Chapter XVI: Part II: Note I (3)

_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. When they came to the crisis, the different views and dispositions of the allies began to discover themselves. Russell limited his wishes to security for liberty; Monmouth stipulated his own succession on Charles' death; Sidney demanded a free commonwealth; and all dreaded Shaftesbury, who, they were sensible, was determined to be at the head of the kind of government adopted, whatever that might be. Nor were their tempers less discordant than their plans. While an inferior order of conspirators were organizing plans for assassinating the whole royal family, Monmouth was anxious for the life of his father, Russell averse to shedding the blood of his countrymen, Grey, Howard, and Trenchard, from meaner motives, unwilling to encounter the dangers of war. After a desperate threat to commence the rising, and make the honour and danger all his own, Shaftesbury at length fled to Holland, where he landed in November 1682. The magistrates of Amsterdam gave him welcome, and enrolled him among their citizens, to evade any claim by the court of England on his person; yet they failed not to remind him of his former declaration, of _Delenda est Carthago_, accompanying the freedom which they presented to him with these words: _Ab nostra Carthagine, nondum deleta, salutem accipe_. Here, while pondering the consequences of former intrigues, and perhaps adjusting new machinations, Shaftesbury was seized with the gout in his stomach, and expired on the 21st January, 1682-3.

To sift the character of this extraordinary man, and divide his virtues from his vices, his follies from his talents, would be a difficult, perhaps an impossible task. Charles is said to have borne testimony, that he had more law than all his judges, and more divinity than all his bishops. But his shining qualities were sullied by that inordinate ambition, which brought its own punishment, in an unworthy flight, an untimely, at least a precipitated, death, and a dubious reputation.

Sleep, thou most active of mankind! oh make
Thy last low bed, and death's long requiem take,
Thou who, whilst living, kept'st the world awake![469]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 466: One often occurs, struck generally in lead. It represents, on the obverse, Sir Edmondbury Godfrey walking, though strangled; on the reverse, St Dennis, with some such legend as this:

Godfrey walked up the hill after he was dead;
Dennis went o'er the sea wanting his head.

Others are recorded by Evelyn.]

[Footnote 467: It is alluded to in an occasional epilogue, by Otway, to "Venice Preserved," acted on the Duke's return, April 21, 1682:

Nail all your medals on the gallow's post,
In recompence the original was lost;
At these illustrious repentance pay,
In his kind hands your humble offerings lay.

Duke also, in an epistle to Otway, talking of his retirement from the political world, declares,

I have forgot whatever there I knew,
Why men one stocking tie with ribbon blue;
Why others medals wear, a fine gilt thing,
That at their breasts hangs dangling by a string.
]

[Footnote 468: The line is this:

Thou leap'st o'er all eternal truths in thy pindaric way.

It seems to be alluded to by Hickeringell in the following lines on Dryden's challenge to the Whig poets, in his preliminary epistle:

If Whigs be silent, then the Tory says,
They're silenced, cannot answer Mr Bayes,
The poet laureat; and if we write,
He swears we learn of him how to indite;
Nay, he's so charitable, we so poor,
He bids us take, and welcome, of his store;
And lest our verses happen to want feet,
He frankly proffers his; and 'tis most meet
We should, in charity, accept his proffer now,
For his, like that, has more than should by two.

The same circumstance is noticed by Tom Brown, who says, it is the longest line in Christendom, except one, which went round some old hangings, representing the history of Pharoah and Moses, and measured forty-six good feet of metre, running thus:

Why, was he not a rascal?
Who refused to suffer the children of Israel to go into the wilderness,
with their wives and families, to eat the pascal.

I notice this buffoonery, because it is common to ascribe this strange Alexandrine to the Rev. Zachary Boyd, whose scriptural poems are preserved in the University of Glasgow.]

[Footnote 469: Elegy on Shaftesbury, in _Raleigh Redivivus_.]

EPISTLE

TO

THE WHIGS.

For to whom can I dedicate this poem with so much justice as to you? 'Tis the representation of your own hero; 'tis the picture drawn at length, which you admire and prize so much in little. None of your ornaments are wanting; neither the landscape of your Tower, nor the rising sun, nor the _anno domini_ of your new sovereign's coronation. This must needs be a grateful undertaking to your whole party; especially to those who have not been so happy as to purchase the original. I hear the graver has made a good market of it; all his kings are bought up already, or the value of the remainder so enhanced, that many a poor Polander,[470] who would be glad to worship the image, is not able to go to the cost of him, but must be content to see him here. I must confess I am no great artist; but sign-post painting will serve the turn to remember a friend by, especially when better is not to be had. Yet, for your comfort, the lineaments are true; and though he sat not five times to me, as he did to B,[471] yet I have consulted history; as the Italian painters do, when they would draw a Nero or a Caligula: though they have not seen the man, they can help their imagination by a statue of him, and find out the colouring from Suetonius and Tacitus. Truth is, you might have spared one side of your medal; the head would be seen to more advantage if it were placed on a spike of the Tower, a little nearer to the sun, which would then break out to better purpose.[472]