Line 25.—[JOHN COURTENAY was for many years one of the men of mark in the House of Commons for his ability, independent spirit, erudition, and coarse sarcastic wit. He was born at Carlingford, Ireland, in 1738. Having obtained the patronage of George, Viscount Townshend, Lord-Lieutenant (1767–72), he became the principal writer in the “_Batchelor_,” a government paper, distinguished by genuine wit and humour, conducted by Simcox, a clergyman; Richard Marlay, afterwards Bishop of Waterford and Lismore; Robert Jephson, a dramatic poet of note; the Rev. Mr. Boroughs, and others. The chief task of these advocates of the Castle was to counteract the “_Baratarian Letters_,” an Irish imitation of _Junius_, which, attacking the Lord-Lieutenant’s government, received contributions from Flood, and first published Grattan’s character of Chatham. At the “Coalition,” 1783, he was appointed Surveyor-general of the Ordnance, and henceforward attached himself to FOX. He wrote, among other works, _A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., 1786_; _The Rape of Pomona, an Elegiac Epistle from the Waiter at Hockrel to the Hon. Mr. Lyttelton, 1773_; _Philosophical Reflections on the late Revolution in France_; and a _Biographical Sketch of his own Life_. In his _Epistles in Rhyme_ he thus ridicules Horace Walpole’s _Strawberry Verses_ on the two Misses Berry:— “Who to love tunes his note, with the fire of old age, And chirps the trim lay in a trim Gothic cage.” Walpole, however (_Correspondence_, ix. 434–5), good-naturedly laughed at them, saying that these verses on himself were really some of the best in the whole set. Courtenay was a member of _The Literary Club_, founded by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and figures in several of Gillray’s caricatures. He it was who, referring to Gay’s _Beggars’ Opera_, designated the author the _Orpheus of Highwaymen_. He died 24th March, 1816.—ED.] Footnote 57: KIDNAPP’D RHYMES.—Kidnapp’d implies something more than _stolen_. It is, according to an expression of Mr. Sheridan’s (in the “Critic”), _using other people’s “thoughts as gipsies do stolen children—disfiguring them, to make them pass for their own”_. This is a serious charge against an author, and ought to be well supported. To the proof then! In an Ode of the late LORD NUGENT’S are the following spirited lines: “Though CATO liv’d—though TULLY spoke—[58] Though BRUTUS dealt the godlike stroke, Yet perish’d fated ROME!” The author above mentioned saw these lines, and liked them—as well he might; and as he had a mind to write about Rome himself, he did not scruple to enlist them into his service; but he thought it right to make a small alteration in their appearance, which he managed thus. Speaking of Rome, he says it is the place