POLITICAL MEETING.
At this time, the Pretender’s chief agent in England was Dr. William King, Vice-Principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, and public orator. At the opening of the Radcliffe Library, the ultra-Jacobite orator made a speech, in his official capacity. The ‘General Advertiser’ says that ‘it was a most eloquent speech of an hour long; and it met with great applause.’ Other journals describe it as ‘an elegant oration.’ Walpole, however, says: ‘The famous Dr. King, the Pretender’s great agent, made a most violent speech at the opening of the Radcliffe Library. The Ministry denounced judgment but, in their old style, have grown frightened, and dropt it.’ Then follows this singular illustration of the men and times:—‘This menace gave occasion to a meeting and union between the Prince’s party and the Jacobites which Lord Egmont has been labouring all the winter. They met at the St. Alban’s Tavern, near Pall Mall, last Monday morning, a hundred and twelve Lords and Commoners. The Duke of Beaufort opened the ceremony with a panegyric on the stand that had been made this winter, against so corrupt an administration, and hoped it would continue, and desired harmony. Lord Egmont seconded this strongly, and begged they would come up to Parliament early next winter. Lord Oxford spoke next, and then Potter, with great humour, and, to the great abashment of the Jacobites, said he was very glad to see this union, and from thence hoped that if another attack, like the last Rebellion, should be made on the Royal Family, they would all stand by them. No reply was made to this; then Sir Watkin Williams spoke, Sir Francis Dashwood, and Tom Pitt, and the meeting broke up.’
DR. KING’S ORATION.
Walpole says that ‘the great Mr. Dodington’ gave the assistance of his head to this conference; but there is no notice taken of it in Dodington’s ‘Diary.’
With regard to Dr. King’s oration, which was published as he delivered it, in Latin; and also in an English translation, by a friend,—it is elegant throughout, and harmless also, except perhaps in the closing paragraphs, in which the Ministry found offence. Dr. King, after deploring the universal corruption, wickedness, misery, and misgovernment which reigned without check or restraint, goes on to hope for a return or restoration of men, measures, and incorruptible virtue, whereby the nation might recover its wrecked honour and happiness. Here is a sample of one of the four paragraphs with which the oration closes:—‘Redeat (necque me fugit hoc verbum meum, quippe meum, ab inficetis et malevolis viris improbari iterandum est tamen), Redeat nobis Astræa nostra, aut quocunque nomine malit vocari ipsa Justitia: non quidem fabulosa illa, sed Christianissima Virgo, si non genitrix, certe equidem custos virtutum omnium.’
THE EARL OF BATH.
No doubt the ‘redeat’ had direct reference to the hoped-for return of the ‘king’ at Rome, for whom good wishes were offered up in the London toast—‘The Royal Exchange,’—a toast which is really a summary of Dr. King’s closing paragraphs. At this time the London papers were busy with reporting the movements of that king’s son—the young Chevalier. He had promised the municipality of Friburg to take up his residence there. The magistracy had invited him, not having the fear of the English Government before their eyes. Charles Edward broke his promise, upon which the magistrates (according to a letter from Friburg in the London papers) sharply reproached him for having caused them to offend the King of England by an invitation which came to nothing. Why he should prefer Avignon to Friburg they could not understand. The latest notice of his movements in the metropolitan journals was that he was living incognito at Venice. There was manifestly some uneasy curiosity about him, and a desire on the part of the loyal citizens to be prepared for anything that might turn up in the chapter of accidents or conspiracies. The Earl of Bath only expressed the general feeling of the city, if not of the country, when he said, in a debate on the Mutiny Bill in the Lords, ‘A parcel of rascally Highlanders marched from the northernmost part of Scotland through millions of people to within 100 miles of London, without meeting with any resistance from the people; and might, for what I know, have marched to London, and overturned our government, had we had no regular troops to prevent it;—a manifest proof that a standing army is absolutely necessary.’
THE LAUREATE’S ODE.
The loyal Muse was at Court, as usual, on New Year’s day, 1750, when the royal family and a brilliant array of privileged peers and peeresses assembled to hear the annual ode of the laureate ‘set to Music.’ There was nothing in it like the ring of a hearty Jacobite song. The more Cibber piled his loyalty, the more ridiculous he became, as may be seen by the sample of a single brick out of the lumbering edifice:—
When the race of true Glory