Page:Johnsonian Miscellanies I.djvu/189

 Anecdotes.

��his antagonist having repeated with an air of triumph the famous epigram written by Dr. Trapp r ,

Our royal master saw, with heedful eyes,

The wants of his two universities :

Troops he to Oxford sent, as knowing why

That learned body wanted loyalty:

But books to Cambridge gave, as, well discerning,

That that right loyal body wanted learning.

Which, says Sir William, might well be answered thus :

The king to Oxford sent his troop of horse, For Tories own no argument but force ; With equal care to Cambridge books he sent, For Whigs allow no force but argument 2.

��Early Diary of Frances Burney, i. 177. He died on March 10, 1774, aged 82. Gentleman's Magazine, 1774, p. 142. See ib. i775 P- 44 for the prizes of three gold medals which he founded at Cambridge for Greek and Latin verse.

1 For a memoir of Dr. Joseph Trapp (1679-1747) see Gentleman's Magazine, 1786, pp. 381, 660. He was the first Professor of Poetry at Oxford. It is said that he was the original of Swift's 'little parson Dapper, who is the common relief to all the lazy pulpits in town. This smart youth has a very good memory, a quick eye, and a clean handker chief. Thus equipped, he opens his text, shuts his book fairly, shows he has no notes in his Bible, opens both palms and shews all is fair there too.' The Tatter, No. 66. Swift's Works, viii. 163. I cannot find any evidence besides Mrs. Piozzi's that he wrote this epigram. the following versions are given :

I. ' The King, observing with judicious

eyes, The state of his two universities ;

��To Oxford sent a troop of horse ;

and why ?

That learned body wanted loyalty ; To Cambridge books, as very well

discerning How much that loyal body wanted

learning.'

II. ' The King to Oxford sent a troop of

horse, For Tories own no argument but

force ; With equal skill to Cambridge books

he sent,

For Whigs admit no force but argu ment.'

George I, in September, 1715, gave volumes) of John Moore, Bishop of Ely, who had died the previous year, and presented it to the University of Cambridge. Willis and Clark's Architectural History of Cambridge, iii. 29. A little later * an intercepted letter from an Oxford undergraduate to his friend in London boasts that " Here we fear nothing, but drink James's health every day." Colonel Owen and several other broken officers had taken shelter at the Uni versity, and were concerting measures

Mr.

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