Let B*rr*t*n arreft him in mock fury,
And M**d hang the knave without a jury.

But hark, the voice of battle fhouts from far,

The Jews and Maccaronies are at war :

130

The Jews prevail, and, thund'ring from the stocks,
They feize, they bind, and circumcife C*s F*:
Fair Schw**n smiles the sport to fee,

And all the Maids of Honour cry Te! He!

135

140

Be these the rural-paftimes that attend Great B*nfw*k's leifure: thefe fhall bet unbend His royal mind, whene'er from ftate withdrawn, He treads the velvet of his Richmond lawn ; These shall prolong his Afiatic dream, Tho' Europe's balance trembles on its beam. And thou, Sir William! while thy plastic hand Creates each wonder, which thy bard has plann'd, While, as thy art commands, obfequious rife Whate'er can please, or frighten, or surprize, O! let the Bard his Knight's protection claim, 145 And share, like faithful Sancho, Quixote's fame.

Verse 127. Let B**n.] "The watch feizes on the culprit." Page 33.

Verfe 128. And M**d, &c.] "He is conveyed before the judge, and fometimes severely bastinadoed." Ibid.

Verse 129, But hark, &c.] "Quarrels happen-battles

enfue." lbid.

Verfe 132. Circumcife C*s F*.] "Every liberty is permitted, there is no diftinction of perfons." Ibid.

́ ́Verse 134. And all the maids of honour, &c.] "This is done to divert his Imperial Majefty, and the ladies of his train." Ibid.

AN

AN HEROIC POSTSCRIPT TO THE PUBLIC, OCCASIONED BY, THEIR FAVOURABLE RECEPTION OF

A LATE HEROIC EPISTLE TO SIR WILLIAM CHAM

.

BERS, KNT. &c. BY THE AUTHOR OF THAT

EPISTLE.

Sicelides mufa, paullo majora canamus. VIRG.

I THAT of late, Sir William's Bard, and Squire,
March'd with his helm and buckler on my lyre,
(What time the Knight prick'd forth in ill-ftarr'd
haste,

Comptroller General of the works of taste),
Now to the public tune my grateful lays,
Warm'd with the fun-fhine of the Public praise :
Warm'd too with mem'ry of that golden time,
When Almon gave me reason for my rhyme ;

glittering orbs, and, what endear'd them more,

Each glittering orb the facred features bore
Of George the good, the gracious, and the great,
Unfil'd, unfweated, all of sterling weight;

Verfe 1. I that of late.]

Ille ego qui quondam, &c.

10

VIRGIL, or fomebody for him.

Verse 4. Works of taste.] Put fynonimously for his Majesty's works. See Sir William's title page.

Or,

Or, were they not, they pafs'd with current ease,
Good feemings then were good realities:
No Senate had convey'd, by fmuggling art,
Pow'r to the mob to play Cadogan's part;
Now, thro' the land, that impious pow'r prevails,
All weigh their Sov'reign in their private fcales,
And find him wanting, all fave me alone,
For, fad to fay! my glittering orbs are gone.
But ill befeems a poet to repent,

Lightly they came, and full as lightly went.
Peace to their manes ! may they never feel
Some keen Scotch banker's unrelenting steel;
While I again the Mufe's fickle bring

To cut down Dunces, wherefoe'er they spring,
Bind in poetic fheaves the plenteous crop,
And stack my full ear'd load in Almon's shop.
For now, my Mufe, thy fame is fixt as fate,
Tremble, ye Fools I fcorn, ye Knaves I hate ;
I know the vigour of thy eagle wings,

I know thy ftrains can pierce the ear of Kings.
Did China's monarch here in Britain doze,
And was, like western Kings, a King of Profe,

15

20

25

30

Thy

Verfe 16. Cadogan's part.] Master of the Mint.
Verfe 19. And find him wanting.] Thou art weighed in
the balances, and art found wanting. Daniel, chap. 8. v. 27.
Verfe 34. A King of Profe.] Kien-Long, the prefent

Emperor

Thy fong could cure his Afiatic spleen,

35

And make him wish to see and to be seen;
That folemn vein of irony fo fine,

40

Which, e'en Reviewers own, adorns thy line,
Would make him foon against his greatness fin,
Defert his fofa, mount his palanquin,
And post where'er the goddess led the way,
Perchance to proud Spithead's imperial bay ;
There fhould he fee, as other folks have seen,
That ships have anchors, and that seas are green,
Should own the tackling trim, the streamers fine, 45
With Sandwich prattle, and with Bradshaw dine,

Emperor of China is a poet. M. de Voltaire did him the honour to treat him as a brother above two years ago; and my late patron, Sir William Chambers, has given a fine and most intelligible profe verfion of an ode of his Majesty upon tea, in his postfcript to his Differtation. I am, however, vain enough to think, that the Emperor's compofition would have appeared ftill better in my heroic verse; but Sir William forestalled it ; on which account I have entirely broke with him.

Verse 37. That folemn vein of irony.] "A fine vein of solemn irony runs through this piece. See Monthly Review, under the article of the Heroic Epiftle to Sir William Chambers.

Verfe 43. There fhould he fee.] A certain naval event happened just about two calendar months after the publication of the Heroic Epiftle. 'Twas impoffible, confidering the neceffary preparations, it could have been fooner. Facts are stubborn things.

And

And then fail back, amid the cannon's roar,
As fafe, as fage, as when he left the shore.

Such is thy pow'r, O Goddess of the song,
Come then and guide my careless pen along;
Yet keep it in the bounds of fenfe and verse,
Nor, like Mac-Homer, make me gabble Erfe,
No, let the flow of these spontaneous rhymes
So truly touch the temper of the times,

te

That he who runs may read; while well he knows 55
I write in metre, what he thinks in profe;

So fhall my fong, undifciplin'd by art,
Find a fure patron in each English heart.
If this it's fate, let all the frippery things
Be-plac'd, be-penfion'd, and be-starr'd by Kings, 60
Frown on the page, and with fastidious eye,
Like old young Fannius, call it blafphemy.

Verfe 52. Nor like Mac-Homer ] See, if the reader thinks it worth while, a late tranflation of the Iliad.

Verfe 62. Like old young Fannius.] The noble perfonage here alluded to, being asked to read the Heroic Epiftle, faid, "No, it was as bad as blafphemy."

Ibid. Fannius.] Before I fent the MS to the prefs, I discovered, that an accidental blot had made all but the first fyllable of this name illegible. I was doubtful, therefore, whether to print it Fannius or Fannia. After much deliberation, I thought it beft to use the mafculine termination. If I have done wrong, I ask pardon, not only of the Author, but the Lady, The Editor.

Let