With that mean falsehood which my soul disdains."
How furious the onset! but if the lines are brought back to plain prose, they will run thus: "Hogarth, thy word is candour. I adopt the same word, and having heard thee declaim with a virulence that retained nothing of candour but the name, thou shalt hear me declaim in the same style."
That this is the precise meaning which the poet intended, I will not presume to assert; but that he has pursued his theme in a manner that amply justifies my supposition, the following lines will abundantly prove:—
"Hogarth, stand forth,—nay, hang not thus aloof,
Now Candour, now thou shalt receive such proof,
Such damning proof, that henceforth thou shalt fear
To tax my wrath, and own my conduct clear.
Hogarth, stand forth,—I dare thee to be try'd
In that great court where Conscience must preside: