"Soufe with fuch fkill and care; "That PUTNAM, WASHINGTON beneath, XVI. "The deed is done, thy foes are dead, "Thy candle's radiance ne'er fhall fade, "From PINCHBECK's patent fnuffers." This great Philofopher has lately difcovered a method of fabricating a new fpecies of air, cf fo in nitely fuperior falubrity and duration to that vulgar atmospherical air, which, for want of better, we have been obliged to breathe for upwards of five thousand years, that it is to be fuppofed that no Macaroni, Savoir Vivre, or, in plain English, n›body that knows what's what, will in future condefcend to refpire any air that is not fealed with the Doctor's own arms, and figned with his own hand writing. It is to be feared, however, that his pneumatic vials will be liable to be counterfeited, as our philofopher has not intereft enough at court to procure a pater. Indeed, were fuch a patent granted, it might fuperfede M. PINCHBECK'S; becaufe that in this air a candle is found to bura fo bright and continued a flame, that it could never want fouffing. VOL. II. See Vol. II. of Dr. Pricfley's Experiments on Air. 1 AN EPISTLE TO DR. SHEBBEARE: TO WHICH IS ADDED AN ODE TO SIR FLETCHER NORTON, 1N VIII. BOOK IV. IMITATION OF HORACE, ODE BY MALCOLM MACGREGGOR, OF KNIGHTS-BRIDGE, ESQ AUTHOR OF THE HEROIC SIR WILLIAM CHAMBERS, &c.* EPISTLE TO For a thousand tongues and every tongue Like Johnfon's, arm'd with words of fix feet long, * ADVERTISEMENT. Though I look upon this Poem, in point of elevation of diction and fublimity of fentiment, to be as highly heroical, as my Epistle to Sir William Chambers, yet I have not thought proper to add that epithet to it on the title-page. I am willing to with that first production of my mufe may preferve the diftinction which it now poffeffes, of being called, The Heroic Epifle, par excellence. Befides this confideration, the different ranks of the two perfons, to whom these two works are addreffed, require a difference to be made in this matter; and it would be unpardonable in me not to difcriminate between a Comptroller of his Majesty's Works, and the Hackney Scribbler of a Newspaper; between a Placeman and a Penfioner, a Knight of the Polar Star, and a broken Apothecary. Wer, 2. Words of fix feet long.] Sefquipedalia verba. HoR, In multitudinous vociferation To panegyricize this glorious nation, Then all that once was virtuous, wife, or brave, Ver. 11. Tickle the tatter'd fragment.] Churchill, alleding to this capital anecdote in our Doctor's life, fays, in his poem called The Author, The whole intent Of that parade, was fame, not punishment. Intimating that his ears received no detriment in the pillory. My line intimates, that they did. However, if my ntimation be falfe, it is eafily refuted: the Door has only to expofe his ears again to the public, and the real fact will be grint. C 2 But But I, like Anfty, feel myself unfit Το 20 run, with hollow speed, two heats of wit. He, at first starting won both fame and money, The betts ran high on Bladud's Ciceronè; Since distanced quite, like a gall'd jade he winces, And lashes unknown priests, and praises well-known princes. So I, when first 1 tun'd th' heroic lay Gain'd Pownall's praife, as well as Almon's pay. Ver 23. Blaudud's Ciceronè.] Anglice, Bath Guide, 25 Ver. 25. Lashes unknown priefts. Without a note pofterity will never understand this line. Two or three years ago this gentleman found himself libelled in a newspaper; and, on fufpecting a certain clergyman to be the author, he wrote first a canto of a poem, called the Prieft Diffected, in which he prepared all chirurgical matters previous to the operation. In the mean time the parfon proved an alibi, and faved his bacon. To this first and unique canto, the author prefixed a something in which he exculpated himself from being the author of the Heroic Epifle, which it feems had been laid to his charge during the time the clan of Macgreggors continued without a Jame, and which, as the world well knows, was the only rea fon which prevented me from claiming the merit of that production. It is to this fomething, that the latter part of the line alludes. For in it he had told the public, that his Majefty had ten children, which it knew very well before. Hence the epithet well-known, Proudly Proudly I prick'd along, Sir William's squire, ૩૦ Bade kings recite my strains, and queens admire ; Chafte maids of honour prais'd my ftout endeavour, Sir Thomas fwore "The fellow was "clever." But popularity, alas has wings And flits as foon from poets as from kings. damn'd And when I dar'd the Patent Snuffers handie, Could hardly hop beyond a third edition. 35 50 Enough Ver. 33. Sir Thomas.] The Petronius of the prefent age needs not the addition of a firname to make the world certain who is meant by this appellative. Ver. 51. The cure of Sh-lb-ne's Soul.] It is not here infinuated, that the foul in queftion wants curing. The word |