The Sergeant * tapp'd me on the back, When home the Sergeant comes at night, Ads'bud he brings no news ! C Muit I stay here for ever? And wain grief from my liver, Since a prisoner I must lie. a *** Here a Weybourn, Erq. Sergeant at Arms. His house was in Brownlowo / Atreet, Long-Acre, where, it should be recollected, at chat period, a number of very genteel families retided. *** Here a mental biatus occurs, of one or more verses, descriptive of his reception at the Sergeant's house, and probably of his meeting with Jack, to celebrated for his wit (to whom I am sorry I cannot direet the reader's attention), and the rest of the family, + In order to elucidate this verse, it will be necessary to observe, that this was the Lady whom Dr. Arbuchnot I has 10 elegantıy described by the epithet of “ Brimstone Bitch," and whom the tiattery of the Poei has made in beauty co-equal to Venus, e. g. !! When Chloe's pi&ture was to Venus shewn, “ Surpris'd, the goddels took it for her own,' &c. and upon whom he has bestowed a hundred other compliments equally hyperbolical, which have caused her to be much better known by the name ot Prior's Chice than her own. That such a Ladv, or, according to Dr. Johnton, who has awkwardly imitated the coarsenets of Arbuthnot, such “ a dirty drab," existed, and that, with respect to the Poet, “ For real Kate he made the boddice, “ And not for an ideal goddess," is well known ; but it is not quite so well known, though equally certain, that the was, at the time of her first acquaintance with Prior, a married woman, the wife of a Coachman : they had, I think, both been in fervice, and it was supposed the Bard furnished them with the means of opening a Punch house in Long.acre, to which, as Richardion dates from information, he retired when his mind was " Atraind to the height " In that celestial coloquy sublime," which the company of Oxford, Bolingbroke, Swift, and Pope, afforded, and which sublime teatt of reason, I have been assured, had one night nearly en:led in a riot that might have conveyed them before Buscawen, or some other Middlesex Justice. This fracas arose from the circumitance of Chi se's rushing into the room of a tavern in Covent Garden, where they were assembled, and running up to Prior, whose wig ne pulled off, which, to the attonithment of the company, the threw on the back of the fire, and, as soon as he had rescued it from the Haines, inutted upon his leaving his “ celeftial coloquy," and retiring with her. With this termagant miltrels, it is certain, when he had left more elegant and elevated company, he ufed frequently to spend, or rather to finish, his evenings, and probably met at her houic beings the very reverse in manners, education, and habits of life, of those he had left among these, it has been faid, he uled to imoke wis pipe ; and it is not unlikely that he might consider the hours that he passed in a houle whiere he was truly esteemed to be the greatest man that a I Vide two extracts of original letters from Dr. Arbuthnot and Mr. Watkins, European Magazine, Vol. XIII. page 8. C 2 man of the Committee of Secrecy It appears that the examination of prefaced his motion for the impeach. Prior was upon oath, which (lays Dr. ment of the Poet t, and, on his fuble. Johnson) “ was administered by Bof. quent examination, the inhumanity cawen, a Middlesex Justice, who was at and illegality with which he was treated last going to write his attestation on the by the interrogators, who certainly, in wrong Gde of the paper I !" their eagerness to procure some politive 'The Poet was, as has been observed, proof against the Earl of Oxford, atked ordered into the close custody of the him queitions which, had he answered Sergeant at Arms; a circumstance with them to their wishes, would have im- whichi, notwithstanding the terrific plicated his life. seasoning of Lord Conningby, he was : The querifts (says Dr. Johnson) so little affected, that he wrote, during “ behaved with the boisterousness of his seclusion, his very elegant and men elated with recent authority." sprightly poem of Alma, and also a How a little recent “ brief authority” fong, which he taught to a relation Mould so elate and make men, elevated of mine, who, from his being intimate in their stations, and Itill more elevated with her father, a very eminent painter, by their abilities ; men to whom the used, when a child, occasionally to visit world has given credit for general libe him in his prison houle. This fong! rality of sentiment ; " play such fan- have often heard her repeat; but so tastic tricks before high heaven ?" many years have fince elapsed, that, is only to be accounted for, by lup- even with the assistance of her daughter, posing them in a very eminent degree I can only recollect a few verses of it, posseiled by the mania of Party, and those perhaps not quite correct. which infection was pretty extensively These are only valuable as they, like diffused through the nation, and which, many pen and ink fketches of great upon reflection, certainly affords an- matters, give a few characteristical other key for the explanation of the traits, and, while they glance at his peenigma refpecting the conduct of Wal. culiar propensities, serve to exhibit the pole which was quoted in the begin- gay turn of his mind in a season, as one ning of this article. Thould suppose, of peculiar distress. June 9, 1715, Mr. R. Walpole stated, that he was commanded by the Committee of Secrecy to move, that a warrant may be issued to apprehend certain persons, and that no Member be permitted to leave the Houfe. The warrant being granted, and the doors locked, several persons were named by the Speaker and Mr. W. particularly Matthew Prior and Mr. Thomas Harley, who were taken into custody by the Sergeant at Arms. On the 4th of September following, the Committee of Secrecy, having previously examined Mr. Prior's books and papers, had found that crimes of a very high nature ought to be imputed to him, and from a report of his having met and conferred with the Earl of Oxford, his relations, and dependents, and allo from his contempt of the authority of Parliament, and his prevarication, they thought it their duty to move that he be committed to close cuftody. -TINDAL's Continuation of Rapin. † June íoth, 1715, Mr. R. Walpole moved for an impeachment against Matthew Prior, Esq. I I have been much puzzled with this passage. Does Dr. J. mean to sneer at the Magistrate whom he inelegantly terms à Middlesex Justice? Does he mean to quote this circumstance as an instance of his ignorance, and endeavour to make us believe that he did not know on which Gde of the paper to sign the jurat? In either point of view, it is fubject to thote observations which might always have been made upon his works when he descended from his literary altitude, and attempted to play with edge tools, at the management of wliich he was by no means dexterous. It appears that the Gentleinan whom he has described by the above epithet was the Right Hon. Hugh Boscawen, Comptroller of his Majesty's Houshold, a Meniber of the Privy Council, and of the House of Commons (Vide Historical Register, Vol. I. P: 340, and Vol. III. p. 110.); he lat in Parliament for Penryn, Cornwall, and was also in the Commission of the Peace for the County of Middleiex, &c. &c. It would be. as absurd to dwell longer upon this attempt at mitrepresentation as it would be to suppole that this Gentleman did not know on which side of the paper to write his name, to which, had he been ever so igncrant, the fignature of the Examinant would have directed him. The referred to, that "the Bard had had an which we receive of the failure of our cscape by dying." as he was actually faculties to any cause rather than the upon the point of marrying her ; in. real one. deed matters had proceeded so far that her wedding-clothes were bespoken. DISPERSION OF ANCIENT RECORDS. It has been also stated, that afterwards Among the many learned observa. her circumstances were so affluent, tions which I have heard in the Court “ that she was enabled to keep her of Exchequer ; a Court in which, coach, frequent the Theatre every from the nature of the subjects free night, and lup by berself at the taverns quently discussed, it is necessary both in the neighbourhood."-Drofiana, for the Judges and Advocates more European Magazine. particularly to advert to the ancient itate of the kingdom than, perhaps, MACKLIN. in any other ; I was once itruck with I think it was in or about the year some'oblervations upon the dispersion 1778, when this veteran, then confider. of manuscripts at the fall of the abbeys, ably more than eighty years of age, which seemed to me, as I was then conperformed at Covent Garden Theatre, fidering the subject, so curious, that I and, as I have been informed, he often retained them in my memory until I appeared much hurt at the little notice had an opportunity, which a crowded that was taken of his very extraordinary Court would not afford, of committing exertions, and mortified to observe the them to paper, and believe the quocasmall power of attraction which evention that follows is generally correct. the performance of his best characters " When the lesser abbeys were disseemed to posless. One evening that solved, an event that happened in the the Miser was announced, he was, 27th year of Henry the villth, the when dresled for that part, previous Priests, who still retained hopes of betto the beginning of the play, walking ter times, although they were conbehind the curtain with that truly. manded to send their papers to the excellent Actress the late Mrs. Green, Augmentation Office, generally dir. who was also drefied for the part of obeyed those orders, and endeavoured Lappet. While thus engaged, he was to secure the mott valuable of their lamenting the degenerate taste of deeds and records, either by conligning the age with respect to scenic ex- them to the care of private perlons, hibitions, and the caprice which too or by sending them to Rome, where frequently operated against once fa- they were depolted in the Vatican or vourite Actors. In the course of these in other places of security. Of those lamentations, he every now and then that remained in the kingdom, many took a peep through the nit. The have been discovered in the archives of bell rang to clear the stage. Macklin private families, and some were reItopped a moment to take a last look, claimed when better times for their and observing that he was likely owners did arrive. But the reign of to play to empty benches, he turned Mary being too short a period for reto Mrs. Green, and, in a manner storing the establishments which had moft emphatical, exclaimed, “ Ah ! been lo violently overturned, the writJenny !' Jenny | when Mrs. Clive ings and records of monaiteries have, played Lappet, we did not use to like the eitates which they described, drawi *up the curtain to such houses conveyed or adapted to peculiar as this !” The Lady, piqued at his ob- ules, to a considerable degree remained servation, took a peep in her turn, and, in the hands of lay pollelfors, who mimicking his folemnity of manner, seem, while they grapped them with retorted, “ Ah! Charles ! Charles ! avidity, to have, with a inore than when Mr. Shuter played Lovegold, we religious tenacity, adhered to them. did not use to draw up the curtain Thole that are preserved in the Vatito such houses as this !"-" Humph !" can, or dispersed over Italy, are now of growled the veteran, as he fowly little use, and indeed, when found and italked toward the Green-room. referred to, are conlidered only as ob. This Niort trait, like the anecdote of jects of curiosity." the Archbishop of Grenada's homilies, inay serve to Thew how little we are HOGARTH. sensible of our own imbecility, and I was informed by Dawes, the pupil how ready to attribute the least hint of the late Mr. Hoguth, chat while a this But tell me, pretty neighbour, At what o'clock you'll come? “ I cannot lose my labour, Here light the candles, Hetty, “ You'll be all day at home," And, William, stir the fire : Sinçe a prisoner you muit lie, muft lie Your servant, Mistress Betty : I am yours, Mr. Prior ! Since a prisoner you must lie. Tho' a prisoner you must lie, muft lie; This is as much of the song as can Tho' a prisoner you must lie. now bę 'recollected, to which I have When I attempt to ope the bar, added such annotations as have been My hat I bumbly move. communicated to me in very early life With scorn she cries, “ You come not by some intimate friends of the Poet. here With respect to the beauty of this For money nor for love," type of Venus," I have been inSince a prisoner you must lie, must lie ; formed by a Gentleman, long since រ Since a prisoner you must lie. deceased, that her face was exquisitely handsome, perhaps more so than that To make the bowl that cheers the heart of the Grecian ftatue of the goddess The choicest drugs are chosen : to whom her infatuated admirer was so « Little lemons are molt tart," fond of comparing her, but ber figure And eleven to the dozen * ! so far from perfect, that “ Friend Since a prisoner I must lie, muft lie; Howard" might, without any violent Since a prisoner I muit lie. stretch of ingenuity, have easily fan cied a much more elegant form. As he advanced in life, the grew embonCome, Betty, fill another bowl. point ; and a person who had occasion Lard, Sir! the watch is fet !" to see her upon business, many years Nay | nay, I'll have it, by my soul ! after the death of Prior', itated, that the I have not drank Nan yett: had so totally lost her attractions by her Since a prisoner I must lie, muit lie; grief for tha event, or concealed them Since a prisoner I must lie. in the closeness of her dress, that an eminent artilt, who was also present, So, now the reck’ning must be paid, observed, she was a far more correct I must either tick or borrow. representation of a witch than a god. “ No matter, sir," the Gypsey said, dels. “ I'll call on you to morrow ! Though her husband died but a Since a prisoner you must lie, must lie ; Mort time before Prior, it is correctly Since a prisoner you must lie." ftated in Dr. Arbuthnot's letter, before that ever entered its doors, as some of the happiest of his life. Of this grovelling propensity of the human mind, Prior was not, in those times, the only instance. The relaxations of many great men, and many great geniuses, appear, to the refined ideas of the present age, not over elegant. If Bolingbroke, for thirty years of his lite, had always risen with the head-ache, we may reasonably conclude that he did not lay the foundation of it in regular sober society. Eralmus Lewis, Esq. Secretary to Lord Oxford, it has been lijnted, has sometimes left his house in Cleveland-row for the delights to be found in Betty Coxe's. Swift was not always to be traced to those high circles which he was, by his learning and wil, so well calculated both to inform and adórn. Humorists consider themselves at liberty to pursue their game from the castle to the cottage ; and I am of opinion (to come nearer our own times), it would have been impossible for the late Henry Fielding or Dr. Smolleto correctly to have delineated the interior of the kitchens or common rooms at inns if they had not visited many of therm. .! A verse, or perhaps more, seems here again to have been dropped, as I conceive, according to the confruction of the poem, the scene changes too suddenly to the punch-house. Hereby hangs a tale. The Poet had, while leaning upon the bar, observed to Chloe, that the lemons were very small. She replied, that they were, on that account, more eart and juicy: he therefore ordered a duzen to be squeezed, which were charged ; but he having had the precaution to count the peeie, and finding only eleven had been used, gives her a hint of the trick that he had played himn. †“ To the pious memory of Queen Anne," his constant toast. referred referred to, that “the Bard had had an which we receive of the failure of our cscape by dying." as he was actually faculties to any cause rather than the upon the point of marrying her ; in real one. deed matters had proceeded so far that her wedding.clothes were bespoken. DISPERSION OF ANCIENT RECORDS. It has been also stated, that afterwards Among the many learned observaher circumstances were so affluent, tions which I have heard in the Court “ that the was enabled to keep her of Exchequer ; a Court in which, coach, frequent the Theatre every from the nature of the subjects fre. night, and lup by herself at the taverns quently discussed, it is necessary both in the neighbourhood."- Drofana, for the Judges and Advocates more European Magazine. particularly to advert to the ancient itate of the kingdom than, perhaps, MACKLIN. in any other ; I was once ftruck with I think it was in or about the year fome observations upon the dispersion 1778, when this veteran, then confider- of manuscripts at the fall of the abbeys, ably more than eighty years of age, which seemed to me, as I was then conperformed at Covent Garden Theatre, fidering the subject, so curious, that I and, as I have been informed, he often retained them in my memory until. I appeared much hurt at the little notice had an opportunity, which a crowded that was taken of his very extraordinary Court would not afford, of committing exertions, and mortified to observe the them to paper, and believe the quotasmall power of attraction which evention that follows is generally correct. the performance of his best characters “ When the lesser abbeys were difseemed to possess. One evening that solved, an event that happened in the the MISER was announced, he was, 27th year of Henry the villth, the when dressed for that part, previous Priests, who still retained hopes of bet to the beginning of the play, walking ter times, although they were contbehind the curtain with that truly. manded to send their papers to the excellent Actress the late Mrs. Green, Augmentation Office, generally dir. who was also dressed for the part of obeyed those orders, and endeavoured Lappet. While thus engaged, he was to secure the most valuable of their Jamenting the degenerate taste of deeds and records, either by conligning the age with respect to scenic ex. them to the care of private persons, hibitions, and the caprice which too or by sending them to Rome, where frequently operated against once fa- they were deposited in the Vatican 'or vourite Actors. In the course of these in other places of security. Of those lamentations, he every now and then that remained in the kingdom, many took a peep through the nit. The have been discovered in the archives of bell rang to clear the Atage. Macklin private families, and some were restopped a moment to take a last look, claimed when better times for their and observing that he was likely owners did arrive. But the reign of to play to empty benches, he turned Mary being too short a period for reto Mrs. Green, and, in a manner storing the establishments which had moft emphatical, exclaimed, “ Ah ! been lo violently overturned, the writJenny ! Jenny! when Mrs. Clive ings and records of monaiteries have, played Lappet, we did not use to like the eltates which they described, draw up the curtain to such houses conveyed or adapted to peculiar as this !" The Lady, piqued at his ob- ules, to a considerable degree remained servation, took a peep in her turn, and, in the hands of lay pollellors, who mimicking his folemnity of manner, seem, while they grasped them with retorted, “ Ah! Charles! Charles ! avidity, to have, with a inore than when Mr. Shuter played Lovegold, we religious tenacity, adhered to them. did not use to draw up the curtain Thole that are preserved in the Vati. to such houses as this !"-" Humph !" can, or dispersed over Italy, are now of growled the veterar., as he slowly little use, and indeed, when found and italked toward the Green-room. referred to, are confidered only as ob. This Mort trait, like the anecdote of jects of curiosity." the Archbishop of Grenada's homilies, may serve to shew how little we are HOGARTH. senlible of our uwn imbecility, and I was informed by Dawes, the pupil how ready to attribute the least hing of the late Alr. Hoguth, that while |
