PREFACE

TO THE FIRST EDITION. 1804.

THE difficulty experienced by the Editor in understanding many of the allusions contained in the following poems, gave rise to the present work. In the attempt to obviate this difficulty, he was obliged to wade through some hundred volumes, mostly of a local or political nature, and consequently now either very scarce, or quite neglected and forgotten: from these and other works in more general circulation, he principally collected the substance of the notes he now offers to the public; while for some of them, consisting of original anecdotes, he is indebted to oral tradition, and to an intimate acquaintance with several of the friends and contemporaries of the poet.

The highest praise to which a work of this kind can aspire, is that of diligence and impartiality; and if an earnest endeavour to deserve that praise merits indulgence, the Editor lays claim to it as the only exculpatory plea he has to offer, for thus adding to the weight under which the shelves of our libraries already groan. So little anxious is he to appear before the public, that he can with sincerity declare, that had he known of any competent person engaged in the same undertaking, he would willingly have presented him with all his materials, together with the best information, and assistance in his power.

The greater portion of the few hours the Editor could spare from the pursuits of a laborious profession, has been devoted to this work; to him

they have been hours of recreation and instruction, and if they can afford either the one or the other to those for whose benefit they were employed, he will, in his humble commentating line, feel that satisfaction which the approbation of the public must always impart.

Partial to the merits of his favourite poet, the Editor flatters himself that his present attempt may contribute to restore to Churchill's name some of that popularity and celebrity which it once possessed. It is needless to remark that, at the period of their first publication, his works required no comments, he, in imitation of Dryden, so accurately depicted the objects of his indignation, as to render any key unnecessary, until time and death had thrown a shade over their actions and their

names.

The Editor was encouraged to prosecute his undertaking by meeting with the following observation in Dr. Kippis's Life of Churchill, in the Biographia Britannica: "Perhaps nothing will revive the memory of our author's poems, so as to cause them again to be generally read, excepting a new edition with notes fully explaining the satirical and historical allusions: this was what Mr. Churchill himself, before his decease, wished to be done. In his Will is the following passage:-I desire my dear friend, John Wilkes, Esq. to collect and publish my works, with the remarks and explanations he has prepared, and any others he thinks proper to make.”

On application, in consequence of this request, to the Executors of the late Mr. Wilkes, it was found that he left no such manuscript behind him, though, on the publication of each of Churchill's poems, he had a copy bound and interleaved with

writing paper, in which, for reasons best known to himself, he never wrote a single line. Dr. Kippis thus proceeds: Wilkes will ever have leisure to request we are not able to say.

"Whether Mr. comply with this Perhaps the time

is not yet arrived for taking away the veil from certain objects; and perhaps it may never be desirable to revive party matters, which, though not sunk into oblivion, have happily ceased to inflame the passions of the mind."

At this distance of time the Editor sees no reason for apprehending that the revival of the poet's fame can in any way tend to excite a renewal of political differences, the causers and causes of which no longer exist; other and more important subjects of discussion have arisen in the intervening period of forty years, and the Editor trusts that his notes will be found free from that leaven of party malevolence with which the text is too often tinctured.

It has been his anxious wish to elucidate only the particulars in the public conduct of the persons censured by the satirist, and to abstain from all notice of their private vices or follies, except in some instances too notorious to escape direct animadversion. Should he appear to have been misinformed as to the character of any particular individual, he will only have to lament his credulity for to wilful misrepresentation or undue partiality, he can, without hesitation, declare himself to be an utter stranger.

His authorities the Editor has not often given; they are generally of a nature not calculated intrinsically to convey an impression of authenticity. In gleaning from the magazines, pamphlets, and newspapers of the day, the Editor could only be