| Citation |
NHG-P.769.010
7 Apr 1769:11, 12, 13 (652)
Letters in Answer to the Farmer's. Letter V.
. . . [43 lines about politics concerning the Colonies and
Great Britain]
A man may be very eloquent upon a fancied view of expiring
liberty, and the rapid advance of tyranny and oppression,
and will have his admirers; for it is common to hear ladies
bestow censure or praise upon latin orations [sic]. This
false species of eloquence has left too visible marks behind
it, wherever it has been practiced. But one who habituates
himself to reflect before he resolves, will take care to
observe with a critical attention, how far the measures
censured are destructive to liberty, before he opposes them.
The coxcomb bird, so talkative & grave,
That form his cage cries cuckold, whore & knave,
Tho' many a passenger he rightly call,
You hold him no philosopher at all.
I cannot transcribe these four lines of that philosophical
poet, without calling to mind a writer, who, for several
years past, has been running the dirty race of popularity,
retailing out his weekly scandal against his superiors, &
levelling the whole artillery of mob thunder as such as
aimed at supporting government.
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