DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48955#0171
Ch. XXII. COMPOSITIONS. 165
“ ral peace is , in all appearance , drawing near ;
« being informed that there are several ingenious
« persons who intend to ssiow their talents on so
“ happy an occasion, and being willing, as much
“ as in me lies , to prevent that effusion of non-
K sense, which we have good cause to apprehend;
“ I do hereby striCtly require every person who
cc {hall write on this subjeci, to remember that he
“ is a Christian, and not to sa&rifice his catechism
(c to his poetry In order to it, I do expert of
“ him, in the first place, to make his own poem,
cc without depending upon Phoebus for any part
“ of it, or calling out for aid upon any of the
c‘ muses by name. I do likewise positively forbid
« the sending of Mercury with any particular
« message or dispatch relating to the peace; and
c< {hall by no means suller Minerva to take upon
« her the shape of any plenipotentiary concerned
“ in this great work. I do farther declare , that
“ I shall not allow the destinies to have had a
s< hand in the deaths of the several thousands who
“ have been llain in the late war; being of opi-
€t nion that all such deaths may be well accounted
“ for by the Christian system of powder and ball.
“ I do therefore striiily forbid the fates to cut
“ the thread os man’s life upon any pretence
£l whatsoever, unless it be for the sake of the
M rhyme. And whereas. I have good reason to
cc sear , that Neptune will have a great c’ealof bu-
w siness on his hands >n several poems which wa
. L 1
“ ral peace is , in all appearance , drawing near ;
« being informed that there are several ingenious
« persons who intend to ssiow their talents on so
“ happy an occasion, and being willing, as much
“ as in me lies , to prevent that effusion of non-
K sense, which we have good cause to apprehend;
“ I do hereby striCtly require every person who
cc {hall write on this subjeci, to remember that he
“ is a Christian, and not to sa&rifice his catechism
(c to his poetry In order to it, I do expert of
“ him, in the first place, to make his own poem,
cc without depending upon Phoebus for any part
“ of it, or calling out for aid upon any of the
c‘ muses by name. I do likewise positively forbid
« the sending of Mercury with any particular
« message or dispatch relating to the peace; and
c< {hall by no means suller Minerva to take upon
« her the shape of any plenipotentiary concerned
“ in this great work. I do farther declare , that
“ I shall not allow the destinies to have had a
s< hand in the deaths of the several thousands who
“ have been llain in the late war; being of opi-
€t nion that all such deaths may be well accounted
“ for by the Christian system of powder and ball.
“ I do therefore striiily forbid the fates to cut
“ the thread os man’s life upon any pretence
£l whatsoever, unless it be for the sake of the
M rhyme. And whereas. I have good reason to
cc sear , that Neptune will have a great c’ealof bu-
w siness on his hands >n several poems which wa
. L 1