The cry against our author being thus general, we may reasonably suppose, that he would have taken some opportunity to exercise his powers of retort upon those who were most active or most considerable among the aggressors, and that Montague and Prior stood a fair chance of being coupled up with Doeg and Og, Had Dick still kept the regal diadem, Scandal to them, where pardon's bought and sold, What sect of Christians is't thou hast not known, No songs, in those blest times, thou didst produce, Praised Noll, who even to both extremes did run, his former antagonists. But, if Dryden entertained any intention of retaliation, the Revolution, which crushed his rising prospects, took away both the opportunity and inclination. From that ́period, the fame of "The Hind and Panther" gradually diminished, as the controversy between Protestant and Papist gave way to that between Whig and Tory. Within a few years after the first publication of the poem, Swift ranks it among the compositions of Grubstreet; ironically terms it," the master-piece of a fa But when the men of sense thy error saw, They checked thy muse, and kept the termagant in awe. But the warmed viper wears the greatest sting. Thy pity straight to cruelty is raised, Have we not cause, in thine own words, to say, But not, it seems, we greater heathens now. The loyal church, that buoys the kingly line, Damned with a breath, but 'tis such a breath as thine. } mous author, now living, intended as a complete abstract of sixteen thousand schoolmen, from Scotus to Bellarmine;" and immediately subjoins, "Tommy Potts, supposed by the same hand, by way of Supplement to the former."* With such acrimony do men of genius treat the productions of each other; and so certain it is, that, to enjoy permanent reputation, an author must chuse a theme of permanent interest. What credit to thy party can it be, To have gained so lewd a profligate as he, Strayed from our fold, makes us to laugh, not weep; By them mistrusted, and to us a scorn; For 'tis but weakness at the best to turn. True, hadst thou left us in the former reign, Gold is thy god; for a substantial sum, Thou to the Turk wouldst run away from Rome, If thou'rt not moved by what's already said, To see thy boars, bears, buzzards, wolves, and owls, See there a youth, (a shame to thy gray hairs) On him, that would much rather hang than mend? No, wretch, continue still just as thou art, Thou'rt now in this last scene that crowns thy part, And against interest never cease to rail, Though thou'rt the only proof how interest can prevail. } * «Tale of a Tub," first part. "Tommy Potts" is a silly popular ballad, for which see Ritson's "Ancient Songs." THE PREFACE. THE nation is in too high a ferment, for me to expect either fair war, or even so much as fair quarter, from a reader of the opposite party. All men are engaged either on this side or that; and though conscience is the common word which is given by both, yet if a writer fall among enemies, and cannot give the marks of their conscience, he is knocked down before the reasons of his own are heard. A preface, therefore, which is but a bespeaking of favour, is altogether useless. What I desire the reader should know concerning me, he will find in the body of the poem, if he have but the patience to peruse it. Only this advertisement let him take before-hand, which relates to the merits of the cause. No general characters of parties (call them either sects or churches) can be so fully and exactly drawn, as to comprehend all the several members of them; at least all such as are received under that denomination. For example; there are some of the church by law established, who envy not liberty of conscience to dissenters; as being well satisfied that, according to their own principles, they ought not to persecute them. Yet these, by reason of their fewness, I could not distinguish from the numbers of the rest, with whom they are embodied in one common name. On the other side, there are many |