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ble compass , and therefore shall confine ourselves to th £ most fcrtriy poetical instances we can ; eatl to mind ; that is to say , such as imply the most genuine regard for what is imaginative attdunworldly , —the most childlike spirit retained in the maturest brains and manliest
hearts . And we must confine ourselves also to our own country . For it is a very curious and agreeable fact , that scarcely any name of eminence can be mentioned in the political world , from Solon and Lycurgus down
to the present moment , that has not , at one period of the man's life or another , been connected with some tribute to the spirit of grace and fancy in the shape of verse . Perhaps there is not a single statesman in the annals of Great Britain , Burleigh not
" Thus much , where King applauds" [ that is to say , the king !] "I dare be bold To say , — 'Tis petty treason to withhold .
Wyatt , Essex , Sackville , Raleigh , Falkland , Marvell , Temple , Somers , Bolingbroke , Pulteney , Burke , Fox , Sheridan , Canning , &c . &c . all wrote verses ; and generally speaking , late in life . Pope ' s Lord Oxford wrote some * and
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excepted ( who is thbught t 4 i have hated poetry ) , 1 &atwiHl not be found to have written something iri verse , Englisliribr Latin , —some lines to fife nSd-
tress , compliment to his patron , satire on his opponent , or elegfy or epithalamium on a court occasion . Burleigh , in his youth , wrote verses in French and
Latin . Bacon versified psalms . * Clarendon , when he was Mr Hyde , and one of the " wits about town , " wrote complimentary verses to his friends the poets . There are some addressed to the author
mentioned in our last Retrospective Review , —Randolph , —the concluding couplet of whicfy may be thought ominous , or auspicious ( as the reader pleases ) of the future historian ' s royalism ,
Edward Hide . " very bad they are . They are to be found , if we recollect , in Swift's letters to Stella , and were suggested by some displeasure with the court after his attempted assassination by Guiscard .
" To serve with love And shed your blood , Approved is above ; But here below The examples show 'Tis fatal to be good ¦ I "
* Here is qne of th " . ¦ ¦ ' : ¦ ¦' . ' ' -. s / ¦ . . ¦' l . ¦• ¦ ¦ : ' ¦¦ '¦ ' ¦ ¦ "
