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SIR,

TO THE EDITOR.

THE public are infinitely indebted to you and to Mr. William Gifford for the chaftifement you have given to a writer, who has libell'd with impunity all that is excellent and refpectable in public or in private life without the leaft regard to rank, fex, or profeilion. He has long deferved the punishment which he has received in more ways than one, and he merits much more; and if you think the following lines worthy of a place in your Review, I fhall be happy to contribute my mite, in the virtuous caufe, of holding up to contempt and deteftation a character uniformly infamous.

A SUFFOLK FREEHOLDER,

To WILLIAM GIFFORD, Esq

Quid vetat et nosmet?

*

SECURE, at least, the wretched World to please,
A mob of gentlemen who wrote with ease,
Melifluous Bards, in panegyric verse

Were vont each others praises to rehearse,
While Lady Poets in the contest strove,
And un'd their lyres to every kind of love;
Then merry pun the Goffamery line,
And Robinfon replied in lays divine,
Nonfenfe and Crufca bore unrivall'd fway,
Till Gifford's fatire fwept the fwarm away:
To latest times each + Dunciad shall remain,
As Horace keen, and ftrong as Perfius' ftrain.
Come then, with wit and various learning grac'd,
Correct our manners as you form'd our taste;
A nobler caufe your zealous aid demands,
And juftice, Gifford, claims it at your hands;
Cut to the quick this daggrel man of rhyme,
Who takes the title of a Bard fublime ;
Deals out, with here and there, a lucky hit,
Treason and trash, obscenity and wit;
To each vile purpose proftitutes his Mufe,
The friend of vice, the champion of the stews.
Whate'er is eminent in church and state,
E'en female excellence infures his hate,
Lives there a Prelate, who in virtue's caufe

Would curb the worst of crimes with wholefome laws?

Another manufcript fays,

Secure the world, vile Topham's World, to pleafe-
The Baviad and Mæviad,

The Bishop of London,
The

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The friend of vice prepares his ready pen,
And the worst ridicules the best of men.
Is there a female, whofe enlighten'd mind,
With learning fraught, with piety refin'd,
Inftructs her fex? the champion of the stews,
Back'd in the caufe by Jacobin Reviews,
Truths, that he cannot answer, dares abuse.
Yet higher ftill his frantic efforts rife,
The friend of France, the best of Kings defies;
And trembling on the margin of the grave,
The friend of Atheists dares his Maker brave.
Once he has felt, (but let not once fuffice)
From thee, the double chastisement of vice;
Still on his deeds their just reward bestow,
The liar's libel, or the ruffian's blow;
But ftop not here; with vigour all your owu,
Scourge the difloyalty that shakes the throne;
And worse, if worfe can be, the impious rage,
That taints his converfe, and pollutes his page;
Till e'en + Reviews defert their friend forlorn,
And Chronicles confign the wretch to scorn.

*Mifs Hannah More.

S.

+ The Monthly Review, which has long laboured in the fame good caufe with Peter, but with more art, begins to think, fince he has fallen into universal contempt, that he has not chofen his subjects happily of late; but was always in the habit of praifing him till he was firit fatirized and afterwards defervedly horfewhipped."

The Morning Chronicle, a fellow-labourer alfo, turns its back upon poor Peter, and coolly calls him, a fool and a blockhead.

SIR,

IF the following bagatelle, written in honour of Gallic freedom, is, in your eftimation, deferving a place in your truly patriotic Ma gazine, the infertion of it would oblige

ANTIGALLICUS.

LE SOLDAT REPUBLICAIN AUX FRONTIERES.

Si, des maux que cause l'absence, ';
Mon trifte coeur eft tourmentè;
Si je ne puis te voir, ma Conftance
Accufes en la Libertè.

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Dans le tems de mille entravés
Jamais je n'eprouvai l'ennui-
Mais alors nous étions efclaves
Helas! on eft libre aujourd'hui.

II eft donc paffè ce bel age
Ou libres de tout fouci

Nous nous aimions dans l'esclavage
Sous les loix d'un Tyran cheri.
Mais j'ai tort quand je regrette
Ces beaux jours eclipfés foudain
Car j'apprends par la Gazette
Que je fuis libre et fouverain.
Mais ne crois pas que, fur ce Trone
Ou l'on m'a brufquement affis,
Enflè des titres qu'on me donne,
Je t'accable de mes mépris.
Non-raffures toi ma Conftance
Jamais je n'eus moins de fiereté,
Pardonnes à ma trifte puiffance,
Prends pitié de ma Majesté.

Malgré ce fameux privilege,
Qui nous égale aux Potentâts,
Ton amant, tranfi dans la Neige,
Géle aux confins de ses etâts,
Il est bien vrai qu'un fecretaire
De nos infaillibles decrets,

Nous affure que, bientôt, la Terre,
Va nous habiller à fes fraix.

Jufqu'au fond de nos provinces
Le Zêle va nous pourfuivant :
Comtes, Barons, Marquis et Princes
Vous n'êtes pas feuls

ci-devant.

Malgré notre fatal empire,
Malgrè nos fucces dèfaftreux,
Tout Français a le droit de dire,
Qu'il eft un ci-devant heureux.

Si par quelque etrange miracle
Nous ceffions d'être libres un jour-
Alors nous pourrions fans obftacle
Nous voir et nous parler d'amour.
'O doux moments! O bien fupreme!
Près de toi quelle voluptè!

Mais-je me tais! car l'amour même
Eft fufpect à la liberté.

ANNUAL

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ANTI-JACOBIN

Review and Magazine;

&c. &c. &c.

For FEBRUARY, 1801.

Si iftis ad maledicendum difertis et eloquentibus effe licet, nos, in optimâ noftrâ caufâ, ad verè respondendum haud fanè convenit esse mutos.

Juelli. Apol.

ORIGINAL CRITICISM.

The Hiflory of the Campaign of 1799, in Holland. Tranflated from the French. 8vo. PP. 496. 158. Cadell and

Davies.

THIS

1801.

HIS forms the fifth and last volume of the military history of the war from the beginning of the campaign of 1796 to the close of that of 1799. It is compofed with the fame ability, the fame fcrupulous attention to facts, and the fame rigid impartiality, which fo eminently diftinguifhed the former volumes. It contains, beyond comparison, the beft, and, indeed, the only complete and fatisfactory account of the Expedition to Holland, which has hitherto appeared in Europe. The author has, evidently, had access to the most authentic fources of information, and he has availed himself of them with equal judgment and fkill: the military operations, in which the troops of this country took fo decided and fo diftinguished a part, are detailed in a manner at once the most perfpicuous and the moft scientific, fo as to afford the fullest information to the common reader, and the highest Tatisfaction to the profeffional ftudent. The end and object of the Expedition are clearly and forcibly explained, and ably rescued from the imputations of ignorance, and the perverfions of malice. Here, as before, the author has rendered a public fervice by exK

NO. XXXII. VOL. VIII.

pofing

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