Those times that miracle might not receive, The likeness, Zoilus* was wanting still; not rich enough to purchase him. His wants were small, and his integrity great. 、 "Quæ Virtus, quantumque boni sit vivere parvo." That he borrowed a Guinea that same evening of a friend, is a fact that must not be omitted. It is probable Lord Danby never paid so extraordinary a visit before; but 1 suspect this creature of the court, was too deeply tainted by the contagi ous leprosy of corruption, to be rendered whole and sound, by the great Example he had that moment witnessed. A. bashed, and confused, he slunk from the presence of the Patriot, like Gehazi from the scrutinizing glance of Elisha. Perhaps he never before had sat down with a man who had the courage to refuse a bribe; and to say to his titled guest, if not in the words, at least in the Spirit of Evander, "Aude Hospes contemnere opes, et te quoque dignum, Finge Deo." On this noble passage, Dryden has this fine expression, When I read it, I despise the world; when I attempt to translate it, I despise myself." The great Isaac Barrow; a most unfair writer on all subjects; in as much as he so completely exhausts whatever is the object of his discussions, as to leave all future writers nothing His Sermans, it is well known, were most favourite compositions, with the great Earl of Chatham, who styles them, a "mine of nervous expression." to say. Miltono." *"Hoc defuit unum This Caledonia saw, then heaved a sigh, Let Lauder* forge, and the malicious fraud Let Johnson, willingly deceived, applaud; Faster shall Truth expunge, than Envy blot, When Douglas arms! to shame each scribbling Scot. But why so zealous for great Milton's name? Too full, without him, are the lists of fame, * William Lauder, a native of Scotland; he published an Essay on Milton's use and imitation of the moderns. His pretended quotations from Grotius, and others, passed as genuine for some time; but at length they were detected, and proved to be forgeries of Lauder's own, by Dr. Douglas, late Bishop of Salisbury; a Prelate, who united the honest simplicity of the Patriarch, with the affability of the Gentleman, and the erudition of the Scholar. His greatest work is the Criterion, the best answer to Hume. In the list of those who were deceived by Lauder's publication, the name of Johnson is most conspicuous. It is doubtful whether the ingenuity of the Essay, or the Doctor's prejudices against the subject of it, contributed most to his error. It is but fair to add, that Johnson, the moment he was undeceived, dictated with his own hand a confession of Lauder's offence, which he insisted on his signing; and to make up for having written in praise of Lauder's fabrication, when Comus was acted for the benefit of Mrs. Clarke, a gra d-daughter of Milton, Dr. Johnson wrote the Prologue. So vast a space He fills, there's hardly room For both the Bloomfields, Burges, † Blackmore, Brome; Let Milton's page be thrown neglected by, * "Ne sutor ultra crepidam" is a maxim not at all affected, by the present case. By adhering to this Rule Nathan might have saved himself the trouble of manufacturing some middling poetry; but we must agree with Mr. Capel Loft, that the Public are much obliged to Robert for his infringement of it. + Peter Pindar rallies his own foibles at times, "vineta credit sua." Perhaps he was the Author of the following Epigram in dog Latin, and Monkish Rhime, on the four Can didates for the vacant Laureat. "Nos Poeta sumus tribus ! Peter Pindar, Pye, and Pybus; Si ulterius ire pergis Nobis add Sir James Bland Burges. Jortin was not the only man to whom Pope was not ashamed to owe a silent obligation. Brome was one of the junta that assisted him in his translation, or rather transformation of the Iliad. "Indocti discant et ament meminisse periti." I shall therefore quote the well-known couplet on this subject; "Pope has translated Homer, but some say Brome went before, and kindly swept the way." § Our modern poets make up in quantity, what they want in quality; they give us bulk instead of bullion. From the great glut in the market, their Paper credit is below par, Milton was a monopolist of fame; in his room we have an hundred hucksters, and retailers. When the great Turenne His blazing mine they ransack, and purloin When Witlings write 'gainst reason, taste, and rhime, When Patriots sell set speeches against time, Speeches that hireling pens in garret wrote, Speeches that Cobbett * begged in vain to quote; fell Louis the XIV created a number of generals, marshals of France. Madame de Cornuel wittily observed that the Grand Monarque had melted down his great coin, into small change. * Cobbett on his trial requested permission to quote passages from some speeches delivered in the House of Commons; his object it would seem was to convince the court that he had not expressed himself, in his political Register, in stronger language, than the British Senate had been accustomed to hear on similar subjects, within the walls of St. Stephens. Permission to avail himself of such authorities was refused. For some Remarks on Mr. Cobbett's definition of liberty, and Lord Folkstone's motion on the Ex officio informations of the Attorney General, vide Appendix. When crackbrained Authors load the groaning press, Exhaust no subject, but each theme o’erwhelm Perchance my favourite were I free to chuse, I had not fixed on the Satiric muse; But must, sweet Minstrel, since the rest are thine, On Thee stern Caledonia proudly smiled, I have heard that Mr. Cobbett is in the habit of submitting his weekly lucubrations to the perusal of a Gentleman in the Profession, confidentially emplo ed; but that on the day when the ill-fated number alluded to came out, this precaution had been unfortunately neglected, "Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus." An eminent Bookseller in Fleet Street, who purchased |