No More Learning

The unfortunate adventurer
seemed to have no refuge left, but to disperse his forces, and fly
for his safety; when the mode in which Feversham conducted himself
gave him a fair chance for victory and a crown. He encamped in the
open country, three miles from the enemy, with only a dry ditch in his
front; dispersed his cavalry in the neighbouring hamlets, and retired
quietly to bed, without either sending out reconnoitering parties, or
establishing advanced posts. [453] It is no wonder, that, that in such
a careless state, he should have been completely surprised; it is only
singular, that, even allowing for the cowardice of Lord Grey, who fled,
instead of performing the safe and easy duty committed to him of firing
the horse-quarters of Feversham's army, he should have been able to
recover the consequences of his negligence. Monmouth's men fought for
three hours after they had been deserted by their cavalry, with the
innate courage of English peasants. Feversham was still hard pressed,
notwithstanding the gallant assistance afforded him by Dumbarton; when
the Bishop of Bath and Wells decided the day, by causing the artillery
to be turned upon the flank of Monmouth's followers. When they had
given way, Feversham exhibited more of the cold-blooded cruelty of
his country, than he had done of their genius and fiery valour, while
the battle lasted. The military bishop also proved himself a better
lawyer than the general, as he had shewn himself in the fight a better
soldier; but it was not till a warm expostulation was made on his part
that the general ceased to execute the prisoners by martial law, and
reserved them to a still more cruel fate from the forms of law, as
administered by the brutal Jefferies. Neither Feversham's blunders, nor
his brutality, seemed to lessen his merit in the eye of his sovereign.
He received the order of the Garter, on the 31st July, 1685, probably
on the vacancy occasioned by the Duke of Monmouth's death, whose memory
was on this occasion treated with signal ignominy. [454] At the time
of the Revolution, Lord Feversham was commander in chief, and proved
himself incapable of taking any spirited steps for James's interest;
for the army he commanded, though the officers were disaffected,
would probably have fought, had they been once fairly committed in
opposition to the Dutch. When the king resolved to abandon everything,
and forsake his kingdom, he left behind, a letter to Feversham, stating
that he should not expect his troops at present to expose themselves.
The general might have secured a part of his forces, by retreating
along with the high-spirited Viscount of Dundee, who marched back
into Scotland with the Scottish regiments; but Feversham was a man
of another mould, and rather chose to augment the general confusion,
by disbanding the army. When James was detected by the fishermen of
Kent, in his attempt to leave the kingdom, Feversham, with a party of
his guards, was sent to conduct him back to his capital. James also
chose him for the messenger, when, yielding to sad necessity, he sent
a letter to the Prince of Orange, inviting him to St James's. With
a view, doubtless, to increase the terror of the king's mind, and
precipitate his intention of a second flight, the prince arrested the
bearer of this humiliating embassy. This was the last public occasion
on which James had occasion to employ the services of the unmilitary
nephew of the great Turenne, whose name is connected with the most
blame-worthy and most melancholy passages of his reign.


Note XXXI.

_Our list of nobles next let Amri grace,
Whose merits claimed the Abethdin's high place;
Who, with a loyalty that did excel,
Brought all the endowments of Achitophel. _--P. 349.

These lines, which sufficiently vouch their author to have been
Tate, refer to Sir Heneage a Finch, an eminent lawyer, who was first
attorney-general, and, upon Shaftesbury losing his seals, succeeded
him as Lord Keeper. He was a most incorruptible judge, and could not
be swayed in his decisions even by the king's interference, which upon
all political occasions was omnipotent with him. He was a good lawyer,
and a ready orator; but upon this last accomplishment, he set, as
all lawyers do, rather too high a value: for they, whose profession
necessarily leads them often to speak against their own opinion, and
often to make much of trifles, are apt to lose, in the ingenuity of
their arguments, the power of making a real impression upon the bosom
of their hearers. North says, that the business, rather than the
justice, of the court, flourished exceedingly under Finch; for he was
a formalist, and took exceeding pleasure in encouraging and listening
to nice distinctions of law, instead of taking a broad view of the
equity of each case. He was a steady and active supporter of the Tory
party on all occasions; in reward of which, he was created Earl of
Nottingham. After a long and lingering disease, which terminated in a
deep depression of spirits, this great lawyer died in 1682, and was
succeeded by Lord Guilford, as Lord Keeper.


Note XXXII.

_Than Sheva none more loyal zeal have shown,
Wakeful as Judah's lion for the crown. _--P. 350.

Sir Roger L'Estrange was descended of a good family in Norfolk, and
during the civil war was in arms for the king. [455] Being taken
prisoner by the parliament, he was condemned to die, but found means to
obtain a pardon. He was a good performer on the violin; a quality which
recommended him to Cromwell, under whose government he lived, if we
may trust one of his antagonists, in ease and affluence; a circumstance
with which he was afterwards as often reproached as our author with his
panegyric on the Protector. The instant, however, that the restoration
of monarchy approached, L'Estrange was among the first to hail it,
and stepped forth to answer a pamphlet of Milton, on the subject of
a republic, by a retort, which he irreverently entitled, "No Blind
Guides. " After the Restoration, he was the great champion of the court,
the high church, and the Tory party. His principal vehicle of political
instruction was the "Observator," a paper published twice a week; but
he also edited another, called "Heraclitus Ridens;" and, independently
of both, published answers, replies, rebutters, and sur-rebutters, to
every attack made upon him, besides quires of pamphlets on all popular
subjects. For these good services, he was knighted by King James. His
style is in the last degree mean, crabbed, and low; yet he possesses
some power of argument and sarcasm. He appears to have first invented,
or at least first practised to a great extent, the foolish custom of
printing emphatic passages in a different type from the rest of the
page, and thereby too often effecting a point, which the reader is
unable to trace. For the other deeds of L'Estrange, and his numerous
bead-roll of fugitive pieces, the reader may consult the article in the
Biographia.


Note XXXIII.

_Calm were the elements, night's silence deep,
The waves scarce murmuring, and the winds asleep;
Yet fate for ruin takes so still an hour,
And treacherous sands the princely bark devour. _--P. 351.

The Duke of York, after a short visit to England, returned to Scotland
by sea. The vessel unfortunately struck upon a bank, called the Lemman
Ore; and the duke, with a few attendants, who crowded into the barge,
were all who escaped from the wreck. Burnet says, that the duke
showed no anxiety about the safety of any one save his dogs and his
priests, whom the bishop maliciously classes together. Others say, he
was principally interested about Churchill, who, at the Revolution,
requited his anxiety but indifferently. The Gazette says, that when the
barge put off, the poor sailors, who remained to perish, manned the
sides in the usual honorary form, and, indifferent to their own fate,
hailed the duke's safety with three cheers; a circumstance alluded to
a few lines below, where it is said, the sufferers,

With last loud breaths, their master's 'scape applaud.

In this shipwreck perished the Earl of Roxburghe, Mr Hyde, a son of the
great Clarendon, the Lord O'Brien, the Laird of Hoptoun, Sir Joseph
Douglas, Colonel Macnaughton, and about 300 seamen, besides the persons
of the duke's retinue.

The verses, which follow those concerning this lamentable accident,
describe the return of the Duke of York with his Duchess to England; a
voyage which they performed without any sinister accident, and landed
there upon the 27th May, 1682. On this occasion, they received many
poetical greetings, both on the duke's escape and their happy arrival;
as, for example, Otway's "Prologue to the Duchess, on her return from
Scotland, at the Duke's theatre, at Venice Preserved, &c. acted 31st
May, 1682. "

"A Pindarique Ode on their Royal Highnesses Return from Scotland, after
their escape at Sea. "

"To the Duke on his Return, 29th May, 1682, written by Nathaniel Lee. "

"A Congratulatory Poem to her Royal Highness, upon the arrival of their
Royal Highnesses in England, May 27th, 1682. "

"To his Royal Highness at his happy Return from Scotland, written by a
Person of Quality, 30th May, 1682. "

Heaven, who declares, in wonders so divine,
Care of succession in the rightful line,
That it protects you, with a guardian hand,
From Whiggish lemans, both of sea and land.

Also, "A Panegyric on their Royal Highnesses, and Congratulation on
their Return from Scotland. "


Note XXXIV.

_This year did Ziloah rule Jerusalem,
And boldly all sedition's syrtes stem. _--P. 353.

Sir John Moor, the tory Lord Mayor, an aged and respectable citizen,
of a mild character, and even hesitating and cautious in forming
his measures, though sufficiently determined when once satisfied of
their propriety. "Which character," says North, "was cut out for this
time and public occasion; for nothing but such firmness of mind, and
manifest goodness, with a seeming passive disposition, could have
protected from those rages of violence, as very often threatened him,
and which, probably, had broke loose on any one in his post, that had
carried matters with a stern and minatory behaviour. "[456] He was
proposed by the court-party in the city for Lord Mayor, and, being
scarcely opposed by the other faction, easily carried his election.
The Whigs were led into this blunder, by mistaking the principles,
and under-rating the resolution, of the candidate. Sir John Moor had
been bred a non-conformist; and, though he had taken the test with a
view to civic honours, that was no more than had been done by Bethel,
Cornish, and others, who retained in full vigour their sectarian
principles. Besides, from the gentleness and softness of the new
Lord Mayor's demeanour, his smooth and diffident way of talking in
private, and his embarrassed elocution in public, they conceived that,
even if completely gained by the court, he would prove too passive
and timorous, to serve them essentially against active and energetic
opponents. In both these particulars they were woefully mistaken.
Sir John proved to be most keenly disposed to second all the court
measures; and he was kept up to the pitch of resolution necessary for
carrying them through, by the constant support, encouragement, and
advice of the Duke of Ormond, whom the court employed to back him, and
who, during the contests which followed, dined with the Lord Mayor two
or three times every week. [457] This election, and its consequences,
was a severe blow to the fanatical interest in the city; the jovial
custom of banquets and feasting was revived; and the musicians, who had
been long under restraint, were restored to their privilege, which they
employed in chaunting forth the praises of Sir John the Restorer. [458]
More, of Morehall, was not for a time more celebrated in song, than the
Lord Mayor, his namesake; and a general revolution appeared to have
taken place in the manners, as well as the principles, of the citizens,
which, under the Whig government, had savoured not a little of the
ancient days of fanatical severity.


Note XXXV.

_Howe'er encumbered with a viler pair
Than Ziph or Shimei, to assist the chair;
Yet Ziloah's loyal labours so prevailed,
That faction, at the next election, failed. _--P. 353.

Ziph and Shimei were the Whig sheriffs in 1681; concerning whom,
see note upon Shimei in Part First. The _viler pair_ were Thomas
Pilkington, and Samuel Shute, who followed out the practice of their
predecessors, in the mode of packing the juries on political trials,
and had the honour to arrange that which acquitted the Earl of
Shaftesbury. They were much hated by the court; and, when they came
with the recorder to invite the King to dine with the Lord Mayor,
Charles forgot his usual politeness so far, as to answer sternly, "so
agreeable was the city's invitation, that he would accept it, though
brought by messengers so unwelcome to him as these two sheriffs. "[464]
Sir John Moor had a most violent contest with these two persons,
concerning the election of sheriffs for the ensuing year, about which
the court were exceedingly anxious.

It had been customary, when these elections were matters of little
consequence, that the Lord Mayor designated a citizen to hold the
office of sheriff, by the ceremony of drinking to him, and sending
him the cup. It was agreed by the court, that this custom should be
revived, as throwing the choice of one of the sheriffs into the hands
of their partizan, Sir John Moor. This being settled, the Mayor, in
full form, drank to Dudley North, brother of the Lord Keeper Guilford,
a Levant merchant, who accepted of that expensive office, to please
his brother, and to serve the court. The popular party determined to
controvert this election; denying that a sheriff could be elected
otherwise than by the Livery, and proposed Papillon and Dubois, sturdy
Whigs, for their candidates. The court, on the other hand, contending
that North was duly and incontrovertibly elected, by the jolly mode
already mentioned, proposed a Mr Box for the other sheriff, whose
office only they allowed to be vacant. The Common Hall, held on this
occasion, was as tumultuary as a raging tempest. At length the Lord
Mayor, with the party who denied there were two vacancies, withdrew;
while the country party remained, and polled for Papillon and Dubois,
under the direction of Shute and Pilkington, the last year's sheriffs.
The court, affecting to consider this as a riot, interfered on that
pretext, and a warrant was granted for committing the sheriffs to the
Tower. Having found bail to answer for a misdemeanour, they returned
to the charge with the same ardour as ever, and were actually about
to complete their poll, when the hall was adjourned by the orders of
the Lord Mayor. The whole weight of the court was necessary to keep
up the Lord Mayor's heart at this crisis. He was sent for to the
Privy Council, encouraged, soothed, schooled, and finally assured,
by a writing under the Lord Keeper's hand, that he might adjourn the
Common Hall, &c. as he thought proper. Thus heartened, the Lord Mayor
assumed to himself the whole management of the poll, although the
sheriffs opened books for another, and, denying the legality of any
election, excepting his own, declared Box duly returned. This citizen,
however, apprehensive of the consequences of acting under so dubious
a nomination, fined off, and declined to serve. One Rich was found,
with more zeal and courage; and, during the tumult of a Common Hall,
which resounded with the cries of "no election," &c. this gentleman was
elected sheriff by a few of the Lord Mayor's partizans, and declared
duly returned by the Lord Mayor, who immediately proceeded to dissolve
the Common Hall. North and Rich were accordingly sworn in as sheriffs
for the year; but a guard of the Train Bands was necessary to protect
them, while they thus qualified themselves for entering on their office.

This contest was followed by another, for the office of Lord Mayor.
Gould, the popular candidate, was returned by a considerable majority;
but, upon a scrutiny, the court-party, by dint of real or pretended
disqualifications, gained such an advantage, that Pritchard, their
candidate, was returned by a majority of fourteen voices.

The importance of these elections was soon visible. The popular party
were utterly disheartened, and their leaders exposed to the same
practices from packing juries, which they had themselves employed. The
court used their victory remorselessly. Pilkington, the ex-sheriff, was
found liable in 100,000l. damages, for having said that "the Duke of
York had fired the city, and was now come to cut all their throats. "
Those concerned in carrying on the double poll, were severely fined, as
guilty of a riot. Sir Patience Ward, an alderman of the popular party,
was declared obnoxious to a charge of perjury, for an inconsistence in
his evidence on Pilkington's trial. [465] In short, the royal vengeance
was felt by all who had been active in opposition to the court.

But the extent of the court's victory was best evinced by the conduct
of Shaftesbury; who, seeing his strong-hold, the magistracy of the
city, thus invaded, and occupied by his enemies, fled from his house
in Aldersgate-street, and for some time lay concealed in Wapping,
trusting for his safety to the very lowest of mankind. From this hiding
place, he sent forth messages to the other heads of the party, in which
he urged the most desperate measures. But, finding it impossible to
combine the various persons concerned in one plan of enterprize, and
sensible of the danger of discovery, which each day's delay rendered
more imminent, after a bitter contest between fear and rage, he fled to
Amsterdam. His retreat was followed by the trial of the conspirators in
the Rye-house Plot; and doubtless, the court, on that occasion, knew
well how to avail themselves of the power of selecting juries so long
possessed by their enemies, and now in their own hands. During the
short remainder of this reign, the king's authority was paramount and
supreme; his enemies were at his feet, and not a whisper of opposition
disturbed his repose;--a deceitful and delusive calm, which his
unfortunate successor soon saw changed into a tempest.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 411: "An excellent new Ballad between Tom the Tory, and Toney
the Whig. (Danby and Shaftesbury. ) Scene, the Tower. "

_Toney_. Thou wants not wickedness, but wit,
To turn it to thy profit;
Who but a sot would hatch a plot,
And then make nothing of it?
'Twas I was fain to rear thy barn,
And bring it to perfection;
I made the frighted nation sue
To me for my protection.
]

[Footnote 412: They were on such bad terms, that, while Shaftesbury
was sitting as Chancellor, he had occasion to call the Duke of York to
order; the Duke, as he passed the chair, told Shaftesbury, in a low
voice, he was "an insolent scoundrel:" "I thank your Grace," retorted
the Chancellor, with inimitable readiness, "for having called me
neither a coward nor a Papist. "]

[Footnote 413: "A modest Vindication of the Earl of Shaftesbury,
in a Letter to a Friend, concerning his being elected King of
Poland. "--_Somers' Tracts_, p. 153. ]

[Footnote 414: Witness an excellent ballad, which calls itself, "The
Suburbs' Thanks for the City's Election:"

We gave commission, that our thanks should wait on
The kind electors of Sir Robert Clayton,
Sir Thomas Player, Pilkington, and Love;
Thus we our joy by this return do prove.

* * * * *

Meekly and modestly they played their parts;
I do not wonder that they won your hearts:
Had you elected others in their stead,
Sure you had done a very evil deed;
For who could equalize the love and care
Of Clayton, Pilkington, of Love, and Player?
]

[Footnote 415: See Vol. VII. p. 4. ]

[Footnote 416: Who kept a noted bagnio. ]

[Footnote 417: _Somers' Tracts_, p. 185. ]

[Footnote 418: Debates of the Westminster and Oxford Parliaments, 1689.
p. 39. ]

[Footnote 419: The citizens are invited to go to the top of the
Monument, and to fancy to themselves the following objects, which are
sure to come to pass whenever popery prevails, _i. e. _ when the Duke of
York succeeds to the throne.

"First, imagine you see the whole town in a flame, occasioned this
second time by the same popish malice that set it on fire before. At
the same time fancy, that, among the distracted crowd, you behold
troops of Papists ravishing your wives and daughters, dashing your
little childrens' brains out against the wall, plundering your
houses, and cutting your own throats, by the name of heretic dogs.
Then represent to yourselves the Tower playing off its cannon, and
battering down your houses about your ears. Also, casting your eye
towards Smithfield, imagine you see your father, or your mother, or
some of your nearest and dearest relations, tied to a stake, in the
midst of flames, when, with hands and eyes lifted up to heaven, they
scream and cry out to that God, for whose cause they die, which was a
frequent spectacle the last time Popery reigned amongst us. Fancy you
behold those beautiful churches, erected for the true worship of God,
abused and turned into idolatrous temples, to the dishonour of Christ,
and scandal of religion; the ministers of God's word torn to pieces
before their eyes, and their very best friends not daring even to speak
in their behalf. Your trading's bad, and in a manner lost already,
but then the only commodity will be fire and sword; the only object,
women running with their hair about their ears, men covered with blood,
children sprawling under horses feet, and only the walls of houses left
standing; when those that survive this fatal day may sigh and cry, Here
once stood my house, there my friend's, and there my kinsman's; but,
alas! that time is past. The only noise will then be, O my wife, O my
husband, O my dearest children! In fine, what the devil himself would
do, were he upon earth, will, in his absence, infallibly be acted by
his agents the Papists. " See _State Tracts_, p. 102. Burnet mentions
Ferguson being the author, in his "Letter occasioned by a Second Letter
to Dr Burnet. "]

[Footnote 420: Letter occasioned by a Second Letter to Dr Burnet, p. 7. ]

[Footnote 421: House-keeper to the excise-office, worth 500l. a-year,
with little trouble. ]

[Footnote 422: _Balcarras' Account_, p. 524. ]

[Footnote 423: _Ralph. _ Vol. II. ]

[Footnote 424: Carte's "Life of Ormond," vol. II. p, 444. ]

[Footnote 425: After the Revolution these pieces were collected into
a volume, and entitled, "A second five years Struggle against Popery
and Tyranny. " The preface bears, that "they were written, not out of
harm's way, but in the enemy's quarters, with so great danger as well
as difficulty, that I lived for many years together only from term to
term. But no man ought to count his life dear to him in the cause of
his country; for he that is bound to love one neighbour as himself,
must in proportion love ten millions of neighbours so many times better
than himself. "]

[Footnote 426: That of James II. , then encamped on Hounslow Heath. ]

[Footnote 427: They omitted to strip off his cassock; and that slight
circumstance rendered the degradation imperfect, and saved his
benefice. ]

[Footnote 428: Oliver Cromwell. ]

[Footnote 429: He had not so totally lost his poetical reputation, but
that a brother bard was left to bewail his apostacy, as a disgrace to
his talents:

For one, who formerly stood candidate
For wit and sense with men of highest rate.
Apostatises from his former acts,
And from his own Cambyses' fame detracts;
No more in verse his mighty talent shows,
But libels princes with malicious prose.
This man in Cornhill if you chance to meet,
Or near the middle of Threadneedle street,
Know, 'tis to pay his homage to the sun,
Or rather to the hot-brained Phæton,
Whom Ovid blames; but he does more commend,
Advising straight the chariot to ascend.
_Loyalty Triumphant_, 1st _July_, 1681.
]

[Footnote 430: Elkanah had forfeited reputation for valour, by his
conduct in a quarrel with Otway; as may be interred from the line,

Settle's a coward, because fool Otway fought him.

In an answer to "The Character of a Popish Successor," called, "A
Character of the true-blue Protestant Poet," Settle is termed, "a fool,
an arrant knave, a despicable coward, and a prophane atheist. "]

[Footnote 431: The full title is, "Absalom Senior, or Achitophel
Transprosed, a Poem. _Si populus vult decipi_, &c. Printed for S. E. ,
and sold by Langley Curtis, at the sign of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey, near
Fleetbridge, 1682. "]

[Footnote 432: This pithy objection would prove the impossibility of
two persons bearing the same name, and existing at different periods
of history. Elkanah did not observe, that, as there might have been
an hundred, so there actually were at least two Zimris in scripture
story; the second of whom rebelled against his master, Elah, king of
Israel, and usurped the kingdom. If Dryden meant to apply either of
these characters distinctly to the factious Duke of Buckingham, it was
probably the last, whose treason had become proverbial: "Had Zimri
peace, who slew his master? "]

[Footnote 433: Jefferies once, when recorder of London, called himself
the Mouth of the city; and the name became attached to him, from the
natural expansion of that feature. The scandalous circumstance, alluded
to by Settle, is the subject of a libel in the "State Poems. " But
Settle lived to write, "A Panegyric on the Loyal and Honourable Sir
George Jefferies, Lord Chief Justice of England, 1683. "]

[Footnote 434: The Duke of Buckingham. See note on Zimri, p. 353. ]

[Footnote 435: WOOD'S _Athenæ Oxonienses_, p. 1076. _et sequen. _]

[Footnote 436: NORTH'S _Examen_, p. 96. --It does not appear, that the
Tories welcomed the return of their lost sheep. It is talked lightly of
in their ballads and libels. For instance, we have these two lines in
"The Poet's Address to King James II. , surnamed the _Just_:"

Character Settle, if you please to hate,
Who, Judas-like, repented when too late.
]

[Footnote 437: At this time Bartholomew and Smithfield fairs exhibited
many theatrical representations. From a letter of the facetious Tom
Brown, we learn, that a variety of performers appeared upon temporary
stages during these festive assemblies.
To write drolls for them, and
for the puppet-shows, though the last state of literary degradation,
may have been attended with some scantling of profit. Dryden calls
Settle "a Bartholomew-fair writer," in the "Vindication of the Duke of
Guise," Vol. VII. p. 193. ]

[Footnote 438: "The Whigs' Lamentation for the Death of their dear
Brother Colledge, the Protestant Joiner:"

Brave Colledge is hanged, the chief of our hopes,
For pulling down bishops, and making new popes.
Our dear brother Property calls on the ground,
In Poland, King Antony ne'er will be crowned;
For now they're resolved that harts shall be trump,
And the 'prentices swear they will burn the old rump.

* * * * *

Our case to the corrector-men we must refer,
To Shadwell and Settle, to Curtis and Carr;
To know who succeeds our late captain the joiner,
He must be some artist, some carver, or coiner.
]

[Footnote 439: _Examen_, p. 394. ]

[Footnote 440: _Examen_, p. 373. ]

[Footnote 441: _Examen_. p. 277. ]

[Footnote 442: See L'Estrange's "Narrative of the Plot. " A similar,
and still more strange, mistake of the worthy justice, is coupled with
an allusion to the necklace, in a pasquinade called "Gate's Boarding
School at Camberwell, writ by J. Dean, Author of the Wine Cooper, the
Hunting of the Fox, the Badger in the Fox Trap, the Lord Russell's
Farewell, the Loyal Conquest, the Dutch Miller, &c. "

"Waller his pots of venison,
He took for priests, may sell;
His amber necklaces make known
Our saints at Camberwell. "
]

[Footnote 443: Mr Prance's "Answer to Mrs Cellier's Letter, containing
also a Vindication of Sir William Waller, &c. with the Adventure of
the Bloody Bladder, &c. " The good justice was perhaps quite innocent
of these aspersions; but the evidence of Mr Miles Prance is a little
suspicious. ]

[Footnote 444: As appears from numerous ballads upon his meeting Mrs
Cellier in Newgate, &c. For example, we have "Dagon's Fall, or the
Knight turned out of Commission;" (on Sir William Waller, printed 12th
April, 1680, Luttrell's note;) which was answered by a Whig ballad,
bearing in front this bold defiance; "An Answer to Dagon's Fall, being
a Vindication of Sir William Waller", (printed 15th May, 1680, L. )

He that lately writ the fall of Dagon,
Is a rigid Papist, or a Pagan.
]

[Footnote 445: "By the Reverend Thomas Jekyll," says Anthony a Wood;
and adds, "it was published under the title of "True Religion makes the
best Loyalty. " But Anthony was not a man to detect the irony, which I
rather think Mr Jekyll had in view; his text being xxiv. Proverbs, 21.
I suspect the clergyman hung out false colours to delude the Whigs;
for surely he could never have intended to preach before Monmouth and
Shaftesbury upon the words, "fear God, and honour the king, and meddle
not with them that are given to change. " _Athenæ_, p. 1075. ]

[Footnote 446: The addressors for the county of Devon, are ironically
said to have been "introduced by that _wise_ and _high-born_ prince,
Christopher, Duke of Albemarle. " _History of Addresses_, p. 47. ]

[Footnote 447: In 1685. It is remarkable, that Goodman the actor,
when a student at Cambridge, had been expelled for being concerned in
cutting and defacing that same picture, which the university, by a
solemn act, appointed to be burned in public. Stepney has a poem on
this solemnity, with the apt motto, which applies to mobs, whether
composed of the learned or ignorant:

_------Sed quid
Turba Remi? Sequitur fortunam ut semper, et odit
Damnatos. _
]

[Footnote 448: Sheffield Duke of Buckingham's character of the Earl of
Arlington. See his works, Vol. II. p. 60. ]

[Footnote 449: It is said, that, while he was abroad, Lord Colepepper
saw Charles and him come together from mass, and expressed his
resentment against Bennet in such terms, that he, not piquing himself
on personal valour, did not chuse to visit Britain till after the death
of that incensed and unceremonious protestant. ]

[Footnote 450: "London, August 4th, 1681. This day the Loyal Apprentices
of this city, who made lately the humble address to his majesty,
dined at Sadler's Hall. The king had been pleased to give them a
brace of bucks, and many of the principal nobility, and other persons
of quality, did them the honour to dine with them; there was a very
handsome entertainment, managed with great order; and they intending to
keep an annual feast, desired his grace the Duke of Grafton, and some
others of the nobility, to be stewards for the next year. " _Gazette_,
No. 1640. Accordingly, the next year, the Duke of Grafton presided on
the 9th August, 1682. This was one of the devices by which the court
endeavoured to strengthen their ground in the city against Shaftesbury
and Monmouth, and was much canvassed in the pamphlets, &c. of the time.
In Luttrell's Collection, are the following poems on the 'Prentices
feast:

"To the Loyal Company of Citizens met at Merchant Taylors' Hall. "

"A Poem on the 'Prentices Feast (satirical. )"

"A Rejoynder to the Whiggish Poem, upon the Tory 'Prentices Feast at
Merchant Taylors' Hall (ironical. )"

"An Answer to the Whiggish Poem, on the Loyal Apprentices Feast. "

"Loyalty Rewarded, or a Poem on the Brace of Bucks bestowed on the
Loyal Apprentices by his Majesty", (3d August, 1681. ) Answered by the
Boys whipt Home, or a Rythme upon the Apprentices Poem.

Poor boys! a brace of bucks was made their cheer,
To show their courage hearted like a deer,
Whose spreading horns foretell the future fates,
Their wives shall fix upon their spreading pates.
]

[Footnote 451: Ralph, Vol. I. p. 657. ]

[Footnote 452: Ibid. 879. ]

[Footnote 453: In Villiers Duke of Buckingham's works, Vol. II. , is a
little squib, called "The Battle," in which Feversham is introduced,
giving, in broken English, a very ludicrous account of his campaign. It
is in dialogue, and concludes thus:

_Lord. _ I suppose, my lord, that your lordship was posted in a very
strong place?

_General. _ O begarra, very strong, vid de great river between me and de
rebella, calla de Brooka de Gutter.

_Lady. _ But they say, my lord, there was no water in that brook of the
gutter?

_General. _ Begar, madama, but dat no be my faulta; begar me no hinder
de water from coma; if no will rain, begar me no can make de rain.

_Lady. _ But did you not go to some other place?

_General. _ O pardon me, madama, you no understand de ting.

_Lord. _ And so your lordship, it seems, encamped with your horse and
foot?

_General. _ Ay vid de foota, no vid de horsa; begar me go vid de horsa
on de gentlemen-officera, to one very good villash, where begar, be
very good quartera, very good meta, very good drinka, and very good
bedda.

_Lady. _ But pray, my lord, why did you not stay with the foot?

_General. _ Begarra, madama, because dire be great differentia between
de gentlemen-officera and de rogua de sogiera; begarra de rogua de
sogiera lye upon the grounda; but begar de gentlemen-officera go to
bedda. ]

[Footnote 454: There is amongst the records of the order of the Garter,
written in Latin, and deposited in St George's chapel, an account of
the manner in which the Duke of Monmouth's banner, which had been
suspended over his stall, was taken down by the command of James the
II. --Garter king at arms, the heralds, and all the officers of the
Garter, attended; and, amidst a great concourse of people, took down
the banner, treated it with every mark of indignity, and kicked it out
of the western door of the church into a ditch, which at that time was
near the church. ]

[Footnote 455: William Symthies, curate at Cripplegate, intimates, that
he kept his coach and six horses. --_Reply to the Observator_, p. 2. ]

[Footnote 456: _Examen_, p. 596. ]

[Footnote 457: Carte, Vol. II. p. 522. ]

[Footnote 458: _Examen_, p. 616. North mentions a song having for
burden,

--the worshipful Sir John Moor,
Age after age that name adore.

Besides a congratulatory poem to Sir John Moor, Knight, Lord Mayor
elect of London, 30th September, 1682, there is another in the
Luttrell Collection, comparing the feats of Sir John with those of his
predecessors in the government of the city, to the ancient tune of "St
George for England," entitled, "Vive Le Roy, or London's Joy," a new
song on the installation of the present Lord Mayor of London. (To the
tune of 'St George for England. ')

Sir Patience[459] calls for justice, and then the wretch will sham us;
Sh. Bethel,[460] he packs a jury, well versed in Ignoramus;
Sir Tom[461] would hang the Tory, and let the Whig go free;
Sir Bob[462] would have a commonwealth, and cry down monarchy;
While still the brave Sir George[463] did all their deeds record;
But Sir John, Sir John, your loyalty restored.
Sir John he is for justice, which rebels would destroy;
Vive, vive, vive le roy.
]

[Footnote 459: Sir Patience Ward. ]

[Footnote 460: Sheriff Bethel. ]

[Footnote 461: Sir Thos. Player. ]

[Footnote 462: Sir Robert Clayton. ]

[Footnote 463: Sir George Jefferies. ]

[Footnote 464: Ralph, Vol. I. p. 634. ]

[Footnote 465: He fled to the Hague, as appears from a ballad called
"The Hue and Song after Patience, (23 May, 1683. )"

Have but a little patience, and you shall hear,
How Patience had the gift to lie and swear;
How Patience could with patience stand a lie;
But Patience wants to stand the pillory.
Out of all patience, to the Hague he steers;
To stay he had not patience for his ears.
]




THE MEDAL.

A SATIRE AGAINST SEDITION.

_Per Graium populos, mediqæue per Elidis urbem
Ibat ovans; Divumque sibi poscebat honores. _




THE MEDAL.


The Medal was published in the beginning of March 1682, about four
months after the appearance of the first part of "Absalom and
Achitophel," and eight months before the publication of the second part
of that poem. The circumstances, which led to it, require us to notice
Shaftesbury's imprisonment and acquittal.

On the 2d July, 1681, the Earl of Shaftesbury was apprehended, by
virtue of a warrant from council, and after his papers had been
seized, and he himself had undergone an examination, was committed
to the Tower. Upon the 24th November, 1681, a bill for high-treason
was presented against him to the grand jury of Middlesex. When the
witnesses were adduced, the jurors demanded, that they might be
examined in private; and Pilkington, the Whig sheriff, required, that
they should be examined separately. Both requests were refused by the
court. One Booth was then examined, who swore, that Lord Shaftesbury
had told him, he intended to carry down to the Oxford parliament a
party of fifty gentlemen, and their servants, armed and mounted, to be
commanded by a Captain Wilkinson; and that his Lordship stated this
force to be provided, for the purpose of repelling any attack which
the king's guards might make on the parliament, and, if necessary,
to take the king from his bad advisers by force, and bring him to
the city of London. The witness, said he, was invited by Wilkinson
to be one of this band, and provided himself with a good horse and
arms for the service; which was prevented by the sudden dissolution
of the Oxford parliament. Seven other witnesses, Smith, Turberville,
Haynes, and three persons called Macnamara, swore, that Shaftesbury
had used to them, and each of them individually, the most treasonable
expressions concerning the king's person; had declared he had no more
title to the crown than the Duke of Buckingham; that he deserved to
be deposed; and that he, Shaftesbury, would dethrone him, and convert
the kingdom into a commonwealth. Here was enough of swearing at least
to make a true bill. But the character of the witnesses was infamous;
Booth was a swindler, and could never give an account of the stable in
which he kept his pretended charger, or produce any one who had seen
it. Smith, by his own confession, had changed his religion twice, was
one of the evidences of the Popish plot, and intimate with the villain
Oates. Turberville stood in the same predicament of an infamous fellow,
and an evidence for the plot; he is said to have apologised for his
apostacy, by saying plainly, that "the Protestant citizens had forsaken
him, and, God damn him, he would not starve. " The other witnesses were
Irishmen, and there was something remarkable in their history. They had
pretended to discover a Catholic plot in Ireland, which, if one had
existed any where, was doubtless the place where it might have been
found. Their evidence, however, contained pretty much such a raw-head
and bloody-bones story as that of Oates, and equally unworthy of
credit. Yet Shaftesbury constituted himself their protector, and had
them brought over to England, where he doubtless intended, that their
Irish plot should be as warmly agitated in the Oxford parliament, as
the English conspiracy in that of 1679. Macnamara's "Narrative of the
Conspiracy" is dedicated to his Lordship, because it was not only known
to the dedicator, "but to the whole Christian world, how conspicuous
his Lordship had been for his indefatigable zeal and vigilance over
the safety of his majesty's most sacred person, and the welfare of the
whole extent of his dominions. " The sudden dissolution of the Oxford
parliament, which had such important consequences in various respects,
prevented the prosecution of the Irish plot. Besides, it seems to have
escaped even Shaftesbury, that popular terror, the most powerful of
engines, loses its excitability by too frequent alarms. The theme of a
plot began to be listened to with indifference. That of Ireland fell
to the ground, without exciting clamour or terror, but the witnesses
remained. There is a story of some Irish recruits, who, being detected
in a brawl, justified themselves, by saying, they were paid by the king
for fighting, and it was quite the same to them where they fought,
or with whom. The witnesses were equally sedulous in their vocation,
and equally indifferent about the application of their labours; for,
finding the court had obtained an ascendency, they readily turned with
the tide, and bore evidence, as we have seen, against their original
protector and encourager. The Tories basely availed themselves of the
readiness with which this hungry pack of bloodhounds turned against
their huntsman, and triumphantly claimed for them the same credit which
the Whigs had demanded in former cases; although they must have been
conscious, that they were employing the worst arts, as well as the most
infamous implements, of their enemies. Besides the infamy of these
men's character, their story was very improbable; as it could hardly be
supposed, that Shaftesbury, the veteran leader of a party, should have
committed himself so deeply in unnecessary and unreserved communication
with these vulgar banditti, or expressed himself against the king in
such low and gross language as they imputed to him.

Such being the oral testimony, and such its defects, the crown
lawyers endeavoured to aid it, by founding upon certain papers found
in Shaftesbury's study. One of these contained the names of the
principal persons in the nation, divided into two lists, one titled,
_Worthy Men_, and the other, _Men Worthy_; which last contained the
principal Tories, and the legend was understood to mean, "men worthy
to be hanged. " This was too enigmatical to bear much argument. But
there was also found a draught of an association against Popery, in
which many dangerous topics were stated. It was thereby declared,
that the Papist Plot was still advancing, and that the Catholics had
been highly encouraged by James Duke of York; that mercenary forces
had been levied, and kept on foot, contrary to law, and to the danger
of the king's person: Therefore the persons associating were to bind
themselves to defend, first the Protestant religion, and then the
king's person and liberties of the subject, against all encroachment
and usurpation of arbitrary power, and to endeavour to disband all
such mercenary forces as were kept up in and about the city of London,
to the great amazement and terror of all the good people of the land;
also, never to consent that the Duke of York, or any professed Papist,
should succeed to the crown, but by all lawful means, and by force
of arms if necessary, to resist and oppose his so doing. By a still
more formidable clause, it was provided, that the subscribers were to
receive orders from the parliament if sitting; but if it should be
dissolved, from the majority of the association itself. Lastly, that
no one should separate from the rest of the association, on pain of
being by the others prosecuted and suppressed, as a perjured person
and public enemy. Much dangerous, and even treasonable, inference may
be drawn from this model. But it was only an unsigned scroll, and did
not appear to have been framed, or even revised and approved of, by
Shaftesbury.

With such evidence against him, Shaftesbury might have gone safely
before a jury of indifferent men, could such have been found. But the
Whig sheriffs, Shute and Pilkington, left nothing to hazard, and took
good care the assize should consist of men picked out of the very
centre of their own party. We recognize the names of Godfrey, brother
to Sir Edmondbury; of Papillon and Dubois, the Whig candidates for the
shrievalty against North and Rich; of Sir Samuel Barnardiston, who
maintained a furious action against the high-sheriff of Suffolk, for
a double return; of Shepherd, the wine-merchant, at whose house the
Duke of Monmouth, Lord Russel, &c. afterwards held their meetings; of
Edwin, the presbyterian, and others less noted in history, but not less
remarkable at the time for the violence of their party-zeal. After a
short consideration, they returned the bill _Ignoramus_; upon which
there was a shout of continued applause in the court, which lasted
for an hour, and the city, in the evening, blazed with bonfires, to
celebrate the escape of their Protestant leader. Such was the history
of this noted trial, which took place at a time when the course of
law had lost its deep still channel, and all causes were carried by a
fierce impetuous torrent, which threatened to break down the banks, and
become a general inundation. Accustomed to a pure administration of
justice, we now look back with disgust and horror upon times, when, to
bring in a just verdict, it was necessary to assemble a packed jury.

The triumph of the Whigs was unbounded; and, among other symptoms of
exultation, it displayed itself in that which gave rise to this poem
of Dryden. This was a medal of Lord Shaftesbury, struck by William
Bower, an artist, who had executed some popular pieces allusive to
the Roman Catholic plot. [466] The obverse presented the bust of the
earl, with the legend, ANTONIO COMITI DE SHAFTESBURY; the reverse, a
view of London, the bridge, and the Tower; the sun is rising above the
Tower, and just in the act of dispersing a cloud; the legend around
the exergue is LÆTAMUR, and beneath is the date of his acquittal, 24th
NOVEMBER, 1681. The partizans of the acquitted patriot wore these
medals at their breasts; and care was taken that this emblem should be
made as general as possible. [467]

The success of "Absalom and Achitophel" made the Tories look to our
author as the only poet whose satire might check, or ridicule, the
popular triumph of Shaftesbury. If the following anecdote, which Spence
has given on the authority of a Catholic priest, a friend of Pope, be
absolutely correct, Charles himself engaged Dryden to write on this
theme. "One day as the king was walking in the Mall, and talking with
Dryden, he said, 'If I was a poet, and I think I am poor enough to be
one, I would write a poem on such a subject, in the following manner. '
He then gave him the plan of "The Medal. " Dryden took the hint, carried
the poem, as soon as it was written, to the king, and had a present of
a hundred broad pieces for it. "

The merits of "The Medal," as a satirical poem, are universally
acknowledged; nor does it greatly suffer from being placed, as the
subject naturally invites, in comparison with "Absalom and Achitophel. "
The latter, as a group of figures, presents greater scope and variety,
and may be therefore more generally interesting than the portrait of
an individual; but it does not more fully display the abilities of
the artist. Nothing can be more forcibly described, than the whole
of Shaftesbury's political career; and, to use the nervous language
of Johnson, "the picture of a man, whose propensions to mischief
are such, that his best actions are but inability of wickedness, is
very skilfully delineated, and strongly coloured. " The comparison of
his best and most politic councils, to the cures affected by those
called _white witches_, whom it was unlawful to consult, because,
even in accomplishing innocent purposes, they used infernal arts, is
poignantly severe. The succeeding lines, in which the poet ridicules
bitterly that appeal to the people, which the demagogues of that, as
of all periods, were desirous to represent as the criterion of truth,
contains the essence of all that an hundred philosophers can say upon
the topic. His stern and indignant picture of the citizens of London,
unjust as it is, if meant to express their general character, is, in
individual instances, too often verified. That looseness which habitual
chicane in trade introduces into mercantile morality; that bustling
activity, which, however meritorious when within its sphere, is so apt
to extend itself where its exertion is only mischievous and absurd; and
that natural turn to democracy, which arises from frequenting popular
meetings and from ambition of civic honours; that half-acquaintance
with the affairs of other countries, and half-intimacy with the laws
of our own, acquired in the course of mercantile transactions,--all
combine, but too often, to turn an useful sober citizen, into a
meddling, pragmatical, opinionative politician. The strong and gloomy
picture of the fanatics, which succeeds, describes a race of men now
in a great measure extinct, of whom the influence, though declining,
even in the poet's time, continued to be powerful, and which had,
in the preceding generation, prostrated before them both the mitre
and the throne. The comparison of the fanatical ideas of religion
entertained by these dissenting teachers, with the supposed principles
of the libertine and latitudinarian Shaftesbury, gave scope for some
nervous satire, and led the author naturally to consider the probable
result of the schemes of these incongruous allies. These he predicts,
according to the progress of things after the great civil war, to be
successively the dominion of presbytery, and depression of the gentry;
the insurrection of the independents, and other sects, against their
spiritual tyranny; quarrels between the civil and military leaders; the
commons destroying the peerage; a democratical republic; a military
tyranny; and, by the blessing of heaven, a restoration of the rightful
heir. All these scenes had already passed at no distant period; and
now, while the sword was yet in the sheath, though the hand was upon
its hilt, the masterly and energetic language in which they are
detailed may have tempted many to pause and think, whether the evils,
of which they complained, deserved the risque of so desperate a remedy.

Such is the plan of this admirable poem. The language is as striking
as the ideas and subject. The illustrations and images are short and
apposite, such as give force to the argument, and flow easily into
the diction, without appearing to have been laboured, or brought
from a distance. I fear, however, some of the scriptural allusions
are censurable, as too free, if not profane. The verse has all the
commanding emphasis, with which Dryden, beyond any other poet, knew
how to body forth and adorn his poetical arguments. One Alexandrine is
prolonged two syllables beyond the usual length; a circumstance hardly
worth notice, were it not to show the sharp-sighted malice of Dryden's
enemies, who could discover this single inaccuracy, if, indeed, the
licence was not intentional, amid so much sounding versification. [468]

As "The Medal" attracted immediate and extensive attention, the Whig
champions stepped forth to the contest. "The Mushroom," by Edmund
Hickeringell, first appeared; and, in succession, "The Medal Reversed,"
by Samuel Pordage, which procured its author a couplet in the second
part of "Absalom and Achitophel;" "The Loyal Medal Vindicated," and
the "Medal of John Bayes;" all of which, and perhaps many more,
appeared in the summer and autumn of 1681. Two satires, of a more
general nature, entitled, "Dryden's Satire to his Muse," and, "The
Tory Poets," were also published against our author in the course of
that year; a sufficient proof of the irritation of that party, whose
chief he had now twice held up to public detestation. --The popularity
of "The Medal" did not cease with the crisis which gave it birth; it
went through many editions, and only became less known, when successive
changes had totally worn away all remembrance of the intrigues of the
eminent politician against whom it was directed. Johnson has said, "It
is now not much read, nor perhaps generally understood; yet, a slight
acquaintance with the history of the period removes all obscurity;
and, though we cannot sympathize with the fervour of politics which it
contains, the poetry has claims to popularity, widely independent of
the temporary nature of the subject. "

As the reader is now to take a long farewell of Lord Shaftesbury,
it may not be unnecessary to remind him, that, when freed from the
accusation of high treason, the earl continued to agitate plans of
opposition to the government, which became more and more violent, as
the ascendency of the court became more powerful, until open force
seemed to be the only means left of accomplishing what undoubtedly he
had at first hoped to carry through by political intrigue. At length
he found it necessary to fly from his house in Aldersgate-Street,
and take refuge in the suburbs of the city, from whence he sent
messages to his associates, urging them to take arms. But he was now
doomed to experience what his ardent temper had before prevented him
from considering.