381-8. The lines are subordinate, grammatically, to line 389.
381-2. These and the following lines express Goldsmith’s opinion of the Whig government then in power.
383. a factious band. A group of politicians seeking to further their personal interests by agitation and dissension.
385. There was nothing to restrain the judge from drawing up new laws for punishment of offences (penal statutes).
wanton. Without restraint.
387-8. He means to say that money was extorted from people in the colonies, such as India, to corrupt the electors in Great Britain.
to purchase slaves. To bribe the voters, to make them subservient.
391-2. Partly from motives of patriotism, partly from fear of the evils threatening my country, I appeal to the sovereign to protect it against these petty political tyrants.
393. baleful. Evil, pernicious.
395. The sovereign is here regarded as the fountain-head or source of honour.