By the REV. THOMAS WARTON, B.D.

Fellow of the Trinity College, in Oxford, late Professor of Poetry in that University, and now Poet Laureat to his Majesty.

I.
Amid the thunder of the war,
True glory guides no echoing car;
Nor bids the sword her bays bequeath;
Nor stains with blood her brightest wreath:
No plumed host her tranquil triumphs own:
Nor spoils of murder’d multitudes she brings,
To swell the state of her distinguish’d, kings,
And deck her chosen throne.
On that fair throne, to Britain dear,
With the flowering olive twin’d,
High she hangs the hero’s spear;
And there, with all the palms of peace combin’d,
Her unpolluted hands the milder trophy rear.
To kings like these, her genuine theme,
The Muse a blameless homage pays;
To GEORGE, of kings like these supreme,
She wishes honour’d length of days,
Nor prostitutes the tribute of her lays.

II.
’Tis his to bid neglected genius glow,
And teach the regal bounty how to flow;
His tutelary sceptre’s sway
The vindicated Arts obey,
And hail their patron King:
’Tis his to judgment’s steady line
Their flights fantastic to confine,
And yet expand their wing:
The fleeting forms of Fashion to restrain,
And bind capricious Taste in Truth’s eternal chain.
Sculpture, licentious now no more,
From Greece her great example takes,
With Nature’s warmth the marble wakes,
And spurns the toys of modern lore:
In native beauty, simply plann’d,
Corinth, thy tufted shafts ascend;
The Graces guide the painter’s hand,
His magic mimicry to blend.

III.
While such the gifts his reign bestows,
Amid the proud display,
Those gems around the throne he throws
That shed a softer ray:
While from the summits of sublime Renown
He wafts his favour’s universal gale,
With those sweet flowers he binds a crown
That bloom in Virtue’s humble vale.
With rich munificence, the nuptial tye,
Unbroken he combines:——
Conspicuous in a nation’s eye,
The sacred pattern shines!
Fair Science to reform, reward, and raise,
To spread the lustre of domestic praise;
To foster Emulation’s holy flame,
To build Society’s majestic frame:
Mankind to polish and to teach,
Be this the monarch’s aim;
Above Ambition’s giant-reach
The monarch’s meed to claim.

The illustrious Arbiters, of whom we may with great truth describe the noble Earl as the very alter-ipse of MÆcenas, and the worthy Pierot, as the most correct counterpart of Petronius, had carefully revised the whole of the preceding productions, and had indulged the defeated ambition of restless and aspiring Poetry, with a most impartial and elaborate Scrutiny (the whole account of which, faithfully translated from the Italian of Signor Delpini, and the English of the Earl of Salisbury, will, in due time, be submitted to the inspection of the curious), were preparing to make a legal return, when an event happened that put a final period to their proceedings.—The following is a correct account of this interesting occurrence:

On Sunday the 17th of the present month, to wit, July, Anno Domini, 1785, just as his Majesty was ascending the stairs of his gallery, to attend divine worship at WINDSOR, he was surprized by the appearance of a little, thick, squat, red-faced man, who, in a very odd dress, and kneeling upon one knee, presented a piece of paper for the Royal acceptation. His Majesty, amazed at the sight of such a figure in such a place, had already given orders to one of the attendant beef-eaters to dismiss him from his presence, when, by a certain hasty spasmodic mumbling, together with two or three prompt quotations from Virgil, the person was discovered to be no other than the Rev. Mr. Thomas Warton himself, dressed in the official vesture of his professorship, and the paper which he held in his hand being nothing else but a fair-written petition, designed for the inspection of his Majesty, our gracious Sovereign, made up for the seeming rudeness of the first reception, by a hearty embrace on recognition; and the contents of the petition being forthwith examined, were found to be pretty nearly as follows.——We omit the common-place compliments generally introduced in the exordia of these applications, as “relying upon your Majesty’s well-known clemency;” “convinced of your Royal regard for the real interest of your subjects;” “penetrated with the fullest conviction of your wisdom and justice,” &c. &c. which, though undoubtedly very true, when considered as addressed to George the Third, might, perhaps, as matters of mere form, be applied to a Sovereign, who neither had proved wisdom nor regard for his subjects in one act of his reign, and proceed to the substance and matter of the complaint itself. It sets forth, “That the Petitioner, Mr. Thomas, had been many years a maker of Poetry, as his friend Mr. Sadler, the pastry-cook, of Oxford, and some other creditable witnesses, could well evince: that many of his works of fancy, and more particularly that one, which is known by the name of his Criticisms upon Milton, had been well received by the learned; that thus encouraged, he had entered the list, together with many other great and respectable candidates, for the honour of a succession to the vacant Laureatship; that a decided return had been made in his favour by the officers best calculated to judge, namely, the Right Hon. the Earl of Salisbury, and the learned Signor Delpini, his Lordship’s worthy coadjutor; that the Signor’s delicacy, unhappily for the Petitioner, like that of Mr. Corbett, in the instance of the Westminster election, had inclined him to the grant of a SCRUTINY; that in consequence of the vexatious and pertinacious perseverance on the part of several gentlemen in this illegal and oppressive measure, the Petitioner had been severely injured in his spirits, his comforts, and his interest: that he had been for many years engaged in a most laborious and expensive undertaking, in which he had been honoured with the most liberal communications from all the universities in Europe, to wit, a splendid and most correct edition of the Poemata Minora, of the immortal Mr. Stephen Duck; that he was also under positive articles of literary partnership with his brother, the learned and well-known Dr. Joseph, to supply two pages per day in his new work, now in the press, entitled his Essay on the Life and Writings of Mr. THOMAS HICKATHRIFT; in both of which great undertakings, the progress had been most essentially interrupted by the great anxiety and distress of mind, under which the Petitioner has for some time laboured, on account of this inequitable scrutiny; that the Petitioner is bound by his honour and his engagement to prepare a new Ode for the birth-day of her most gracious Majesty, which he is very desirous of executing with as much poetry, perspicuity, and originality, as are universally allowed to have characterised his last effusion, in honour of the Natal Anniversary of his Royal Master’s sacred self; that there are but six months to come for such a preparation, and that the Petitioner has got no farther yet than ’Hail Muse!’ in the first stanza, which very much inclines him to fear he shall not be able to finish the whole in the short period above-mentioned, unless his Majesty should be graciously pleased to order some of his Lords of the Bed-chamber to assist him, or should command a termination to the vexatious enquiry now pending. In humble hopes that these several considerations would have their due influence with his Majesty, the Petitioner concludes with the usual prayer, and signed himself as underneath, &c. &c. &c. THO. WARTON, B.D. &c. &c.”

Such was the influence of the above admirable appeal on the sympathetic feelings of Majesty, that the sermon, which we understand was founded upon the text, “Let him keep his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no untruth,” and which was not preached by Dr. Prettyman, was entirely neglected, and a message instantly written, honoured by the Sign Manual, and directed to the office of the Right Hon. Lord Sydney, Secretary for the Home Department, enjoining an immediate redress for Mr. Thomas, and a total suspension of any further proceedings in a measure which (as the energy of Royal eloquence expressed it) was of such unexampled injustice, illegality, and oppression, as that of a scrutiny after a fair poll, and a decided superiority of admitted suffrages. This message, conveyed, as its solemnity well required, by no other Person than the Honourable young Tommy himself, Secretary to his amazing father, had its due influence with the Court; the Noble Lord broke his wand; Mr. Delpini executed a chacone, and tried at a somerset; he grinned a grim obedience to the mandate, and calling for pen, ink, and paper, wrote the following letter to the Printer of that favourite diurnal vehicle through whose medium these effusions had been heretofore submitted to the public:

“Monsieur, On vous requis, you are hereby commandie not to pooblish any more of de Ode Probationare—mon cher ami, Monsieur George le Roi, says it be ver bad to vex Monsieur le petit homme avec le grand paunch—Monsieur Wharton, any more vid scrutinÉe; je vous commande derefore to finis—Que le Roi soit louÉ!—God save de King! mind vat I say—ou le grand George and le bon Dieu damn votre ame & bodie, vos jambes, & vos pies, for ever and ever—pour jamais. (Signed) DELPINI.”

Nothing now remained, but for the Judges to make their return, which having done in favour of Mr. Thomas Warton, the original object of their preference, whom they now pronounced duly elected, the following Imperial notice was published in the succeeding Saturday’s Gazette, confirming the Nomination, and giving legal Sanction to the Appointment.