ton's refusal to drink one of the loyal toasts of the day. Whoever creates himself political enemies, must expect to see his faults and imperfections displayed in the strongest light. Mr. Thompson, accordingly, enters into his antagonist's private history. "Then as to the Doctor's modesty, "there is no passing by one instance of "it, where he tells you (page 14) that "he qualified himself to act, towards "redressing the heavy complaints, which "there had been of the hardships and "practices of some persons in the com"mission of the land-tax. What notable "redressments this great patriot-personage "made he does not indeed specify, but "however he might settle the national "concerns under his administration, or "whether he neglected his private for "the public affairs, there is no saying, "but he himself broke for upwards of "five thousand pounds, and paid ten shillings in the pound, so that having nothing left but his wife's fortune, "which they could not touch, his boast“ed qualification for acting in the commission, must not have had a very deep bottom, whether his composition preceded or followed his taking it up: "nor should I in truth have touched, at 66 any rate, upon his circumstances, but "to justify my suspicion of his having "had the law-charges of his most iniquitous cause, or rather causelessness, 66 against me, defrayed by the subscrip"tion of his party, which I hope for "his own sake is true. Nay, I have "the charity to wish him success in the subscription he has been for some time 66 66 soliciting, for his ECCLESIASTICAL HIS"TORY of YORKSHIRE, in two volumes "in folio, not only as it may be of a pecuniary importance to himself, but "as as the work itself may be an useful repertorium hereafter, in case of the coming in of a Roman Catholic power "to resume the Church and Abbey lands 66 46 "out of the hands of the present posses 66 sors, not forgetting to make them ac "countable for wastes and dilapidations." The particular details of the personal contest would be uninteresting, as no pugilistic skill was displayed on either side. Mr. Thompson subsequently complained that his loyalty was ill-rewarded, and that, "His thankless country left him to its laws.” There is a passage in a prose essay, by Mr. Hall Stevenson, which seems to imply that the characters of Uncle Toby, and the Widow Wadman, had real prototypes: it is contained in the "Sentimental Dialogue between Two Souls," which may be seen in the last edition of Mr. H. Stevenson's works. I beg to be excused from quoting the anecdote, to which I refer. If my conjecture be just, the public will not have much reason to regret their ignorance of the parties. It is impossible to quit this subject, without remarking, once more,* what a waste of talents is occasioned by temWe know hardly any porary satire. thing of Sterne's objects; those of Rabelais are merely matters of conjecture; the authors satirized by Boileau are only known by his censures; and the heroes of the Dunciad are indebted to Pope for their preservation. Flecknoe's poems, which I have had in my hands, would not now obtain a single reader, but for Dryden's immortal satire. Avellaneda's second part of Don Quixote has been embalmed by the criticisms of Cervantes. Why will men of genius condescend to record their resentment against blockheads? Why cannot they say to an opponent, Ignotus pereas, miser, necesse est ? + *See Dr. Warton's notes on the Dunciad. † In a copy of verses, addressed to Dr. Burton, on occasion of his pamphlet against Dr. Sterne, I find the following lines: Whether in physic thou once more engage, And with new thefts stuff thy Non-natural page. Or on new subjects meditate new books, To plague the town, and glad the pastry-cooks, . Howe'er employ'd, in these, or nobler schemes, Of revolutious in the state and laws, "Should'st thou, proud, restless, insolent and bold, "Be dumb thou, wretch, and let thy actions ¡ye "Forgot, and like thy works for ever die!" |