“To please the mob Byng stains the blushing deep, And Blakeney[A] earns a Peerage in his sleep; To please the mob our fleets their canvas strain, And expeditions hide the wondering main. The main more wondering wafts them back, alas! Thinned with the wars of Rochfort and St. Cas. What matter, since defeat our joy inspires, And Cassel[B] lost can light a thousand fires?” [A] He was said to have been confined to his bed during the defence of Minorca, for which he was so extravagantly rewarded. [B] The gallant but unsuccessful affair of Cassel in which the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick was wounded. The political libels on the King are thus sarcastically described: “Recast the royal virtues, which before The nation worshipped, and cry down the ore, To teach the people this indulgent reign With every charge of tyranny to stain,-- To swallow every contradiction down,-- In Antonine’s mild look see Nero’s frown,-- Wrest his intention and distort each fact, And lend them treason till they long to act; In terms of duty wrap each boisterous deed,-- Kneel while we stab, and libel while we plead.” This compliment on the King is pretty: “Who from the sceptre no exemption draws, And is but the first subject of the laws.” His gratitude to Lord Bute has flowered in a panegyric, which may interest the reader from being one of the very few poetical tributes obtained by that nobleman approaching mediocrity. “Oh! if we seize with skill the coming hour, And re-invest us with the robe of power-- Rule while we live--let _future_ days transmute To every merit all we’ve charged on Bute. Let late Posterity receive his name, And swell its sails with every breath of fame: Downward as far as Time shall roll his tide, With every pendant flying let it glide; And Truth emerging from the clouds we raise, Gild all their orient colours with her blaze. Let his loved arts, attendant on his way, Their wanton trophies to the gale display; While each dispassionate, each honest pen, (Deterred by clamour, nor allured by gain,-- Bard or Historian--) shall from either shore, Hail its approach, and its great course explore; Faithful to Probity and Virtue’s cause, Pursue its progress, and direct th’ applause. Glad Gratulation shall with shouts approve, And own him worthy of his Sovereign’s love.”