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The Planters generally give to their Negroes the names of the greatest men of old, which I can't help thinking is doing a great outrage to the Heroes of antiquity.

Tis very well known both Planters & their Wives have transgrest this Way.

The negro's Food in the Winter, made of Indian corn and Beans boil'd in salt & water; & eat generally with Hog's fat.

See note a.

A Negro Instrument, something like a Bladder.

A River on the Western Shore of the Chesapeak.

Nothing more common than for the Convits that go over, if they prove anything careful, to get a handsome Livelihood; & buy Slaves themselves; which they are sure to use cruelly enough.

Deer range here in great Plenty, & anyone that will, may destroy them, tho now scarcer, especially in the more cultivated Part of the Country, than they were in the author's Time.

Peaches are surprisingly plentiful here, so that in the Season they feed their Hogs with them.

Ev'ry Planter allows his Negro a little spot of ground to raise some little Truck for himself, such as Cotton, Potatoes, Negro Peese, &c.

Good advice truly; & follow'd by the Generality of the Province, for from the Counsellor to the Slave, there was never an instance of true gen'rous Courtship; The Refinement of that noble Passion being what they are wholly Strangers to.

Severn, a River on the mouth of which Annapolis the Metropolis of Maryland is built; & this Eclogue seems to have a particular Eye on sev'ral Places to that polite Place.

Baldus—This & the other names in this Ecologue have much puzzled me; but I presume they are Gentleman, which sometimes or other have distinguish'd themselves in the Author's Company: Baldus especially appears to be one of extraordinary note.

This must not be understood of them all; for there are really sev'ral of them that have done Honour to their Profession, & tis observ'd the Gentleman that come over alate, have had more Learning & Piety too that their Predecessors

I myself have heard these Gentlemen's Systems approv'd by some of the Clergy.

There are indeed some worthy Gentlemen, who, spite of the Politeness that prevails, still think the Truths in that exploded Book the Bible serious, & fashion their Lives according to the Rules it gives us.

The common Cant of a great many of the polite Marylanders.

This has an Eye to the mercenary Temper of the young Girls, who after the most solemn Promises to one Lover, never scruple to marry another that is richer, & has the approbation of the generality for it.

A Gentleman who had a pretty Vein in Poetry, & like other sons of Parnassus, was very poor; he was also a fine Gentleman, & laught at Religion with the rest.

Surely our Author is here upon the Sneer, for I never knew one Squabble they ever had that was worth a wise Man's regarding at all; or even a Bavius's making an Epigram on.

This the case of too many of the Maryland Gentry, who, without any Education still fancy themselves wiser than all the great Men that went before 'em, & expect all they say to be receiv'd as Oracles.

Foist, a name for a little dog.

Well does our Author sneer those two Enthusiasts, for to their followers is in great measure owing the Infidelity of the Marylanders; whom having too much sense to be Quakers & too much Pride to submit to the Establish'd Church, set up for Free Thinkers & drown what Sense they have in an arrogant Self-Conceit.

I'm afraid this may be thought treating a serious Subject in too ludicrous a Manner. Certain I am, the Author had the highest Veneration not only to the divine Being consider'd as his Creator; but with regard to ev'ry Relation he bears to us according to the Christian Scheme.

David in particular is sadly maul'd, & a certain—himself have been known to call him the grandest Villain that ever liv'd: But no wonder, he meets with no better Treatment from a Common Sharper.

Shock'd indeed; Ev'ry serious Ear must be shock'd at the daily Conversation of our pretended Solomons.

The constant Part of 'em all to a Man—Indeed we are so unhappy, that not a few of our Clergy wou'd become a Hoe, better than a Pulpit.

Hell & Devil now are old antiquated Notions & as such Laugh'd at here, as ever they were at St. ---'s.

This is really the Doctrine they teach, & endeavour to persuade themselves of, in Spite of that unwelcome Monitor, their Conscience, who is always telling them quite the Reverse.

A Name, given the Country-born in Derision, from the great number of Deer in the Country.

From this & sev'ral other Hints, tis plain this Eclogue has it's Foundation on Truth.

A great age for an unmarried woman in Maryland.

A remarkable Bird, whose Musick equals any of the feather'd Choir, & has this peculiar to it, that it can imitate any other Bird it hears.

See Eclogue the first

I can't help owning, that this Simile, tho strong, is yet too coarse; yet if we consider the Plenty of Hogs in this Country, & how nearly allied in nature the People are to this useful animal, we shall the more readily excuse the author.

Negroes, especially the saltwater ones, remarkable for their skill in Poysons, of which they sometimes gives too fatal Instances.

Crabs very plentiful in the seaside, tho no Lobster.

The Author here has the advantage of the Bardling at Home, for here are both Bears & Wolves in great Plenty.

Great numbers of these Gentry in the back Parts of the Provinces & tis hard to say whether the Indians or they are greater Savages.

A River on the Western Shore, on which the suppos'd false one lived.

My friend here has finish'd, but has left out not imitated the seventh Eclogue of Virgil; What can be Reason; I'm at a Loss; But tis most likely that he died before he had finish'd his Design, for certainly had he liv'd longer, he would have imitated that & left these Poems, he has done, more perfect than they are.