But as he toils through fields of stubble he yearns for “The long lost pleasures of St. James’s Street,” which are set forth by Tickell in graceful and glowing lines. The Epistle was very highly praised by the reviewers and by others, but Horace Walpole, in a letter to Lady Ossory of 2 December 1779, recorded an acute dissent: “Towards the end there seems some very pretty lines; but, upon the whole, à quoi bon? à quel propos? I believe it was meant for a satire, but the author winked, and it flashed in the pan (Letters, ed. Toynbee, XI, 74-75).”
viii
Common-Place Arguments against Administration, with Obvious Answers, (Intended for the Use of the New Parliament.) London: Printed for R. Faulder, New Bond Street. M DCC LXXX.
8vo. P. , half-title, verso blank; p. [iii], title, verso blank; pp. [v]-viii, “Advertisement”; pp. [an inserted leaf], “Contents”; pp. [9]-101, text; p. [102], blank.
Copies: HC, NYP. Sabin #95794.
Second, Third, and Fourth Editions, Faulder, 1780. Dublin: R. Marchbank, 1780; called “The Third Edition.”
A transparent attempt to repeat the success of Anticipation, this satire was unanimously assigned to Tickell by the reviews and is clearly his. Opposition charges and ministerial replies are provided on such topics as “Best Officers drawn from the Service,” “The last Campaign, and State of the Nation,” and the like, together with a section of “Miscellaneous Eloquence, or, Collateral Rhetoric for the Gallery,” which contains the best mimicry the tract affords. The reviewers justly taxed Tickell with writing for hire and borrowing from himself.
ix
Select Songs of the Gentle Shepherd. As It Is Performed at the Theatre-Royal, Drury-Lane London: Printed for T. Becket, Adelphi, Strand. M DCC LXXXI. [Price Six-pence.]