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A Proposal For Publishing a Poetical Translation

Both in Latin and English, of The Reverend Mr. Tutor Bentham's Letter to a young Gentleman of Oxford. By a Master of Arts. [i.e. William King] The Second Edition
 

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[Men of Oxford, I tell you, (and faith! it is true)]

1

Men of Oxford, I tell you, (and faith! it is true)
Not a Page of this Work did I write with a View
To inflame our great Folk, or to hurt one of you.

2

But howe'er, to cajole my good Friends at Whitehall,
And to find out the Way to some pretty neat Stall,
Let me loudly declare, Ye are Jacobites all!

3

This is surely the Cause, why I publish this Tract,
As an Antidote made of a Parliament-Act,
To secure all my Pupils, in case they're attackt.

4

Quiet Men, who reside here, are so situ-ated;
That they want Ears to hear what is daily related,
How abroad in the World we are rail'd at, and rated.

22

5

And so quiet these studious poor Souls are, alas!
Well I wot, they ne'er ken (is not this a hard Case?)
What is said, or transacted in this very Place.

6

So they never pursue proper Measures from meer
Want of Prudence, like mine, tho' the Danger be near;
And are backward to answer Reports they don't hear.

7

There are Seasons for all Things: and I a Logician
A Divine, and a Preacher, and Metaphysician,
Am obliged on a sudden to turn Politician.

8

Can I write, is the Question? You see, that I can:
Yet I vaunt not myself, that I've form'd a fine Plan:
For, perhaps in the World I'm the modestest Man.

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9

Neither write I for Fame, or an handful of Pelf,
But to silence my stubborn young Jacobite Elf;
And—to do all the Good, that I can, to myself.

10

There are Seasons for all Things! And this is the Season,
When my Brethren, like me, thus should loyally reason,
And unteach the hot Youth, who have learnt to speak Treason.
 

The Reverend Mr. B. is one of the Whitehall Preachers.