and of other empires. He can sometimes even de- 
 scend into the regions of terrific fable, and give to his 
 own country the sentiments and passions of antiqui- 
 ty, and body forth contending parties which are 
 no more, of the virtuous and the valiant, of the wick-, 
 ed, the desperate, and the frantic. At such an hour as 
 the present, and with the objects which we see, and hear, 
 and feel, with the exultation of the bad, and the dejec- 
 tion ot the good, and the labours of great statesmen to 
 preserve us from final misery, can we forbear to con- 
 template the picture drawn by that poet, whose only 
 Muses were Caesar, and Brutus, and Cato, and the genius" 
 of expiring Rome. 
 
 Tristis FELICIRUtfJJMBRIS 
 
 Vultus erdt; vidi Decios natumque patremquc, 
 Lustrales bellis arixmas, Jlentemque Camillum. 
 Abruptis Catilinaminax fractisque catenis 
 Exultat, Mariique truces nudique Cethegi : 
 Vidi ego lastantes, popularia nomina, Drusos, 
 Legibus immodicos, ausosque ingentia Gracchosv 
 ^Eternis chalybum nodis, et carcere Ditis 
 Constricts plausere minus, camposque pioruM 
 PoSCIT TURBA NOCENS ! § 
 
 Luc. L. 6. v. 784. 
 
 The 
 
 S In the great question of a Reform in Parliament (i. c. in the 
 House of Commons) 1 certainly do not mean to call figuratively the 
 ministerial ground, the Cam ft Piorurn, but I call the Conftitution of Eng- 
 land, and it's defenders in or out of Parliament, by that name. Nor 
 would I by any means rank the gentlemen of opposition with 
 the Titian nocrns. That twin nticens are the levellers and the par- 
 tisans' of democracy and revolution. But the licence of poetry wc are told 
 is consider?.ble, if assumed with tnodeity. The question itself has no- 
 thing to do with invention, though I think muchfetion is employed in the 
 support of it. I am of opinion, that in the outset there is a fiction or 
 a deceit. We are told we muft recur to the original principle of the H. of 
 C the principle, as I Suppose, on which it was founded, and that prin- 
 ciple is declared to be popular, in the modern fense of that word. In 
 this argument historical truth is not asserted ; I would maintain, 
 that it is violated. It is contrary to matter of fact. The very 
 1 rigin of the House itself (the best antiquaries will tell you so) is 
 rather doubtful. The more remote your enquiry, the greater the de- 
 monstration of it's original weakness, nay (I say it with grief) of it's 
 political insignificance. It was a Council, which grew out of a greater 
 Council. It was designed to represent the property of the kingdom. I will 
 not insult my reader with information on the subject. But it is matter 
 of plain historical knowledge that it's powers, it's functions, it's freedom, 
 and it's consequence have been all progrejjive to a certain period. That 
 period was the Revolution (as it is foolishly called) in 1688. At that' 
 sera the House of Commons under the Old Whigs, attained to the consum- 
 mation of it's glory and to the fulness of it's dignity. As I here speak ot 
 
 prrgifiJt
 
 f ix ) 
 
 The present Poem was not composed for a trivial pur- 
 pose, or without mature thought. It is the fruit and 
 
 b study, 
 
 original principle, I have nothing to do 'with the subsequent corruptions. I 
 muft own I do not wish for the famous Roman prate of brafs ; I am for no 
 un.|ualiriedLex Regia.(tf)Lct it reft in theCapitolincMuft:um,that fplendid 
 effort oi Michael Angelo. I abhor abject fcrvility and all it's monuments. 
 I never wifhed, I am fure I do not now wifh, to fee any Senate divert itfelf 
 of all power. I woubl not fee a Vcfpcsfian in any country make and reptal 
 laws, or exercife unlimited authority without the advice and content of z 
 wcll-conftituted Senate. I venerate the institution of the House of 
 Commons, and would preserve it with my life, but I shall raise up no tree, 
 trunk or branches, for a fatal simile, like Mr. Reeves. I look for 
 no pasture in the fields of Ministers of of Booksellers ; nor would 
 I be turned out by Mr. Fox and Mr. Sheridan to graze on the verdanc 
 lawns of the King's Bench, with the Chief Justice of Newfound- 
 land, or ar best in Mr. Pitt's Stratuyard. I neither recur to Mon- 
 tesquieu nor to Machiavcl. I want not to be told by the former 
 " cur system was found in the woods," or to hear from the latter that 
 " States may groiu out of shape. \" For my own part, I would rather 
 find a system in the woods, than in modern France ; and I do not look for 
 >i new political diincing mailer every time there is a twist in the body. To 
 bear Mr. Fox, as I perpetually do in the House, one would really think 
 he ras a rival to Vcstris orDidelot. He has been long trying his art aitd 
 giving lessons to Mr. Pitt gratis. That Right Honourable Gentleman's 
 gait still continues as aukward and stiff, as usual. He wi:l nor bend. A 
 graceful bow is not his ambition, and Mr. Fox (IS) dances before him every 
 day •without the least effect. Mr. Fox, I believe, is of the opinion and 
 principle of Monsieur Marcel, the famous dancing master in Queen Anne's 
 reign, who said, when the Earl of Oxford was made Prime Miiifter, 
 " He was surprised, and could not tell what the Queen could see in him, 
 for his own part he never eould make any thing of him." To be sure Mr. 
 Pitt is every day placed between the dancing master and hit man, buc 
 be has not yet learned grace from Mr. Fox, or wit from Mr. Sheridan. 
 — As I hare no place fo convenient for them, I beg leave to offer a few 
 words on a fubject, now peculiarly intcrcding. The time is my excufe.— 
 In the impending ne^ociation for peace with the French (June 1797) it is 
 not unpleafant, or foreign to the fubject, to recollect the oratious of the 
 
 two 
 
 '(a) Sec a DifTertation " de jEnca Tabula Capitolina. Romae 1757." 
 
 cius ct Gravina alfo publifhed this " Lex Regia." 
 J The words of Machiavcl quoted by Mr Fox in the H. of C. on May 
 26, 1797, in his speech on the Reform of Parliament. 
 
 (/>) The three celebrated Dancers and Ballet Mafters, Mcffr«. F 
 rid.ni and Grey, arc preparing a »«n Serious Div.rtijf.myit, or Pas dc Tros, 
 
 iew fcinti, drefftt and decoration*, called, " Lt DifclCTOT»* 1 
 iirir." If it can be pot up time enough, it will 
 
 t-rc is a nccelftty for a re-inforcement Pa- 
 
 ris, it is feared the elddancrs muft continue tothc end o! 
 is propofed that light fhould be thrown on the flag- in a quite new manner ; 
 but thcBallct-Maftcrs will fuffer no perfons to be on the stage,or to view the 
 machinery behind the /cents. — N.B. Lord Galloway and Lady Mary Duncan 
 lave expressed their approbation of this rule, f<> much lor the in - 
 hi Granij Opira: though the noble Earl is contented Wit : 
 
 pr ilcnt Grand Ba/'et.AJaJcr, 
 
 Part IV.
 
 ( s ) 
 
 study of an independent and disinterested life, passed 
 without the incumbrance of a profession or the embar- 
 rassment 
 
 two great Athenians,Demofthencs and jfEfchines, J} e pi YlapaTrpsoGsHZ?, 
 or De Falfn Lfgatione. Lord Malmfbury's prefent Embaffy, (I hope noi, 
 like the laft, a \\a.pa7tpzaQkia.) will be conducted, as I truft, upon ftrong 
 principles, and reported in a different mode from the former. By knowing 
 where tojland, Philofophers and Statcfmen have ftiaken the moral and po- 
 litical univcrfe. Lord Malmfbury's Letter to Lord Grenville concerning 
 his conversation with Monf. Charles Delacroix, was publifhcd 
 by the moft indifcreet advice, and in violation of every principle of di- 
 plomatic prudence. One would think, the Minifters publifti~d it to fhew 
 how prettily and wittily their Ambaffador could write, in defiance of all 
 difcretion and found judgment. It reminds us of what Demoflhenes 
 accufed his colleague in that famous Legation. I cannot enter into parti- 
 culars ; I fuppofe knowledge in moft of my readers. The words are 
 indeed remarkable in their application ; the party accufed, iEfchines him- 
 felf, has recorded them. »« AwoXaXexevai Ma (sip-fl) rwv IloXiv 
 xai T8r Stz/x/xaj^w xai tipsro [jl,e, si rcov AQrivyai itpar/^a.- 
 Tcov £7nX£Xio<7//a», xai tov Aoo/aov xaTa7re7rovyj/>isvov xai 
 etyoSpa. sirtOufj.avrx rns Et^rjvvjs- ei /xs/xvrj/xaj." But m oft fpe- 
 cifically and in the moft appropriated manner, when he urged againft 
 iEfchines the imprudence of his language : OCirai-V&sQixxS $J?u7r7rov 
 xa» roaxuTCt sipvixccs, e£ uv 8X Ei^tjvt) ysvoir' av sx II0X5//.8, 
 «XX' e£ Ji.ipr,vns rioXe/xor axypuxros." ./Eschin. rie^* Yiapa- 
 TTPSfff. Sect. 16, p. 26. Edit. Brooke, Oxon. 1741. One would think 
 the words were written for the late occafion. I hope Lord Malrrifbury will 
 now adapt his language and his difpatches with more prudence to Philip aud 
 the Directory. — On a kindred topic, I would obferve to the claffical reader 
 anoihtr jingular circumftance in ancient times. It is from the Roman 
 ftate. Since we have all been armiug at home with alacrity and pru- 
 dence, and (what is confequent to that) with effect, againft our enemy, 
 and the militia laws have been extended, it is curious .to call to mind tie 
 tmphatic claufe in the ancient Roman law concerning the exemption of parti- 
 cular persons from military service, called " De Vacatione" as learned 
 Civilians well know. The Clause is this: " Nisi Bellum Gallicum 
 exoriatur ;" in which case not even the Priefts were exempted. I will il- 
 lustrate this law from Plutarch and Cicero, but I will not translate the 
 passages. In the life of Marcellus, Plutarch has this singular remark. 
 " Ou fxmv aXX<x /tAE-yav ri rs yjupa, napzr/jc (poQov, tix rr,v 
 ysirviccaiv, o^opco xxi 7rpoaoixu KohtfAW avvoiffo/xsvots, xoci to 
 votXccM a^iwpca r&iv TccXccruv' (the Gauls or French) bus 
 y^tXiarct Pw/xaio» Ssioai Soxuatv, «te oVj xai rw IloXiV int* 
 avrwv a.TroGa.'kovTSS, e% exeiv« oY Oe/asvoj No/aov, olteXsis eivoci 
 erparsixs ras \spsas, 7r\nv ei yjn YaXxruo? ttxXiv etteXGox 
 Tloksy^os. EoaXh Je xai rov (po€ov avruv -h rs Tlap&oxsvv). 
 "iAvpia^ss yap ev ottXoij a/xa roaavrai Pwu.aiw hts %pors- 
 pov are uarspov ysvsa^cni XEyovTCU." Plut « Vir - Marvel, p. 244. 
 .Vol. z, Edit. Bryan.— The ether illustration is from Cicero in his oration
 
 ( *i ) 
 
 rassment of bufiness. It was not intended merely to 
 raise a smile at tolly or conceit ; but it was written with 
 indignation against wickedness, against the prostitution 
 of superior talents, and the profane violence of bad men. 
 It was indeed (to use a poet's allusion) poured forth as 
 a libation from the cup of Achilles, consecrated and 
 appropriated : 
 
 Ofrs Tew ffxrtv&eaxe Sso/v, ore {xn All Tlxrpi.^ 
 
 It is proposed, in it's degree and according to it's sub- 
 ject, for the defence of truth, and with an honest wish 
 to uphold fociety and the best interests of mankind, but 
 chiefly those of our own country. In it there are no 
 imaginary subjects : I have raifed no phantoms of ab- 
 surdity merely to disperse them ; but the words, the 
 works, the sentiments and often the actions of the au- 
 thors arc before us. It might be known hereafter from 
 this poem how we wrote and thought in this age, and not 
 unfrequently how we conducted ourselves. 
 
 There is one subject which I have pressed upon the 
 attention of the nation, which in this refpect teems to 
 be in a state between slumber and alarm ; in the supine- 
 uess which attends the former, and with that confusion 
 in ideas and measures which too frequently accompanies 
 b 2 terror. 
 
 for Fonteius ; (the objeel of which was to inculcate, " Gallis fidem non 
 habendam, hominibus lcvihus, pcrfidis, et in ipsos Dcos immortales im- 
 piis.") the words are these : " Ut oportct, Bfllo Gallico, ut majo- 
 " mm jura morcsque prxscribunf, Nemo es i , Civis Romnnus, qui 
 " tii: ulla excumtio'ie utenJum putet," Orat. pro Fonteio. Sect. 16. sub. 
 fin. 393. Cic. Op. Ed. Barbon Vol. 4. — Wc have not,and I trust we ne- 
 ver shall have, r//ir same cause for apprehension from the French as the 
 Romans had from the Gauls. They never have taken our city, and 
 while we are true to ourselves, at tve notu are, they never will or can take 
 it. But the danger is and ever will be great, from their vicinity, $ IX TT]> 
 
 yE«TV»a<Ti»- The words are from Plutarch: Mr. Burke has written the 
 commentary.* " Vcccm adyti dignam temple ."' 
 
 § Horn. II. 16. v. 427. 
 
 * Two Letter* on the Peace. (Ed. Rivington 1696) pag. iij, &c.
 
 i *« J 
 
 terror. Compassion, mercy, self-preservation, inte- 
 grity of principle, Christian charity, the uncertainty of 
 the mortal condition, the convulsion of empires and of 
 states, have all and each variously conspired to direct the 
 measures of our government with respect to the French 
 Roman Catholic Emigrants, and in particular, to the 
 French Priests. 1 have stated in different places my 
 opinion on this important subject. I continue to call 
 aloud upon this country and it's ministers to regard, with 
 a minute circumspection, these men and their ^ cause^ 
 The most reprehensible part of Mr. Burke's public con- 
 duct has been in this point. Great and venerable as I hold 
 him, inthisl praifehim not. I maintain that the vigilance 
 of the Roman Catholics is erect and on the tiptoe of expec 
 tation : it is scarcely suspended by slumber. 1 speak also on 
 another account. There is such a connection between 
 superstition and atheism, and their allies cruelty and ty- 
 ranny, that the wisest and most experienced statesmen 
 and moralists have declared it to be indissoluble. In 
 their cause, they would unite with any, even with Jaco- 
 bin principles. Hear the titular Bishop of Wateriord 
 in Ireland in his late pastoral Letter/r " The Catho- 
 lic faith (i. e. the tenets, the doctrines, the supersti- 
 tions, the absurdities, the follies, the cruelty, and the 
 tyranny, of the Church of Rome, and whatever makes it 
 
 to 
 
 ' \ See « A Pastoral Letter to the Catholic Clergy of Waterford and 
 Lismoie in Ireland, by the R. R. Doctor Husscy" London, Sprinted by 
 K Coghlan, Duke Street, Grosvenor Square. 1797. His titular Lord, 
 ship's iceaof " a man of true liberality is this ; th?t he lives in charity, in 
 concord, in amity, with all other sot every religious persuasion: with M'homa 
 •liffiirence in religious'opinions makes no difference in social life, &c. &c." 
 (p.6.)Very liberal indeed; this is the text. But his Lordship, in the natL:.J 
 coiifusionof ideas in ///..'country has prefixed the comment.See the preceding 
 page. Read the words, f.f Remonstrate (says his Lordship) with any parent, 
 " who will be so ciiminalzi to expose his offspring to those places of edu: alien 
 " (the Charter Schools &c. Sec. as I suppose) where hit religious faith and 
 41 morals are likely to be perverted. If he will not attend to your remonstrau- 
 *' ces, (he is speaking to the Roman Catholic Clergy) refuse him theparti- 
 ** cipation of Christ's body ; if he should still continue obstinate* de- 
 *' Nonsct him To thi Church, in order that, according to Christ's 
 " commandment, he be considered as a heathen and a publican." pag r. 
 We know the sense of Christ ; and we know the sense which the Roma J* 
 Cat tip Lip Church annexes to these words." But this is Liberality Ml 
 —-In Ireland it mighfrbe of u«e to discuss this pastoral Letter in toto : If I 
 were an Irishman and a Protestant, I would do so : but the business ia 
 England is jit very different. Let me add a word or two. It may be 
 
 woitU
 
 ( & ) 
 
 to differ from any other external establishment of Chris- 
 tianity) The Catholic faith ffays his titular Lordship) is 
 jruitable to all climes, and all forms of government, mo- 
 narchies or republics, aristocracies, or d kmock ac I £S," 
 (p. 9.) Right. Flecteresi nequeunt superos, Acheronta 
 niovebunt.That which is true of Christianity in itself and 
 b\ itself alone, independent of any establishment whatso- 
 ever.thatthey assert of their own tyrannical superstition. 
 They will shew the arm and the swordof heaven interested 
 And active for them. They will tell you, (whenever they 
 have the power or even the probability of" attaining it) 
 that their cause alone is from above. They separate their 
 spiritual rulers from the temporal governors of the state, 
 a"nd asseTt the superior dignity and paramount authority 
 of the former; and this they thunder in the ears of an 
 armed soldiers . They tell yon, that the opposers of 
 the Roman Catholic cause are sacrilegious in the eye 
 of heaven; and that upon them, in a mass, the 
 OR eat stone will fall and grind them to powder. 
 I know the state of Ireland, and the declarations 
 
 of 
 
 *porth while to consider frrqucntly, that ** a Religious Establishment-, 
 " under any form, is not the religion it>elf, but the- mode of preserving, 
 " inculcating, iiiid continuing the religion." There is a religion which 
 may be ana ['■ political, and another which is real. 1 will give a 
 pafUge from the admirable Preface to the translation of Xenophon's 
 t'yropxdia, written with great compass of thought and precision of 
 aigurueiit, by a gentleman of fortune, family, erudition and virtue, tie 
 //cm.Mal'Rice Ashley. I.o'.dNlaim'bury and myself mi .nvea 
 
 for the memory of that accomplished and « I d gcntle- 
 
 . " Real Christianity (says he) is meanwhile none of .!! these change- 
 •« able establishments and human in.titutions, nor ever can be, but 
 " stands. 11 foot. Whether it be the r< ligion of the renl- 
 
 " titudc, and national or not national, or whatever be the forms of it 
 " in national establishments, it one and the j . him ind un- 
 
 " alterable, and will undoubtedly remain lb /s tSt 'eka nf the wrkl, whe- 
 " th?r owned or not owned by any pubic establishment indifferently." 
 Mr. A's Prcf. pag. "i.l enter not into the ^:r>edicnce,in,titufionand relative 
 excellence of religious establishments in this place.lt is hot heir th< 
 it it were. I am nut without my sentiments or without wo; ::em. 
 
 But I give this as aeenetal obserrafion to all those u ho 
 fail ot tuck an establishment as Popery, to be the downfall of the Christian 
 .1.11, than which no opinion ean be more unfounded. To the Ro- 
 man Catholic iyjitm of religion, whether in it's vigour and plenitude of 
 power, or in it's decline, orfnlt'i ttrufg/ii > ■ 
 p»:t may be applied figuratively and literally 1 
 
 In iuu tempi* Jurit, nuiliquecsire vetanre 
 
 Mater 1, magnamquc caj;ns magnamqtic 
 
 Dat tfJitm li;£, spaks»»<*v* ucoLiioiT 1 
 
 L. r.
 
 ( *iv ) 
 
 of the titular bishops in that country. But that sub- 
 ject is not properly mine. All I have to do is to fhew, 
 (and I think I have shewn it to all who will attend,) 
 that " die Spirit of the Roman Catholic System is yet un< 
 altered." In England the French Priests, in a body, 
 have been chased from the Kings Castle at Winchester: 
 but our government has yet a facred fortress or two at 
 Reading, and Shene and in Yorkshire ; and it ap- 
 pears that a sum of 54,o,oool§. has been issued for the 
 use of the French Emigrants, sacred and profane, in 
 the course of the year 1796. This is ratified by the vote 
 pf Parliament. On this particular topic I shall say -no- 
 thing further in this placet 
 
 the 
 
 § On the zift Dec. 1796, " The House of Commons in a Committee 
 <: of Supply, among other fums, voted a sum of 540,0001. for the relief 
 " of- the suffering clergy and laity of Trance. " Woodfali's Parliamentary 
 Register. 1796. Vol. 1. pag. 524. It is singular (and it Will be remem- 
 bered by thoj.e who are versed in the interior politics of this country in the 
 leign of Queen Anne) that in Swift's Examiner Nov. 1710, No. 16. the 
 fix act tow of 540.0O0I. is stated humorously as "a BUI of "British ingrati- 
 u tude," to his Grace tfift Duke of Marlborough, viz. •' Woodstock 
 40,0001. Blenheim, 200>oool. Post Office grant, roo,oool. Mildcnhcira 
 30,000' . pictures, jewels, &c. 6o,oool. Pall Mall grant &c. iq,oool. Em- 
 ployments &c. roo,oool. The Total, exactly 540,0001." Thus at the 
 beginning of this century did the British nation remunerate the Conque- 
 ror ok France ! And thai, at the close of it, are the Services of the 
 French Emigrants, sacred and prof ane, annually reqtiited by the munificence 
 of the British Parliament !!! We know where it is written in letters of marble ; 
 
 EuROPiE HiC VlNDEX GENTO DECORA ALIA BriTANNO ! 
 
 J I have just seen another production of a Roman Catholic divine, pro- 
 posed for the common advantage of the Christian world-,and not of his parti- 
 cular, church. I mean the fecond volume of Dr. Geddes's Translation of the 
 Bible. But I intend to make a few observations on the Preface alone, 
 which is very extraordinary indeed, and by no means in the spirit which 
 the sacred writings seem to recommend. I am always pleased with every 
 Serious attempt to elucidate the Scriptures, and am as ready as any man 
 to acknowledge the merit and learning of an industrious and ingenious 
 jtch^Bt But though I differ essentially from Dr. O c< hies, I am fure I 
 fb a 11 never call him *' apostate, infidel, or heretic" in general" terms, as 
 kc know* some persons wiil do; (Pref. p. 4.) but I may oppose an opi- 
 nion to an opinion. The cause in which lie is engaged is not a trifling- 
 c.usc, nor is it, as we are fometimes told, an object of mere classical 
 criticism. I think there is an -unbecoming levity hi the Doctor's; 
 manner more frequently than I could wifh, and he expresses his 
 sentiments- in language not easily understood at all times, nor ac- 
 cording to the genius and common grammar of the Englifh tongue. 
 But his meaning and opinion is, that " the Hiftorical Books of 
 " the Old Testament were not divinely inspired." He tells us (p. 12.) of 
 " a partial and. putative inspiration," and that the writers had not " a per- 
 ** petual and unerring sujflation." I do not quite understand "the terms, as 
 they are tto sublime for a plain Englishman, tut I suppose they are very 
 
 fine,
 
 ( ** ) 
 
 The subjects oF this poem have been from necessity 
 various and numerous, far beyond my original concep- 
 tion, 
 
 fine, and I mppose their meaning from other sentences in the preface. He 
 fays (p. 3) that M The Hebrew Historians wrote them from turfs human 
 •' documents as they ould find, popular traditions, old songs t and public 
 li register*." Singular materials truly f,-r divine inspiration! But he 
 says also, " I venture (and it is indeed venturing a grear deal) I -venture 
 ** to lay it down as a certain truth, that there is no intrinsic evidence of the 
 " Jewish Historians being divinely inspired; that there if nothing in the 
 " style or arrangement in the whole colour or complexion of their compo- 
 " sitions, that speaks the guidance of an unerring spirit, but thai 
 " contrary, every thing proclaims the fallible and failing writer." (p. c.) 
 Dr. G. declares also, " After reading the Hebrew writings, and finding /a 
 " My fid? conviction so many intrinsic marks of fallibility, error and incon- 
 " sistency, not to say downright absurdity," (p. 11.) he could not believe 
 their inspiration, evcu if he were taught it by an angel. I have thus intro- 
 duced the reader to the Doctor's most explicit opinion, but I will present 
 him with his solemn affirmation, and he will easily decide on the propriety, 
 reasoning and consistency of it. " / value them not the less, (says Dr. 
 Geddes) " because I deem them not divinely inspired." (p. 12 ) If a man 
 can seriously assert, that the feripturei inspired by Hod (upon that suppo- 
 sition being granted) arc not more valuable than rhe productions of a mere 
 fallible wretched creature like mm in his bell eftate, I really could not lose 
 my time in argument with that man however learned or however gifted. 
 He has degraded himself frurn that rank of literature and of sound under- 
 standing, which gives him a title to be answered. Dr. Geddes, as a scho- 
 lar, should r^-consid:r his character, and as a professed Christian, he should 
 re-examine his principles. I cannot discuss the doctrine of inspiration in 
 this place ; it cannot be expected that I should. But the tendency of all the 
 proceedings of our fcholars and guides in literature, and in the state, and in 
 religion, should be carefully watched. The open blafphemy and low scurrility 
 of ThomasPainc has been set aside by just argument, and the law of the land 
 lias armed itself against it's effect in society. § Mr. Lewis, Member cf Par- 
 liament, has attacked the Bible in another and in a fhortcr mann ;r,|j blafphe- 
 mous as far as it goes, and tending to discredit and tiaducc it's authority. 
 And last, Dr. Geddes, a Tranflitor of the Bible, versed in the original lan- 
 guage and in Hebrew criticism, has now begun his attack also on the h:sf.- 
 t-., which, if they arc not part of the inspired writings, are not inti- 
 tlcd to the name of sacred Scriptures. It is dilficult to sayj where these 
 attacks will end, The times are so prccaiious, and revolt from all autho- 
 rity human and divine so frequent, that the magistrate, the satirist, and the 
 critic have an united office. If the Historical pa: ts of the Bible are given up, 
 another man will arise and object to the poetical parts. These will be al- 
 lowed to have sublimity, and dignity; but tvky should they be considered 
 as inspired. All poetry, we shall be told, is in some sense inspired ; Ho- 
 mci and /Kschylus and Shakespeare, and why not the Hebrew bardi. The 
 moral portion of the Sctipturcs is evidently full of vrifd mi and sound sense, 
 and I suppose we shall soon hear, it may be the wori of a philosopher, and 
 that morality it not matter of inspiration. A fourth writer may insinuate 
 it respect and prove, th.it all prop': uous, and | 
 
 ies in the Bible may be conjectural, and therefore no reliance can 
 le had on their inspiration. Last we may l>c told, that the doctrinal parts 
 • are so much above as well as contrary to human reason, that they could not 
 
 come 
 
 § I am glad to bear teftimony to the excellence r>( Mr. Erft. i 
 declamation in the Court of K. R. in that caufe, on Newton, Boyle, 
 £,ocke and other great men, the defenders of Chriftianity. 
 
 jl Id " The Monk, a Romance. " Sec above, Pref. p. ii. and iii*
 
 ( xvi ) 
 
 lion, But a mighty and majestic river in it's course 
 through a diversity of: countries, not only winds and 
 murmurs through the vallies, hut contends and foams 
 among rocks, and precipices, and the confluence of tor- 
 rents. Still it's tendency is to the ocean, to which it 
 pays it's last trihute, and is finally lost in that immen- 
 sity. In literature the mind resembles such a course. 
 All it's exertions may be turned" into one grand and ge- 
 neral 
 
 come/rcm God. Thus might the whole fabric vanish into air, into thin eii . 
 Orto reverse Mr. Gibbon's please, thus might " the triumphant banner of 
 " the heathen Capitol be again erected on the ruins of the Church of 
 " Christ." Still we are to sit silent, and hear with patience the outrageous 
 presumption of man before his merciful Creator! while " The world and 
 ,( it's adorable Author, iis attributes and esser.ee, it's powef and rights 
 " and duty (I tremble to pronounce the word) be all brought together 
 " judged — before us. "+ We are to assemble;'/; the Temple, with all our 
 princes, and lords, and potentates, and our high officers in all the gradations 
 and dignities of our state and hierarchy, and it's priests and venerable or- 
 ders, till some Champion of anarchy and infidelity be brought forth as in 
 iport, and placed between the pillars. He may " bow himself with all his 
 ** might," but his sticngih, I trus^, will not be from above; he will 
 ¥ feel (the nature qf) the'fitlari iuhereuf>cn fhe house standrth x " I speak 
 this in general. I do not apply it to Dr. Geddes or any such scholar. It 
 i.^ not now for the first time that the Canon cf the Scripture has ! een exa- 
 mined ; and the internal evidence of it has often taught a different lesson. 
 I cannct help offering one suggestion, as it i, new to me. If there is a. 
 subject in the Bible which has been particularly jingled out for profane ridi- 
 cule, it is that of Jonah being swallowed up in the whale's belly three 
 and three night's. Yet, as if to confound human wisdom, or fagacity, 
 or vanity, and as an eternal lesson to human presumption on the utiles? 
 and unfitness (»f the fubjects of inspiration, The Saviour of the 
 World himself thought propc: to choose and to appropriate this event 
 to. Himself. " Ji^ Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's 
 a belly, so jhall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart 
 u of the earth /" St. Matt. c. li. v 40. — I solemnly protest I have no 
 ether object in view in whatever I have written, but the good of man in all 
 bis best interests, complicated as they arc at this awful and prerTing hour. 
 Mere is yet in our power than we may even imagine ; but all the orders of 
 the state must unite in their specific functions to prcsdveit. The priests 
 and ministers of the Lord must alio stand between the porch and the altar, 
 and exert themselves " before their eyes begin to wax dim that they may 
 '** not sec, and ere the lamp r.f God goeth out in the temple of the L*rd > 
 " where the Ark of God was!"§ 
 
 + Ogden's Sermons, Hallifax's edit. vol. 1. p. 2. — There was some- 
 thing peculiarly amiable in the kind and disinterested office which the late 
 Bifliop of St. Afaph, Dr. Halifax undertook, in the vindication of the 
 memory and writings of two great men, (quales ct quantosiiiros .'). Bishop 
 Butler, and Dr. Ogdcn. It will be an eternal honour to that very acute, 
 learned, and most judicious prelate. Cicero shall speak foj this prelate ; as 
 no man better understood the ftrcngth and application of his language, 
 ** Idoncus mca quidem sententia, praescrtim quuni et Itse Eurn audivctit 
 tl et pcribaf.de mortuo ; ex quo nulla suspicio est, amicltiae causa euro, esse 
 *» mentitum." Cic. dc Clar. Out. Sect. I_j. 
 
 * Sam,, b. i. ch. 3. v, 3«
 
 C xvii ) 
 
 rieral direction. The mind, if well regulated, remem- 
 bers from whence it came, and feels that all it's powers 
 und faculties are but ministerial. I think, it is some- 
 where expressed in the concise sublimity of Plato, Ylpos 
 ro a'itiiov tCXewev. Under the influence and persuasion 
 of this great and master principle, the mind so prepared, 
 whether serious, or gay, or thoughtful, or sprightly, 
 or even fantastic in it's humour, is fill 1 performing it's 
 proper office. Philosophy and criticism cannot reach 
 some subjects, which sap the foundation and support of 
 Well-being. Playfulness, ridicule, wit, and humour, 
 arc the auxiliaries and light-armed forces of truth, and 
 their power, in detachments, is equally felt with the 
 main strength of the body. 
 
 There is one description and sect of men, to whom 
 more than common reprehension is due, and who can- 
 not be held up too frequently to the public scorn and 
 abhorrence. I mean the modern philosophers of the 
 French syftem. Mr. Burke has thundered upon them, 
 and his lightning has (hone through their darkest re- 
 cesses. " The sudden blaze far round illumined Hell.'* 
 This monstrous compound of the vanity and weakliest 
 of the intellect, and the fury of the passions in some of 
 them, this " facinus majoris abollae," should be exposed 
 with the full strength of argument and of reason, and 
 with occasional ridicule, to the English nation in every 
 point of view. In others, there is a calmness and com- 
 posure in their mental operations more savage than the 
 violence of the former. Their subject is the living 
 man. Before them he is delivered bound hand and 
 foot. On him their experiments are to be tried ; and 
 when his whole composition, moral and political, is 
 either racked, or disjointed, or the minuter parts of it 
 laid bare to the eye, and the very circulation of the 
 fluids, as it were, shewn in the agonizing subject ; this 
 they savagely call, studying and improving human nature 
 by the new light. But I will not proceed on this subject* 
 Great and venerable is the name and influence ot the 
 true philosophy. The word may be disgraced for a 
 season, but the love of wisdom must always command 
 refpect. When we compare these modern philoso- 
 
 .JPart IV. c phew
 
 ( xviii ) 
 
 pliers who reject all revelation, with the philosophers 
 of antiquity, and in particular those of the Stoic sect, 
 who were ignorant of it, the difference, to say no more,, 
 is indeed striking. What were Socrates, and Plato, 
 and Epictetus, and Antoninus 1 Before such lights, 
 shining in the darkness and gloom of the heathen fir- 
 mament, 
 
 Condituromne 
 Stellarum vulgus, fugiunt sine nomine s-ignd. \ 
 
 As I am speaking of Philosophy, I may be excufed 
 if I say a few words of that language, in which it's 
 power has been most conspicuous. I see no more pe- 
 dantry in the knowledge and study of (he Greek tongue, 
 than of the French or the German. But when I con- 
 sider that every subject in philosophy, in history, in 
 oratory, and in poetry, whatever can dignify or em- 
 bellish human society in it's most cultivated state, has 
 there found the highefl. authors ; that the principles of 
 composition are better taught and more fully exemplified 
 than in any other language ; that the Greek writers are 
 the universal legislators in taste, criticifm, and juftcom- 
 
 Eosition, from whom there is no appeal, and who will 
 e found unerring directors ; I would with peculiar 
 emphasis and earnestness request young men of fortune, 
 ability, and polished education, not to cast off the study 
 of the Greek writers, when they leave the university. 
 A few hours devoted to this study in every week, will 
 preserve and improve their knowledge. It will animate 
 the whole mass of their learning, will give colour to 
 their thoughts, and precision to their expressions. There 
 is no necessity either to quote or to speak Greek ; but 
 the constant perusal of the historians, philosophers, ora- 
 tors, and poets will be felt and perceived. In parliament 
 and at the bar it would be most visible. [a) They who arc 
 
 wise 
 
 + Manil. Astron. L- i. v. 470. 
 
 (a) Plutarch describes the first Marccllus, (the firjr of that distinguished 
 vacc,)as a warrior of experience and intrepidity, humane and polished in his 
 manners and a great lover of the Greek, literature ; the words are these : 
 Tw /*cv sfATisipix •noi^iy.os , m (pv<m ^jXotfoXe/xos" ru $s 
 «?>Aw Tpoitci) oatypuv, (piXav9^a;7roj, EXXoivixrjr tixi^hxs xxi 
 ?.«ywv,a;tyj ru tiiazv xai £ai//xa^iy rus x#Toc0«yr«f , eptKjrr^^'
 
 f xix ) 
 
 wise will secretly attend to this recommendation, which 
 mull be disinterested, and proceeds from long experi- 
 ence. 
 
 In regard to the manner and the plan of this Poem 
 on the P. of L. I have something to say, but my re- 
 spect to the reader prevents me from saying much. It 
 aspires not to the manner or the praise of the D un- 
 ci ad, or to any thing whatsoever in common with 
 that great performance. The original motive of it how- 
 ever, in my opinion, as far exceeds in importance and 
 "dignity, as the power and ability of the author fall short 
 of that poetical excellence, which none hereafter mult 
 hope to rival or perhaps to attain. It's general subje£l 
 is Literature however exerted, whether for the benefit, 
 or for the injury of mankind. It has nothing of the 
 mock epic. It is a dialogue; has something ol a dra- 
 matic cast, and is an excursus. The subjects follow 
 each other ; and if I am not mistaken, they are neither 
 confounded nor confused. If there be, in the whole 
 composition, any passage, any sentence, or any expres- 
 sion, which, according to the specific nature of the sub- 
 ject, can justly offend even female delicacy ; which, from 
 the manner of it, a gentleman would refuse to write, or 
 a m«in of virtue to admit into his thoughts ; which vio- 
 lates the high and discriminating, and honourable, and 
 directing principles of human conduct, it is to me mat- 
 ter of serious and oi solemn regret. Nalura imptrio 
 gemimus. I am conscious of having admitted no such 
 passage, or sentence, or expression. I have never yet 
 neard such an objection to my work. If it can be 
 pointed out, I will erase it with much concern and 
 with greater indignation. But my intention is with- 
 out guilt. 
 
 I should also give a few words to the manner of the 
 
 notes which I have annexed, and which are so frequent 
 
 and so copious. I wished not, as Boileau expresses it, 
 
 to prepare tortures for any future Saimasius, \\ and I too 
 
 c 2 well 
 
 Plut. Vit. Marcell. p. 242.- vol 2. Ed. Bryan.— At we have now to many 
 gentlemen of fottunc and education and ability among the officer* of the 
 army and the militia, I wish they may read thit note, and employ tome 
 •f their vacant hours in valuable ttudies, and like the great chiefs among 
 the ancients, iciume and vindicate the honour of learned military leisure. 
 
 |j ** A*x Saurrnuiti/hturi fnfsrer dtt ttrturti." 
 
 Buil. Sat. 9. v. 64.
 
 f XX ) 
 
 well know my own insignificance to expect any com. 
 ment on my writings but from my own pen. I have 
 made no allusion which I did not mean to explain. But 
 I had something further in my intention. The notes are 
 not always merely explanatory ; they are (if I have 
 been able to execute mv intention) of a structure rather 
 peculiar to themselves. Many of them are of a nature 
 between an essay and an explanatory comment. There 
 is much matter in a little compass, suited to the exi- 
 gency of the times. As they take no particular 
 form of composition, they are not matter of criticism 
 in that particular respect. I expatiated on the casual 
 subject which presented itself ; and when ancient or 
 modern writers expressed the thoughts better than I 
 could myself, I have given the original languages. To 
 most of my readers those languages are familiar; and if 
 any person, not particularly conversant in them, should 
 honour the notes with a perusal, I think the force ot the? 
 observations may be felt without attending to the Greek 
 or Latin. In all regular compositions I particularly 
 dislike a ?nix ture of languages. It is uncouth or ine- 
 legant, and sometimes marks a want of power in the 
 writer. In works of any dignity or consequence, it is 
 adviseable, if a passage from any ancient author is quot- 
 ed-, to translate that passage in the text, and put the 
 original at the bottom of the page, if necessary. We 
 have in this respect the example of Cicero, Bishop 
 Hurd, and Sir William Jones. 
 
 In general, I could say all I wished in the text and 
 comment. Sonic subjects are indeed so important, that 
 they should be held forth to public light, and viewed 
 in every point. Satire, in this respect, has peculiar 
 force. "Vice is not unfrequently repressed, and tolly 
 and presumptuous ignorance and conceit sometimes 
 yield or vanish at the first attack, and like the fabled 
 spirits before the spell of the enchanter, 
 
 Prima vel voce Canentis 
 
 C^««^/^, CARMENOUt TiMENT AUDIRE SECUN- 
 DUM.* 
 
 I again declare to the public, that neither my name, 
 nor my situation in life will ever be revealed. I pre- 
 tend not to be " the sole depositary of my own secret;" 
 
 but 
 
 * Lucan, L. 6. v. 527.
 
 ( xxi I 
 
 but where it is confided, there it will be preserved and 
 locked up [or ever. I have an honourable confi- 
 dence in the human character, when properly edu- 
 cated and rightly instructed. My secret will i\>r ever 
 be preserved, I know, under every change of fortune or 
 of political tenets, while honour, and virtue, and reli- 
 gion, and friendly affection, and erudition, and the prin- 
 ciple's of a gentleman, have binding force and authority 
 upon minds so cultivated and so dignified. 
 
 My Poem and all and each of the notes to it were writ- 
 ten without any co-operation whatsoever. There is but 
 one hand and one intention. It will be idle to conjecture 
 comer ning the author, and more than foolish to be very 
 inquisitive. To my adversaries I have nothing to re- 
 ply. I never will reply. I could with the most per- 
 fect charity sing a requiem over their deceased criti- 
 cisms, it I were master of what Statius calls the " Exe- 
 quiale sacrum, carmenque minoribus umbris utile. t" 
 Those whom 1 wished to please, I have pleased. If I 
 have diffused any light, it is from a single orb, whether 
 temperate in the horizon, or blazing in the meridian. 
 My aspect is not in conjunction ; if 1 culminate at all, 
 it is from the Equator. 
 
 Thus much to silly curiosity and frivolous garrulity. 
 But to persons of higher minds and of more exalted 
 and more generous principles, who have the spirit to 
 understand, and the patience to consider, the nature and 
 the labour of my work, I would address myself in other 
 language and with other arguments. I would declare to 
 thtm, that when I consider the variety and importance 
 and extent of the subjects, I might say that it was writ- 
 ten, " though for no other cause yet for this, that pos- 
 " terity may know, that we have not loosely through 
 " silence, permitted things to pass away as in a dream." 
 I would declare also to them, that I deliver it as A li- 
 terary manifesto to this Kingdom in a season un- 
 propitious to learning or to poetry, in a day of darkness 
 and of thick gloominess, and in an hour of turbulence, 
 of terror, and of uncertainty. Such persons will be 
 satisfied, if Ihe great cause of mankind, of regulated 
 society, of religion, of government, and of good man- 
 ners, 
 
 f Stat, Thcb. L. 6. v. 1 2 j.
 
 ( xx " ) 
 
 ners, is attempted to be maintained with strength and 
 with the application of learning. To them it is a matter 
 of very little, or rather of no moment at all, by whom 
 it is effected. They have scarce a transitory question to 
 make on the subject. To such understandings I wil- 
 lingly submit my composition, and to them 1 dedicate 
 the work. 
 
 I shall only add, that f/they should read all the Parts 
 of this Poem on the Pursuits of Literature with candour 
 and with attention, whatever the connection between 
 them or the method may be, they will most assuredly 
 find, " that uniformity of thought and design, which will 
 •' always be found in the writings of the same person, 
 
 "WHEN HE WRITES WITH SIMPLICITY AMD 1M 
 " EARNEST." 
 
 THE 
 
 The reader is desired to correct the following Errat** 
 
 p. 92. !. 17. for place, read placed. 
 
 p. 19. note (V) 1. 4. for p. 43- * ead P- 4°3- 
 
 p. 43. 1. 300. for syllables, read syllabus, 
 
 p. 102. I. penult, for Vnffius, read Varro. 
 
 j . 103. I. penult, foi examincity read exanimem.
 
 THE 
 
 PURSUITS OF LITERATURE: 
 
 A SATIRICAL POEM. 
 
 PART IV. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 OH, for that sabbath's dawn ere Britain wept, 
 .,. And France before the Cross believ'dand slept ! 
 (Rest to the state, and slumber to the soul !) 
 Ere yet the brooding storm was heard to roll 
 In fancy's ear o'er many an Alpine rock, c 
 
 Or Europe trembled at the fated shock ; 
 Ere by his lake Geneva's angel stood, 
 And wav'd his fcroll prophetic (a) o'er the flood, 
 
 B With 
 
 (*) It is remarkable, that in Switzerland appeared the three 
 persons, whose principles, doctrines, and practice, (as it seems 
 to me) have primarily and ultimately effect ed the great change 
 and downfal of regal and of lawful power in Europe. Calvin, 
 in religion; Roufleau, in politics; and Nc»kar by his adminil*. 
 4'art IV r . trationt
 
 ( i ) 
 
 With names (as yet unheard) and symbols drear, 
 Calvin in front, and Neckar in the rear, 10 
 
 But 
 
 tration. Calvin, and his difciples never were friends to monar- 
 chy and epifcopacy. I fliall not here contend politically or the- 
 ologically with Bifhop Horfley concerning Calvin. Indeed I 
 never yet flood gaping on that coji/ier oracle. A Poet's words 
 are better for a poet. I have looked into hiftory, and I think, 
 have found them true. Dryden fpea~ks of Calvin thus, and re- 
 markably enough ; 
 
 The lafl of all the litter fcap'd by chance, 
 
 " And from Geneva fir ft infeftcd France." 
 
 (Hind and Panther. B. i. v. 17ft. 
 RoussEAU,(Ispeakofhim only as a political writer) by the unjufti- 
 fiable, arbitrary, and cruel proceedings againft him, his writings 
 and his perfon, in France, (where he was a ftranger and to whofe 
 tribunals he was not amenable) was ftimulated to purfue his 
 refearches into the origin and expedience of fuch government, 
 and of fuch oppreffion, which, otherwife, he probably, never 
 would have difcuffed ; till he reafoned himfelf into the defperate 
 doctrine of political equality, and gave to the world his fatal 
 prefent, " The Social Contrail" Of this work the French, fince 
 the Revolution, have never once loft fight. With them it isfirft 
 and lafl, and midft, and without end in all their thoughts and 
 public actions. Rouffeau, is, I believe, the only man, to whom 
 they have paid an implicit and undeviating reverence ; and, 
 without a figure, have worfhipped in the Pantheon of their new 
 idolatry, like another Chemos, " the obscene dread of Gallia's 
 fons." — Different from thefe, with intentions, as I firmly think, 
 upright, pure and jufl, but with a mind impotent and unequal to 
 the great work, and with principles foreign to the nature of the 
 
 government
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 But chief Equality's vain priest, Rousseau, 
 A sage in sorrow nurs'd, and gaunt with woe, 
 
 Bz By 
 
 government he was called to regulate, reform and conduct, " a 
 fatal ftranger" for Fiance, came Neck ar. Too much gifted with 
 verbiage on every fubjedlt facred, and civil, fanftionedby popu- 
 lar prejudice, and marked by ariftocratical hatred, a sort of " At- 
 Jiinas Volscorum a mon/e." He came to unfold (and he did un- 
 fold them) the myftery and iniquity of French finance and of 
 French treafuries. But he brought with him to the concerns 
 of a great and tottering empire (which perhaps might have been 
 maintained and consolidated) the little mind of a provincial ban- 
 ker, and the vanity infeparable from human nature, when ele- 
 vated beyond hope or expectation. What was the confequence ? 
 for awhile indeed, 
 
 Hie Cimbros et summa pericula rerum 
 Excijiit, et solus trepidantem/ro/fg-// Urbem. 
 
 Juv. Sat 8. v. 249. 
 
 But the original leaven in his political compofition was popular ; 
 and that leavened the whole lump. We know the reft. His ad- 
 vice, firft in the calling together (at all) of the States General, ajid 
 afterwards in the formation and diftribution of them, gave the 
 devoted King to the fcaffold, and the monarchy of France to 
 irreverfible diflblution. — For my own part, when I contemplate 
 the convulfions of Europe, and the fatal defolation which at- 
 tends republican principles, wherever they are introduced, I 
 cannot but reft with a momentary plea/ureon the picture which 
 Plato in his imaginary republic, ( the only one I ever could bear) 
 has drawn of a man fatigued with the view of public affairs and 
 retiring from them in the hope of tranquillity : thefentiments 
 are fuch as the French formerly would have called, " Lts Deleji 
 femens de Vhomme sensi&lt," The words arc thefc ;
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 By persecution train'd and popish zeal, 
 Ripe with his wrongs, to frame the dire (£) appeal, 
 What time his work the Citizen began, 15 
 
 "-^ And gave to France the social savage, Man. ] 
 
 Was it for this, in Leo's fost'ring reign 
 Learning uprose with tempests in her train ; 
 Was every gleam deceitful, every ray 
 But idle splendor from the orb of day ? 
 Say, were the victims mark'd from earliest time, 
 The Flamens conscious of a nation's crime? 
 Why smoak'd the altars with the new perfume, 
 If heav'n's own fire descends but to consume ? 
 
 Alas, 
 
 ** Tavra nxvrx "Koyiapu \x^av,7t<jv^ioiV z%cov,xai ra tzars xp<zr~ 
 Ttov, ojov ev ^sjptwvi xoviopru xai ^oiXriS into wjsvfjuzros (pe^ojuavH, 
 two Te»x, JOV 'wizooras, hpuv ras a>.X8S" xurocmiATrXafAsviis avo(jnxf t 
 wyxTtoL Ei iin auros xuQapos a^ixias rs xai avoaicov spycov, tov rt 
 fv^a^c Q iov Giuatrai, xai rnv awaXXayw aura perx xaXr,s E\iri$os 
 il.iws rs xoci sufjLB\ins ct7iaX>.aiirai. 
 
 Plato de Repub. L. 6. p. 496, Op. vol. 2. Ed. Serrani, 
 
 (&) " Le Contrat Social, par J. J. Roufleau, Citoyen de 
 Geneve.
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 Alas, proud Gallia's fabric to the ground 25 
 
 What arm shall level, or what might confound ! 
 
 Oh for that hand, which o*er the walls of Troy (<?) 
 His lightning brandish'd with a furious joy, 
 
 Her 
 
 (c) It certainly would be convenient, (if we can for a moment 
 trifle with such a fubjeft as the prefent French war) to march 
 to Paris, " and, like another (Bryant) fire another Troj." W« 
 have little hope, but from fuch afiiftance. — See " a Diflerta- 
 tion concerning the War of Troy, and the Expedition 
 of the Grecians, as defcribed by Homer; (hewing, that no 
 fuch expedition was undertaken, and that no fuch city 
 of Phrygia exifted." Published in 1796, but there is no date 
 to the title page. I find it difficult to give an opinion on this 
 ingenious treatife. Whatever comes from the author of "The 
 Analyfis of ancient Mythology" fliould be treated with very 
 great refpect. His character is • venerable, and his erudition, 
 as I think, without an equal. Of all fubjects, I fliould have 
 thought this fubjec't was one, on which an enquiry might have 
 been inftituted without offence. Yet this has not been the oafe. 
 The offence has been confidered as deep and wide, and the in- 
 fill : ce of the principle, in fome refpecls, dangerous and alar- 
 ming. The faith of hiflory has been reprefented as attacked in 
 its ftrongest fortress, and even the sacred writings, as matter of 
 historical faith, implicated in the discussion. Some persons 
 have even declared that Mr. Bryant had no right to touch the 
 subject. That nothing can be more contrary to reason than 
 to suppose that the existence of a city, and a war, of which we 
 have read with delight from our boyish days, should be called 
 
 in 
 ♦ Pursuit* of L Part II. v. 189,
 
 ( « ) 
 
 Her state, her arms, her fleets, her very name 
 Gave, as in mock'ry, to poetic fame, 50 
 
 And 
 
 in question. That their pleasure is snatched from them : and 
 such a poem, without an historical fact for a ba^is, cannot be 
 interesting. They allow the amplification of poetry, and its 
 embellishments, and even the anachronisms of Homer. But 
 Troy did exist, and the Grecians did once besiege it, andHector, 
 Achilles, Agememnon, and Diomede were as real heroes, as the 
 Archduke Charles, Buonaparte, Lord Cornwallis or Tip* 
 poo Saib in modern wars. I really should smile at many of 
 these objections, if they did not frequently come from person* 
 of consequence and of learning. Most certainly I wid quarrel 
 with no man " about Sir Archy's great Grandmother." They 
 who are acquainted with the science and subject of Jirohabilities, 
 will best decide the question for themselves, and 1 will not intrude 
 my judgment. It is a question of probability and not of 
 proof. I am equally pleased with a poem founded on 
 the metamorphosis of Apuleius or any modern fiction, if all the 
 essential and integral parts of a poem are preserved: if the cha- 
 racters, manners and actions are human, and consistent with the 
 supposed situations of the personages. This tome is sufficient, 
 and perhaps poetry, as such, may be a gainer by Mr. Bryant's 
 interpretation. I rather hail the omen in these times of poetical 
 sterility. But nothing can be further from the dignity of Mr. 
 B's character, than the imputation of having attacked the faith 
 and credibility of ancient, or of any, history. It is scarcely enti- 
 tled to notice. What wasTroy?with what part of history is it con- 
 nected ? Is not the Trojan war an insulated solitary fact ? If it 
 were done away, is any historical event whatever made to fall with 
 it? When it is stated that 430 ships (no matter of what size) were 
 employed by the Grecians in the Trojan war in the 12th cen- 
 tury
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 And with the fire of Philip's son, unfurl'd 
 His classic standard o'er a wond'ring world, 
 Till " Homer's sprite did tremble all for grief 
 " And curs' d tli access of that celestial thief *."(</) 
 Oh, for a Bryant's hand ! — 
 
 OCT A. 
 
 tury, and only 89 in the Pelopponesian war in the fifth century 
 before Christ, is this matter of serious history ? Is not the whole 
 allowed to pass even the bounds of any probability, but the 
 poet's ? I remember hearing a gentleman state similar questions 
 to these with much earnestness and apparent conviction, but 
 without warmth. He seemed to understand something of the 
 subject; and though I thought some points were pressed indis- 
 creetly and unnecessarily by Mr. Bryant, I replied that I 
 thought nearly as he did, and I said with the most good-natured 
 E-Tro^-rj of the Academics, *• Almost thou persuadest me to be a 
 JSiyantian" — I think, they who are the strongest in opposition 
 to Mr. Bryant, if they were even Inquisitors*, and could force 
 him to hold a lighted torch in his hand, and make a retractation 
 of his errors, and the amende honorable in the Eglise tie notre Dame 
 deCYBELE Mere de tons IesDieuxPai'ens, would be contented with 
 the Catholic form of words : '.' Questi erano gli scherzi d'una 
 penna poetica, non gli sentimenti d'un animo catolico !" Yet 
 considering all that I have heard, and the quarter from which it 
 came, Curitu quid sentit, et ambo Sajiiada-, and the insignifi- 
 cance of the question itself, but as a matter of amusement; 
 though, in common with many others, I should have lost 
 much individual gratification and instruction, yet I wish this 
 Dissertation on the war of Troy had never been written at all. 
 
 * I am sure Gilbert Wakcfi-.U is even men than an ln<piitittt in all his prin- 
 ciples literary, civil, and religious. See his indecent letter to Mr. Biyant on the 
 war of Troy. Bu{ above all, see his Letter to Mr. Wilberforce. The Se- 
 cretary to theDuk- of Alva under Philip II. or the Public Accuser of the 
 Revolutionary Tribunal under Ro'xvspieire, never exhibited such a paper. 
 " There is m deceit in Gilbert Wakefield, He is, just whtt ht ietni." It it plain 
 to we, -w'ltit he expects, and ■»••*> he w«U«».
 
 ( s ) 
 
 OCT AVI US. 
 
 Methinks you smile, 3$ 
 
 And fain would land me on the wand'ring isle, 
 Where the learn'd drain Acrasias foaming bowl, 
 Till round the Sun their heads, with Gebclin's, (e) roll ; 
 
 Nor 
 
 (d) Two lines from Sir Walter Raleigh's Sonnet, prefixed 
 to Spenser's Fairy Queen. 
 
 (<r) Gebelin. — If many of the learned world have thought Mr. 
 Bryant unadvised in the discussion of tbewarofTYoy in the twelfth 
 century A.C. what must we say to Mr. Court de Gebelin, who 
 has actually endeavoured to reason men into a belief, that, the Foun- 
 ders of the Roman State, Romulus and Remus, were only allego- 
 rical personages, and were in reality representatives of the Sun 
 and worshipped as such. Mr. Gebelin is a man of the most 
 various erudition, and if he were as well known as Mr. Bryant, 
 his attempt would have been noticed. But few people perhaps 
 have had the curiosity to look into nine volumes in 4to of the 
 " Monde Primitif analyse et compare avec le Monde Moderne, 
 par M. Court de Gebelin." It may be entertaining to some 
 per:ons, if I give a few particulars of this singular question. 
 The Fourth Volume of Mr. Gebelin's work consists of the 
 *' Histoire Religieux du Calendrier, ou des Fetes Anciennes." 
 The fifth Chapter of the second Book (Vol. 4.) is the ** Kistoire 
 des Gemeaux Romaics Romulus et Remus." Mr. G. says, 
 
 «« JLes
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 Nor heed the pause of (/) Douglas, Wakefield's rage, 
 Nor Hallam (g) trembling for the sacred page, 40 
 
 C Nor 
 
 '* Les Romains eurent aussi leurs Allegories sur le double Soleil sue- 
 cessif de lannee ; ils Vappliquerent a leur Remus et Romulus, 
 Les noms font allegoriques, et tous relatifs a Panne'e." p. 264. 
 Remus, itfeems, fignified the Sun in the -winter, and Romulus, 
 in the summer ! By an easy proof, he fays, i( Ils en firent la fete 
 des Z^mures pour Remnres, &c. p. 263. In the fixth chapter 
 of the fame Book, we read : " Nous avons vie dans le chapitre 
 precedent, que Romulus itoit le soleil ; que tout le Jtrouvoit : 
 — And what is the proof? Truly this : " Le nom de sa mere, 
 celuide son pere, son frere, la mort de fon frere {Remus), fon 
 propre nom, &c. &c." Q^E. D. — Mr. Gebelin has not yet done, 
 nor is Mr. Gebelin yet satisfied. He next converts, by means 
 of his solar microscope, Romulus into Hercules ! Hear his words. 
 *' Ce qu'exprimoient a cet egard les Grecs par l'Apotheose d' 
 Hercule, les Romains Texprimerent par l'Apotheose de Romu- 
 lus." But when he speaks of Quirinus, another name of Romu- 
 lus, the force of art and of fit oof can go no further. La voici. 
 11 Quirinus (nom de Romulus) la traduction Uterale de Mel- 
 carthe, on Melicerte, que portoit Hercule chez les Tyrinis, est 
 UNE autre Preuve, qu'on regardoit RoMULUS 'comme LK Sc- 
 leil." p. 269 !!!!!! — I cannot help ob.'erving that in this same 
 4th Vol. p. 422. Mr. Gebelin informs us that, " Surle iS Fev- 
 rieron celebroit la Fete de Romulus, (and at the same time, rather 
 inauspiciously to be sure) on celebroit la fete des foux." I 
 suppose on the celebration of la Fete des Foux, cards of in- 
 vitation were sent round by the Pontifex Maximus to the Anti- 
 quaries of thofe days, and I really think, if Mr.Gebelin had been 
 produced at that time, he would not have been without his caid t 
 Part IV, with
 
 ( io ) 
 
 Nor Gillies (//) crying, what shall we peruse, 
 My history's now mere records of the Muse, 
 Arid trust to Buonaparte's iron pen, (/) 
 The tale of Rome shall be Troy's tale again. 
 
 AUTHOR', 
 
 with a few others, to be distributed among Ins friends. — Iiideed 
 thefe deliramenta doctrine are fomeMmes amusing, but in real- 
 ity they are rather a fubjeft of serious regret from their conse- 
 quences on the public mind. There is no end of the absurdities 
 from this source, when we resolve all ancient persons and 
 events into allegories and Egyptian myfteries ; till, as we have 
 juft seen, Romulus and Rkmus, the Founders of the Roman Em- 
 pire, become (according to Monfieur Gebelin's Order of Firing 
 after a grand Escojietterie, or volley, of serpents andjiars) trans- 
 formed into Roman Suns! Remus in the Winter, and Romu- 
 lus in the Summer ! — See the/noefs above. 
 
 (/) The present Bishop of Salisbury, Author of The Crite- 
 rion, &c. &c. 
 
 (g) The present Dean of Briftol. (1797.) 
 
 (h) Author of a Hiftory of Greece ; but I shall say no more 
 than that Dr.Gillies's solicitude is groundless, when he f«ars that 
 it will be mistaken for the work of tht Mustt %
 
 ( II ) 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 No ; other thoughts my lab'ring soul employ, 45 
 That springs anew to long-forgotten joy; 
 I range in Fancy's consecrated round, 
 And meet the poet on a poet's ground, 
 Nor r.cek historic truth of time and place, 
 But truth of manners, character, and grace. 50 
 
 The Bards, who once the wreaths of glory wore, 
 Cloath'd in translucent veil their wondrous lore ; 
 The tales they sung a willing age believ'd, 
 Charm'd into truth, and without guile deceiv'd ; 
 Where'er they rov'd, young Fancy and the Muse 
 Wav'd high their mirror of a thousand hues; 
 They gaz'd ; and as in varying guise pourtray'd, 
 Aereal phantoms hov'ring round them play'd, 
 
 C 2 Gave 
 
 (») The tremendous conquests of Buonaparte jn Italy and in 
 Germany remind us too much of the words of the Roman His- 
 torian. *» Si CAPTivo&as/ticfiesy Molossi, Thessali, Macedo- 
 nes, Bruttius, Apulius; si pompas, aurum, purpura, iigna, 
 tabulae, Tarentinaecme deliciae." Flor. Lib, 1. C. 18.
 
 ( I* ) 
 
 Gave to each fleeting form, that shot along, 
 
 ... 
 Existence everlasting as their song, 60 
 
 And as by nature's strength the tablet grew, 
 
 Rapture the pencil guided, as they drew. 
 
 OCTAVIUS, 
 
 Nay, now you soar indeed ; another flight, 
 
 And the wing'd courser bears you from my sight : 
 
 You're strangely mov'd. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 The matter is my own ; 6$ 
 I never shar'd the profits of the gown, 
 Nor yet, with Horace and myself at war, 
 For rhyme and victuals [h) left the starving Bar ; 
 
 No 
 
 {h) This was lately done by an ingenious Gentleman, edu- 
 cated at Eton school, William Boscawen, Esquire, a Commis- 
 sioner of the riftualling Office, and (by an easy transition) 
 Translator of Horace. He resigned his gown, as a Counsellor 
 
 at
 
 ( '3 ) 
 
 No German nonsense sways my English heart, 
 Unus'd at ghosts and rattling bones to start ; 70 
 I never chose, in various nature strong, 
 Logic for verse, or history for song, 
 But at the magic of Torquato's strain, 
 Disarm'd and captive in Armida's chain, 
 To Godfrey's pomp Rinaldo still prefer, 75 
 
 Nor care, if ranting Wakefield thinks I err. 
 
 To 
 
 at law, to superintend the public victuals, and to give himself 'vfi to 
 the chmms of poetry, and at last to present the hungry pub- 
 lick with Horace's works done into English verse. The translation 
 has had the usual fate of mediocrity, and therefore I say no more. 
 But it is with particular pleasure that I inform the reader, that 
 Mr. Boscawen, with the most classical humanity, considering 
 the general state of fioor barristers and poets at this unpropitions 
 time, has an intention to propose the revival of the ancient 
 custom of the S/iortula,\.o be distributed at Lincoln's Inn Hall, 
 and at the Victualling Office. The qualifications, as I have 
 heard, are these: — That no Barrister be entitled to the Spar tula 
 except he can prove by affidavit or certificate from the Clerk 
 of the Assizes, that he has not received five Briefs in his first 
 twelve circuits ; and for a Poet, that he has never disposed of 
 twenty copies of any one poem of his own composing. It h 
 feared, that the applications and certificates will be so numerous, 
 that from the prefent increase of Naval and other demands, the 
 kind intentions of the amiable Victualler will be fruftratcd.
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 To Hurd, not(//) Parr, my Muse submits her lays, 
 Pleas'd with advice, without a lust for praise, 
 Fond to correct, but never to defend, 
 And him, who marks her errors, deems her friend ; 80 
 With patriot aim, and no irreverent rage, 
 J Without one stain of party on the page, 
 From Grecian springs her strength, her art she draws, 
 Firm in her trust, ennobled in her cause, 
 Her moral none, the verse (/) some few disdain : 85 
 Yet not a note she sounds shall sound in vain, 
 
 While 
 
 (k) See my account of Dr. Parr's ftyle and writings. P. of L. 
 Part III. p. 181, &c. with the notes. When the reader has con- 
 sidered the whole, perhaps he may be inclined to say with the 
 comic poet of Athen», 
 
 IItiXqv to fAcyx KOM11OAAKT0OT mw\ 
 
 Aristophan. Acharn. Sub. fin. 
 
 (i) George Steevens, Esq. Editor of Shakspeare, and fome 
 other ingenious Gentlemen, whom at present I fiiall not 
 itarne, have affected to say, with equal discretion and 
 wit, that my verses are only a /teg to hang my notes 
 upon. They are not quite original in the expression. Pindar 
 said long before Mr. Steevens, Atto llASSAAOT Qoptxtyya. 
 Xa/xSavc. (01. i.) "But Mr. Steevens and Co. rather put me 
 in mind of a story told of a sailor in the late mutiny (April 1797.) 
 aboard" the fleet, who after he had undergone rather a severe 
 discipline, and was •■standing ittjijting upon the deck, looked up 
 
 signi-
 
 ( '5 ) 
 
 While Bryant in applause with Baker (k) joins, 
 GiFFORD(/)approves, and Storer(w) loves the lines; 
 Though still, a stranger in the sacred clime, 
 Some say, I love not poetry, but rhyme. 90 
 
 Offspring of other times ! ye visions old, 
 Legends, no more hy gentle hands unroll'd, 
 Magnanimous deceits ! where favour'd youth 
 Finds short repose from formidable truth ! 
 
 Oh 
 
 significantly to the yard-arm and said, " Well, my friends, I 
 think I am now wf/ enough to be hung up to dry" — So much for 
 George Steevens, Efq. and his Brethren, " Gtntlemen of the Peg** 
 
 (i) Sir George Baker, Bart. Physician to the King, a Gentle, 
 man of deep and extensive classical knowledge. His situation 
 in life sufficiently declares his professional talents. 
 
 (/) William Gifford, Esq. Author of the Baviad and the 
 Maeviad. 
 
 (/?;) Antony Stoxer, E<q. a Gentleman of fortune and 
 fashion, talents and accomplishments. His attainments in lite- 
 rature are various and considerable ; and few men have a nicer 
 fkill in the principles of just and legitimate composition than 
 Mr. Storer. He has read Quintilian with effect, and has drawn 
 his knowledge and judgment from the beft writers and critics 
 of antiquity and of modern times*
 
 ( i6 ) 
 
 Oh witness, if e*er silent in your praise, 95 
 
 I've pass'd, in vice or sloth, inglorious days, 
 But raib'd for you my firm unalter'd voice, 
 Fancy my guide, and solitude my choice. 
 
 Though now no Syren voice be heard, no strain 
 Ascend from Pindus, (;z)or Arcadia's plain ; 100 
 No Graces round th'Olympian throne of Jove 
 Bid the nine Virgins raise the chant of love : 
 The harp of Taliessin (<?) lies unstrung, 
 Close by the loom round which Death's sisters sung, 
 Unfelteach charm of Odin's magic tree, 105 
 
 With many an uncouth Runic iji) phantasy : 
 
 Though 
 
 («) I mean by these and several following lines to observe, 
 that the Pagan Fable is now exhausted, and the specious mira- 
 cles of Gothic Romance have never of late years produced a poet. 
 Perhaps the latter were more adapted to true poetry than the 
 pagan inventions. Witness the sublimer productions of mo- 
 dern Italy. 
 
 (0) A year or two ago proposals were offered by Mr. Owen 
 to publish the works of the Bard Taliessin, but no encourage- 
 ment could be obtained. Such is the time. 
 
 (/) Mr. Mathias, (the author of the Effay on the Evi- 
 dence,^, on the long-disputed subject of the poems ascribed to 
 
 Rowley
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 Though now no temper'd lance, no magic brand, 
 No Durindana (j) waves o'er fabled land ; 
 No nightly-rounding Ariel floats unseen, 
 Ox flames amazement o'er the desert green ; no 
 
 No wizards hold, some blasted pine beneath, 
 Their horrid sabbath on the darken'd heath j 
 Say, are the days of blest delusion fled ? 
 Must fiction rear no more her languid head ? 
 No more the Muse her long-lost transports know, 115 
 Nor trace the fount whence living waters flow ? 
 Awake, ye slumb'ring Rulers of the song ! 
 Each in your solemn orders pass along, 
 In sacred radiance o'er your mountain old 
 Yet once again your dignities unfold, 120 
 
 D And 
 
 Rowley in the r 5th century, and which I mentioned in a note to 
 the First Part of the P. of L ) several years ago attempted to ex- 
 cite the curiosity of the public to the remains of northern anti- 
 quity, by an imitation of some Runic fragments. I wish 
 the example had been followed. 
 
 (q) The name of the sword of Orlando, in Ariosto. 
 Part IV.
 
 ( '8 ) 
 
 And fill the space ; your scepter'd glories claim, 
 And vindicate the great Pierian name. 
 
 OC TAVIUS. 
 
 Are these a poet's only themes ? I fear, 
 No verse, like this, will find a patient ear. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Hear yet awhile :— the dread resistless pow'r 125 
 That works deep-felt at inspiration's hour, 
 He claims alone — 
 
 O C T A V I U S. 
 
 Who claims ? 
 
 AUTHOR 
 
 The favour'd Bard, (r) 
 Who nobly conscious of his just reward, 
 
 With
 
 ( i9 ) 
 
 With loftier soul and undccaying might 
 Paints what he feels in characters of light, 130 
 
 Hears in each blast some consecrated rhyme, 
 Trac'd by the spirit of the troublous clime. 
 He turns : and instantaneous all around * , 
 Cliffs whiten, waters murmur, voices sound, 
 Portentous forms in heav'nsaereal hall 13 «* 
 
 Appear, as at some great supernal call. 
 Thence oft in thought his steps ideal (s) haste 
 To rocks and groves, the wilderness or waste; 
 To where old Ta^mor's (/) regal ruins lie 
 In desolation's sullen majestyj 140 
 
 D2 Or 
 
 (;) I mean here to give a character of the Poet, as such t 
 and of the sources whence the art itself is drawn. I would 
 wish to express generally, what Proclus (in one of his disserta- 
 tions on the IloXiTiia of Plato, Ed. fol. Basil.p. 43) would call the 
 *' n«<rav Tlomnxris i£iv $»aXa//.9r«ffav," when the poet ex- 
 erts his highest faculties, or (in the language of Proclus, in the 
 same place) " Ka-raTHN nPOTHN sve^yi. KAI EN- 
 0EON IIOIHTIKHN." 
 
 (/) I speak of the effeft of local situation on the mind of the 
 poet. But if he is deprived of the power of visiting these great 
 
 and
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 Or Where Carthusian (v) tow'rs the pilgrim draw, 
 And bow the soul with unresisted awe, 
 Where Bruno, from the mountain's pine-clad brow, 
 Survey'd the world's inglorious toil below ; 
 Then, as down ragged cliffs the torrent roar'd, 145 
 Prostrate great Nature's present God ador'd, 
 And bade, in solitude's extremest bourn, 
 Religion hallow the severe sojourn. 
 
 To him, the Painter gives his pencil's might j 
 No gloom too dreadful and no blaze too bright, 150 
 
 What 
 
 and awful scenes of nature,(sometimes assisted and improved by 
 art,) an imagination, bold and fervid, may in some degree supply 
 that want, by recourse to the most finished representations of 
 them by the more sublime painters and artists. Stuart, Wood, and 
 Piranesi may raise ideas worthy of the Poet, and pour upon his 
 fancy all the ancient dignity of Athens, of Palmyra, or of Rome. 
 
 (/■) He built 7W«or in the wilderness." Chron. B. 2. Ch. 8. 
 v. 4. It is remarkable that Mr. Wood observes, that the natives, 
 at this day, call Palmyra by the original appellation of Tadmor. 
 
 {v) The famous monastery.called " The Grande Chartreuse.'' 
 the retirement of Saint Bruno.
 
 ( » ) 
 
 What time to mortal ken he dares unveil 
 The inexpressive form (x) in semblance frail, 
 To the strain'd view presents the yawning tomb, 
 Substantial horrors and eternal doom. 
 
 To Him the pow'rs of harmony (y) resort, 155 
 And as with random glance and fiercer port 
 He scans th' setherial wilderness around, 
 Pour on his ear the thrilling stream of sound, 
 Strains, that from full-strung chords at distance swell, 
 Notes, breathing soft from music's inmost cell, 160 
 While to their numerous pause, or accent deep, 
 His wondring passions dread accordance keep. 
 
 Thence musing, lo he bends his weary eyes 
 On life and all it's sad realities ; 
 
 Marks 
 
 (*) The Pictures of the Supreme Being by Raphael 
 and Michael Angelo, There is one picture of the Supreme 
 Being separating the light from the 'darkness-, in theVaultof the 
 Capclla Sestina in Rome, by Michael Angelo, which, I 
 believe, has never been engraved. Mr. Fuseli, I think, fr.it! fo, 
 when I enquired about it. I allude also to the picture of the 
 last Judgment, by the fame Master. 
 
 (j) The power of Music on the mind of the Poet.
 
 ( * ) 
 
 Marks how the prospect darkens in the rear, i 6$ 
 Shade blends with shade, and fear succeeds to fear, 
 Mid forms that flit through the malignant gloom, 
 Till Death unbar the cold sepulchral room. 
 
 Such is the Poet : bold, without confine, 
 Imagination's " chartered libertine" (z) 1 70 
 
 He scorns in apathy to float or dream 
 On listless Satisfaction's torpid stream, 
 But dares alone in vent'rous bark to ride 
 Down turbulent Delight's tempestuous tide ; 
 While thoughts encount'ring thoughts in conflict fierce 
 Tumultuous rush, and labour into verse, 176 
 
 Then, as the swelling numbers round him roll, 
 Stamps on th' immortal page the visions of his soul. 
 
 O C T A V I U S. 
 
 Nay, if you feed on this celestial strain, 
 You may with Gods hold converse, not with men; 180 
 
 Sooner 
 
 (z) The air, a chartered 'lilrct tine, is still." 
 
 Shakspere. H, V.
 
 ( *3 ) 
 
 Sooner the people's right (hall Horsley (a) prove ; 
 
 Or Sutton (aa) cease to claim the public love, 
 
 And e'er forego, from dignity of place, 
 
 His polish'd mind and reconciling grace ; 
 
 Or Warren (b) in his well-curv'd palm confound 185 
 
 An ancient guinea with a modern (bb) pound ; 
 
 Sooner 
 
 (a) See Bishop Horsley's intemperate and unadvised speeches 
 in Parliament. An injudicious friend is worse than an 
 enemy. I believe Mr. Pitt thinks so. 
 
 (aa) Dr. Charles Manners Sutton, Bkhop of Norwich. A 
 Prelate whose amiable demeanour, useful learning, and conci- 
 liating habits of life, in a moft particular manner,recommend his 
 episcopal character. No man appears to me so peculiarly- 
 marked out for the highest dignity of the church, on a va- 
 cancy, as Dr. Sutton. 
 
 (b) A learned and able Physician of the time. u The well 
 curved palm" is the attitude of a modern physician, when he is 
 about to leave his patient, and which he as naturally closes upon 
 his fee as a lobster does his claw. As I have a high respect for 
 the Medical art, I will gratify Dr. Warren with an Extract 
 from one of the Elogia written by Sammarthanus ; it relates 
 to a physician whom he names Marcscoitus. ** Recorderis Ma- 
 rescottum nostrum tria se sacra? arti nostras (Medicae scilicet) 
 " debcre professum, quibus caruis?et si flroflositum a fiarentlbus 
 " sactrdotium suscepisset ; sanitatem athleticam aetatis anno 
 " 82mo, centum aureornm millia, atque intimam innumerorum il- 
 " lustriumamicitiam." "Sammarth. Elog. p. 83 and 4. — N.ft. 
 Though the Doctor rejected the /trojtositum saeerdotium for him- 
 self, yet his Brother, my Lord of Bangor, was made into a B'uhnft 
 by />atemal Ik ill in the reign of Lord North. 
 
 (bb) This allusion was evidently made since the 26th of Feb. 
 1797, soon after which the Bank issued the One pound notes, to 
 the great disquiet of the faculty.
 
 ( *4 ) 
 
 Sooner one Prelate hate th* unequal glass, 
 And round {d) his table let the Claret pass , 
 O'er his true church the crafty St. Pol (e) sleep, 
 Or bounds with Heretics John Milher (/) keep; 190 
 
 Or 
 
 (d) u Siccat inaquales calicesCWwW Sacerdos"\\. is well known 
 hy the Cleigy of a powerful diocese, that on public days, when 
 the Claret or Burgundy arrives at a certain distance from the top of 
 the table, where. my. Lord is seated, the attracting power suddenly 
 draws the bottles across the table. When avarice, pride,and mean- 
 ness act upon the mind at once, I leave it to the metaphysicians 
 to determine the curve in which it moves.— I say no more. 
 
 (e) The Bishop of St. Pol de Leon, to whom the chief care 
 of the public largess of this kingdom, to the French Emigrants 
 sacred and /trofane, is committed. See the portrait of his Catho- 
 lic Lordship in the public print shops of London. It is impos- 
 sible to doubt the apparent propriety of the epithet I have given 
 kirn, if we only glance on the portrait. — I refer the reader to 
 all my notes on the Roman Catholic cause, in the Third Part of 
 the P. of L. It is indeed true that the Popedom is now fallen; 
 but the spirit of it, I still maintain, is neither extinct nor asleep. 
 By way of Contrast, I cannot refrain from presenting to the rea- 
 der the picture of Pope Paul the Fourth, as drawn by the 
 mafter hand of Paolo Sarpi. I will not injure the sublimity 
 and force of the language by a translation. He well knew the 
 court and the policy of Papal Rome, and they knew him. 
 " E'ben cosa certa, que Paolo, come quello che era d'animo 
 *' grand e e de' vasti pensieri,teneva per sicurodi poter remedi- 
 M area tutti i d'i$ord\n\jter la sola sua autorita Jiottti/icalejtie riputz- 
 
 v<v
 
 ( i* ) 
 
 Or Wilberforce range lawless through the town ; 
 Or Mingay be the glory of his gown ; 
 
 E Or 
 
 va di aver bisogna in ci6 di Princijie alcuno\ solito di non parlar 
 mai con gli Ambasciadori, se non intonandogli nelle orecchie che 
 egli era so?* k tutti gli Principi; che non volcva che 
 alcuno d'essi domesticasse seco, che/toteva mutar i regai t che era 
 Successor di Chi ha depostoRe et Imperadori." 1st. del Con- 
 cil. Trident. Lib. 5. This picture of a Pope, in the plenitude 
 of pontific power, should be presented to all Christian Countries 
 " in /ter/ietuam rei memoriam" that they may contemplate what 
 this spiritual tyranny and usurpation once were, and what the 
 principles of the Romish Church sacred and political (which 
 never change in essence, substance, or spirit under any calamity) 
 wilt at all times naturally introduce, whenever they obtain their 
 full operation. " Ubi Papa, ibi Roma !" in saecula saeculorum! 
 Let England look to this. 
 
 (/) To the revival of the Roman Catholic Cause in Great 
 Britain, ** Penis ero vivens." In our dread and natural horror 
 of Atheism and of anarchy, why are we to revive fupersti- 
 tion and tyranny? I have nothing to do with the 
 emancipation of the Catholics in Ireland ; I write in Great 
 Britain, and direct my thoughts for this kingdom, wishing for 
 peace, tranquillity, and union between the two Islands. — I have 
 given more time and study to this Roman Catholic subject, than 
 any man perhaps, at this time, will think it deserves. I have pe- 
 rused many a dull and uninteresting tract, even of their own 
 squabbles among one another, much to the loss of my own 
 quiet. In general I pass them over and consign them to their own 
 dulness. But there is one pamphlet, not for any, even the least, 
 excellence of the composition, but for the virulence of its spi- 
 rit, which I call into public notice, if the public will or can 
 
 Tart IV. f rc l
 
 ( *6 ) 
 
 Or Erskine cease from impotent grimace, 
 And his appeals to (g) God, his prime disgrace; 
 
 Or 
 
 feel upon the subject. It is entitled " A Reply to the Report 
 published by the Cisalpine Club on the Protestation, &c. &c. 
 by John Milner," Printed for Coghlan, Duke Street, Grosvenor 
 Square/1795. It iswritten, as the title page informs me, by one 
 John Milner, a Provincial Priest resident (as I am told) at 
 Winchester, not an emigrant, nor in the King's House (while 
 the Priests lived there en masse), but the priest of a private chapel 
 in that city. He seems, by his writings, (I know no more of him) 
 to be of the most intolerant prnciples, and deliberate in the ap- 
 plication of them. He exhibits at once the extremes of fierceness 
 and of impotence. But he represents the opinions of a very 
 large portion of their body by whom he is accredited. He is 
 very cautious in this pamphlet, as he thinks, but his caution 
 speaks plainer language than the frankness of the most open 
 declaration. " It is apprehended (he says) that the publication 
 ** of the facts in question might prove detrimental to the Catholic 
 Interest (observe the words) or any future application to the Le- 
 gislature"^. 36.Wesee this wary priest has not thought proper to 
 conceal that they have further intentions. He tries the ground 
 before him, but his steps are uneasy. The indulgence, it seems, 
 is not to rest here. The lenity of our government naturally 
 leads to other demands. With this clue in my hand, I have lit- 
 tle difficulty to pass through the intricacy of this Romish laby- 
 rinth. In another part of Mr. Milner's " Reply," his indig- 
 nation rises against some expressions in the declaration of the 
 Catholics. We see the embers under which the fire is not yet 
 extinguished. He is afraid ive Protestants should think that the 
 spirit of his church has suffered an abatement. " Thus to my 
 *' judgments cries out) am land the whole Catholic Body,w//A- 
 
 * out
 
 ( *7 ) 
 
 Or one mean cause the virtuous (//) Scott maintain, 
 Turn law to trade, or deem religion vain ; 196 
 
 E 2 Or 
 
 '* out consenting to it, pledged in the face of the Legislature, to 
 ** condemn the wars of Charlemagne, and the Crusade against 
 *' the infamous Albigenses." p. 28. I hope we are all 
 children of mercy, trained and educated in the benevolence 
 and charity which Christ has taught and enforced, and if we 
 have read the history of that infernal and murderous persecu- 
 tion of the devoted Albigenses, (whose chief crime was their 
 determined opposition and resistance to the Papal tyran- 
 ny*), what opinion or what comment shall we form on this 
 merciless Priest, who after the • lajise of centuries, feels the same pas- 
 sions and the same thirst of blood against these innocent victims 
 of popish and arbitrary violence. Crimine ab uno disce omnes I 
 
 (g) Nothing can be more offensive, more injudicious, and in 
 some instances more profane,than when a Barrister a/ifteals to God 
 for the truth of every assertion made in a court of law, and in 
 many cafes when the facts have been doubtful, and sometimes 
 have been afterwards proved to be falfe.Icall tima/irime disgrace, 
 and I hope no Barrister of ability will follow this flippant and 
 rash habit of Mr. Erfkine, in the Court of King's Bench, which 
 ive have all so repeatedly witnessed. 
 
 (//) Sir John Scott, Attorney General, 
 
 * The Albigenses were a sect of the Waldcnses, who had their rise in the 
 Twelfth century. I know what the malice of theirencmics has suggested against 
 them. This is not a place to diicuxi history, but I refer the statesman to Thu- 
 ai. us L. 1. S. 16. Vol. 1. p. 221. Ed. Buckley.' N.B. For their confession of 
 fa. th, which was presented to King Francis the First, by the wretched remnant 
 «f these Albigenses, 1 refer the theological and political reader to Sandius'j 
 Hist. Ecclos. It is an honour to their religion. Santlius's words begin 
 I544. Mcrindul'nni et Caprarienses &c. cxistcutcsque Re.'iyui* Albigtntiim 
 stquentem ridei suae confcsiioncm obtulerunt Francisco I. Regi Gallix, quam a 
 majoribus quasi per manus accelerant, abhinc anuopott Chiuti Jacara: izoe,'* 
 tie. Sand. Mist. E. p. 415.
 
 ( *8 ) 
 
 Or (//) Rosa with coy submission, modest grace, 
 
 Rise to explain his sinecures and place ; 
 
 Or the Bank bow to Pitt's imperial creed j 
 
 Or Dramatists to Jmblic trust (/) succeed. 200 
 
 Nor 
 
 (it) George Rose, Esq. Secretary to the Treasury, &c. &c. 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 (/) I (hall present the reader with an extract from " The Im- 
 perial Epistle from Kien Long Emperor of China to George the 
 Third, &C.&C.&C. in 1794." 2d. Ed. 8vo. published by White, 
 Piccadilly. In it is a delineation of a character, which 
 is also given at full length in "The Political Dramatist of 
 the House of Commonsin 1795. "(Parsons. )The Imperial Bard, 
 •» ho has indeed delineated the characters of all the principal 
 ftatesmen of this present time, thus speaks of this character. 
 
 " He comes, the motley wonder of the time, 
 
 Moulded in Nature's and in Fancy's prime, 
 
 Form'd, like Lucullus, for the wordy war, 
 
 To shake the stage, the senate, or the bar; 
 
 Whose wit a people's plaudits could secure 
 
 For gamesters, rakes, and brothellers impure, 
 
 Could tear from youth the dread of public shame, 
 
 Drive from their lips e'en Virtue's very name, 
 
 And train an easy nation to allow 
 
 A public bankrupt with a graceful bow ; 
 
 A stage-man Portland never would respect, 
 
 Bat with Athenian dignity reject ; 
 
 No Cabinet for Dramatifts, no trust, 
 
 While England in her statesmen dares be just." 
 
 Imper. Epi»t. r. 103, &c. 
 I
 
 ( n ) 
 
 Nor think, a Poet's name I lightly prize, 
 Taught by the muse and by her wisdom wise ; 
 But in the wane of Empires (mark the hour) 
 Vice and the sword consolidate all pow'r ; [erect; 
 Laws pass their (k) bounds ; few statesmen stand 
 All in their country's name, themselves protect ; 
 
 The 
 
 I have not room for the significant notes which accompany 
 this character. — I shall also observe, that in Rome, men who 
 had the concerns of a theatre, or were Pantomimi, were never 
 public kly honoured or promoted to any public dignities, 
 but in the licentious times of the Empire. In the great 
 collection of Inscriptions by the indefatigable Gruterus, we 
 find that in such times, " One Archimimus Lucius Acilius, who 
 was of the Pontine tribe, a Priest of Apollo, exercised the office of 
 a Decurio, a magistrate of Bovillae." Inscript. p. 330. No. 3. 
 and p. 331 and 32. The reader will also find in the same work 
 p. 1080, No. 6. a list of this school of Comedians. — If the Dra- 
 matift be not devoted to the service of Apollo, and a Pantomimu: 
 in all his talents and vocations, I know not the person who is 
 entitled to this distinction. 
 
 (i) The violence, sedition, and daring wickedness of times 
 like these, produce the necessity of extending laws and regulations, 
 and acts, which are declared temporary, and called for by that 
 necessity alone. When the danger is passed, the Constitution 
 is again left to protect itself by its ancient laws. This is what 
 Octavius seems to mean, by " Xw> pasting their bounds," Sec, 
 in this and the following lines.
 
 ( 3° ) 
 
 The Constitution sounds in every speech, 
 
 The words an insult, and each act a breach j 
 
 The public hopes with public credit sink — 
 
 At such an hour, when men to madness think, 210 
 
 What is a Poet, what is fiction's strain ? 
 
 Junius (/) might probe a Nation's wounds in vain. 
 
 As from a diamond globe, with rays condense, 
 
 'Tis Satire gives the strongest light to sense, 
 
 To thought compression, vigour to the soul, 215 
 
 To language bounds, to fancy due controul, 
 
 To truth the splendor of her awful face, i 
 
 To learning dignity, to virtue grace, 
 
 To conscience stings beneath the cap or crown, 
 
 To vice that terror she will feel and own. 220 
 
 But if in love with fiction ftill, at court 
 
 Present in verse some new Finance Report, 
 
 How 
 
 (/) O magna sacer et superbus umbra! 
 
 Stat. Sylv. L. a. Carm. 7. 
 Junius told the nation, that" a time might arrive, at which 
 " every inferior consideration must yield to the Security OF the 
 " Sovereign, and to the general safety of the State." In- 
 troduct. to Lett. 3$. This is not the doctrine of Home Tooke 
 and the desperate French factions and seditious societies now in 
 England.— Junius had not so learned the Constitution of En- 
 gland,
 
 ( 3« ) 
 
 How taxes, funds and debts shall disappear, 
 
 Or in the fiftieth, or five-hundredth year. 
 
 Or tread the maze of picturesque delight, , 225 
 
 From Holwood paint with Pitt the prospect bright ; 
 
 Without one " line of boundary" to speech, 
 
 The summit of conceit with Gilpin (jn) reach; 
 
 In 
 
 (m) I am under the necessity of making a strong remon- 
 ftrance against the language of Mr. Gilpin's writings on Land- 
 scape and the Picturesque. It is such a sartago or jar- 
 gon of speech as is wholly unnecessary, though we are 
 taught to believe them appropriate terms. They absolutely 
 appear in troops. Dips — Boles — Grand Masses — Belts--' 
 Bursts— tremulous Shudders — Jilashy Inundations— partitions of de- 
 solation—continents of precipice — and a hundred more, till 
 the Englifli language sets all English meaning at defiance. 
 These terms are not the parce detorta of Horace, but mere 
 jargon and foolish affectation. Dilettanti and Connoisseurs 
 almost blush to use them. A term or word may not be 
 quite obvious, or easy, yet it may not be affected. But the 
 rage of Concetto admits no " line of boundary," as these gentle- 
 men love to talk. To use the words of Shakspenre in one of 
 his own plays, as it now seems, (for Dr. Farmer and George 
 Steevens, Esq. take from him and give to him just as they 
 please) " They absolutely make a battery through our 
 tiefenceless parts." Pericles Prince of Tyre, Act 5. Sc. 1.— 
 Simplicity ia language is firft to be sought. Strength and dig- 
 nity
 
 { Sfc ) 
 
 In Desolation's dread partitions felt, 
 With diji, and bole, grand masses, burst, and belt, 
 With shudders tremulous explore your way, 239 
 
 Through plashy inundations {mm) led astray, 
 
 Till tir'd and jaded with the coxcomb strains, 
 Homeward you steal " through Surrey's (n) quiet 
 Renounce all Gilpin*s jargon, said or sung, [lanes," 
 And talk of Nature's works in Nature's tongue. 235 
 But still keep Metho d. — 
 
 AUTHOR 
 
 Method ? 
 
 OCTA* 
 
 nity will follow. Government, the arts, morality, and religion, 
 are all concerned in its preservation. Mr. Gilpin's works on 
 other subjects have and deserve high approbation. In all but 
 the picturesque he seems as ready as any man to say, "■State 
 super vias antiquasJ' 1 
 
 (mm) Jnglice, " Fens.'* 
 
 (w) " Stealing through the quiet lanes of Surry," is an easy 
 and happy expression (cur non omnia?) of Mr. Gilpin's. 
 Observat. in the Lakes of Westmoreland, &c. Vol. z, p. 26S*
 
 ( 33 ) 
 OCT AVI US. 
 
 Yes : 'tis plain, 
 Connection, order, method you disdain : 
 You write when in the humour, scarce exact, 
 The thoughts disjointed, nor the sense compact; 
 'Tis Conversation, not by rule and book, 240 
 
 I wish you would attend to placid (0) Cook; 
 From science A to science B proceed, 
 I hate your zig-zag verse and wanton heed. 
 
 F AUTHOR. 
 
 (0) See a late Poem called " Conversation" by W. Cook, 
 Esq. Many a better copy of verses is less worthy of attention. 
 There is always an use in compiling rules for human conduct, 
 if they are expressed concisely and with some force. But quoqup 
 motion such writers have my approbation from Pythagoras to 
 Dr. Trusler. The latter Divines "Rules for behaviour du- 
 ring Meals" is not the least useful of his works. It would be of 
 infinite service, if Mr. Cook and Mr. Boscawen, the late Trans- 
 lator of Horace, would /tut it into English verse. It should be 
 hung up in all Corporation and College Halls, Inns of Courts, 
 Guildhall and the Mansion House, and in some of our 
 principal Taverns, the London, the Crown and Anchor, at the 
 various Feasts of the Sons of the Clergy, Brethren of the 
 Trinity House, the Anniversaries of the Free Mafonj and of 
 the Royal and Antiquarian Societies. 
 Part IV.
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Your counsel's good : I'll lock it in my breast, 
 Like Mansfield, I ne'er enter (ft) my protest : 245 
 But say, a simple story shall I tell ? 
 A man of method is the theme. 
 
 OCTAV I US. 
 
 'Tis well. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 There liv'd a Scholar ( q) late, of London fame, 
 A Doctor, (r) and Morosophos (s) his name : 
 
 From 
 
 {Jk) The great Lord Mansfield Chief Justice of the King's 
 Bench, and his nephew the late very learned (ci-devant) Lord 
 Storm ont, made a rule never to enter a protest on the Journals 
 of the House of Lords.
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 From all the pains of study freed long since, 250 
 Far from a Newton, and not quite a (/) Vince t 
 In metaphysics bold would spread his sails, 
 And with Monboddo still believ'd in (v) tails ; 
 
 F 2 At 
 
 (y) When I am very particular in the description of a cha- 
 racter, I abstain from giving the least hint of a real name, 
 " Qnis rapiet ad se quod eiit commune omnium?" or in Le 
 Sage's language, " qui sefera connoitre mal apropos f* I only give 
 this as A Character^ and say no more. 
 
 (r) The word and title of " Doctor" is miserably abused. 
 Erasmus long ago in an Epistle from Louvain in 1520 to Cardi- 
 nal Campeggio, observed with some indignation," Unde Doc- 
 tor is titulo gloriantur, nisi ut doceant ?" Erafmi Epist. Ed. 
 Lond.Fol. p. 652. I wish this were written in large characters 
 over the door of the theatre at Oxford and the Senate House at 
 Cambridge. 
 
 (s) Moroso/ihos. Stulte sapiens. — But more presently of Dr. 
 JHorosothos, the man of Method, 
 
 (/) A learned and useful Professor of Natural Experimental 
 Philosophy at Cambridge. See his works. 
 
 (v) All the learned world knows how Lord Monboddo be- 
 lieved and ftill believes, that men had once /a/A depending from 
 the gable end of their bodies, supposing them to go upon all fours* 
 N. B. Dr. Johnson defines the gable end to be " the sloping roof of 
 it building," and he gives a pleasant instance from Mortimer's 
 
 Hug.
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 At anatomic lore would sometimes peep, 
 And call Earle (x) useful, Abernethy (_y) deep ; 15$ 
 With Symonds and with Grafton's Duke (2) would 
 A Dilettante in Divinity ; [vie, 
 
 A special clerk for method and for plan, 
 Through science by the alphabet he ran. 
 
 He 
 
 Hulbandry. ** Take care that all your brick work be covered 
 &c. without gable ends , which are very heavy, &c." Lord Gren- 
 •ville is said to admire this passage concerning £•#£/<» ends. 
 
 (x) James Earle, Esq. Senior Surgeon at St. Bartholomew's 
 Hospital, and Editor of the celebrated PERCiVALPoTT'sWorks. 
 I have been informed that the notes which Mr. Earle has added, 
 are valuable, as well as the treatises he has given to the world in 
 his ownname,asthe i-esult of extensive practice and observation. 
 
 (j>) A young Surgeon of an accurate and philosophical spi* 
 rit of investigation, from whose genius and labours I am led to 
 think, the medical art and natural science will hereafter receive 
 great accessions. 
 
 (z) The Duke of Grafton, the Chancellor, and John Sy- 
 monds, L. L. D. Professor of Modern Hiftory in the University 
 cf Cambridge, have both attracted the public attention by their 
 various Hints and Observations on Subjects of * Scripture. 
 
 * I will alfo offer a remark or two on a passage in St.Paui's Epistles,if another 
 Layrrwu n»y be heard with indulgence. I put it as * note uj>on a note, and the 
 
 reader
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 He took, not e'en in thought inclin'd to rove, 260 
 A wife for regularity, not love j 
 A little architect in all his schemes, 
 Some say, he had a method'm his dreams. 
 
 Fond 
 
 reader may pass it over, if he thinks proper. It is neiu to me ; if it is old, I beg 
 pardon and hope for excuse from my intention. — There is no particular con- 
 jecture as to the peculiar meaning or force of the following passage of St. 
 Paul in the Second Epistle to Timothy." The Cloak which I left atTroas bring 
 with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments" Ep. z. C.4. v. 15. 
 I would hint, that this Epistie was written/r</ro Rome when Paul was brought 
 before Nero the second time.Eyf*^ airo Pw//.7}r, ote tx. fovTepnirxpsf. 
 rri riai/Xoy ru Kaiffap Nepcuvi. In the zzd Chapter of the Acts, 
 Paul was tenacious of the privilege of Roman Citizenship, and it proved 
 of much advantage to him before thcCcnturion. It may be, and it is,a matter of 
 mere conjecture, whether he might be required to prove himself a Citizen of 
 Rome, when he was to m >kc his defence. These parchments (/XS/xC^avaw) 
 might contain some documents, or be a deed or diploma of some cojisequence 
 to the matter in question. But as to theC/eai,ihcn is something more particular. 
 The Cloak in the original, is ^tKotm, or <J>auXoV7]r, which is uixloubt dly 
 a corruption for (DajvoXoir, and it is so read in the Codex M.S. Bibliothecae 
 Catsarc* Viennensis. <iPa»V0Xr)f was grecistd from the Roman wordPr™- 
 la. This is no more than was done frequently in other languages and in other 
 countries. Particularly when the seat of Empire was transferred from Rome 
 to Byzantium, the lawyers of the Imperial Courts were obliged to grecise ma- 
 ny terms of law ; as ^ilelx.OfXff.l'yaxpHif for jidei commissaries, PetfB&JOV 
 for repudium, X0(A7If0[/.loa0V for comprotniisum and other words, as may be seen 
 in DuFresne and others. but in particular in a most singular and feme Lexicon 
 by Mcursius. And in the East, oefoie the accession of the House of Timour, 
 the Arabian language was prevalent in Hindustan, when the Hindoo Rajas 
 had Communication with the Mohammedan princes ; and it is remarkable, 
 that the Aialiun language is used technically in the Code of Gentoo laws. 
 Ch. i. S, 3. " That is a woman's property, duiing the Ajmmmi SiadJer." 
 
 which
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
 Fond of his ease, his Travels were at home, 264 
 And Lum'sden(rt) taught him to converse of Rome : 
 
 On 
 
 %hkh is the jfralic term for the Days of marriage. The trial of Mahorajali 
 Nundocomar for forgery before the Supreme Court of Judicature in Bengal, 
 
 •will furnish many singular instances. — But to return to the QxiVO).V)S or 
 tanula. I would observe that when the Roman state degenerated into a 
 monarchy, many Citizens laid aside the Toga and wore the P^Wa,or the La- 
 tema in its ftead. Augustus highly disapproved of this change in their dress. 
 He was, as Suetonius informs us, indignabundus, and gave orders to the jEdiles 
 on the subject : u Negotium iEdilibus dedit, nc quern pofthac in foro pate- 
 icntur nisi positis lacemis, togatum consistere." Octav. C. 40. But 
 the l'cenula was still worn. As the Pccnula was so specifically a Roman 
 garment and worn only by Romans, St. Paul might wish, as a slight con.ir- 
 mation of his point, to shew what was his cuftomary dress. The Panult 
 besides, was a vestment, which the Romans generally wore upon a journey. 
 Juvenal observes in Sat. 5. " Multo stillaret Panula nimbo," and St, Paul 
 says, that u he left it behind him at Troas" — This is only written as a mere 
 literary remark to hint, that in the minutest passages of the Scriptures, then: 
 may be some meaning ; and that nothing can be so contemptible as well as 
 impious, as a foolish and a profane ridicule on any passage in the sacred writ- 
 ings, founded on ignorance. The present remarks are intended as a matter of 
 some little curiosity. But I think there is no passage in the Hebrew or Greek 
 Scriptures, which will not at last admit of illustration or explanation, I mean 
 fhilokgiculljy or critically, so as to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. 
 Much general information is to be obtained fromHarmer's valuable and satis- 
 factory Observations on the Scriptures, collected from Voyages an4 Travels 
 in the East ; (four volumes 8vo.) and from ** Letters from some Jews to 
 Mr. Voltaire." A man of real erudition, who merits the esteem of 
 his fellow-creatures, constantly keeps his knowledge, his reason, and his 
 frudtnee connected indissolubly, or as it is well expressed by a philosopher, 
 
 Ey swapwyx ahuKvru y.utu. Xoyov apiarov. 
 
 Plat. Timse. Locr.dc anim. mundi,
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 On Sundays at Sir Jofeph's (£) never fail'd, 
 So regular, you might have thought him bail'd ; 
 With Jones a linguist, Sanscrit, Greek, or Manks, 
 And could with Watson play some chemic pranks ; 
 
 Yet 
 
 (a) That ingenious and learned gentleman, Andrew Lumis- 
 den, Esq. F.A. S. Edinb. has since that time taught us all in the 
 most agreeable scholar-like manner. See " His remarks on the 
 Antiquities and its Environs, being a classical and topographi- 
 cal Survey of the Ruins of that City." 4to 1797. A pleasing 
 and judicious performance of a Gentleman who appears to 
 have enjoyed the united advantages of foreign travel, studious 
 leisure, and polite company. — At present clypct mutato. Mr. 
 Lumisden will smile. 
 
 (&) Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. Knight of the Bath, President 
 of the Royal Society, Privy Counsellor, &c. &c. has instituted 
 a meeting at his house in Soho Square, every Sunday evening, 
 at which the Literati, and men of rank and consequence, and 
 men of no consequence at all, find equally a polite and pleasing 
 deception from that distinguished Gentleman. Sir Joseph 
 Banks is fitted for his station in the learned world not more from 
 his attainments and the liberality of his mind, than by his par- 
 ticular and unremitted attention to the interest and advance- 
 ment of natural knowledge, and his generous patronage of the 
 Arts.
 
 ( 4° ) 
 
 Yet far too wise to roast a diamond {bb} whole, 270 
 And for a treasure find at last a coal. 
 Would sometimes treat, was liberal of cash,. 
 (Not your damn*d (r) dollars, or Bank-paper trash) 
 Then talk'd, like Indian (d) Rennell, rather long. 
 And would at times regale you with a song, 275 
 But seldom that ; in music though a prig, 
 The little Doctor swell'd and look'd so big ; 
 
 Nay 
 
 (3b) The ingenious Mr.Tenant has shewn, in a paper read at 
 the Royal Society, that he can reduce a Diamondby evaporation 
 to Charcoal. I hear Mrs. Hastings and other great possessors 
 of diamonds have a kind of Tenanto-phobia, and are shy of this 
 gentleman. A poor Poet, like myself, who has neither diamonds 
 nor any thing precious belonging to him, can only remind Mr. 
 Tenant and the Royal Society of the old proverb, " Carbo- 
 nempro Thesauro." 
 
 {e ) This verse was evidently written after the 26th of Feb. 
 1797, after the order of Council was sent to the Bank of En- 
 gland, when the whole nation was made to pass through the 
 
 pillars of Hercules . 
 
 (d) Major James Rennell, the great Geographer of India, 
 6 Ttccw. A gentleman to whose accuracy and extent of know- 
 ledge this country is considerably indebted. But this has no- 
 thing to do with his conversation.
 
 ( 4* ) 
 
 Nay to Greek (e) notes would trill a Grecian ode, 
 In diatonic kind and Lydian mode, 
 And then with Burney, as his fit grew warmer, 280 
 Convers'd of Stentor the great (f) throat-performer. 
 Banks (g) gave him morning lessons how to dress, . 
 And Morgan (//) whisper'd courage and finesse : 
 
 G A 
 
 (<r) Dr. Morosophos, the man of method, was rather trouble- 
 some to his friends on this subjectofGreekMusic. He wished to pass 
 foranother Meibomius. But there is still reason to think that he 
 never saw the three hymns, to Calliope, Apollo, and Neme- 
 sis, printed with the Greek musical notes to which they were 
 sung, at the end of the Oxford edition of Aratns in 1672 by Dr. 
 Fell, or the more accurate copy of these hymns in Mr. Burette's 
 Memoireon this subject. Memoiresde l'Academie des Inscrip- 
 tions Tom. 5. — Dr. Morosophos knew but little of the system 
 of the Lydian Mode in the diatonic genus. There is also 
 reason to think, he knew as little, as Bishop Horsley, of the 
 Ilf o<r\a//,Cavo//.cV3r, the YnaTr, jj^ara/v, or the Hap utrurri (teawv, 
 &c. 
 (/)" Stentor is celebrated by Homer as the most illustrious 
 throat-pa for ma of antiquity." Burney's Hist, of Music 4to. 
 vol. 1. p. 340. 
 
 (£) Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. &c. I speak only of " Morning 
 habiliments." 
 
 (/<) Maurice Morgan, Esq. an ingenious writer, author of 
 the pleasant Extravaganza on the Courage of Sir John FalftaflF. 
 Mr. M. is known to his friends by the name of fir Join. la 
 his politics, he is of the LtMsdowu vM.
 
 y 
 
 / 
 
 { 4* ) 
 
 A Poet too he was, not very bright, 284 
 
 Something between a Jerningham and (/) Knight $ 
 
 He dealt in tragic, epic, critic lore, 
 
 With half, whole plans, and episodes in store j 
 
 Method was all j yet would he seldom write, 
 
 He fear'd the ground-plot wrong, or — out of sight. 
 
 At last the Doctor gave his friends a work ! 290 
 
 (Not verse, like Cowper, or high prose, like Burke,) 
 
 Chambers abridg'd ! in sooth 'twas all he read, 
 
 From fruitful A to unproductive Zed. 
 
 O C T A V I U S. 
 
 What then ? for ever shall we wildly stray, 
 And pluck each hare-bell in the flow'ry way, 2915 
 Or void of judgment, fire or critic force, 
 Stoop to each golden apple in the course ? 
 I never can with argument dispense; 
 Pope gave the verse, but Warburton (£) the sense. 
 
 AUTHOR 
 
 (*) R.P. Knight, Esq. author of «• The Progress of Civil 
 Society," which he calls " a Poem."
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 'Tis true; by plan and syllables (/) confiVd, 306 
 Knight thus composes first the reader's mind 5 
 To rouse attention is the poet's art, 
 Knight calls to sleep, and acts a civil part, 
 Save to his view when foul Priapus (m) rose, 
 He wak'd to lust, in stimulating prose. 305 
 
 G z But 
 
 (i) Octavius is right in some degree. The commentary of 
 Warburton on Pope's moral poems is peculiarly valuable, and 
 explains many seeming inconsistenciet. Pope thought so him- 
 self. 
 
 (/ ) Par classes et par thru, 
 Dogmatiser en vers, et rimer par chapitres. 
 t BoileauSat. 8. 115. 
 
 (m) Concerning Mr. Knight's Treatise on the Worship of 
 Priapus, in addition to what I before said (P. of L. Part I. 
 v.i34,Note(^)I shall offer the spirited words of Clemens Alex- 
 andra ntfs, from his Aoyos TlporpsirTixot as T»r ExX*jvaj or " Ad- 
 monitio ad Gctites'." " Tavrx Cy.uv rns r,$una9etas ra ap%trwa t 
 aurai rns CiSpews it 9io\<r/tat, iurat rwv aviA'Kofvevovrojv £(A.tv 
 ®e<uv at SjJaffxaXiai*— n«viffxo»,xai yvpvxt xopat, xat MOPIflN 
 ENTA2EI2 rats ypa^ais <wroyi//Av»/*«yai i'^-HraupriHst iy.it
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 But though that Garden Godforsaken dies ; 
 
 Another Cleland («) see in Lewis (<?) rise. 
 
 Why 
 
 ttc cotoc, 7rsnopvzvy.z<riv hi ofyQxXfj.oi, a.i o-^/si? [x.s[Aoiyjvxx<Ji. ft 
 GixaocfAEVCH tov uvOpcoTtov, x.«.i to evSeov t» TtXaafJixrossXcyxci ontap- 
 %<zvtes ! xrX. — "Clem. Alex.Edit. Commelin. 1616, p. 30 &c. — I 
 now dismiss this odious Treatife on Priapus for ever, — N.B.Thc 
 learned reader will recollect that Clemens Alexandrinus 
 lived inthethird century under Alexander Severus and Cara- 
 calla, was a native of Athens, and that the famous Origen studied 
 in his school. 
 
 («) John Cleland, author of " The Memoirs of a Woman of 
 Pleasure." 
 
 («r)M. Lewis, Efq. M.P.author of" The M>»£,aRomance." in 
 3"Vol.(Vol. 2.Ch. 6 and 7.) See myObservatibnsat length in the 
 preface to this Fourth Part of the P. of L. — The publication of 
 ihis novel by a Member of Parliament is in itself so serious an of- 
 fence to the public, that I know not how the author can repair this 
 breach of public decency, but by suppressing it himfelf.* I will 
 give Mr. Lewis an extract from the ninth Book of the History 
 of Procopius, called the Historia Arcana of the Emperor Justi- 
 nian and the infamous Theodora. The words are these. 
 *• AXXo ts /xoi evo^siv wQus 9T£^//.vr//xovEfo-at ra£s T8 AvQpwnit ovl* 
 Inovv ot{J.ai. 'A^ravra yap aura roc. rvs -^uyjriS traQw tiros ai 
 '. d.%io^fBUS avowal Siapxus tin. Etfet haris akoynaas tojv v'Jtzp 
 tuv 7>i7rpxy[J.£)icdv rrjv aia^uvriV, ax aTta^iol ran svrvyy^avuai 
 Q$e\vpos (puivsaQai, rarco £tj «£c//,»a •napavofj.tas arapiros aQaros 
 
 * Or Mr. Lewis might omit the indecent and blasphemous passages in 
 another edition; there is neither genius nor wit in them, and the work, as »' 
 composition, would receive great advantage. I wish he may at leaiC Ukc 
 this advifCi *
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 Why sleep the ministers of truth and law ? 
 
 Has the state no controul, no decent awe, 
 
 While each with each in madd'ning orgies vie 310 / 
 
 Pandars to lust and licens'd blasphemy ? *£ 
 
 Can senates hear without a kindred rage ? 
 
 Oh may a poet's light'ning blast the page, 
 
 Nor with the bolt of Nemesis in vain 
 
 Supply the laws, that wake not to restrain ! 31$ 
 
 Is ignorance the plea ? since Blackstone drew 
 The lucid chart, each labyrinth has a clue, 
 Each law an index : students aptly turn, 
 To Williams, Hale, judicious (//) Cox, and Burn ; 
 
 Obscenity 
 
 bOf.i now a ruv vpz^sw rxs (j.izpa>rxTxs yjupiu* Procop. Hfs* 
 tor. Arcan. Lib. 9. p. 46. Ed. Fol. Lugdun. 1623. — I wish Mr. 
 Lewis may read and profit from this passage. 
 
 (m)Samuel Cox Esq. of the Court of Chancery, the Editor (at 
 his leisure hours) of the Reports of Peere Williams. I amlittl© 
 conversant with professional law books, but a learned person 
 shewed me Mr. Cox'smode of illustration, which, I really thinky 
 seems as a m«del for all future Editors of Reports of formec 
 
 years.
 
 ( 46 ) 
 
 Obscenity has now her code and priest, 320 
 
 While anarchy prepares the dire Digest. 
 
 Methinks as in a theatre I stand, 
 Mark vice with folly saunt'ring hand with hand, 
 With each strange form in motley masquerade, 
 Featur'd grimace, and impudence pourtray'd, 325 
 While virtue, hov'ring o'er th'unhallow'd room, 
 Seems a dim speck through sin's surrounding gloom : 
 As through the smoak-soil'd glass («) we spy from far 
 The circling radiance of the Sirian Star, 
 Faint wax the beams, if strong the fumy tint, 330 
 Till the star fades, a mathematic point. 
 
 Sure 
 
 years. This mode is evidently the plan of a most judicious un- 
 derstanding and of a well-read Lawyer.— Transeat in exem- 
 plum ! 
 
 («) " If the eye-glass be tincted faintly with the smoke of a 
 «' lamp or torch to obscure the light of the star, the fainter 
 " light in the circumference of the star ceases to be visible, 
 '* and the star (if the glass be sufficiently soiled with smoke) ap- 
 •' pears something more like a mathematic point." 
 
 Newton's Optics. Prop. 7. Theor. 6.
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 Sure from the womb I was untimely torn, 
 Or in some rude inclement season born, 
 The State turns harsh on fortune's grating hinge, 
 And I untaught to beg, or crouch, or cringe ; 23S 
 For me the fates no golden texture weave, 
 Though happier far to give than to receive : 
 Yet with unvaulting sober wishes blest, 
 Ambition fled with envy from my breast ; 
 For friendship form'd,in yon starr'd fields above 340 
 My Saturn's temper'd by the beam of Jove. 
 I cannot, will not, stoop with boys to rise, 
 And seize on Pitt, like Canning, (««) by surprise, 
 Be led through Treasury vaults in airy dance, 
 And flatter'd into insignificance. (0) 345 
 
 I 
 
 («») As posterity may know little of this young Gentleman, 
 I shall add, that Mr. Canning was first an Eton boy, then wrote 
 a little book of Eflays, went to college, was then made M.P.and 
 after some tuition and inftruction from the accompliflied George 
 Rose, Esq. &c. &c. &c. made one of the Secretaries to the 
 Treasury. (1797.) 
 
 (•) Pessimum genus inimicorum Laudantcs." Tacit. I know 
 no man more qualified to be a Commentator on Tacitus than 
 the Rt. Hon. William Pitt.
 
 I 
 
 I cannot, will not, in a college gown, 
 Vent my first nonsense on a patient town, 
 Quit the dull Cam, and ponder in the park 
 A six -weeks Epic\ (^) or a Joan of Arc. 
 I leave these early transports, and the calm 350 
 Complacence, and the softly trickling balm 
 [ Self-consolation sheds ! more sweet than all 
 Burke felt in senates, or Impeachment's Hall ; 
 Borne to that course, where thund'ring from afar 
 The great Auruncian (q) drove his primal car. 3$$ 
 
 E'en 
 
 (/) Robert Southy, author of many ingenious pieces of poetry, 
 of great promise, if the young gentleman would recollect what 
 old Chaucer says of poetry, 
 
 *' Tis every dele 
 A rock of ice, and not of steel." 
 
 He gave to the public a long quarto volume of epic verses, Joan 
 of Arc, written, as he says, in the preface, in six ivceks. Had 
 he meant to write well, he should have kept it at least six years. 
 —I mention this, for I have been much pleased with many of 
 the young gentleman's little copies of verses. I wish also that 
 he would review some of his principle*. 
 
 (y) Lucilius, the founder of Satire among the Romans, is 
 stiled by Juvenal (Sat. 1.) the Magnus Aufunca alumnus." 
 He was a native of Aurunca a town of ancient Latium in Italy.
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 E'en now, when all I view afflicts my sight, 
 All that Home Tooke (a) can plot, or Godwin (£) 
 write ; 
 
 H Now 
 
 (a) Mr. Home Tooke, in the conclusion of his " Diversions 
 of Purley," makes an apology for applying himself to subjects 
 so trivial as grammatical discussions, in the year 1786. He 
 uses the words of an Italian poet, which are very remarkable, 
 though they have never been much noticed. 
 
 *' Perche altrove non have 
 
 Dove voltare il viso, 
 
 Che gli e stato interciso 
 
 Mostrar CON altre IMPRESE altra virtude" 
 
 The hour was however approaching, when his countenance was 
 to be turned to other thoughts, and he was to display other ta- 
 lents, which had almost slept since the time of Junius. At the 
 blast of the French Revolution, he awoke from grammatical 
 •lumber, and found that other enterprises awaited him. We 
 have traced his proceedings till his trial at the Old Bailey for 
 high treason, Nov. 4, 1794. H\s/Jans were unfoldko, and 
 though he was acquitted, and " Execution was not done on 
 Cawdor," yet it i.s not impossible that hereafter, after his dc« 
 cease, some honest chronicler may be found, 
 
 " Who will report (in private) 
 That very frankly he confess'd his treasons^ 
 Implor'd his country % pardon, and set forth 
 A deep repentance." (Mi.'tth.) 
 
 Till
 
 ( s« ) 
 
 Now when Translation to a pest is grown, 
 And Holcroft to French treason adds his own, 
 When Gallic Diderot in vain we shun, 360 
 
 His blasted pencil, Fatalist, (ad) and Nun j 
 When St. Pol (c) sounds the sacring bell, that calls 
 His Priests en masse from Charles's ruin'd walls; 
 When Thelwall (d), for the season, quits the Strand 
 To organize revolt by sea and land ; 365 
 
 Now 
 
 Till that hour arrives, I shall wait for the continuation of his ' 
 grammatical researches, which are promised to the world, with 
 the celebrated wish of the Satirist, 
 
 Ut vellem his jiotius nugis tota ilia dedisset 
 Temjiora savitia: ! 
 
 (I) See my account of this weak and contemptible writer, 
 William Godwin, and his Political justice^ in Part III. of the 
 P. of L. — See alfo a future note in this part of the Poem. 
 
 (aa) The names of his posthumous novels, translated for 
 »ur benefit. 
 
 (c) The Bishop of St. Pol de Leon, to whom the care of 
 the French Emigrant priests is committed en masse. The reader 
 may recollect they were maintained in the old mansion built by 
 Charles the Second at Winchester. — The reader may be sur- 
 prised, but he will find by the papers laid on the table of the 
 House of Commons, in December, 1796, that no less a sum than 
 between 2 and 300,0001. or upwards, was issued in one year for 
 Fiench priests and Emigrants.
 
 ( H ) 
 
 Now, when our public vessel, as it roils, 
 
 Is left to Miles, John Gifford, or John Bowles; (<?) 
 
 When Barristers (/) turn authors ; authors (g) prate ; 
 
 Charles Fox allegiance dares to calculate, 
 
 And with his sulph'rous torch relumes the pile 370 
 
 With unaverted (//; face, and ghastly smile j 
 
 H 2 When 
 
 (d) This indefatigable incendiary and missionary of the 
 French Propaganda, John Thekvall, has now his Schools of Rea- 
 
 fon in country towns, &c. &c. YIepi<jacos e/t/,/xa»vo/xsvof. 
 
 (e) I have no objection to any assistance in our important 
 cause; but I think it was Mr. Pitt's duty to have given to the 
 Public some vindication and apology for the grand public mea- 
 sures by a master hand. We cannot all hear his own fine speeches 
 in the H. of C. It will, I fear, be said to Mr. Pitt rather signi- 
 ficantly at some time hence, M Had you done so, Tuque tui} armis t 
 " nos te /toteremur, Achille." Ov. Metam. L. 13. v. Z30. 
 
 (/) Mr. Barrister Erskine. — See more of him and his pam* 
 phlet on the French war in a future note. 
 
 {g) I refer to the House of Commons. 
 
 (//) In ancient times among the Romans, when the public 
 ministers of funeral obsequies set fire to the pile, they turned aside 
 their faces. 
 
 Triste ministerium, subjectam more parentum 
 Avtrsi tenuere facem. ( v » r g« -&rk 6.)
 
 ( 5* ) 
 
 When Transatlantic Emigrants can roam 
 But to return, and praise our English home ; 
 Now, when the French defend us (/) in disgrace, 
 French swords, French fraud, French priests, and 
 French grimace ; 375 
 
 When England changes arms — at such a view 
 Must I find method, verse, and patience too ? 
 My verse, ('tis such as Nature gives, 'tis bold) 
 Waits not for indignation, as of old, 
 
 But 
 
 Not so the Right Honourable Charles James Fox ! 
 
 As Mr. Fox loves Greek, I will give my opinion of Mr. Fox's 
 tongue and eloquence in Greek. I shall then say of it — 1 
 Hr>.w<r<7a <7Tvt3, h'Y.oa(J.os iw aowtcis, y <T7nX8<ra oXov ro aoj[xa t 
 v) Q'hoyiZpax rov rpoy^ov rrts ycvsasus, xai (p>Xoyi£o/xsv?) v<no rr>r 
 T^itmr.s, axaraa^sTOV xaxov, (azgtvi in Oavocr^opa. If Mr. F» 
 would attend to this Greek Author, be might learn the xaXr) 
 avoicrpoqw, and the <npaLvTYis ao^ias. Even Mr. Fox may possi- 
 bly read what I say, 
 
 (/') I allude to the French Emigrant Regiments, enrolled in 
 the British army. Surely this is a measure of government un- 
 wise, unaccountable on any sound principle, a project of des- 
 peration, as one would think. Is this a time for Englishmen 
 to say, 
 
 Mutemus clypeos, Danaumque insignia nobis 
 jijitemus. (Virg. JEn. a.)
 
 ( S3 ) 
 
 But with the thunder of a Patriot's voice, 380 
 
 Cries loud to all, who England make their choice, 
 " Throw wide that portal ; let no Roman wait, 
 *' But march with Priestley through the dextralgate. % \k) 
 
 OCTAVIUS. 
 
 [I) u . Through the dextral gate !" — My allusion is this : In 
 ancient times, the most frequented roads to the City of Rome had 
 double gates. They who came into the city passed through the 
 left-hand gate; and they iv/io went out of the city took the right' 
 hand gate. See Nardini Roma Antica, L. 10. c. 9. When 
 Pliny, in his Natural History, in the -Chapter </? Roma, Lib. 3, 
 c. 5, is speaking of the gates of the city, he says, that twelve 
 of the thirty-seven gates should only be numbered once (semel nu- 
 merari)) the expression is odd, but it alludes to such of those 
 gates as were double in this sense. This was not unknown in 
 other Italian cities. The Porta de f Borsari at Verona (in the 
 opinion of the Marquese Scipio Maffei, Verona Illustrata, 
 Part 3) was in reality a twin or double gate, though it has been 
 mistaken by some antiquaries for an arch of triumph. — N. B. 
 In times like the present, I would never shut those double gates in any 
 city, when the turbulent, discontented, and factious wish to 
 retire \nto foreign parts. We all remember, that Sir Arthur 
 Hazelrig, John Hampden, and Oliver Cromwell, being ready to 
 sail for America, were STOPPED by order of Council! Hume's 
 words are very strong and remarkable in this lecturing age. 
 " They (i. e. Hampden, Hazelrig, and Cromwell) had resolved 
 11 for ever to abandon their native country, and fly to the other ex- 
 " tremity of the globe, where they might enjoy lectures and dis- 
 
 11 courses
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
 OCTA V I US. 
 
 Talk thus, e*en Horsley shall applaud : proceed. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 The tears that Britain sheds, her wounds that bleed* 
 Call for a fost'ring hand, the balm of Peace, 386 
 Not styptics, which ]fche sanguine tide increase, 
 Such as State-quacks, or Barristers expose 
 For fame and sale, and sleeping might disclose : 
 In state affairs all Barristers are dull, 390 
 
 And Erskine nods, the opium (/) in his skull. 
 
 " courses of any length or form that pleased them." Mr. Hume 
 adds, very significantly, "The King had afterwards full leisure 
 " to repent this exercise of his authority." Hume's Hist. Vol. 
 6. p. 311, Ed. Svo. 1773. 
 
 (/) Erskine. — Mr. Barrister Erskine is famous for taking 
 opium in great quantities, (I have often heard him speak in 
 praise of it) and if he proceeds in this manner, it is appre- 
 hended
 
 C si ) 
 
 Saw'st thou, (or did my troubled fancy dream ?) 
 High o'er yon cliff, in majesty supreme, 
 
 Vengeance 
 
 hended that his faculties will die of too large a dose, of which there 
 are many symptoms already. Mr. Barrister Erskine has informed 
 the public, that he has not the talents of a statesman, which, in 
 common with the kingdom at large, I readily admit as part of 
 my political creed ; though it is so very plain, as hardly to be 
 an article of faith. In his late flimsy and /iuerile "View of 
 the Causes and Consequences of the present French War," he 
 comes forth to the public (xaXa <jo$t7Tix.us xxi' ooGapuf, to use 
 an expression from Themistius, but I cannot stile him in the 
 Words of that orator, before the Emperor Constantius, as 
 
 AtI'^H [AOipXS (pt/ffcJ /tAETc^OV, ZwOV VfXVllV, SXctOsV SoQaV TCJf TYlJs 
 
 us zTri/xz'kcizv. (Themist. Orat. p. 3. Ed. fol Harduini, 1684.) 
 I positively will not translate this Greek, either/or the Barrister 
 himself, or the country members, or the worthy electors of the 
 town of Portsmouth; but I shall leave it to be tendered faithfully 
 by the Reverend Dr. Parr, or Mr. Barrister Erskine's language 
 master. Indeed in this age we are for nothing but, what we 
 call, eloquence; though the term is miserably abused. But such 
 as it is, eloquence in the political world is like charity in the 
 Christian character, without it a man is counted dead. How- 
 ever, in ancient times, in one particular there was a great and ef- 
 fential difference from the present. Perhaps it may not be 
 without use to hint or remind some folks, that in Greece 
 and Athens, (" apud Greciam, in the opinion and triumphant 
 44 language of Cicero, qua: semper eloquenti;E princets 
 44 esse voluit, atque illas omnium doctrinarum inventrices 
 * 4 Jthcnas, in quibus summ a dicendi vis et inventa est ct per« 
 «• fecta." Dc Orat. L. 1.) in GVecce and Athens, I say, Ora* 
 
 ttra
 
 ( 56 ) 
 
 Vengeance his attribute, (and, as he trod, 394 
 
 The conscious waves roll'd back !) the passing God, 
 
 That 
 
 tars and Earristers were never permitted to make any epilogus 
 ©r peroration whatsoever in the courts of the law, or in the se- 
 nate. " Epilogos illi mos civitatis abstulerat," says Quinti- 
 lian; (L. 10. c. i.) and from whom? From Demosthenes. 
 On which passage the learned Turnebus obseives, " Non licebat 
 *' Athenis affectum movers ac ne Epilogo quidetn uti ;" and yet 
 Demosthenes appeared under this restriction. What think you, 
 Mr. Barrister Erskine ? Have you ever read Jus pleadings/cr 
 the Crozvn, or against Midias, or Ylepi YIxpoctrpsa^Bixs ? How say 
 you, Mr. Barrister? — In conclusion, I recommend to all per- 
 sons, who have an itch for writing or speaking, in public or in pri- 
 vate, from Mr. Barrister Erskine dazvn to Mr. Dent and his dogs, 
 to study with care the following passage from Lord Shaftesbury, 
 in his " Advice to an Author." The words are these : " Where 
 " the harm would be, of spending some discourse, and bestow- 
 " ing a little breath and clear voice purely upon ourselves, I cannot 
 "see. We might peradventure be less noisy and more profitable 
 " in com/zany, if at convenient times we discharged some of our 
 * c articulate sound, and sjwke to ourselves viva voce, ivhen alone" 
 Advice to an Author, Sect. 1. This anticipating remedy of 
 Soliloquy the noble adviser prescribes against the disease called 
 " The Leprosy of Eloquence," which is now a British Epi- 
 demic. Mr. Barrister Erskine, as I have been informed, has 
 been under a regimen for a long time to no effect, and a Com- 
 mittee of Physicians and Surgeons, (appointed by the House) 
 who have examined Mr. Erskine's case, and the state of his 
 blood, have reported it as their opinion, that this " Leprosy of 
 Eloquence," with which he is infected, is like the Leprosy of 
 
 Naaman,
 
 ( 57 ) 
 
 That shook old Ocean's empire ? from beneath 
 Strange threat'ning notes in hollow murmurs breathe 
 Hoarse through the deafen'd shrouds ! But hush'd 
 
 the blast, 
 The trident is confirm'd, the dream is past.(w) 
 
 Oh, strong against ourselves, and rashly bold ! 
 No voice, as in the Hebrew fane of old, 401 
 
 From Britain's center to her utmost bounds, 
 From parting («) angels in sad accent sounds : 
 
 I Payne 
 
 Naaman, the Syrian, that it will cleave to him for ever, except 
 he rigidly adheres to Lord Shaftsbury's anticipating remedy of 
 Soliloquy, and abstains from speaking in all places but in the 
 Court of King's Bench. — Ilia sejactet in aula jEolus! 
 
 (m) These lines were written and inserted here at the latter 
 end of the month of May, 1797. 
 
 Proh dolor! Impeiium Pelagi sjeyjque TriJcntis 
 Cui nunc sorte datum ! 
 
 A patriotic poet may be, I hope, in thisinflance, prophetical. 
 " The Dream is pad." 
 
 (») I trust that Great Britain Ujet firm, and that the guarr 
 dians of her laws and constitution will stand bold, undaunted, 
 and with deliberate valour. My allusion in the verse is this : 
 
 Part IV. After
 
 ( 58 ) 
 
 Payne may blaspheme, and Tooke and Thelwall 
 
 mourn, 
 Our Ark's as yet by hallow'd hands upborne ! 405 
 
 I too 
 
 After the profanation of the Temple at Jerusalem, under 
 the Roman Emperor Titus, we read (it is recorded by their 
 own Historian) that the voices of guardian angels were heard, 
 at the dead of night, crying out through its inmost recesses, 
 Mera^aiva'/AEv EvreuSev, " Let us depart hence !" See the Se- 
 venth Book of the Jewish War, by Josephus, pag. 1282. Edit. 
 Hudsoui Oxon. I recommend the perusal of the whole of that 
 wonderful section (Cap. 5. L. 7.). The Historian, in some 
 parts of it, is scarcely inferior in spirit, language, and sublimity, 
 to JEschylus himself. Surely at this most awful hour, when, 
 I am almost tempted to say, the moral and natural world seem 
 to be breaking up together, when the most powerful European 
 states and populous cities have been convulsed or overthrown, 
 can we hear, without secret emotion, and without a kindred 
 horror, what the Historian calls the •* P<w//,auxwv ray^xrcn-/ 
 acXaXay/z-oy av^spof^evuv, the ruv ^racmarcoy <nvp\ xa» o&nput 
 XExyxXwptEvwv xpavyn ? Can we read unmoved, Outs 
 riXixia? r/v tXeor, bt' svrpoitn <xs//.voT'/)tos- ! Aifjiu /xapaiyofjis^oi xou 
 fX£[xvx.0T£S eu oXuf/xsf xa< xptzvym surovnoxv. "Luvn^si r,re 
 Tltipaioc xa» ra nspi% opn } €ocpvrspxv txoihvtx mv bpfjinv. Ta 
 fiopCb ra rTaS-r) /poGtpajrspa ! xtX." — I will make no apology 
 for presenting the learned reader with this passage, as Longinus 
 would say, "'Outw /AsyaXoi o» Xoyo», x«t s/x^pi^if ai evvoiau 
 oXov aoj(j.xriov $poc[Ax.nxov xa; evay&mov." (Sect. 9. de Sublim.) 
 I expect his thanks, and not his censure, if he is worthy to 
 read tt
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 I too will call, loud through the gathering storm, 
 Godwin (o) and Volney, (ft) ruin and reform ; 
 
 1 2 The 
 
 (o) Godwin. — " Ecce iterum Crispinus!" and I wish I 
 need not proceed with the line, " Et est mini ssepe vocandus 
 " in partes, Monstrum nulla virtute redemptum."— In my 
 note (/*) of Part III. of the P. of L. v. 177, I thought I had 
 taken leave of William Godwin ; but he has again obtruded 
 himself upon the public, and I, as one of the public, shall give 
 a few remarks on his late book, called " The Enquirer; or Re- 
 flections on Education, Manners, and Literature, in a series of 
 Essays." Of his Enquiry concerning Political Justice, the au- 
 thor differs in opinion from me. He declares, in his Preface 
 to his Enquirer, that " An Enquiry thus pursued on Political Jus- 
 tice (i. e. as he, William Godwin, has pursued it) is undoubtedly 
 " in the highest style of man ! ! !" But as I have given 
 my opinion, I shall say nothing here.— I shall take but a fcuj 
 cha/iters of his new book, for really I should fatigue myself and 
 my reader past all sufferance, if I were to go through with it. 
 The spirit and the manner is the same in all these Essays. 
 ** The present volume," (i.e. the Enquirer) he informs us, 
 (Preface, p. 8) " is presented to the contemplative reader, not as 
 " dicta, but as the materials of thinking, and that they arecom- 
 11 mitted to his mercy." He adds, " that with as ardent a pas- 
 41 &ion for innovation as ever, he (i.e. William Godwin) feels 
 " himself more Jiaticnt and tranquil." This is pleasant to him- 
 self certainly, but whether his opinions and their consequence* 
 will promote patience and tranquillity in other men, is all that 
 we are concerned to know and to expose. He professes to write 
 a moral work. It is miscellaneous and unconnected, whatever 
 
 he
 
 ( 60 ) 
 
 The Sophists unabash'd yet rear their head, 
 Their colours gaudy, though but idly (j) spread. 
 
 Better 
 
 lie may think. I would premise there is a difference in con- 
 sidering a moral and a mere metaphysical Enquiry. In the 
 latter it is just and necessary to take in all the parts of a system 
 to know its efficacy and apparent truth ; but in a moral work there 
 is not the same necessity, and for this plain reason. Mankind 
 are guided in their actions, not by system, but by single impulses ; 
 by detached maxims, by aphorisms, by sentences, which have 
 frequently the force of whole volumes. Whatever impels to 
 action singly and by itself, may be considered also apart, and 
 held forth either to approbation or to censure. For this im- 
 portant reason I shall offer some passages from " The Enquirer, 
 by William Godwin." The book perhaps has been read very 
 little ; but it is published and it may be read, and I am sure it 
 ought to be criticised, hot from its excellence, or the ability of 
 the writer, but from the subject matter. His first Chapter or 
 £ssay is, " Of awakening the mind."" He begins with so very wise 
 a sentence, that we are naturally prepared for much instruction, 
 I have indeed been told, that Mr. Godwin's mother, like little 
 Isaac's in Sheridan's Duenna, used to call him " Little Solomon." 
 What is this sentence ? verbatim as follows : "^"individuals were 
 •* universally happy, the species would be happy !" Again, 
 * 4 When a child is born, one of the earliest purposes of his in- 
 " stitutor ought to be, to awaken his mind, to breathe a soul into 
 ** the, as yet unformed, mass f ' Whether the mass is the mind, 
 or the mind the mass, and at what time the soul is to be breathed 
 into the mind, is not quite clear; but it is very instructive. Mr. 
 Godwin also thinks, that ** it is not the absurdest of paradoxes 
 
 "to
 
 ( 6> ) 
 
 Better be dull than wicked ; from the heart 410 
 The life -springs issue, and their force impart ; 
 
 Better 
 
 '* to affirm, that the true object of juvenile education is to teach 
 " no one thing in particular, but (the reader will be rather mr- 
 *' prised) to /trovide, against the age of five- and- twenty, a mind 
 " well regulated, active, and prepared to learn." It is to be re- 
 membered, that the general education of mankind is considered, 
 and if the reader's mind is not awakened by such an alarum of non- 
 sense, I think he must be deeply intranced, as fast as a modern 
 watchman, or Mr. Godwin himself, when he wrote the chapter. 
 Next comes Essay 2. " On the utility of talents." From this 
 we learn, in Mr. Godwin's own words, that M The only com- 
 *' plete protection against the appellation of fool, is to be the 
 "possessor of uncommon capacity;" and that "a self-satisfied, 
 44 half-witted fellow is the mofi ridiculous of all things." This 
 is also very instructive, and lets us into the secret of Mr. God- 
 win's wits and his self-satisfaction. But I cannot think Mr. G.'a 
 instructions will " produce in his pupil or child (if he has et- 
 " ther) one of the long-lookedfor saviours of the human race." It 
 might perhaps produce another Anacharsis Cloots, the Orator 
 of the human race. Then come " The Sources of Genius" ia 
 Essay 3. The sentiments are either so trite, or so absurd, or 
 so wicked, that it is difficult to choose. One of them 1 must 
 select.— Of the children of peasants, Mr. G. observes, " That 
 "at the age of fourteen the very traces of understanding arc 
 " obliterated. They are enlitted at the crimping house of oppres- 
 *' sion. They are Irutified by immoderate and unremitting la- 
 " bour. Their hearts are hardened, and their spirits broken bf 
 " til that they see, all that they feel, and all that they look forward
 
 ( 62 ) 
 
 Better to write like Coulthurst; (qq) better preach 
 With Hodson's(r)voice,and sacred flow'rs of speech, 
 
 In 
 
 •' to. This is one of the most interesting po'Nts of 
 44 view in which we can consider the Jire sent order of Society !!! It 
 44 is the great slaughter-house of genius, and of mind. It is the 
 44 unrelenting murderer of hope and gaiety, of the love of reflec- 
 44 tion, and of the love of life" (p. 16). This it is, I suppose, 
 as this atrocious but foolish writer would call it, to promote pa~ 
 tietice and tranquillity among mankind ! Mr.G. has not yet done. 
 Essay the 4th is on the same Sources. Here he proves too 
 much for himself. He says, " There is an insanity among 
 44 Philosophers, that has brought Philosophy itself into discre- 
 44 dit." (p. 19.) At the close of the eighteenth century, Mr. G. 
 speaking of the succession of events, and the manner in which 
 we acquire ideas, delivers this sentence seriously and philoso- 
 phically, with a view to be instructive, as I suppose. " If any 
 44 man was to tell me, that if I pull the trigger of my gun, a 
 44 swift and beautiful horse will immediately appear starting from 
 M the mouth of the tube ; I can only answer, that 1 do not ex- 
 u fiect it, and that it is contrary to the tenor of my former expe- 
 44 rience. But I can assign no reason (!!!) why this is an event 
 * 4 intrinsically more absurd, or less likely to hafijien than the event 
 " I have been accustomed to witness. It may be familiarly il- 
 44 lustrated to the unlearned reader, by remarking, that the process 
 44 of generation, in consequence of which men and horses are 
 " born, has obviously no more fierceivable correspondence with that 
 44 event, than it would have for me to pull the trigger of a gun ! ! !" 
 I pass by the indecency of the illustration, that I may just hint, 
 what it is to be a philosopher, and instruct the unlearned in the 
 
 ncvi
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 In soft piobation for a Foundling's gown, 
 To please some guardian Midas of the town, 415 
 
 Who 
 
 new way. I am ashamed to analyse any other opinions in thi» 
 Essay; but as Mr. G. is supposed by some to be " A man of 
 talents," I suppose also that Mr. G. has the properties of " A 
 man of talents," as he himfelf has declared them to be ; and 
 that u He (himself) can recollect up to what period he was jejune, 
 M and up to what period he was dull. He can call to mind the 
 11 innumerable errors of speculation he has committed, that would 
 M almost disgrace an ideot." (p. 28.) For my own part, in the 
 present instance, I have nothing to do with recollection. Mr. 
 Godwin and his book are before me. So much for " A man of 
 talents." I cannot oppress the reader with all his desolating, 
 unfounded, and silly opinions on all trades, professions, and oc- 
 cupations,wholly subversive of the order of society,and,as I be- 
 lieve, of any supposeable order of any regulated human society. 
 But if the reader wishes to be amused with the acme or height of 
 absurdity and wildness, I earnestly recommend to him to read 
 Mr. G.'s account of " The Walk of a man of talents, (Mr. 
 •' Godwin himself, for instance) and of a man without talents, 
 M (such as myself) from Temple Bar to Hyde-Park Corner." 
 (p. 31 and 32.) It is really icfiejhing in the extreme. No- 
 thing can be superior to it, but his " Gun of generation" just 
 described, and his " self-tilling plough, without the interven- 
 tion of man," in his other book on Political Justice, Vol. 2. 
 p. 494. Ed. 8vo. — This it is to instruct the world, to reform it, 
 to make it happy. Mr. G. comes in such a questionable shape, 
 that I know not when to finish my questions. I might go on 
 chapter by chapter in tfcif manner. Let any man look at his 
 opinions, and the nature of his knowledge and his pretensions. 
 
 I muft
 
 ( 64 ) 
 
 Who gives his vote from judgment and from taste. 
 Better with Warner move with measured haste 
 
 To 
 
 I must copy two thirds (at the least) if I wished to express and 
 to expose all that is reprehensible in this volume, or wicked, or 
 ridiculous, or trite beyond belief. I would hold up Mr. G.'s 
 own propositions, in his own words, to all persons who have 
 understanding, and let them judge. Let them fairly decide 
 whether his impiety be not even less than his folly, and the weak- 
 ness of his understanding more visible than the plunging vio- 
 lence of his exertions. *' Dat ofieram ut cum ratione insaniat" 
 Mr. Godwin is at best but a mongrel and aa exotic. He is 
 grafted upon Condorcet and the French rabble ; but he has not 
 even the raciness of that teeming soil. English minds will not 
 long bear the grossness of such an imposition. We are better 
 and earlier taught than he wishes we should be. Reason indeed 
 disclaims him ; of eloquence, and good writing, (in spite of all 
 his dogmatism) he knows nothing : and of the Belles Lettres 
 .nearly as much as can be attained, or xzxh&r picked up, at a mo- 
 dern academy in fome London Square, or at Islington. But forMr. 
 Godwin we are to lay down Plato and Xenophon ; for him we 
 are to relinquish Aristotle and Tully; to him Locke is to give 
 •way, and the simplicity and tempered humour of Mr. Addison 
 is to be lost in Mr. Godwin's effusions,— \ really am fatigued 
 with this man. Nothing but the importance of the conse- 
 quences and effects of his wild, weak, wicked, and absurd no- 
 tions (I cannot dignify them with the name of principles or 
 *%icu(jloct<z) could have prevailed upon me to have wasted irre- 
 trievably so much of my time upon them. From the period 
 when Philosopher Hume first garbled his neglected "Treatise on 
 
 Human
 
 ( 65 ) 
 
 To lend new pleasure [s) to a pedant's ear, 
 
 Appeal to Bryant, nor his judgment fear ; 
 
 K Better 
 
 Human Nature/' and published it in the form of Essays, and 
 set up, as it were, a kjnd of slop-shop of morality in the suburbs 
 of Atheism, we have had nothing but Essays upon Essays, 
 till — we all know the consequence. And last of all comes Philo- 
 sopher Godwin, and sets up hit trumpery shop too in the same 
 quarter; though he is willing to wait upon ladies and gentle- 
 men at their own houses, with his "Gros paquet de toile verte 9 
 u &/ touge" upon the principles and practice of the celebrated 
 Fri/iier in Gil Bias, and pretty much with the same kind of jus- 
 tice. He presents you with his second-hand suits, with his '** ha- 
 " bits de. draft tout uni," and his " habits de velours unpeu passes " 
 demands his soixante ducats, and then addresses you with the same 
 cool effrontery : '* Vous Stesbien heureux qrt'on se soit addressi a moi 
 " plutot qifa un autre. Graces au ciel,j'exerce rohdement ma prof es- 
 ** sion : Je SU1S LE SEUL FrIPIER qui ait DE LA MORALLf.'* 
 
 And so ends my chapter on Philosopher Godwin, or Lb 
 Philosophe Fripier, malgre sa morale! — Reader, keep 
 your ducats, and remember Gil Bias. 
 
 {p) Volney. — See Parti, (v. 120, note e .) of the P. of L. for 
 an account of Mr. Volney's book, entitled, " Ruins, or a Me- 
 ditation of the Revolution of Empires." 
 
 [q) M Mocking the air with colours idly spread." 
 
 « Shakspeare's King John. 
 
 (qq) Coulthurfh — The learned and Rev. Dr. Coulthurst lately 
 publi flied a Sermon, Oct. 2>, 1796, written in a style and man- 
 ner so very unadvised, as to furnish matter of ridicule to some 
 minute wits, who actually put it into doggrel verse. All Doc- 
 tors (and Bishops too) should remember it is one thing to 
 pretch and another to print and publish. It is also high time 
 for Bishop Horsley (qui au travers de toute sa piete n'est pjf 
 Autcur impuniment) et qui a la satisfaction d' anacher la f'olup- 
 
 t Hemes 
 
 * Giftn'xtlhc symbol of the Iris/i, and Red of French democratic factions, N 
 f Gil Bias, Li%-. 1. ch. 15.
 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 Better to state-arithmetic be bred, mLm< 4 2 ° 
 
 Tell Jacobins and Tories by the (/) head -, 
 
 Prove 
 
 turn'fs an x plat sir s\, et d'affei mir dans leur devoir des Epouses ebran- 
 ties par des amans seducleurs ; though I cannot say, " qu'on 
 trouve ses homilies et ses on v rages egalement forts et delicats) it 
 is high time, I say, for Bishop Horsley to remember that it was 
 said of the Archbishop of Grenada, " Voila un Sermon qui 
 sent furieusementl'Apoplexie f." (Gil. Bias. Liv. 7. C. 4.) 
 
 (r) Hodson. — Put synonimously for any popular preacher at 
 the Asylum, or elsrzv/iere. It is really humiliating and degrading 
 to the Clergy to preach probationary sermons on any vacancy of 
 a chaplainship at any of the charitable foundations, before such 
 ft set of judges. One is for voice and action, another for what 
 he calls learning, others for the tender passions, some for ap- 
 peals to reason, and others again love logic and close argument. 
 No Divine can satisfy such judges, but such a Doctor as is de- 
 icribed by John of Salisbury, " Doctor sanctissimus illr Gre- 
 " gorius, qui melleo pradicationis imbre totam rigavit et inebriavit 
 ** Eccle&iam !" — It is high time to put these affairs on a more 
 respectable footing for the Clergy. 1 think indeed, that the busi- 
 ness, 
 
 * See his Magidcn Homily, and his speeches in the H. of L. in cases of 
 adultery. 
 
 ■f I do not think that the Archevtque de Grenade (I beg pardon) plain Si- 
 sicp Horsley (for he never will be an Archbishop) will appoint me to be his 
 Secrctaiy, or in the inimitable words of Le Sage, G. li. t. 7. c. 2. be desirous 
 " avoir pres de lui un hommc fctmme moij qui ait de la literature, ztune bonne 
 " main, pour mcttre au net ses homelies." — I may add,, that if I should take a 
 walk through h\s literary grounds. I fear I should be found damage -feasant ; and 
 .(ft were to enter th; premises at Rochester or Westminster, and be prosecuted 
 for it^ I should certainly direct my counsel to plead a special" Nil habuit in 
 tenement is," (See Lord Raymond's Rep 1550.) For though his Lordship, as 
 Plaintiff, is but an Assignee, he may take advantage of the estoppel, for // 
 rum with tht land. See Co. Litt. 152. and Salk. 276.
 
 ( 67 ) 
 
 Prove that no dogs, as through the streets they range, 
 Give bone for bone in regular (w) exchange; 
 
 K 2 Or 
 
 ness, elections, &c. belonging to all hospitals, and all charities, 
 should be transacted by a Cumm'itee^ of the Subscribers, elected 
 annually. The propriety of such a measure being generally 
 adopted in London, and near the metropolis, is evident. 
 
 (.;) See a Treatise lately published, entitled " METPON 
 API2TON, or a Neio pleasure, recommended in a Disserta- 
 tion on Greek and Latin Prosody. (1797.)" It is without any 
 permission, and I think, with considerable effrontery, dedicated 
 to Mr. Bryant in a style perfectly new. If almost every page 
 of this treatise were not sillier, wilder, and more extravagant 
 than the preceding, I might be tempted to take some notice of 
 it's multifarious contents. For they are very numerous indeed} 
 from the laws passed in King Priam's reign [l beg Mr. Bryant's 
 pardon) under his marine Minister, when Troy was attacked 
 and invaded by the Grecians, down to the present French war 
 and the incomprehensible Cavalry Act under George the Third 
 of Great Britain. As it does not appear to mc/iossible for this 
 Author (I ufe kit own words in his mam treatife) to "/?' °f ^' e 
 ** monkey and bring out' the man" 1 "hall say nothing further of 
 this farrago of learned nonsense. 
 
 (/) " Mr. Burke gave it as.bis opinion in his "TwuXctfers 
 on the Proposals forPeace,"( 1 796) that there are "400,000 politi- 
 41 cal citizens in Gieat Britain, of whom 80,000 are pure Jaco- 
 " bins, the other four-fifths perfectly, sound," &c. In this. par- 
 ticular instance I shall only iay of this great and venerable man, 
 what one of Dante's Commentators says on a paf&ge in the 
 Purgaforio: " Per yerita, } uu gran ca/triccio, ma in cid segue il 
 «' suo stile." Dante, Shakspeare, Milton, and Burke, all abound 
 in similar cajniccios j but I will add Dr. Johnson's admirable 
 
 words ;
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 Or frame, with Marsh, strange theorems to try 
 
 Some manuscript's divine identity; (w) 425 
 
 Better 
 
 words: "He that can put them in balance with their beauties, 
 *' mull be confidered hot as nice but dull, as less to be censured 
 4< for want of candour^ then pitied for want of sensibility." 
 Life of Milton. 
 
 {u) Here is another little cajtricclo of a man of no common 
 sagacity, the late Adam Smith on Finances. He says seriously 
 by way of illustration ; " No body ever sazo a dog make a fair 
 " and deliberate exchange of me bone for another with another 
 •* dog." Smith's Wealth of Nations, Vol. 1. p. 20. Ed. 8vo. 
 My dearv^vWjthis philosophy of yours is nearly of the same date 
 as your ancestor's* in Eden, and I can only say in reply, " Who 
 *■' ever expected to see a dog do so?" — -We have all heard and read 
 *f that snarling sect, the Cynic Philosophy, and if we could con- 
 vert dogs into phtlofophers, or what is harder still, philosophical 
 propofitions into meat and bones, (which I fear is more than most 
 Scotch ProfefTbrs can do) I mould apply metaphorically the fol- 
 lowing lines from a celebrated Poet^ a great observer of him an 
 nature: 
 
 " So when two dogs are fighting f in the ftreets, 
 With a third dog one of the two dogs meets ; 
 With angry tooth he bites him to the bone, 
 And this dog smarts for what that dog has done.'* 
 
 * Id trie mat tMiensl^ely 'learned book I ever saw, (for the size of ir) and 
 "thetbest arrahgeti, I mcart the "Philosbphia Generalis, &e. per Trfedphiluni 
 ■tJaleV there is ' a'ctuctlh a Chapter " Ds Phihfophia Adavii" L. i.*C. i. 
 i". 3.—" A Cupriccio f" 
 
 f i. e. For a lone, or for any thing H'hith i» an object 01 ffjr and ch!dn-> 
 rfy't exchange.
 
 ( 69 ) 
 
 Better be White, though dubious (x) of my fame, 
 Or wisely sink my own in (y) Homer's name ; 
 
 Ah, 
 
 (to) A learned and ingenious Critic, the Rev. Wm. Marsh, 
 (Translator of Michaelis's Introduction to the New Testa- 
 ment, to which he has added many valuable notes and illustra- 
 tions)published in the year i 795" Letters to Archdeacon Travis, 
 on the subject of a Greek Manuscript in the Public Library at 
 Cambridge, printed at Leipzig, but sold in London by R. 
 Marsh,Fleetstreet."The following theorem is so new,and so im- 
 parallelled, that I cannot help preserving it in this poem as a 
 literary curiosity, and as most of my readers, I dare say, never 
 saw or even thought such a theorem possible. I shall laugh 
 hereafter at any man who tells me, that the chances/o/- or against 
 any thing are ico.ooo to 1.— 
 
 u General Theorem, by which the identity of Manuscripts is 
 determined^ from a coincidence in their Readings." (Letters, 
 
 P- 70-) 
 
 " If after a collation of Greek MSS. to the amount of any 
 number which I will call /, the reading, A, B, C, D, &c. to 
 the amount of rri have all been found in any of these MSS. 
 which I will call X* but not one of them in any other.Manu- 
 script: moreover if other readings A, B, T, A, &c. to the 
 amount of n have likewise been all found in the MS. 9C, but 
 each of them in only one other Manuscript; further if a third 
 set of readings to the amount of ; is contained in the MS. X y 
 
 but 
 
 * Tn Mr Marsh's problem, a Hebrew character (Aleph) is used, instead 
 of the Greek X which I have used, as the printer had nor the Hebrew . 
 at hand.
 
 ( 7° ) 
 
 Ah, better to unlearn'd oblivion hurl'd, 
 
 Then give to Perry (z) what I owe the world, 
 And idly busy, in my choice perplext, 430 
 
 Throw years of labour on a single text, 
 
 (Alike 
 
 but each of them in only two other MSS.; a fourth set to the 
 amount of s, each of which has been discovered in only three 
 other Manuscripts, and so on : in that case, if all these readings 
 should afterwards be found in any one Manuscript, the proba- 
 bility that the Manuscript, in which they are thus found, it the 
 kery identical Manuscript from which they had been taken, it to 
 the chance of its Being a different MS. as, 
 
 P 
 
 m + n + r + s-f- &c. 
 
 — 1 to 1 
 
 jro. 2 n t 3 r 4 s . &C &C. &C. &C. 
 
 I shall say nothing, but leave the mathematical and divine cal* 
 culating reader con la bocca dolce. 
 
 (x) See the learned and very ingenious (but rather declama- 
 tory) Sermons by Profeffor White, of Oxford, at the Bampton 
 Lecture. But in this, as in many other cases, it seems " Garth 
 M did not write his own Dispensary." — I always thought the 
 charge ridiculous ; yet learned men would write about it and 
 about it. Any thing will serve for a controversy. Enquire of 
 Me firs. Ireland, Malone, and Chalmers, at the Shahpeare Manu- 
 factory in Norfolk-street, in the Strand. 
 
 iy) The Rev. Dr. Parr will best explain this verse. See his 
 sublime Apostrophe, " Spirit of Henry Homer \ &c. &c. &c." 
 Letter to Dr. Coombe, by an Occasional Writer in the British 
 Critic. 
 
 (z) Perry, put synonimously for the printer of any factious 
 newspaper.
 
 ( 7' ) 
 
 (Alike to me, encas'd in Grecian bronze, 
 Koran, or Vulgate, Veda, Priest, or Bonze) 
 And lend to truth itself unhallow'd aid, 
 In all the rashness of a fcholar's trade, 435 
 
 And fall like (#) Porson. 
 
 OC T AVI US. 
 
 You may spare your pains, 
 He gives no ear to any modern strains, 
 Save those, by Oberea (£) fondly sung, 
 What time Opano (c) trembled on her tongue. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 (/?.) See Mr. Professor PorsonN Letters to Archdeacon Travis, 
 of which the world has now heard quite enough. Mr Profeflbr 
 Porson, you may legist again, but pray don't write in Mr. Perry's 
 little democratic closet for the wits at the Morning Chronicle office. 
 It is beneath you ; I speak serioufly. I know your abilities.— 
 It may do well enough for Mr. Professor Richardson, that fair 
 Fugitive and Highland Bard, if a certain /lolitical Dramatist* s 
 compotations mill leave him any abilities at all, which I begin to 
 doubt. What is genius, without a regulated life ! 
 
 (b) See " An Epistle from Oberea, Queen of Otaheite, to 
 Joseph Banks, Esq." (now Sir Joseph Banks) Mr. Porson's fa- 
 vourite modern poem, which he can say or rather sing to his 
 friends. It is very ingenious, but lather too free. I believe it 
 is the only piece of modern English verse he will read. 
 
 (c) O/iano or Tabano was the manner in which the name of 
 Banks was pronounced at Otaheite.
 
 ( 7 2 ) 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 Censure or praise let others seek or fear : 440 
 
 Look at my verse ; whose superscription's there ? 
 Whose cause do I defend ? 'tis your's, 'tis mine, 
 The statesman's, or the peasant's ; in my line, 
 All find in me a patron and a friend, 
 Unseen, unknown, unshaken to the end : 445 
 
 Yes, from the depths of Pindus shall my rhymes, 
 Through this mis-order'd world, these lawless times, 
 Be heard in Albion and her inmost state ; 
 All that the good revere and bad men bate, 
 In spirit and in substance, as of old, 450 
 
 The Muse in her Asbestos (c) shall enfold. 
 
 This 
 
 (c) I know not whether I need mention it, but it was an an- 
 cient Roman cuftom to wrap dead bodies, before they were 
 placed on the funeral pile, in a cloth made from a stone called 
 Amiantus, or Linum vivum, by some called the Asbestos, on which 
 fire had no power. (See D'Aubenton Tableau Methodique 
 lies Mineraux. p. 10.)
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 This is my method.— Though I sometimes stray 
 From Euclid's rigid rules to Fancy's way, 
 Yet have I mus'd on Granta's willowy strand, 
 The sage of Alexandria (//) in my hand, 455 
 
 And mark'd his mystic symbols ; the severe 
 And cogent truths dwell in my reason's ear. 
 The Stagirite too I "sought, and could divide 
 (No Scotchman near, no Gillies by my side) 
 His sober sense from pride of intellect, 460 
 
 What Locke confirm'd, or warn'd me to reject. 
 Thence soaring on the balanc'd wings of thought, 
 (As Kepler hinted, but as Newton taught) 
 My mind in calm ascension to the height 
 Of the world's temple, through th' abyss of light, 
 Mid wand'ring fires and every starr'd abode, 466 
 Explor'd the works and wonders of the God, 
 Who fix'd the laws of order, time and place, 
 In his own great senmium y (?) boundless space. 
 
 L The 
 
 (d) Euclid. 
 
 (e) " Deus, in sfiatlo infinito^ tanqtiam in sensorio suo, res inti- 
 me cernit &c. &c." Nevrton Princip. Schoi. General. Sub. fin. 
 
 Part IV.
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 The Chemist's magic flame, the curious sport 470 
 
 Amber first gave, would oft my fancy court, 
 
 Led through creation's consecrated range, 
 
 Each flower, and plant, and stem, with every change 
 
 Of vegetative life in order brought, 
 
 I bow'd before Linnaeus, as I thought ; 475 
 
 But spurn 'd unfeeling science, cruel tales 
 
 Of virgin (/) rabbets, and of headless (g) snails, 
 
 For 
 
 (/) Virgin Rabbets. — I allude in general to all needless, and 
 cruel experiments upon animals. All that breathe, and feel 
 and enjoy the gift of life from their Creator are entitled to pro- 
 tection from man, under those limits and degrees which an ho- 
 nest and an upright mind knows without being told. But in 
 this place I particularly allude to an anecdote related to me by a 
 friend, of a Paper read at the Royal Society in the course of last 
 winter, on the subject of generation. The animal chosen for 
 these savage experiments by the merciless Doctor was the 
 Rabbet. Decency and humanity alike forbid the exposure of 
 the process, and the mutilation of the parts of generation, be- 
 fore and after the animal was impregnated, and I think, in one 
 or two of them, before the coitus. Surely to fit calmly and to 
 watch with an impure, and inhuman, and unhallowed curiosity 
 
 the
 
 ( 1$ ) 
 
 And through the realms of Nature as I trod, 
 Bow'd at the throne, and faw ($) the pow'r, of God. 
 
 L 2 In 
 
 the progress of the desires, and the extinction of the natural 
 passions in devoted animals after such mutilations and experi- 
 ments, is a practice useless, wicked, foolish, degrading, and bar- 
 barous. There is no justification to be offered. The mystery 
 itself is not to be disclosed to man. But we will know every 
 thing ; I wish we would recollect that we must account for 
 our knowledge. When an experiment, for any purpose useful 
 to millions of our fellow-creatures, has been once made upon 
 an animal, it should be recorded by men of science and vera- 
 city, as authentic and satisfactory, not to be repeated. Some- 
 times, as I ivas told, the idea of the cruelty exercised upon these 
 animals was for a moment lost in the ridiculous terms, which 
 were perpetually repeated in these papers, which occupied three 
 or four sittings of the R. S. My friend told me, that he actually 
 thought that Sir Charles Blagden, Knight and Secretary to the 
 R. S. had been provided with fpecimens, and that he expected 
 to fee Virgin Rabbets, married Rabbets, and matron Rabbets pro- 
 duced from a basket on the table, to lick, as in scorn and con- 
 tempt, the very mace of a Society, who could sit and hear, 
 night after night, such a cruel farrago, without indignation, but 
 with half-smijes and simpers at the virginity of these unpro- 
 tected, and devoted, miserable animals. When Papers are pub- 
 lickly offensive, they should be publickly reprobated, and not 
 suffered to be produced before the Royal Society upon a pre- 
 tence of promoting natural knowledge. Why has the Society 
 a Council.' It is almost to offer an insult up the Sacrarium of 
 
 the
 
 ( 7« ) 
 
 In morals, in religion, in the state, 48© 
 
 In science, without order, all I hate. 
 
 OCTAV I US. 
 
 1 hear, not quite convinc'd : T honour still 
 Consistent excellence and measur'd skill ; 
 Not Extracts, (h) Beauties, pun, or anecdote, 
 Of social (/) Nicoll or young Cadell bought, 485 
 
 Such 
 
 the Moft High. For my own part, t would extend the famous 
 speech of the Barons in King John's age. I would thunder in 
 the ears of the President and of the whole Royal Society, as s. 
 body, *• Nolumus Leges Naturae mutariV* 
 
 (g) Here is another savage instance to no end or purpose 
 whatsoever, but mere cruel sport of curiosity. The Abbe 
 Spalanzani asserts that snails re-produce their heads after the am- 
 putation of the original capita. And he made experiments 
 numerous beyond belief. But in the Academie des Sciences 
 1778, the reader will find Mr. Cotte differs from the humane 
 Abbe, and says "that out of thousands of snails who have suffered 
 the operation, there have not been above five or fix of them, 
 which baye, as it is pretended, reproduced their heads.'\ 
 
 ft, Paul.
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 Such pie-bald, patchwork-knowledge, as the bags 
 By Sappho wrought from scraps and colour'd rags. 
 
 Yet speak, the hour demands : Is Learning fled ? 
 Spent all her vigour, all her spirit dead ? 
 Have Gallic arms and unrelenting war 49 
 
 Borne all her trophies from Britannia far ? 
 Shall nought but ghosts and trinkets be display 'd, 
 Since Walpole ply'd the virtuoso's trade, 
 
 Bade 
 
 (/;) Extracts, &c. — Constantine Porphyrogeneta, who was 
 seated on the imperial throne of the Greeks in the roth century, 
 an age of much darkness, was the first person who employed the 
 literati of his age in making Extracts from the works of the an- 
 cients. This employment has received it's consummation in 
 our time, in all the Beauties, Anas, Elegant Extracts, Encyclo- 
 pedias, Anecdotes, &c. &c. which have almost superseded the 
 references to original writers, and created more half-scholar* 
 than the world ever saw before. It is however not without it's 
 use, if judgment be exerted. It is rather singular that the verv 
 mode which was adopted for the raising and the revival of 
 learning, in the early ages, should bt now followed with the 
 opposite effect. — I am sorry that the Chief u Public bag-man" 
 of the age, Mr. Seward, will not approve this note. I always 
 approve his compilation in preference to all others* 
 
 («) Mr, George Nicoll, Bookseller to the King.
 
 ( 7» ) 
 
 Bade sober truth revers'd for fiction pass, 494 
 
 And mus'd o'er Gothic toys through Gothic giass ? 
 Since states, and words, and volumes, all are new, 
 Armies have skeletons, (k) and sermons (/) too ; 
 So teach our Doctors, warlike or divine, 
 Simeon by Cam, or Wyndham on the Rhine. 
 Or has Invention slept ? the modern store 500 
 
 What Athens or Chalda^a knew before ? 
 All that the Gallic sage, with ill-starr'd wit, 
 Kens from his ancient [m) telescopic pit. 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 (&) The language of the House of Commons. It should 
 have been in other terms. M Sunt lacrymae rerum, et mentem 
 mortalia tangunt." Sorrow is sacred, and should have the lan- 
 guage of consolation even from the lips of a Statesman. 
 
 (/) See Claude's Essay on a Sermon and with an Appendix, 
 containing one hundred Skeletons of Sermons &c. By Charles 
 Simeon M. A. Fellow of King's College Cambridge. 1796. — 
 This is as ludicrous and absurd in a Divine, as the term is of- 
 fensive and unfeeling in Parliament during the miseries of 
 war. 
 
 (m) See the " Origine des Decouvertes attributes aux Mo- 
 dernes" 4to Par Monsieur Dutens. i 797. The work is rather 
 entertaining, but by no means encouraging, if the Frenchman did 
 not generally substitute conjecture for fuoof. He observes page 
 
 130,
 
 ( 79 ) 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 All is not lost : («) the spirit shall revive : 504 
 Lowth yet instructs, and Blayney's (0) labours live ; 
 With all who wander by the sacred fount, 
 (A chosen Band !) encircling Sion's mount, 
 
 Fast 
 
 1 30, in his tenth Chapter, "that the bottom ofa/iit, from whence 
 " we may see the stars at noon-day, may be imagined to be the 
 *' primitive telescope" Mr. Dntens may sit in calm contempla- 
 tion at the bottom of his ancient/r/7,and from that natural primitive 
 telescope see whatever best pleases his fancy ; for my own part 
 I prefer the prospect from a cliff, with the assistance of modern 
 ingenuity, whether invented^ Democritus or Dollond. 
 
 (») I have in various parts spoken of those writers, who have 
 done honour to Great Britain; and it is not possible for me to 
 name all those who, even now, form that constellation of ability 
 and talents which has been or may yet be displayed, what Plu- 
 tarch might call, in language somewhat lofty, (I think in his 
 Treatise de placitis. philosophorum) the FIoXXw> xai auvc^an 
 Aortfuv <jvix<^ut^o(jl£vu)i aX>^%Xon 2TNATrA2MON. 
 
 (0) The deeplv-learned Translator and Commentator on Je- 
 remiah, &c.&c. B. Blayney, D. D. Regius Professor of Hebrew 
 
 and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford.
 
 ( 8o ) 
 
 Fast by the fanes and oracles of God, 
 And mark, with King (//), where waves his awful rod. 
 The truth of evidence, the moral strain, 510 
 
 Nor Hurd has preach'd, nor Paley taught in vain ; 
 
 The 
 
 {/i) As The French Revolution and it's Consequences must Occupy 
 and alarm the thoughts of every man who reflects,and stands in 
 awe of the misery and desolation which have been brought 
 upon the earth, and of the judgments which may be yet im- 
 pending over Europe, I think I may be excused by many per- 
 sons for the note which I am now writing. But first I recom- 
 mend to all those who either ignorantly, or impiously* or pre- 
 sumptuously deny, reject, or vilify the Scriptures^ to pass it over 
 entirely. To them it will be foolishness. They have neither 
 part nor .lot in such a discussion. But under this restriction, 
 and under this impression, I am inclined to extend the subject 
 a little, and would call the public attention with much earned- 
 ness to some parts of a book printed in the beginning of the 
 year 1788 in 4to, intitled " Morsels of Criticism, tending to 
 illustrate some few passages in the holy scriptures upon 
 philosophical principles and an enlarged view of things: by 
 Edward King Escv. F.R.A.S. printed for Robson and Robin- 
 son in 1788." The title of it is objectionable on every account, 
 open to ignorant ridicule and unadvised ; but had a second 
 edition of the work been called for, it might easily have been 
 altered. The author of it appears to me, (I speak from his 
 look) to be a gentleman of extensive erudition and ingenuity, 
 and of accurate biblical knowledge, perhaps a little too fond of 
 theory and sometimes a little whimsical in his application of 
 
 natural
 
 ( 8x ) 
 
 Nor yet unfl-It, in this neglectful time, 
 Fervid, but just, convincing, yet sublime, 
 
 M His 
 
 natural philosophy; but never without a serious intention and 
 a profound piety. He never forgets the nature of the subjects 
 he is treating. He feems to approach the sacred writings with 
 that prostration of mind, that distrust of his own powers, and 
 that self-abasement, which are required of those who desire to 
 look into the hidden things of God. I speak of the spirit by 
 which he appears to me to be conducted, and (I repeat it) I 
 speak/5 c« the ivotk alone. I shall contend for no interpreta- 
 tions given by Mr. King or by any other man, but I may pro- 
 pose them to public consideration ; for I never observed more 
 caution and more wariness than in this writer. We know- 
 that it is declared that " the book of prophecy is sealed till 
 the time of completion ;" but the events of the world, of the 
 Chriftian world, are so awful and so alarming, as to induce us 
 to believe, that they happen not without the immediate provi- 
 dence and decree of the Supreme Being againft the superstition 
 ?.nd corruptions of man, and for the fulfilling of the prepara- 
 tion for those times, when " the Kingdoms of this woild muft 
 {in litfiance of all human policy) become the kingdoms of God 
 and of his Chrift !" I will therefore offer to thinking persons 
 some passages from this woik by Mr. King, written several 
 years before the present events had taken place in Europe, or 
 could be conceived to be possible. I am as little disposed to 
 superstition and enthusiasm as any man living; and I do not 
 give them as additions to the idle prophecies and random con- 
 jectures which have appeared in such numbers. I have too much 
 Part. IV. reve-
 
 ( 8» ) 
 
 His learn'd Apology has Rennell (r) fram'd, 
 And may hereafter be with Barrow nam'd. 515 
 
 Hers- 
 
 revcrence for the reader and for myself on such a subject. But the 
 circumstance which peculiarly strikes me is this ; that they were 
 written without any ijiecific reference to any nation in Europe, but 
 simply and in general, that such times and such events might 
 be expected in some part of the Chriftian world. The firft pas- 
 sage I shall present, is a part of Mr. King's explanation of the 
 24th Chapter of St. Matthew's gospel, principally of the 29th 
 verse.f In regard to which he says, " We may remark, if the 
 " words are to be understood, as spoken merely emblematically, 
 *' then the images made use of are such as are well known /» 
 "predict (consistently with their constant use in many other 
 *' parts of prophecy^ a great destruction and almost annihilation 
 *' of many of those lawful powers which rule on earth, however bene- 
 " ficial any of them may be to the earth ; and a dreadful 
 
 *' LESSENING OF THE DIGNITY AND SPLENDOUR OF ALL 
 " greatness, and a subversion of all good order and civil govern- 
 " ment. Than which nothing can be expected more formida- 
 " ble. — Dreadful indeed must be a time, {if such an one is to 
 *f come) when men are let loose upon each other, possessed of all their 
 " present improvements and advantages, tut unrestrained either by 
 •' law and civil government, or by conscience and good principle ; 
 M scorning the admonition, and authority of those who ought 
 ** to maintain justice, and assisted by the more rude and barbarous 
 ft parts of the world, whom they shall find too read\ to encrease 
 " the universal uproar." Page 262 — 3. — At the conclu- 
 clufion of his Remarks on the Revelations Ch. 16. v. 13 and 
 
 14. 
 
 •f Of courfe liefer the reader to the book itfelf for the tenor of the ivhoU 
 arguirient.
 
 ( 8 3 ) 
 
 HERscHELL,(rr) with ampler mind and magic glass, 
 Mid worlds and worlds revolving as they pass, 
 
 M 2 Pours 
 
 14. he says : " Here, while we maintain due reverential fear , our 
 *' interpretation must end. Nothing but the events themselves 
 ** when they come to pass, can rightly explain the rest. And 
 *'• they will certainly speak loudly enough for themselves^ as 
 '.' those before have done. — Only I must just remark, that 
 '* it seems , as if persecution and the horrid influences of supersti- 
 *' tion t and of ignorance and of barbarism were allowed to pro- 
 u duce their dire effects during the first part of the period of 
 " time described under the Vials ; and as if, Irreligion, vani- 
 
 " TV, AND A TOTAL WANT OF ALL SERIOUS PRINCIPLE, AND 
 " A MISAPPLICATION OFTHE REFINEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION, 
 
 *' were to be allowed to produce their mischief alto, at the 
 '* latter end of that period !" page 453. See also p. 456 and 57, 
 which I could wish to copy, the words are so important, and 
 the style so dignified. In the conclusion of which Mr. King 
 observes, on the finishing of the mystery of God y " that as there 
 " should be false Christs and false prophets, so there should be 
 " also a dreadful subversion of all good government and order^ 
 " and that men should be let loose upon each other, in defiance 
 •* of all civil power and just rule , and of legal restraint." He 
 subjoins some words too remarkable to be passed over. '* It 
 *• will be happy for those who shall live some years hence y if they can 
 " prove me guilty of a mistake in this point. I speak and 
 " write with cautious reverence and fear-, acknowledging that I 
 M am liable to error, and by no means pretending to prophecy : 
 ** but still apprehending myself bound not to conceal the truth, 
 
 " where
 
 ( s 4 ) 
 
 Pours the full cluster'd radiance from on high, 
 
 That fathomless abyss of Deity. 
 
 Who 
 
 11 where any matter a/i/iears to be r evealed in Holy Scripture; 
 " and especially when the bringing an impending denunciation to 
 " light, {if it be a truth) may be an awful warning and cautioti 
 *' to many, and prevent their becoming accessa- 
 " ry to evil.*" Page 461. I must own, I am so struck 
 with these passages, that without any knowledge of this illus« 
 trious layman but from his work, I could almost addrefs him 
 in the fublime apostrophe of one of the most eloquent Fathers 
 of the ancient Church : " AvQpwire ru ©eh, ttktte Qzfanw xca 
 
 QMOVO/XB TCOV TH ©E8 /AUGTTIQICVV, AvE§ £7riQu(JUC<Jll TWV T8 tftivfAX- 
 
 ror, xaX'a 2s arvKov xai e$ pktcjfta. ms TLxxXftSiccs, \oyov far,* 
 virzyjniTa, xoci ttigtzcos £f sjcr/xa, y.xi <kvev}xcvros karctyuytoy. \ 
 —Thus did this very learned and most pious man, in 
 a strain of serious, temperate, and impressive eloquence,, 
 deliver his opinion and his interpretation J. They will stand 
 
 before 
 
 '* The following passage from the great Historian Josephus,on the inattention 
 and ignorance of man in regard to the divine predictions, is remarkable. The 
 words are these. 
 
 ZTocutz /xsv, Ikolvoos ept<pavi<T«i oVva/ASVoc mv ru ©eb (pvaiv rois 
 
 «7V0H<7<V, £lfYiX.OC(J.£-J i OTI TTODtjXy) TctJTl X.0CI TtOkVTpQTIQS, XOCI VTQIVTX. 
 
 y.di'copoiv ccitaitrS. rsrayjw.Ev<vs", a. te 5"ej ysvsoQat 'xpokzyzr rriv ts 
 
 tm avfy con™ ATNOIAN KAI AniSTIAN, Ctp' ris *hv 
 
 KpoiSeiv eaQr/ffav twv aTroCy/ffo/xevwy, A0TAAKTOI TE 
 TAIS STMTOPAIS IIAPEAO0H2AN, ws aynyjiwi 
 uurou thai rr,v s% auruv Trzipav Siatyvysiv ! 
 Joseph. Antiq. Jud. Lib. 10. S. 3. p. 449. Ed. Hudson.Oxon. 
 
 f Gregor Naz. Orat. 19. (Op. Edit. Prunxi. Paris 1609.) It was pro- 
 nounced before the great Basil, when seated upon the aichiepiscopal throne 
 of Cxsarea. (A. D. circ. 374.) 
 
 % In the beginning of the year 1788, which were probably written many 
 years before they were offered te the public.
 
 C 3 5 ) 
 
 Who in the depth abstruse of intellect 520 
 
 A greater now than Waring (s) shall expect ? 
 
 Lo, 
 
 before us and our pofterity, as the memorial of that lonely 
 wisdom, of that reverential application of the divine word, and 
 of that silent dignity, which can alone be attained by a re- 
 tirement (at intervals) from the world, which God has made 
 fo Him alone, and by that worship in spirit and in truth, which 
 when joined to human erudition and to the sober cultivation 
 of the understanding, will produce fruit unto life. — But 
 I conclude; humbly acknowledging and deeply feeling myself 
 wholly unequal, and altogether unworthy, to speak of the awful 
 sublimity of such subjects. My office can be but ministerial; 
 it is mine only to lead the aspirant to the door of the temple, and 
 to retire. 
 
 (r) I am obliged to a Dignitary of the Church who sent me, 
 as a present, the Sermon to which I allude, preached by the Re- 
 verend Thomas Rennelx D. D. before the Sons of the Cler- 
 gy on the loth of May, 1 796. I read the whole of it with great 
 avidity, and with that satisfaction I had been taught to ex- 
 pect from the character which the author bears in the 
 learned world ; but the peculiar part to which the public 
 attention is eminently due, is from page n, at the words 
 " It is, &c." to page aj ending at the words " unto them." 
 This part of the Discourse (short as it is) in my opinion, is the 
 most eloquent, manly, and dignified Ji{iolo?y for the Church of 
 England which ever was delivered/™//* a pul/ut. If I am not 
 deceived, there is much of the manner and style and genius of 
 the great Barrow,- and I think also some of his faults; but they 
 are the faults of Barrow. They might be softened and cOrrvc- 
 ted. Perhaps all notes to a Sermon, however excellent, had 
 better be omitted ; such as Dr. Rennell's,should be wrought into 
 the body of the work. I must hint, that the abilities and learn- 
 ing
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 Lo, where Philosophy extends her sway, 
 Guides future Navies o'er the trackless way, 
 
 More 
 
 ingof Dr. Rennell should be exerted in compositions of higher 
 consequence, and. not confined to single sermons. — I should 
 not be so particular on so short a composition, if Quin- 
 tilian had not taught me that a man may deserve " multum 
 " et verae gloriae quamvis uno libello ;" and in the vast multi- 
 tude of single sermons which are published week after week, 
 may I not add, 
 
 Est aliquid, de tot Graiorum millibus unum 
 A Diomede legi. 
 
 (rr) Dr. Herschell's new doctrine of the Materia Solaris 
 has attracted much attention among the learned. I offer to 
 their consideration a curious passage, which I met with, when 
 I was reading with a very different purpose. The Platonic 
 Proclus, in the third book of his Commentaries on theTimaeus 
 of his great Master, mentions that Aristotle (whom, surely with 
 justice, he calls o Qccviaocgtos ApicTorzkYis) hints, that neither 
 the Sun, nor even the stars, are absolutely bodies of Jire. The 
 words are these : ' Tov rcov A<srpcuii %opov, x.ai otvrov rov /xeyav 
 HXiov, OTK ONTA EK IIYP02." Procli Comment, in Tim*- 
 um Platonis, Edit. Basil. Gr. 1534. page 141. — The reader is re- 
 ferred to Dr. Herschell's most curious paper " On the Nature 
 and Construction of the Sun and Fixed Stars." Phil. Trans. 
 Part I. 1795.
 
 ( 8 7 ) 
 
 More voluble and firm ; so, strong in thought, 
 The royal Synod At wood (ss) sate and taught. 525 
 Who may forget thee, (/) Beattie? rustic^) Burns, 
 And all his artless wood-notes Scotland mourns. 
 
 With 
 
 (s) Edward Waring. M.D. Professor of the Mathematics ia 
 the University of Cambridge. 
 
 (ss) See a Paper in the Philos. Trans. 1796 Part I. entitled 
 " The Construction and Analysis of geometrical propositions 
 determining the positions assumed by homogeneal bodies which 
 float freely and at rest, on a fluid's surface, also detei mining the 
 stability of shi/is and other floating bodies, by George Atwood, 
 Esq. F. R. S.'' The R. S. presented Mr. Atwood with their 
 medal on the occasion.— A society may be and is honoured by 
 it's Members. It may gratify itself by prevailing on great men 
 to accept of a little memorial as a testimony of merit. But to 
 think that a Medal can confer any honour on such men as 
 Newton, Waring, Euler, Cotes, Atwood, and all (whom the 
 Florentine Poet would call the 
 
 u Mals ; Rl di color che sanno 
 
 Seder tra flosoficafamiglia t m *' 
 is an absurdity too great to be supposed. 
 
 (/)James Beattie, L.L.D. Author of " The Minstrel, 2 books." 
 It is to be for ever regretted that this true Poet and most excel- 
 lent man never finished this exquisite Poem. My mind dwells 
 upon it, particularly on the First Part.evcn from my boyish days. 
 
 * Dant. In. C. 4.
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 With England's Bard,withCowPER, (#) who shall vie? 
 Original in strength and dignity, 
 , With more than Painter's fancy blest, with lays 
 Holy, as saints to heav'n expiring raise. 531 
 
 High from the climes of Latium's happier day 
 The Muse on Roscoe (xx) darts her noontide ray, 
 And with each fbft, each reconciling per ' , 
 
 Sheds gleams of peace on Melmoth's (xxx) closing 
 
 >. 
 
 hour; S35 
 
 Bright 
 
 (v) Robert Burns. The Ayreshire Ploughman. An origi- 
 nal Poet. 
 
 (*) William Cowper Esq. Author of " The Task."— To^ 
 
 Mwizot <sp) lo/ris ! Such are the words of the divine Ascraean, 
 in his TJwogonia. Of these Muses seated on our own Parnassus, it 
 may be said, 
 
 " There did they sit, and do their holy deed, 
 
 That pleas'd both heav'n and earth 1" 
 
 .Bishop Hall's Satires. B. 1. S.2. 
 
 (xx) William Rofcoe,Efq.the hiftorian of Lorenzo de Medici 
 called the Magnificent. See the P. of L. Part III. at the con- 
 clusion. 
 
 (xxx) William Melmoth, Efq. a moft elegant and diftin- 
 gu idled writer, " near half an age with eveiy good man's praife." 
 His tranflations of Cicero and Pliny will fpeak for him, while 
 Roman and Englifli eloquence can be united. Mr. Melmoth is 
 
 v ; a happy
 
 ( s 9 ) 
 
 feright to the goal in their fublime career 
 Br t ant and Burke (J) the torch triumphant bear ; 
 While Granta hails (what need the Sage to name?) 
 Her lovd I a pis on the banks of Cam. (vv) 
 
 But whence that groan ? no more Britannia sleeps, 
 
 But o'er her lost Musaeus (.v.v) bends and weeps. 541 
 
 N Low 
 
 a Inppy example of the mild influence of learning on a culti- 
 vated mind, I mean of that learning which is declared to be the 
 aliment of youth, and the delight and confolation of declining 
 years. W ho would not envy this "fortunate cld man" 
 his most finished translation and comment on Tully's Cato? or 
 rather, who would not rejoice in the refined and mellowed 
 pleasures of so accomplished a gentleman and fo liberal a fcho- 
 Jar. 
 
 ($) It is to be wished, that these Two great men may n<n> 
 conclude their political and literary labours. " Fincm dignum et 
 ojttirm viro et o/i'ere sanctissimofaciant /" Quintil. Lib. ia. Cap. 1 1. 
 
 (w) I wish, (and every Etonian and every member of the Uni- 
 verfity of Cambridge of good character will join me heart and 
 hand) that this great, disinterested, virtuous, and consummate 
 Scholar and Physician; now by learning and religion conducted 
 with dignity to theclofeof life, may be known by this affection- 
 ate verfe to all posterity, " The lov\l IapIS on the banis of Cam,". 
 
 " Dns dilecte Se-nex, te Jupiter aequus oportet * 
 
 Nascentem, et miti lustrarit lumine I'liabus 
 
 Allantisque nepos ; ncque «nim nisi charm ab trtu 
 
 Diii suheris potent magno favisse pot 
 
 Ergo c^^i te Clins et magni nomine Phcebt 
 
 Manse Pater, jubeo low gvm solvere per *vum ! 
 
 Milton ad Mansum. 
 Part IV.
 
 ( 90 ) 
 
 Lo, every Grecian, every British Muse 
 
 Scatters the recent flow'rs and gracious dews 
 
 Where Mason sleeps ; he sure their influence felt, 
 
 And in his breast each soft affection dwelt, 545 
 
 That love and friendship know ; each sister art, 
 
 With all that Colours, and that Sounds impart, 
 
 All that the Sylvan theatre can grace, 
 
 All in the soul of Mason " found their place!" 
 
 Low sinks the laurell'd head ; in Mona's land 550 
 
 I see them pass, 'tis Mador's drooping band, 
 
 To harps of woe in holiest obsequies, 
 
 " In yonder grave, they chant, our Druid lies V 9 
 
 He (y) too, whom Indus and the Ganges mourn, 
 The glory of their banks, from Isis torn, $$$ 
 
 In learning*s strength is fled, in judgment's prime, 
 In science temp'rate, various, and sublime ; 
 To Him familiar every legal doom, 
 The courts of Athens, or the halls of Rome, 
 
 Or 
 
 X 
 
 (xx) The Rev. William Mafon, M.A. author of Elfrida, 
 aractacus, Mufaeus a Monody on Mr. Pope, The Engliftjt 
 
 Garden, &c. &c. &c. &c. 
 (j) Sir. William Jones. One of the Judges of the Supreme 
 
 Court of Judicature in Bengal, Jcc. &c, frc« &c«
 
 t * ) 
 
 Or Hindoo Vedas taught ; for him the Muse 560 
 Distill'd from even, ilow'r Hyblaan dews ; 
 Firm, when exalted, in demeanour grave, 
 Mercy and truth were his, he lov'd to save : 
 His mind collected, 'gainst opinion's shock 
 Jones stood unmov'd, and from the Christian rock, 
 Ccelestial brightness beaming on his breast, 566 
 He saw the Star, and worshipp'd in the East. 
 
 Thou too, Octavius, that dread hour must feel, 
 Nor eloquence, nor wit, nor patriot zeal, 
 Nor piety sincere without the show, 570 
 
 Nor every grace Pierian pow'rs bestow 
 From pure Ilyssus and the Latian shore, 
 What Swift, or great Erasmus felt before, 
 May save thee ! — yet, yet long, so friendship calls, 
 May guardian Angels hover round the walls, 575 
 Where love and virtue fix their blest abode, 
 Friend of thy country, servant of thy God ! 
 Octavius, yes, it is, it shall be mine, 
 With praise appropriate still to grace my line: 
 
 N 2 To
 
 ( 9* ) 
 
 To me all heedless of proud fashion's sneer, 580 
 
 Maurice (2) is learn'd, and Wi lb er force sincere; 
 
 For 
 
 (z) The Reverend Thomas Maurice, Author of " Indian 
 Antiquities, in 6 vol. 8vo. and of " the History of Hindostan, 
 " it's Arts and it's Sciences, as connected with the History of 
 " the other great Empires of Asia, during the most ancient 
 *' periods of the world." Vol. j. 410. is only yet published. 
 The public is well acquainted with their merits. But it \% 
 with the most serious concern, that I read what Mr. Maurice 
 has declared, that *' This fjistery, commenced under the patro- 
 " nage of the Court of East India Directors, is dedicated to them, 
 " in humble ho/ies of their continued support of. a work, which MUST 
 " sink without that* support." Dedication.— Learning 
 has felt a degradation from these words. I believe that 
 William Pitt, thejirst Earl of Chatham, would have wrested 
 such a Scholar as Mr. Maurice from the hands of the Merchants, 
 and place him under the direct patronage of the Crown. But 
 the name of William, (though Erasmus in one of his Epistles 
 once dwelt upon it with satisfaction,) is no "more connected 
 wjth literature. The present Minister the Rt. Hon. William 
 Pitt, in this respect, can only be delivered down to posterity, 
 ** as a negative instruction to his successors for ever." But I 
 neither call upon Nabobs, nor Directors, nor Ministers with the 
 same earnestness, or with the same censure,as upon theGuardians 
 and Bishops of the Church of England. It is. to be remem- 
 bered, 
 
 * The E. I. Company subscribed for a certain number of Copies. This is 
 not patronage. But I have just been informed that he is appointed Historiogra- 
 pher to the E. I. Company with a Salary not inadequate.
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 For Athens Cumberland (a) seems born alone 
 To bicj her comic Patriot be our own ; 
 
 Nor 
 
 bered, that the whole tenor of Mr. Maurice's writings is to 
 establish the truth of Christianity in general, as well as of 
 some disputed doctrines, from the very sources whence some 
 of its adversaries have drawn arguments against it. The Arch- 
 bishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of London, and 
 Durham, and Winchester, are called upon to confer support 
 and dignity on such a distinguished champion of the truth of 
 the cause. If they neglect it, without an adequate reason, I affirm, 
 they are guilty of a breach of duty to the kingdom, and to the es- 
 tablishment they are appointed to uphold. When 1 argue with 
 the Bishops on such atopic, I suppose they acknowledge the 
 force of a moral obligation, and I cannot allow myself to 
 think I suppose too much. " A dispensation is committed 
 *' unto them." Oixovopuav wetfjffTei/vrai. I speak with firmness, 
 but with respeft. I am sorry to say, they have not often such 
 an opportunity. I am not to be told, that researches like those 
 of Mr. Maurice, are liable to the caprice of erudition, and of 
 uncertain application, and that hisftyle is frequently too luxu- 
 riant and diffuse. The foundation of a temple may be strong, 
 though every ornament on the pillars may not be juft.— I never 
 saw Mr. Maurice in my life ; nor am I in the least acquainted 
 with him but by his writings and character 
 
 {a) Richard Cumberland Esq. an author of various talents, 
 and of considerable learning. It is scarcely necessary to enu- 
 merate his compositions, in particular his dramatic works, 
 which have received the sanction of public esteem. In my opi- 
 nion
 
 { 94 > 
 
 Nor yet ungrac'd may Sulivan (b) remain, 
 Serene in fancy, nor in science vain, 585 
 
 Yet still, though oft his various works I scan, 
 I quit the volume, when I find the man. 
 
 I 
 
 nion he has done very great service to the cause of morality and of 
 literature. He is author of a work called " The Observer," and 
 from the translations in that work of the fragments of the Gr^ek 
 comic writers,I believe all learned readers will agree,that he is the 
 only man in the kingdom(withwhom we zxz publicly acquainted) 
 equal to the translation of Aristophanes. I wish it were to be the 
 amusement of his retired hours. I shall never think he has been 
 *' public too long," but as he has quitted the stage, (as he affirms 
 himself,) such a translation would be an easy, yet an adequate 
 and honourable employment for a man of unquestionable ge- 
 nius, versatility of talents, knowledge of the world, and a con-, 
 Jummate mafter of the poetical language of our bell ancient 
 dramatic writers. Let us hope that Aristophanes may yet be. 
 our own. 
 
 (i) Richard Joseph Sulivan, Esq. F.R.S. and F.A.S. au- 
 thor of" Philosophical Rhapsodies, &c. and of a work entitled 
 •' A View of Nature, in Letters to a Traveller among the Alps, 
 with Reflections on Atheistical Philosophy now exemplified in 
 France, in six vol. 8vo." Printed for T. Becket, Pall Mali. 
 A work of labour, and of general utility, digested from original 
 writers with judgmentand with an upright virtuous heart, in a 
 pleasing and instructive manner.
 
 < 95 ) 
 
 Good books (Jb) are the mind's bread : (excuse the 
 
 ^ phrase, 
 
 Gifford will bear the term, and Cowper praise) "^ 
 
 . . 
 
 They give the life-blood, nutriment and health, 
 
 And laugh to scorn the insolence of wealth. 595 
 
 OCTA- 
 
 (<5) It is plead ng and fatisfaftnry to think that nil books 
 •which arc abfohitely required to strengthen, exalt, purify, and 'La- 
 form the under (landing, and consequently to correct and en- 
 large the affections and the heart, are of easy access and of 
 v price. With the luxury of learning and the modern ele- ' 
 gance of types and paper, I have nothing to do, but earnestly 
 to deprecate all needless extravagance and brilliant folly inwa; 
 publications, if they aredefigned to be of service to the world, 
 and to be purchased. The august and sublime monuments of 
 religion and of genius may be adorned without blame, or rather 
 with great commendation. When the Bible, Shakspeare, or 
 Milton appear in all the splendour of typographic art and the 
 magnificence of decoration from the pencil, who does not fed 
 a secret pride in the honour reflected on the discerning libera- 
 lity of his country ? Such books may be considered as typogra- 
 phical pictures by eminent artists. Pictures however are not 
 necessary for the closet of a student ; but they may adorn the 
 museums of a nation or an uniyeisity Ju and dignify the repofi- J 
 tories of the opulent and p a_trician"T|"terat7i> Atticus is magnifi- 
 cent in such patronage, though iRu til us may incur fome cen- 
 sure. This is a noble and a laudahle use of the superfluity of 
 wealth. It is also political in the highefl: degree. In times like 
 these men of talents and genius, when unemployed and let loose 
 upon the world, become too frequently the pelts of society and 
 the canker worms of the community. — It is indeed high time 
 to awake out of deep, and to difcern the peculiar use of every 
 blefling. In all our actions, we fhould have a view to the sta- 
 bility of society and of well-reguiated government. It becomes 
 usalllo observe and separate the essential and unvarying la.ws 
 of order from the principles of confufion, and the dictates pf 
 sound sense from the wildnessof ungoverned fancy and of pre- 
 sumptuous intellect ; that the grand end and aim may at Iaft be 
 effected, that we may, by choice and conviction, turn from l/- 
 irtg vanities to the spirit of truth and of life.
 
 ( 96 ) 
 
 O C T A V I U S. 
 
 Here close the strain : and o'er your studious hou? 
 
 May truth preside, and virtue's holiest pow'r ! 
 
 Still be your knowledge temp'rate and (e) discreet, 
 
 Though not as Jones sublime, as Bryant great ; 
 
 Pre- 
 
 (e) The advice of Octavius is good, but not applicable to z 
 man so insignificant as his friend. — But to men of knowledge 
 and of ability in every department of life it is of deep impor- 
 tance. I lament and am indignant, when I think of such a scho- 
 lar as Dr. Parr, and the waste of erudition and talents. Let 
 him stand for a genus. The want of discretion and prudence 
 has ruined move men of learning and genius than the time would 
 allow me to mention. Without this prudence, without a dis- 
 cernment of time and circumstance, and the habit of regularity, 
 without an attention to the decencies of society and of 
 common life, and of the principles by which all men, how- 
 ever gifted, must indiscriminately be conducted, all our 
 attainments are nothing worth. They will never procure us es- 
 teem or respectability among men. The world will but smile 
 at such scholars, and ministers, when called upon to promote 
 them, will tell you, not without reason, *' they are not producible." 
 Let me give two passages on this subject, one from Milton, 
 the other from Dr. Johnson, variously applicable and of deepest 
 consequence. 
 
 " He who reads 
 Incessantly, and to his reading brings not 
 A spirit and judgment equal or superior, 
 Uncertain and unsettled still remains, 
 Deep-vers'd in books, and shallow in himself, 
 Crude or intoxicate, collecting toys, 
 As children gathering pebbles on the shore." 
 
 P. R. b. 4. v. 322. 
 
 To men of genius (as at least they are called) Dr. Johnson gave 
 this solemn admonition ; " This relation (of the life of Sa- 
 vage)
 
 ( » ) 
 
 Prepar'd to prove in Senate, or the Hall, Coo 
 
 That states by learning rise, by learning fall ; 
 Serene, not senseless, through the awful storm*" 
 In principle sedate, to shun (/) Reform ; 
 
 O To 
 
 vage) will not be wholly without it's use, if those who, in con- 
 14 fidence of superior capacities or attainments, disregard the 
 *' common maxims of life, shall be reminded, that nothing will sup- 
 *' ply the want of prudence, and that negligence and irregularity, 
 *• long continued, will make knowledge useless, wit ridiculous, and 
 *' genius contemptible." Dr. Johnson's Life of Savage, at the 
 conclusion. 
 
 M Deign on the passing world to caft thine eyes, 
 " Andpause awhile from letters, to be wise." 
 
 (/) No factions ever proceeded to attempt a RevolctioTT 
 in any country, but first under the pretence and through the Me- 
 dium of a Reform. We have been told with effrontery and with 
 falshood, that the Constitution of England exists only in the 
 imagination; yet we may read the Bill of Rights. The fa ct is 
 this. Modern framers of political constitutions will never 
 be satisfied, till they are laid down, like the elements of ma* 
 thematics in the manner of Euclid. Definitions, Axioms, Postu- 
 latas, primary propositions, subsequent propositions, built upon 
 and proved by the preceding, with corollaries and deductions. 
 One strange writer, (perhaps it is the first time the reader ever 
 heard of him) says, " a Constitution must be produced intirc y 
 ■* and at the same time, it must be simple in it's construction, 
 " and perfect in all it's parts." Malkin's Essays on Civili- 
 zation, 8vo. (1795) P* l2Zt * nac * fondly thought that Lord 
 
 Bacon 
 Part IV.
 
 ( 9» ) 
 
 To mark man's intellect, it's strength and bouricf, 
 Nor deem stability on change to found j 605 
 
 To 
 
 Bacon had distinguished the works of nature from those of art, 
 in that masterly and memorable sentence, " Natura omnium 
 partium rudimenta simul parit et procreat." (De Augm. Sci- 
 ent.) I suppose a political Constitution is the work of hu- 
 man art. But ajl now is new. Indeed if Mr. Malkirt 
 were describing a perfect poem, epic or tragic, he could not 
 have expressed himself more critically. Yet thus it is, that our 
 present theoretical writers sport with man and his passions. 
 They certainly considers all as passive machines, and they 
 apply their laws, with as much cool indifference to their fellow- 
 creature?, and with as little feeling, as they would ajijily the axe or 
 any mechanical instrument to lop a tree or to raise a weight. 
 Their systems uniformly proceed on this principle. They never 
 vary. Mercy is not in all their thoughts ; there is neither allow- 
 ance for human frailty, nor Fevjsion of judgment : man has of- 
 fended, he must die the death. " Gnossius hac Rhadamanthus ha- 
 u bet durissima regka." We have all seen and felt, what the 
 revolutionary principle is. We kriow what freedom, what equality 
 of power among the citizens, what fraternity, what comfort, what 
 happiness and what security France has offered and given to all 
 countries, who have either bowed voluntarily,or have been sub- 
 jected, to her tyranny. Take Cicero's expressions. As to 
 themselves ; *.' Licet, quod videtur, publicum judicare ; quod judica- 
 "verint, vendcre" As to other nations, friend or foe ; " Persjtier 
 *' non potest, utrum severitas acerbior, an bcnignitas quastnosior sit.'* 
 Such are the words in that elaborate and consummate Oration 
 
 Oil
 
 ( 99 ] 
 
 To feel with Mirabeau that " Words are (g) Things,'* 
 While in Delusion's ear their magic rings, 
 
 O 2 Through 
 
 on the Agrarian Law, which every man would do well to read and 
 Consider, in the original or in a tranilation.lt is peculiarly perti- 
 nent to the present time. For my own part, I would remind my 
 Countrymen, in this perilous and pressing hour, of the eloquent 
 words of Dtinonax, as they are recorded by Lucian j " Consti* 
 " tutions and doctrines like these you never viill decree, till you ha\e 
 u first removed or overthrown the altar of mercy !" The word$ 
 of the original are full of dignity: Mtj vfjTtpov, u ASnvsaof, 
 4/T,piff£ff0e, av fj.n th EAEOT tov t&'/xoy xa&eXrre. Lucia;i 
 Demonax. p. 555. Edit. Fol. Bourdelotii. 
 
 (g) A celebrated saying of the famous Mirabeau, in the be- 
 ginning of the French Revolution. — I would, in this concluding 
 note,observe with great earnestness and affection to my country, 
 that in all departments of society, government, religion, or litera- 
 ture, the French have nil times maintained one unvarying system 
 of dece/ition, when under the ancient monarchy, or under the 
 iron tyranny of their new republic. Their manner of rea- 
 soning is, and always has been, sophistical. We are in per- 
 petual danger of being misled by the appearance of reason. We 
 have always ground for distract. Take a specimen from thou- 
 sands and tens of thousands of instances. Many years ago, in 
 a collection entitled «* Lettres Historiques et PoSitiques," 
 a French Statesman used the<e ifcords to Mr. D'Alembert. " Je 
 
 1 ne veux point admettre dans les arrets de Constil un vtai tri. 
 
 i vial, une clarte trofi families e. Je veux un vrai de red.: 
 
 * une clarte elegante, une naivete fine, toute brillante de termtt 
 
 * pom/ieux, releves i>wftiniment de phrases arrondies, tie vocatifs 
 1 inter mediaires et a*adverbes indifinis." Lett. Hist, et Polit. V«l. 
 4. p. 176. Nothing can be more characteristic of French States- 
 men. Be but sufficiently unintelligible, have but your vocitifs 
 intermediate: et your adveiles indefinis, and the business is done. 
 J-anguagc without meaning, phrases to blind the people, and
 
 ( ioo ) 
 
 Through states, or armies, in the camp, or street, 
 And now a school revolts, and now a Fleet. 
 
 Go, 
 
 ideas to delude. But when the scheme is accomplished, and when 
 they oltain the power ,\ht\x language is perfectly intelligible. — Next 
 take an instance in literature. Men of learning have always had 
 a proper value for the Greek language, for reasons too obvious for 
 me to state. In general the French are ignorant of it. Indeed Mr. 
 Camus (theDe/iufy Jsome time ago published an edition of Aristotle 
 Tlspi 'Zojcov, moderate enough as I thought from a slight inspec- 
 tion, but Lord Mountmorres assures his friends it is an excellent 
 edition. I amsilent.WithLord Mountmorres, with that Ubiquist, 
 that English Chapelain u\p)ose,who shall contend ? — But in gene- 
 ral the French Philosophers, who by their works prepared the 
 Revolution, are perpetually despising or ridiculing the Greek 
 language. I only speak of their manner of effecting their pur- 
 pose. One of the.acutest of them all, Mr. D'Alembert, has 
 these words. <£ Ah, si vous saviez le G/vr/"— Ceux qui 
 *' scavent, ou croient savoir, .1' Hebreu, 1' Arabe, le Syriaque, le 
 «' Cophte ou le Copte (as if he cared how it was pronounced,) le 
 V Person, ou le Chinois, pensent et parlent de memetl paries me?ne{ 
 " reisons." D'Alembert Melanges de Literature et de Phi- 
 losophic Vol. $. p. 526. We see, the French Philosopher by 
 confounding the Arabic, Coptic, Syriac and Chinese with the Greek t 
 insinuates that there is an equal use in them all, that is, to the 
 generality of scholars and to the world at large, little or no use 
 at all. This does not merit any answer ; but we see the nature 
 of a FrenchPhilosopher's proof and the manner of his argument. 
 In short, he either knows every thing, or there is no manner 
 of use at all in any thing that he does not know ? Q^R.D. I think 
 
 from
 
 ( ioi ) 
 
 Go, warn in solemn accents bold and brief, 
 The slumb'ring Minister, or factious Chief, 
 
 Mourn 
 
 frcm continued observation, I understand the nature of these 
 men. Their literature, their politics, their philosophy, all ter- 
 minate in the same point. " Croyez Moi," are the words, whe- 
 ther they speak to an individual, or to the nations of the uni- 
 verse.— —Now, since the Revolution, from reasoning they 
 have betaken themselves to single words. Deception still. 
 Mirabeau said true, " Words are things." I cannot help 
 observing that, in a different manner and for a far diffe- 
 rent purpose, the Athenians, in ancient times, had a custom 
 of softening the appellation of things, which naturally con- 
 veyed an idea of terror. This may be found in a most 
 curious extract preserved by the very learned Photius from 
 the 4th Book of the Chrestomathia of Helladius Bbsan- 
 tinous ; the words are these. " To ixrt ^vatynfj.x Xsyeiv itomji toj? 
 TlaXouois 9/H>VT»r tjv, /LtatXiffra Se ran AQmvtziois' Jn xa« to Ae<i- 
 f/Mmpiov, o»X75/xa exaXuv, xai tov Atj/xjov, Kojvov ray Se E^ivvyar, 
 cr£/xvay Bias xtX." Photii Bibliothec: Sect. 279. pag. 1593. 
 Edit. 1653. In the same manner the French apply the terms 
 Equality, Liberty, Fraternity, &c. for Tyranny, Desolation, Op- 
 pression and Plunder. This is well understood. It would be 
 presumption to enlarge on this subject to a kingdom so enligh- 
 tened, so dignified, and so prepared as Great Britain. We have 
 every thing to lose. We have, under our own form of govern- 
 ment, comfort, protection, honour, security, and happiness. 
 The price of preserving them is very great ; but the price of anar- 
 chy, reform, and inextricable confusion, would be greater be- 
 yond all calculation. We have a foe powerful and perhaps 
 Unrelenting. But all states yield at last to circumnances j and 
 
 policy,
 
 ( *w J, 
 
 Mourn proudest empires prostrate in the dotfc, 
 
 Tiaras 
 
 policy will grant what affection would refuse. ' The most ar» 
 dent wish of my heart is a secure Peace, after a war for ever 
 to be deplored, bloody, fatal, and expensive beyond all example ; 
 but which I always believed, and still believe, to have been 
 inevitable. We have still Resources ; but the times never 
 called with so loud and so commanding a voice for wisdom, dis- 
 cernment, and integrity, for temperate, and timely, and gradual 
 concession with dignity and security, and for an oeconomy rigid 
 and undeviating, on the fiart of our governors) and for obedi- 
 ence, acquiescence under temporary pressure, alacrity in de- 
 fence, and vigilance, and loyalty, and steadiness, in all the sub- 
 jects of this land. We have no need of the Roman J Armilus- 
 triuw, our arms are purified already. Our Soldiers are loyal, 
 and honourable, and without spot. They have been weighed 
 in the balance, and found perfect. And I trust our naval 
 flag will never again wave but in defiance to our enemies* 
 We are not lost, if. we continue firm. We must re- 
 member, that all the leagues of French Factions and 
 their leaders know not to relent. There is as much mercy in 
 them, to vise the phrase of Shakspeare, as tlxre is milk in a ?nah 
 T'^ei: But Justice has her balance, and the sword is not borne 
 in vain. " At home (I take the words of Sirjohn Finch in the 
 " 4th of Charles I.) at any rate Authority must be vindi- 
 " catei) from ccnt-empt, since the life of government is re- 
 f putation." And we should remember, that " None are so 
 M bold as the factious in company, none so fearful apart." We 
 mav have good hope, for we h?ve a good cause. When perhaps 
 the greatest statesman and the greatest orator that ever headed 
 an opposition, demands an audience of his Sovereign, I would 
 
 willingly 
 
 ♦ See Vossius e'e Ling. Lat. Lib. 5. 3. for the word and the illustratio:; 
 »f it. Fcstus also may be consulted.
 
 ( J °3 ) 
 
 Tiaras, fanes, and pontiffs, crown and bust, 61 1 
 
 And 
 
 willingly conclude that the principle of his heart is not de- 
 mocratic, though, I think, his principles, in general, are dange- 
 rous. I would hope we may yet be redeemed. It wa9the boaft 
 of theRomanEmperor Augustus, that he found the City of brick, 
 and left it of marble. I trust we shall not reverse this memora- 
 ble saying. I trust that the fiublic credit of the nation will revive, 
 and that in this respect, when fpeaking of Mr. Pitt, it will not be 
 engraven with an iron pen and in the rock of England for ever, 
 11 Auream invenit, chartaceam reliquit." I think I can discern 
 the firm establishment of lawful constitutional power in the 
 plunges of meditated convulsion ; and the return of day, in the 
 moment of greatest obscuration. We feel all blessings by 
 their absence. But I must conclude. I have loved my country 
 from my earliest years, from a conviction of the excellence of 
 the Constitution and of that balanced liberty it was formed to 
 maintain. I am grateful for the protection and the blessings 
 it has afforded, and is yet mighty to preserve. However una- 
 vailing my actions, my sentiments, my abilities, or my services, 
 they are unknown, unbought, unsolicited, and shall be unaltered. 
 Inspirit, in principle, in affection, my words and thoughts are 
 these : 
 
 Non ante revellar 
 Examine m quam te comjilectar RoMa, tuumqiu 
 Nomen 1 'LiBEKT\9 ) ct inanem /irosequar umbrami 
 
 Lucan. L,2,v. 501.
 
 (< io4 ) 
 
 And last, as through. the smould'ring flames you turn, 
 Snatch the Palladium, (d) though the Temple- 
 burn* 6 1 4 
 
 {d) iEdes Vests arsit : Metellus (Pontifex Maximus) inter 
 i/isos ignes raptum^ Palladium incolume servavit" Val. Max. 
 L. i. C.4. 
 
 THE END* 

 
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