nation in 1641; for now he should never cease his attacks till he had made him the most unpopular man in England. He kept his word.
[From the information of Mr. J. Courtenay, who had it from Mr. Rigby.]
The following epigram on Mr. Wilkes, in consequence of becoming a favourite at Court in April 1784, and having once more come into Parliament for Middlesex in conjunction with the Court candidate, Mr. Mainwaring, is better than the generality of newspaper productions:—
What! Liberty-Wilkes, of oppression the hater,
Call’d a turncoat, a Judas, a rogue, and a traitor!
What has made all our patriots so angry and sore?
Has Wilkes done that now which he ne’er did before?
For he loved his best friends as he loved his own wife;[1]
In his actions he always kept self in his view,
Though false to the world to John Wilkes he was true!
Selemnus, a river in Achaia, is said by Pausanias to have possessed the quality of making those who bathed in it forget the object of their affection. Were there really such a water, how valuable would it be!
Lexiphanes, which was written in ridicule of Dr. Johnson’s style, is by many supposed to have been the work of Mr. Kenrick; but it was really written by a Mr. Campbell, son of a Scotch professor; and who was likewise the author of a book entitled The Sale of Authors. He some years since went to the West Indies or North America, in one of which places he died.[2]
