"full he was of a defign he declared himself to "have of expofing it." This noble person is the Earl of PETERBOROUGH. Here in truth fhould we crave pardon of all the forefaid right honourable and worthy perfonages, for having mentioned them in the fame page with fuch weekly riff-raff railers and rhymers; but that we had their ever-honoured commands for the fame; and that they are introduced not as witneffes in the controverfy, but as witnesses that cannot be controverted; not to dispute, but to decide. Certain it is, that dividing our writers into two claffes, of fuch who were acquaintance, and of fuch who were strangers to our author; the former are those who speak well, and the other those who speak evil of him. Of the first class, the most noble JOHN Duke of BUCKINGHAM fums up his character in thefe lines; 66 b And yet fo wond'rous, fo fublime a thing, "As the great Iliad, fcarce could make me fing. "Unless I juftly could at once commend "A good companion, and as firm a friend; "One moral, or a mere well-natur'd deed, "Can all defert in fciences exceed." So alfo is he decyphered by the honourable "Say, wond'rous youth, what column wilt thou chufe, 66 "What laurel'd arch for thy triumphant Mufe? b Verfes to Mr. P. on his tranflation of Homer prefixed to his works. • Poem "Tho'each great ancient court thee to his fhrine Recorded in like manner for his virtuous difpofition, and gentle bearing, by the ingenious Mr. WALTER HART, in this apostrophe: "O ever worthy, ever crown'd with praise! "Obfcures the virtue, and defames the Mufe. 66 Views with juft fcorn the malice of mankind.' The witty and moral fatirist Dr. EDWARD YOUNG, wishing fome check to the corruption and evil manners of the times, calleth out upon our poet to undertake a task so worthy of his virtue : Why flumbers Pope, who leads the Mufes' train, "Nor hears that Virtue, which he loves, complain? Mr. MALLET, In his epistle on Verbal Criticism: "Whofe life feverely fcan'd, tranfcends his lays; "For wit fupreme, is but his fecond praise." Mr. HAMMOND, That delicate and correct imitator of Tibullus, in his Love Elegies, Elegy xiv. In his poems, printed for B. Lintot. fion, Sat. I. • Univerfal Paf Now, fir'd by Pope and Virtue, leave the age, “In low pursuit of self-undoing wrong, "And trace the author thro' his moral page, "Whose blameless life still answers to his fong." Mr. THOMSON, In his elegant and philofophical poem of the Seafons: "Altho' not fweeter his own Homer fings, "Yet is his life the more endearing fong." To the fame tune alfo fingeth that learned clerk of Suffolk f Mr. WILLIAM BRO O ME. « Thus, nobly rifing in fair Virtue's cause, From thy own life transcribe th' unerring laws." And, to clofe all, hear the reverend Dean of St. Patrick's: "A foul with ev'ry virtue fraught, "A genius for each bus'ness fit, "Whofe meaneft talent is his wit," &c. Let us now recreate thee by turning to the other fide, and fhewing his character drawn by those with whom he never converfed, and whofe countenances he could not know, though turned against him: Firft again commencing with the high voiced and never enough quoted Mr. JOHN DENNIS; Who, in his Reflections on the Effay on Criticifm, thus defcribeth him: "A little affected In his Poems, and at the end of the Odyffey. hypocrite, who has nothing in his mouth but “candour, truth, friendship, good-nature, hu 66 manity, and magnanimity. He is fo great a "lover of falfhood, that whenever he has a mind "to calumniate his cotemporaries, he brands "them with fome defect which is juft contrary "to fome good quality, for which all their friends "and their acquaintance commend them. He "feems to have a particular pique to People of Quality, and authors of that rank. He must "derive his religion from St. Omer's."-But in the Character of Mr. P. and his writings, (printed by S. Popping, 1716,) he faith, Though "he is a profeffor of the worst religion, yet he laughs at it;" but that "nevertheless, he is a "virulent Papift; and yet a Pillar for the Church "of England." 66 Of both which opinions Mr. LEWIS THEOBALD feems alfo to be; declaring, in Mift's Journal of June 22, 1718. "That if he is not threwdly "abused, he made it his practice to cackle to "both parties in their own fentiments." But, as to his pique against People of quality, the fame Journalist doth not agree, but faith, (May 8, 1728.) "He had, by fome means or other, the "acquaintance and friendship of the whole body of "our nobility." However contradictory this may appear, Mr. Dennis and Gildon, in the character laft cited, make it all plain, by affuring us, "That he is a "creature that reconciles all contradictions; he “is a beast, and a man; a Whig and a Tory; "a writer (at one and the fame time) of Guar "dians and Examiners; an Affertor of liberty, " and of the diipening power of kings; a Je"fuitical profeffor of truth; a base and a foul pretender to candour." So that, upon the whole account, we must conclude him either to have been a great hypocrite, or a very honest man; a terrible impofer upon both parties, or very moderate to either. Be it as to the judicious reader thall feem good. Sure it is, he is little favoured of certain authors, whofe wrath is perilous: for one declares he ought to have a frice fet en kis head, and to be hunted down as a wild beat. Another protests that he does not know what may happen; advifes him to infure kis perfen; fays he has bitter enemies, and exprefly declares it will be well if he efcapes with his life. One defires he would cut his own threat, or hang himself. But Pasquin feemed rather inclined it fhould be done by the government, reprefenting him engaged in grievous defigns with a Lord of Parliament, then under profccution. Mr. Dennis himself hath written to a Minister, that he is one of the most dangercus perfons in this kingdom"; and assureth the public, that he is an open and mortal enemy to his country; a monfter, that will, one day, shew as daring a foul as a mad Indian, who runs a muck to kill the first Chriftian he meets". Another gives The names of two weekly Papers. ter in Mift's Journal, June 22, 1708. Gulliveriana, p. 14, 16. 1723. Anno 1729. Theobald, LetiSmedley, Pref. to * Gulliveriana, p. 332. Anno Preface to Rem. on the Rape page of that treatise. of the Lock, p. 12. and in the laft |