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Whose blows, like hail, flew rattling round the head
Him oft the ring behe'd w th weeping eyes,
Stretch'd on the ground, reluctant yield the prize.
Then fell the swain, with whom none e'er could vie
Where Harrow's steeple darts into the sky.
Next the bold youth a bleeding victim lay,
Whose waving curls the barber's art display.
You too this arm's tremendous prowess know;
Rash man, to make this arm again thy foe!"
This said the heroes for the fight prepare,
Brace their big limbs, and brawny bodies bare.
The sturdy sinews al' aghast behold,
And ample shoulders of Atlean mould;
Like Titan's offspring, who 'gainst Heavens trove,
So each, though mortal,seem'd a match for Jove.
Now round the ring a silent horrour reigns,
Speechless each tongue, and bloodless all their
veins ;

70

When, lo! the champions give the dreadful sign,
And hand in hand in friendly token join;
Those iron hands, which soon upon the foe
With giant-force must deal the dreadful blow.

THE GYMNASIAD.
BOOK III.
ARGUMENT.

A description of the battle; Stephenson is van-
quished; the manner of his body being car-
ried off by his friends; Broughton claims the
prize, and takes his final leave of the stage.
FULL in the centre now they fix in form,
Eye meeting eye, and arm oppos'd to arm;
With wily feints each other now provoke,
And cautious meditate th' impending stroke.
Th' impatient youth, inspir'd by hopes of fame,
First sped his arm, unfaithful to its aim;
The wary warrior, watchful of his foe,
Bends back, and 'scapes the death-designing blow;
With erring glance it sounded by his ear,

was an adept.-As he was the delicium pugnacis
generis, our author, with marvellous judgment,
represents the ring weeping at his defeat.

V. 54. Whose blows, like hail, &c.] Virgil.
-quam multa grandine nimbi

Culminibus crepitant.

V. 57. Then fell the swain,] Jeoffrey Birch, who, in several encounters, served only to augment the number of our hero's triumphs.

10

And whizzing, spent its idle force in air.
Then quick advancing on th' unguarded head,
A dreadful show'r of thunderbolts he shed:
As when a whirlwind, from some cavern broke,
With furious blasts assaults the monarch oak,
This way and that its lofty top it bends.
And the fierce storm the crackling branches
rends;

V. 59. Next the bold youth] As this champion is still living, and even disputes the palm of manhood with our hero himself, I shall leave him to be the subject of immortality in some future Gymnasiad, should the superiority of his prowess ever justify his title to the corona pugnea. V. 63. This said, &c,] Virgil.

Hæc fatus, duplicem ex humeris rejecit amic[tosque

tum :

Et magnos membrorum artus, magna ossa lacer-
Exuit.

V. 7, 8.
-watchful of his foe
Bends back and 'scapes the death-
designing blow;

Virgil.

-ille ictum venientem a vertice velox Prævidit, celerique elapsus corpore cessit.

20

So wav'd the head, and now to left and right
Rebounding flies, and crash'd beneath the weight.
Like the young lion wounded by a dart,
Whose fury kindles at the galling smart;
The hero rouses with redoubled rage,
Flies on the foe, and foams upon the stage.
Now grappling, both in close contention join,
Legs lock in legs, and arms in arms entwine:
They sweat, they heave, each tugging nerve they
strain;

Both, fix'd as oaks, their sturdy trunks sustain.
At length the chief his wily art display'd,
Pois'd on his hip the hapless youth he laid;
Aloft in air his quiv'ring limbs he throw'd, [load.
Then on the ground down dash'd the pond'rous
31
So some vast ruin on a mountain's brow,
Which tott'ring hangs, and dreadful nods below,
When the fierce tempest the foundation rends,
Whirl'd though the air with horrid crush des-
cends.

40

Bold and undaunted up the hero rose,
Fiercer his bosom for the combat glows;
Shame stung his manly heart, and fiery rage
New steel'd each nerve, redoubled war to wage.
Swift to revenge the dire disgrace he flies,
Again suspended on the hip he lies;
Dash'd on the ground, again had fatal fell,
Haply the barrier caught his flying heel;
There fast it hung, th' imprison'd head gave way,
And the strong arm defrauded of its prey.
Vain strove the chief to whirl the mountain o'er;
It slipt-he headlong rattles on the floor.
V. 10. its idle force in air.] Virgil

-vires in ventum effudit.

Doubt

V. 19. Like the young lion] It may be observed, that our author has treated the reader but with one simile throughout the two foregoing books; but, in order to make him ample amends, has given him no less than six in this. less this was in imitation of Homer, and artfully intended to heighten the dignity of the main action, as well as our admiration, towards the conclusion of his work.--Finis coronat opus. V. 24. Arms in arms entwine ;] Virgil. Immiscentque manus manibus, pugnamque

lacessunt.

V. 35. Bold and undaunted, &c.] Virgil.
At non tardatus casu, neque territus heros,
Acrior ad pugnam redit, & vim suscitat ira.
Tum pudor incendit vires-

V. 42. Haply the barrier, &c.] Our author, like Homer himself, is no less to be admired in the character of an historian than in that of a poet we see him here faithfully reciting the most minute incidents of the battle, and informing us, that the youthful hero, being on the lock, must again inevitably have come to the ground, had not his heel catched the bar; and that his antagonist, by the violence of his straining, slipt

Around the ring loud peals of thunder rise,
And shouts exuitant echo to the skies.

Uplifted now inanimate he seems,
Forth from his nostrils gush the purple streams;
Gasping for breath, and impotent of hand, 51
The youth beheld his rival stagg'ring stand:
But he, alas had felt th' unnerving blow,
And gaz'd, unable to assault the foe.
As when two monarchs of the brindled breed
Dispute the proud dominion of the mead,
They fight, they foam, then weary'd in the fray,
Aloof retreat, and low'ring stand at bay;
So stood the heroes, and indignant glar'd,

Dragging its limbs, they bear the body forth,
Mash'd teeth and clotted blood came issuing
from his mouth.

Thus then the victor-" O celestial pow'r!
Who gave this arm to boast one triumph more;
Now grey in glory, let my labours cease,
My blood-stain'd laurel wed the branch of peace;
Lur'd by the lustre of the golden prize,

No more in combat this proud crest shall rise;
To future heroes future deeds belong,
Be mine the theme of some immortal song." 90
This said he seiz'd the prize, while round
the ring,

While grim with blood their rueful fronts were High soar'd applause on acclamation's wing.

smear'd;

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Till with returning strength new rage returns, Again their arms are steel'd, again each bosom burns.

Incessant now their hollow sides they pound, Loud on each breast the bounding bangs re

sound;

Their flying fists around the temples glow,
And the jaws crackle with the massy blow.
The raging combat ev'ry eye appals,
[falls.
Strokes following strokes, and falls succeeding
Now droop'd the youth, yet, urging all his might,
70
With feeble arm still vindicates the fight,
Till on the part where heav'd the panting breath,
A fatal blow impress'd the seal of death.
Down dropt the hero, welt'ring in his gore,
And his stretch'd limbs lay quiv'ring on the floor.
So, when a falcon skims the airy way,
Stoops from the clouds, and pounces on his prey;
Dash'd on the earth the feather'd victim lies,
Expands its feeble wings, and, flutt'ring, dies.
His faithful friends their dying hero rear'd,
O'er his broad shoulders dangling hung his
head;
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his arm over his head, and by that means received
the fall he intended the enemy. I thought it
incumbent on me as a commentator to say thus
much, to illustrate the meaning of our author,
which might seem a little obscure to those who
are unacquainted with conflicts of this kind.
V. 48. echo to the skies, &c.] Virgil.

It clamor cœlo

The learned reader will perceive our author's frequent allusions to Virgil; and whether he intended them as translations or imitations of the Roman poet, must give us pause: but as, in our modern productions, we find imitations are generally nothing more than bad translations, and translations nothing more than bad imitations; it would equally, I suppose, satisfy the gall of the critic, should these unluckily fall within either description.

V. 63. Incessant now, &c.] Virgil.
Multa viri nequicquam inter se vulnera jactant:
Multa cavo lateri ingeminant, & pectore vastos
Dant sonitus, erratque aures & tempora circum
Crebra manus: duro crepitant sub vulnere

malæ.

V. 79. His faithful friends] Virgil.

At illum fidi æquales, genua ægra trahentem,
Jactantemque utroque caput, crassumque cruo-

rem

Ore rejectantem, mistosque in sanguine dentes,
Ducunt ad naves.

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cries,

"Fast as I paint, fresh swarms of fools arise! Groups rise on groups, and mock the pencil's pow'r,

To catch each new-blown folly of the hour."
While hum'rous Hogarth paints each folly
dead,

Shall vice triumphant rear its hydra head?
At satire's sov'reign nod disdain to shrink?
New reams of paper, and fresh floods of ink!
On then, my Muse! Herculean labours dare,
And wage with virtue's foes eternal war;
Range through the town in search of ev'ry ill,
And cleanse th' Augean stable with thy quill.

"But what avails the poignance of the song, Since all," you cry, "still persevere in wrong. Would courtly crimes to Mulgrave's' muse sub'mit?

Or blush'd the monarch though a Wilmot writ?
Still pandar peers disgrac'd the rooms of state,
Still Cæsar's bed sustain'd a foreign weight;
Slaves worshipp'd still the golden calf of pow'r,
And bishops, bowing, bless'd the scarlet whore.
Shall then thy verse the guilty great reclaim,
Though fraught with Dryden's heav'n-descended
flame?

Will harpy Heathcote, from his mould'ring store,
Drag forth one cheering drachma to the poor?
Or Harrington, unfaithful to the seal,
Throw in one suffrage for the public weal?
Pointless all satire, and misplac'd its aim,
To wound the bosom, that's obdur'd to shame:
The callous heart ne'er feels the goad within;
Few dread the censure, who can dare the sin."
Though on the culprit's cheek no blush should

glow,

Still let me mark him to mankind a foe:

Translator of Horace's Art of Poetry, and afterwards duke of Buckingham.

Earl of Rochester.

Strike but the deer, however slight the wound,
It serves at least to drive him from the sound.
Shall reptile sinners frowning justice fear,
And pageant titles privilege the peer?

So falls the humbler game in common fields,
While the branch'd beast the royal forest shields.
On, Satire, then! pursue thy gen'rous plan,
And wind the vice, regardless of the man.
Rouse, rouse! th' ennobled herd for public sport,
And hunt them through the covert of a court.
Just as the play'r the mimic portrait draws,
All claim a right of censure or applause:
What guards the place-man from an equal fate,
Who mounts but actor on the stage of state?
Subject alike to each man's praise and blame,
Each critic voice the fiat of his fame;
Though to the private some respect we pay,
All public characters are public prey:
Pelham and Garrick, let the verse forbear
What sanctifies the treasurer or play'r.

Great in her laurel'd sages Athens see, Free flow'd her satire while her sons were free: Then purpled guilt was dragg'd to public shame, And each offence stood fragrant with a name; Polluted ermine no respect could win, No hallow'd lawn could sanctify a sin; 'Till tyrant pow'r usurp'd a lawless rule: Then sacred grew the titled knave and fool; Then penal statutes aw'd the poignant song, And slaves were taught, that kings could do no wrong.

Guilt still is guilt, to me, in slave or king,
Fetter'd in cells, or garter'd in the ring:
And yet behold how various the reward,
Wild falls a felon, Walpole3 mounts a lord!
The little knave the law's last tribute pays,
While crowns around the great one's chariot
blaze.

Blaze meteors, blaze! to me is still the same
The cart of justice, or the coach of shame.
Say, what's nobility, ye gilded train!
Does nature give it, or can guilt sustain ?
Blooms the form fairer, if the birth be high?
Or takes the vital stream a richer dye;
What! though a long patrician line ye claim,
Are noble souls entail'd upon a name?
Anstis may ermine out the lordly earth,
Virtue's the herald that proclaims its worth.
Hence mark the radiance of a Stanhope's star,
And glow-worm glitter of thine, D***r:
Ignoble splendour! that but shines to all,
The humble badge of a court hospital.
Let lofty L**r wave his nodding plume,
Boast all the blushing honours of the loom,
Resplendent bondage no regard can bring,
'Tis Methuen's heart must dignify the string.
Vice levels all, however high or low;
And all the diff'rence but consists in show.
Who asks an alms, or supplicates a place,
Alike is beggar, though in rags or lace:
Alike his country's scandal and its curse,
Who vends a vote, or who purloins a purse;
Thy gamblers, Bridewell, and St James's bites,
The rooks of Mordington's, and sharks at White's.

Though the person here meant has indeed paid the debt of nature, yet, as he has left that of justice unsatisfied, the author apprehends that the public are indisputably entitled to the assets of his reputation.

"Why will you urge," Eugenio cries, "your
fate?

Affords the town no sins but sins of state?
Perches vice only on the court's high hill ? '
Or yields life's vale no quarry for the quill?"
Manners, like fashions,still from courts descend,
And what the great begin, the vulgar end.
If vicious then the mode, correct it here;
He saves the peasant, who reforms the peer.
What Hounslow knight would stray from ho
nour's path,

If guided by a brother of the Bath?

Honour's a mistress all mankind pursue; Yet most mistake the false one for the true: Lur'd by the trappings, dazzled by the paint, We worship oft the idol for the saint. Courted by all, by few the fair is won; Those lose who seek her, and those gain who shun; Naked she flies to merit in distress,

And leaves to courts the garnish of her dress.

The million'd merchant seeks her in his gold;
In schools the pedant, and in camps the bold:
The courtier views her, with admiring eyes,
Flutter in ribbons, or in titles rise:
Sir Epicene enjoys her in his plume;
Mead, in the learned wainscot of a room:
By various ways all woo the modest maid;
Yet lose the substance, grasping at the shade.
Who, smiling, sees not with what various
strife

Man blindly runs the giddy maze of life?
To the same end still diff'rent means employs;
This builds a church, a temple that destroys;
Both anxious to obtain a deathless name,
Yet, erring, both mistake report for fame.

Report, though vulture-like the name it bear,
Drags but the carrion carcass through the air;
While fame, Jove's nobler bird, superior flies,
And, soaring, mounts the mortal to the skies.
So Richard's name to distant ages borne,
Unhappy Richard still is Britain's scorn :
Be Edward's wafted on fame's eagle wing,
Each patriot mourns the long-departed king;
Yet thine, O Edward! shall to George'ss yield,
And Dettingen eclipse a Cressy's field.

Through life's wild ocean, who would safely

roam,

And bring the golden fleece of glory home,
Must, heedful, shun the barking Scylla's roar,
And fell Charybdis' all-devouring shore;
With steady helm an equal course support,
'Twixt faction's rocks, and quicksands of a court;
By virtue's beacon still direct his aim,
Through honour's channel, to the port of fame.
Yet, on this sea, how all mankind are tost!
For one that's sav'd, what multitudes are lost!
Misguided by ambition's treach'rous light,
Through want of skill, few make the harbour
right.

Hence mark what wrecks of virtue, friendship, fame,

For four dead letters added to a name!
Whence dwells such Syren music in a word,
Or sounds not Brutus noble as my lord?
Though crownets, Pult'ney, blazon on thy plate,
Adds the base mark one scruple to its weight?
Though sounds patrician swell thy name, O
Stretches one acre thy plebeian lands? [Sandys!

Richard the Second. George the Second.

Say, the proud title meant to plume the son,
Why gain by guilt, what virtue might have won?
Vain shall the son his herald honours trace,
Whose parent peer 's but patriot in disgrace.
Vain, on the solemn head of hoary age,
Totters the mitre, if ambition's rage
To mammon pow'r the hallow'd heart incline,
And titles only mark the priest divine.

Blest race! to whom the golden age remains,
Ease without care, and plenty without pains:
For you the earth unlabour'd treasure yields,
And the rich sheaves spontaneous crown the
fields;

No toilsome dews pollute the rev'rend brow,
Each holy hand unharden'd by the plough;
Still burst the sacred garners with their store,
And flails, unceasing, thunder on the floor.
O bounteous Heav'n ! yet Heav'n how seldom

shares

The titheful tribute of the prelate's pray'rs !
Lost to the stall, in senates still they nod,
And all the monarch steals them from the God:
Thy praises, Brunswick, every breast inspire,
The throne their altar, and the court their choir;
Here earliest incense they devoutly bring,
Here everlasting hallelujah's sing:
Thou! only thou! almighty to-translate,
Thou their great golden deity of state.

Who seeks on merit's stock to graft success,
In vain invokes the ray of pow'r to bless ;
The steni, too stubborn for the courtly soil,
With barren branches mocks the virtuous toil.
More pliant plants the royal regions suit,
Where knowledge still is held forbidden fruit ;
'Tis these alone the kindly nurture share,
And all Hesperia's golden treasures bear.

Let folly still be fortune's fondling heir,
And science meet a step-dame in the fair.
Let courts, like fortune, disinherit sense,
And take the idiot charge from Providence.
The idiot head the cap and bells may fit,
But how disguise a Lyttelton and Pitt !

O! once-lov'd youths! Britannia's blooming
hope,

Fair freedom's twins, and once the theme of Pope;
What wond'ring senates on your accents hung,
Ere flatt'ry's poison chill'd the patriot tongue!
Rome's sacred thunder awes no more the ear;
But Pelham smiles, who trembled once to hear.
Say, whence this change? less galling is the
chain,

Though Walpole, Carteret, or a Pelham reign?
If senates still the pois'nous bane imbibe,
And every palm grows callous with the bribe;
If sev'n long years mature the venal voice,
While freedom mourns her long-defrauded
choice;

If justice waves o'er fraud a lenient hand,
And the red locust rages through the land.

Sunk in these bonds, to Britain what avails,
Who wields her sword, or balances her scales?
Veer round the compass, change to change suc-
By every son the mother now must bleed [ceed,
Vain all her hosts, on foreign shores array'd,
Though lost by Wentworth, or preserv'd by Wade.
Fleets, once which spread through distant worlds
her name!

Now ride inglorious trophies of her shame;

Alluding to the ever-memorable no-fight in

While fading laurels shade her drooping head
And mark her Burleighs, Blakes, and Marlbro's
dead!

Such were thy sons, O happy isle! of old,
In counsel prudent, and in action bold:
Now view a Pelham puzzling o'er thy fate,
Lost in the maze of a perplex'd debate;
And sage Newcastle, with fraternal skill,
Guard the nice conduct of a nation's quill:
See truncheons trembling in the coward hand,
Though bold rebellion half subdue the land;
While ocean's god, indignant, wrests again
The long-deputed trident of the main".

Sleep our last heroes in the silent tomb?
Why springs no future worthies from the womb?
Not nature sure, since nature's still the same,
But education bars the road to fame.
Who hopes for wisdom's crop, must till the soul,
And virtue's early lesson should control:
To the young breast who valour would impart,
Must plant it by example in the heart.

Ere Britain fell to mimic modes a prey,
And took the foreign polish of our day,
Train'd to the martial labours of the field,
Our youth were taught the massy spear to wield;
In halcyon peace, beneath whose downy wings
The merchant smiles, and lab'ring peasant sings,
With civil arts to guard their country's cause,
Direct her counsels, and defend her laws :
Hence a long race of ancient worthies rose,
Adorn'd the land, and triumph'd o'er our foes.
Ye sacred shades! who through th' Elysian

grove,

With Rome's fam'd chiefs, and Grecian sages rove,
Blush to behold what arts your offspring grace!
Each fopling heir now marks his sire's disgrace;
An embrio breed! of such a doubtful frame,
You scarce could know the sex but by the name:
Fraught with the native follies of his home,
Torn from the nurse, the babe of mirth must
roam;

Through foreign climes exotic vice explore,
And cull each weed, regardless of the flow'r,
Proud of thy spoils, O Italy and France!
The soft enervate strain, and cap'ring dance :
From Sequan's streams, and winding banks of Po,
He comes, ye gods' an all-accomplish'd beau!
Unhumaniz'd in dress, with cheeks so wan!
He mocks God's image in the mimic man;
Great judge of arts! o'er toilettes now presides,
Corrects our fashions, or an opera guides;
From tyrant Handel rends th' imperial bay,
And guards the Magna Charta of-Sol-fa.

Sick of a land where virtue dwells no more,
See Liberty prepar'd to quit our shore!
Pruning her, pinions, on yon beacon'd height
The goddess stands, and meditates her flight;
Now spreads her wings, unwilling yet to fly,
Again o'er Britain casts a pitying eye;

the Mediterranean: as the nation was unluckily the only victim on that occasion, the lenity of our aquarian judicature has, I think, evidently proved, that a court-martial and a martial-court are by no means synonymous terms.

7 The reader will readily conclude these lines were written before our worthy admirals Anson and Warren had so eminently distinguished themselves in the service of their country.

Loath to depart, methinks I hear her say,

Why urge me thus, ungrateful isle, away! For you, I left Achaia's happy plains, For you resign'd my Romans to their chains; Here fondly fix'd my last lov'd favourite seat, And 'midst the mighty nations made thee great: Why urge me then, ungrateful isle, away!" Again she, sighing, says, or seems to say.

O Stanhope! skill'd in ev'ry moving art, That charms the ear, or captivates the heart! Be your's the task, the goddess to retain, And call her parent virtue back again; Improve your pow'r a sinking land to save, And vindicate the servant from the slave: O! teach the vassal courtier how to share The royal favour with the public pray'r: Like Latium's genius 9 stem thy country's doom, And, though a Cæsar smile, remember Rome; With all the patriot dignify the place,

And prove at least one statesman may have grace.

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Tux reader will perceive, from two or three passages in the following epistle, that it was written some time since; nor indeed would the whole of it have now been thought interesting enough to the public, to have passed the press, had not the physical persecution, carried on against the gentleman' to whom it it is addressed, provoked the publication. When a body of men, too proud to own their errours, and too prudent to part with their fees, shall (with their legions of understrappers) enter into a conspiracy against a brother practitioner, only for honestly endeavouring to moderate the one, and rectify the other; such a body, our author apprehends, becomes a justifiable object of satire; and only wishes his pen had, on this occasion, a like killing efficacy with theirs.

WHY do you ask, "that in this courtly dance,
Of in and out, it ne'er was yet my chance,
To bask beneath a statesman's fost'ring smile,
And share the plunder of the public spoil?"
E'er wants my table the health-chearing meal,
With Banstead mutton crown'd, or Essex veal?

Smokes not from Lincoln meads the stately loin,
Or rosy gammon of Hantonian swine?
From Darkin's roosts the feather'd victims bleed,
And Thames still wafts the ocean's scaly breed.
Though Gallia's vines their costly juice deny,
Still Tajo's 2 banks the jocund glass supply;
Still distant worlds nectareous treasures roll,
And either India sparkles in my bowl;

1 Dr. Thompson was one of the physicians to Frederick, prince of Wales, in that disorder which ended his life. Upon that occasion, the doctor differed from all the physicians that attended his highness, which brought upon him their most virulent rage and indignation; for the

Or Devon's boughs, or Dorset's bearded fields,
To Britain's arms a British beverage yields.

Rich in these gifts, why should I wish for

more?

Why barter conscience for superfluous store?
Or haunt the levee of a purse-proud peer,
To rob poor Fielding of the curule chair3?
Let the lean bard, whose belly, void of bread,
Puffs up pierian vapours to his head,
In birth-day odes his flimsy fustian vent,
And torture truth into a compliment;
Wear out the knocker of a great man's door,
Be pimp and poet, furnish rhyme or whore;
Or fetch and carry for some foolish lord,
To sneak a sitting footman at his board.
If such the arts that captivate the great,
Be yours, ye bards! the sun-shine of a state;
For place or pension prostitute each line;
Make gods of kings, and ministers divine;
Swear St. John's self could neither read not

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3 It is reported, that during the time Mr. Addison was secretary of state, when his old friend and ally Ambrose Phillips applied to him for some preferment, the great man very coolly answered, that "he thought he had already provided for him, by making him justice for Westminster." To which the bard, with some indignation, replied, though poetry was a trade he could not live by, yet he scorned to owe his subsistence to another, which he ought not to live by."-However great men, in our days, may practise the secretary's prudence, certain it is, the person here pointed at was very far from making a precedent of his brother poet's principles.

4 It is apprehended, our modern campaigns cannot fail of furnishing the reader with a proper supply for this passage.

5 Lord high admiral Willes-a title, by which this excellent chief magistrate is often distinguished among our marine, for his spirited vindication of the supremacy of the civil flag, and rectifying the martial mistakes of some late naval tribunals.

• A certain modern of that name, whose sole pretension to this character (except a little arch

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