For Butler, foremost of the pack, And Frolick feiz'd her by the back. IX. TO THETFORD then, our sport being done, In fpirits we repair; In honour of the fair: And as the merry chorus rife, We all to Shadwell turn'd our eyes. THIS juvenile fong, though defcriptiye of a chaee, in which Dick was not only in pursuit of pleasure but of profit, is, by no means, a poetical compofition of merit, either in harmony. of numbers, or aptitude of fancy its being local rendered it a favourite air at the time it was wrote, but it is now little known, and lefs admired, when put in competition with his latter productions. FROM 'the year 1754 to the 27th of March 1757, we are at a loss to say, precisely, what was our heroe's purfuit, but fuppofe it in the fervice of his country, a line of life he seemed most attached to, and every way qualified for; and though we may not have an opportunity of recording him as a Marleborough, a Eugene, a Saxe, a Berwick, a Granby, a Pruffia, a Wolfe, or a Washington, whither in refpect to difcipline, E 3 difcipline or general tactic, or, in what is more valuable than either-suCCESS. Militavi non fine gloria. HOR. Yet we must allow him the merit of meaning well, which is as much as is usually faid now adays, of any officer who is not as intrepid as a Tarleton, as indefatigable as a Cornwallis, as determined as a Prevoft, as cool as a Washington, as bold as a Wallace, as modest as a Parker, as brave as a Pearfon, and as lucky as a Rodney to be rich and politic are stubborn arguments in favor of a great officer ! THIS three years of lapfe in our memoir, is a hiatus, according to Doctor Bently's expreffion in his criticifms, non valdè deflendus: however, this pause, if we may fo call it, fhall not be filled up by us with immaginary occurrences, as is frequently the cafe in hiftory of guefswork, which is delivered down to pofterity little better than "A tale told by an ideot." SHAKESPEARE. On the 27th of March, 1757, DICK MERRYFELLOW was promoted from being Lieutenant of Granadiers in the 12th regiment of foot, to a com a company of marines. This 12th regiment was the famous patriotic regiment which, when commanded by James II. either to lay down their arms, or to use them in fupport of measures unconftitutional, arbitrary, and contrary to the religion, the laws, and liberties of this Kingdom; to the great difappointment and confufion of the King, all to a man laid down their arms! "Rome boasts her fons, a race of ftubborn fools, HERE we have another biatus valdè deflendus, till the ever-glorious year 1759-an æra of British history which will be admired as long as the annals of this Country can be read! And fure that tale for Britons must have charms, In this ever-memorable year, our hero commanded a detachment of marines on board the Rippon man of war of 60 guns, Captain Edward Jekyll, at the fiege of Guadelupe, when that fhip was opposed to two ftrong Batteries of the French in the capital town of Basse-Terre, was on fhore during the whole of the engagement, which lafted ten hours, and once on fire: the ship in that action fired 1300 great shot, and the marines 2000 cartridges; fo great was the ardor of the men, that when all the grape-fhot on board, and wadding for the canon was expended, the feamen and marines made wadding of their fhirts and jackets, and fired thei away at the trenches of the enemy. THE Rippon was alfo engaged, but a few days before, at St. Pierre's, the capital of Martinico, or Martinique, against four batteries of canon and a bomb-battery, which continued throwing fhells for four hours, few of which fell at a greater distance than thirty or forty yards from the fhip: many of them burst in the fea along-fide of the Rippon, which appeared like boiling water, and one in particular fell between the barge and yawl. Of this expedition to the West-Indies, against Martinico and Guadelupe, and other the Leeward Islands, subject to the French King, CAPTAIN MERRY-FELLOW wrote a very clear and circum, ftantial account, Verfas ad Littora Puppes Refpiciunt, totumque allabi claffibus Æquor. VIRG. Imperi Porrecta Majeftas, ab Ortu Solis ad Hefperium Cubile Cuftode Rerum CESARE HOR. a third a third edition of which, in quarto, English and French, was published in 1762. THE dedication to the Queen, is dated at Lincoln, where he then refided, February 6, and is a modeft and elegant compofition; on prefenting of which he had the honor to kifs her Majefty's hand, being introduced by the late Earl Delawar, THIS journal commences about the latter end of October, 1758, when Captain Hughes in the Norfolk, with a fquadron of men of war and a fleet of tranfports, fail'd from Spithead, and, owing to contrary winds, did not join the ships and transports from Plymouth Sound till November 15, lat. 49° 40', when the whole fquadron confifted of the following men of war and bomb veffels, with 60 fail of transports. In the transports were the following regiments, with a detachment of the artillery from Woolwich, Old Buffs, Duroure's, Elliot's, Barrington's, Watfon's, Armiger's ON |