Hibernian dames, a bold and forward kind, 349 Come, Richard, come, forget Hibernian charms, And close thy wanderings in Teresa's arms; No critics here in coffee-houses rage, No classic females learned warfare wage, 350 But ball and bull-fight charm the courtly throng, THE END. AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EPISTLE, то THE REVEREND AND WORSHIPFUL JEREMIAH MILLES, D.D. DEAN OF EXETER, PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, AND. EDITOR OF A SUPERB EDITION OF THE POEMS OF THOMAS ROWLEY, PRIEST. TO WHICH IS ANNEXED, A GLOSSARY, EXTRACTED FROM THAT OF THE LEARNED DEAN. First printed in the year 1782. PREFACE. As Archæological science most certainly excels Chinese gardening, and as a President of the Society of Antiquaries takes precedence (at least on English ground) of a Knight of the Polar star, I flatter myself, that in point of subject, and choice of the personage to whom I address myself, I may vie with the inimitable author of the celebrated Heroic Epistle. I shall, however, forbear to enter the lists with him as a poet, or march in the rear of his numerous host of imitators: my modesty prevents the one, and my vanity the other. Instead therefore of writing heroically, I shall write Archæologically; or, to speak more properly, Heroico-Archæologically, employing a style and manner, of which there is at present only one exemplar in the known world, and of which, I trust, the following epistle will be found an absolute fac simile. And I am the rather inclined to do this, because I am credibly informed, that many formidable critics are still attempting to disprove the authenticity of original. Now, should they succeed in this attempt, the reader easily perceives, that I may claim a kind of fee-simple right to this style by way of direct inheritance: for, should all the old chests in all the parish churches of the kingdom, after a pregnancy of four centuries, choose to my bring bring forth a tuneful progeny of pastorals, tragedies, epic poems, and what not, it cannot be imagined, that the said chests will ever pretend, that they were impregnated in the same wonderful manner, and by the same occult personage, with that of St. Mary Redclift. I must, therefore, if her pretty bantlings be proved suppositious, or illegitimate, necessarily rise up the first Archeological Poet in Great Britain, In this eventful moment, therefore, of literary suspence, let not any rash reader presume to say, that I imitate Rowley; for then another will as peremptorily answer, that I imitate Chatterton. And if, on the contrary, he asserts that I emulate Chatterton, the learned personage, whom I address, will be in gratitude bound to prove, that I emulate Rowley; which I own, indeed, I should like best, because then I should run a fair chance of excelling Homer, Theocritus, and the best poets of antiquity. But, be this as it may, I only say of myself simply and modestly, that I write Archeologically; and, as a most profound* etymologist has lately proved that a writer must know his own meaning (a comfortable truth to know, in an age, in which so many authors write without any meaning) resting on his great authority, and taking for granted that I do know my own meaning, I profess only to write in common plain English first, and afterwards to unspell it, and unanglicize it, by means of that elaborate glossary, which Dr. Milles has fabricated for the use of the readers of my original. Pity! great pity, indeed, it is, that while he was doing this, he did not also fabricate another for his imitators. Had he * See Bryant's Observations, p. 29. done |