Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/323

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HIS gentleman acquired a very conſiderable name by his political and poetical works; his early attachment to the revolution intereſt, and the extraordinary zeal and ability with which he defended it. He was bred, ſays Mr. Jacob, a Hoſier, which profeſſion he forſook, as unworthy of him, and became one of the moſt enterprizing authors this, or any other age, ever produced. The work by which he is moſt diſtinguiſhed, as a poet, is his True Born Engliſhman, a Satire, occaſioned by a poem entitled Foreigners, written by John Tutchin, eſq;. This gentleman (Tutchin) was of the Monmouth faction, in the reign of King Charles II. and when that unhappy prince made an attempt upon his uncle’s crown, Mr. Tutchin wrote a political piece in his favour, for which, ſays Jacob, he was ſo ſeverely handled by Judge Jeffries, and his ſentence was ſo very uncommon, and ſo rigorouſly executed, that he petitioned King James to be hanged.

Soon after the revolution, the people, who are reſtleſs in their inclinations, and loath that, to-day, for which they would yeſterday have ſacrificed their lives, began to be uneaſy at the partiality their