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after taking care to fee Achilles fheath his inftrument of offence, gave him leave to call his general, rogue, rascal, and fon of a b -h, or what he pleased; of which letter of licence he took the advantage, tho' he had laid him on pretty thick before.

But I have no business with

any part, except what gives a hint to an ambuscade.-John's courage was shewn in an ambufcade, and planned and executed (not by fix fhips alone, as Vernon did,) but by himself alone: -now Agamemnon was reproached for never daring to take a part in one.

But to the quotation.

“On this, the queen of wisdom strode "Her broomstick, and away fhe rode, "But

*Broomflick. By this, the fagacious reader, may perceive, that the goddeffes,in Homer's days,

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"But left his gizzard fmoaking hot,
"Like beef just taken out o'th' pot.
"By Jove," fays he, "thou'rt always
"drunk,

And always fquabbling for a punk. "Thou dog in face, with heart of deer, "(The Lord forgive me, if I swear,) "But blast my liver, pluck, and heart, "If thou'rt a fighter worth a

"When didst thou e'er in ambush lie, "Unless to nim a mutton pye;

"And there you're fafe, because you can "Out-run the baker's fhort-legg'd man.

You fee, reader, that the burthen of the song, for courage, in Homer's days, confifted in forming an ambufcade: I would have given the Greek lines, to fhew the excellency of the tranflation, but it would justly have expofed me to the cenfure of my readers,

made ufe of the fame hobby-horse that our witches did in wife king Jemmy's days.

who

who might, with reason, have said, I was tricking them, and filling my books with needlefs quotations; and I would have every body know, I fcorn to put tricks either upon readers or travellers.

But, for the benefit of fuch of my readers as are Grecians, and perhaps may chufe to compare the translation with the original, give me leave to fay, that my quotation is from the firft book of the Iliad ;-if I was worth a Homer, I would tell them the page and line, but Mr. Squareeyes, the staring pawn-broker, at the corner of ***'s court, has my Homer, and nineteen tip-top authors in pawn, for five fhillings and threepence.

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CHAP. XI.

A dreadful fcheme half executed.

OX take these quotations, fay

Pox, they are good for nothing

I,

but to mislead people, and fhew, that the writer is a man of reading ;—if I know where to find John and his rats again, I'm a pickled oyster.

Oh! now I have it.-John had just let the trap fall upon his prifoners, and was going to return for his shoes, but fearing the enemy might have fome of the scholars of Archimedes amongst them, who, by levers, or patent-fcrews, might remove the cover, he boldly ventured barefoot into the cellar,

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cellar, and instantly clapped a large earthen pan on the top of the barrel; then, running up for his fhoes, brought down a half hundred weight, to ftand centinel over the enemy, when the pan might be wanted, either to wash his feet, or put broth into, being on both occafions a very proper utenfil; at the fame time, he gave strict orders to Betty, that nothing upon that barrel fhould be touched but he did not let the corner of a reason escape his lips, left the strange barbarity of the scheme fhould fhock the tender heart of the maid, especially as fhe had never felt the smart of brandy on broken fhins. But, to own the truth, though I blush to do it, his real defign was, to reduce them to fuch ftraits by famine, that they fhould eat one another up;

and

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