We assure the author of the epistle, that the answer which we have here the honour to address to him, contains our genuine and undisguised sentiments upon the merits of the poem. Our conjectures respecting the authors and abettors of this performance may possibly be as vague and unfounded as theirs are with regard to the EDITORS of the _Anti-Jacobin_. We are sorry that we cannot satisfy their curiosity upon this subject—but we have little anxiety for the gratification of our own. It is hardly to be expected, that the character of the epistle should be taken on trust from the editors of this volume; it is thought best, therefore, to subjoin the whole performance as it originally appeared—a mode of hostility obviously the most fair, and in respect to the combatants in the cause of Jacobinism, by much the most effectual. They are always best opposed by the arms which they themselves furnish. Jacobinism shines by its own light. To the respectable names which the author of the following address has thought proper to connect with the “ANTI-JACOBIN,” no apology is made for thus preserving this otherwise perishable specimen of dulness and defamation. He who has been reviled by the enemies of the “ANTI-JACOBIN,” must feel that principles are attributed to him, of which he need not be ashamed: and when the abuse is conveyed in such a strain of feebleness and folly, he must see that those principles excite animosity only in quarters of which he need not be afraid. It is only necessary to add, what is most conscientiously the truth, that this production, such as it is, is _by far the best_ of all the attacks that the combined wits of the cause have been able to muster against the “ANTI-JACOBIN”. EPISTLE TO THE EDITORS OF THE ANTI-JACOBIN.[40] _Hic Niger est; hunc tu, Romane, caveto!_ To tell what gen’rals did, or statesmen spoke, To teach the world by truths, or please by joke; To make mankind grow bold as they peruse, Judge on existing things, and—weigh the news; For this a PAPER first display’d its page, Commanding tears and smiles through ev’ry age! Hail, justly famous! who in modern days With nobler flight aspire to higher praise; Hail, justly famous! whose discerning eyes At once detect MISTAKES, MIS-STATEMENTS, LIES;[41] 10 Hail, justly famous! who with fancy blest, Use fiend-like virulence for sportive jest; Who only bark to serve your private ends— Patrons of Prejudice, Corruption’s friends! Who hurl your venom’d darts at well-earned fame— Virtue your hate, and Calumny your aim!