Slenwy Shaftsbury, Lord ...

This piece is aimed against sedition, and was occasioned by the striking of a medal, on account of the indictment against the earl of Shaftsbury for high treason being found ignoramus by the grand jury, at the Old Bailey, November 1681: For which the Whig party made great rejoicings by ringing of bells, bonfires, &c. in all parts of London.

The whole poem is a severe invective against the earl of Shaftsbury; who was uncle to that earl who wrote the Characteristics.

It is dedicated to the earl of Shaftsbury, and is the last Mr. Dryden wrote, or intended for the theatre.

This gentleman was born at Gillingham near Shaftsbury, in the county of Dorset.

He wrote a piece called the New Rehearsal, or Bays the Younger; containing an Examen of the Ambitious Step-mother, Tamerlane, The Biter, Fair Penitent, The Royal Convert, Ulysses, and Jane Shore, all written by Mr. Rowe; also a Word or Two on Mr. Pope's Rape of the Lock, to which is prefixed a Preface concerning Criticism in general, by the Earl of Shaftsbury, Author of the Characteristics, 8vo.

During these contentions, Mr. Settle also published a piece called The Medal Revers'd, published 1681; this was an answer to a poem of Dryden's called The Medal, occasioned by the bill against the earl of Shaftsbury being found ignoramus at the Old Baily, upon which the Whig party made bonfires, and ordered a medal to be struck in commemoration of that event.

Shaftsbury, who was by his principles a Whig, and who could not but foresee the miseries which afterwards happened under a Popish Prince, opposed the succession with all his power; he was a man of very great endowments, and being of a bustling tumultuous disposition, was admirably fitted to be the head of a party.

It is related, that at the Council-table, when his Majesty, and his Royal Brother were both present, something concerning the succession was canvassed, when Shaftsbury, not in the least intimidated, spoke his opinion with great vehemence against the Duke, and was answered with equal heat, but with less force, by the then lord chamberlain.

During this debate, the Duke took occasion to whisper the King, that his Majesty had a villain of a chancellor, to which the King merrily replied, oddsfish, York, what a fool you have of a chamberlain: by which it appears, his Majesty was convinced that Shaftsbury's arguments were the strongest.

In consequence of Shaftsbury's violent opposition to the Duke, and the court party, there was a Bill of Indictment of High Treason, read before his Majesty's Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer in the Sessions-House at the Old Bailey, but the Jury found it Ignoramus; upon which, all the party rejoiced at the deliverance of their head.

1680, dedicated to Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury.

No more along the banks of Tyne I'll rove in autumn grey; No more I'll hear, at early dawn, The lav'rocks wake the day; Then fare thee well, brave Witherington, And Forster ever true; Dear Shaftsbury and Errington, Receive my last adieu.

"There runs through his whole manner a stiffness, an affectation, which renders him [Shaftsbury] very unfit to be considered a general model."Id.

Lord Shaftsbury once said: "I think it would be of the greatest value if the reports of the various Religious and Charitable Societies were at once, by Act of Parliament, elevated into the dignity of Blue Books.

You may easily imagine the Confusion of the Entertainer, who finding some of his Friends very uneasy, desired to tell them a Story of a great Man, one Mr, Locke (whom I find you frequently mention) that being invited to dine with the then Lords Hallifax, Anglesey, and Shaftsbury; immediately after Dinner, instead of Conversation, the Cards were called for, where the bad or good Success produced the usual Passions of Gaming.