I've read you, gentlemen, recorded. Could not emoluments like these Thy mind, ambitious minstrel, please? O! be thy song for ever curst, You've gain'd the prize by starting first. To equal thee let me aspire, For tho' I envy, I admire. Ten worthies yet remain unsung, Fit subjects for the pen or tongue Of Homer's self, had he been living. But now of any bard surviving, To sound their fame in lofty verse, And sound his own by sounding their's. Go on, great souls, and never flinch, Your leader[167] ne'er will fly an inch. Be active in your country's cause, Protect her freedom, guard her laws. Fight for the honour of your country, Nor once forget his honor's bounty: Let the remembrance of his claret,[168] In each engagement rouse you spirit; Support yourselves, in each attack, With hopes of more frontiniac. If broken, rally quick again, Your sure reward is more champagne. Never forgetting once to boast That you're his beauteous lady's toast;[169] But let it be your chief support To think what sway he bears at court. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 150: From a MS. _penes_ James Falconar, esq., F. S. A., Doncaster.] [Footnote 151: William Smith, alderman; buried, Nov. 13, 1760.] [Footnote 152: Peter Cave, mayor 1748-9; buried, June 4, 1782.] [Footnote 153: The Rev. Lionel Willatts, rector of Sprotbrough, son of Charles Willatts, rector of Plumtree, Notts, and Castiliana his wife, daughter of Lionel Copley, esq., of Wadworth and Sprotbrough; buried, at Doncaster, May 20, 1760.] [Footnote 154: Mr. Turbutt was of a family at Mount St. John, near Thirsk, Yorkshire. He resided for several years at Doncaster, where he died, 3 Sept. 1758, æt. 68. He was the great grandfather of Gladwin Turbutt, esq., now (1860) of Ogston hall, Derbyshire. His "young ladies" were Frances, afterwards wife of John Woodyeare, esq., of Crookhill, near Doncaster, and Eleanor, who became the wife of Lieut. General Sowerby.] [Footnote 155: Mr. Ellerker was of a good family, descended from Ralph Ellerker, of Youlton, Yorkshire. He was some time a solicitor in the Inner Temple, London, and died, at Doncaster, March 25, 1774, aged 82. (JACKSON'S _Hist. St. George's Church, Doncaster_, pp. 76, 77.)] [Footnote 156: 1757. "The militia raised.--Sixteen inhabitants of Doncaster entered as volunteers."--MILLER'S _Hist. Doncaster_, p. 183.] [Footnote 157: Alluding to their exercising by torchlight.] [Footnote 158: James Stovin, esq., of Whitgift, a justice of the peace for the counties of York and Lincoln, died at Sprotbrough hall, where he then resided, 26 July, 1789, and was buried at Rossington. He was son of George Stovin, of Crowle and Winterton, the Lincolnshire antiquary. On the 11 Dec. 1771, he was appointed town-clerk of Doncaster, an office which he resigned on the 12 Jan. 1778. He was also clerk of the court of sewers from 1757 to 1775.] [Footnote 159: Probably, "Mr. Joseph Gill, Gent.," who was buried, March 19, 1763.]