Note 56 — No. XI.
Reading edition
Line 25.—[John Courtenay was for many years one of the men of mark in the House of Commons for his ability, independent spirit, erudition, and coarse sarcastic wit. He was born at Carlingford, Ireland, in 1738. Having obtained the patronage of George, Viscount Townshend, Lord-Lieutenant (1767–72), he became the principal writer in the “Batchelor,” a government paper, distinguished by genuine wit and humour, conducted by Simcox, a clergyman; Richard Marlay, afterwards Bishop of Waterford and Lismore; Robert Jephson, a dramatic poet of note; the Rev. Mr. Boroughs, and others. The chief task of these advocates of the Castle was to counteract the “Baratarian Letters,” an Irish imitation of Junius, which, attacking the Lord-Lieutenant’s government, received contributions from Flood, and first published Grattan’s character of Chatham. At the “Coalition,” 1783, he was appointed Surveyor-general of the Ordnance, and henceforward attached himself to Fox. He wrote, among other works, A Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., 1786; The Rape of Pomona, an Elegiac Epistle from the Waiter at Hockrel to the Hon. Mr. Lyttelton, 1773; Philosophical Reflections on the late Revolution in France; and a Biographical Sketch of his own Life. In his Epistles in Rhyme he thus ridicules Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Verses on the two Misses Berry:—
“Who to love tunes his note, with the fire of old age,
And chirps the trim lay in a trim Gothic cage.”
Walpole, however (Correspondence, ix. 434–5), good-naturedly laughed at them, saying that these verses on himself were really some of the best in the whole set. Courtenay was a member of The Literary Club, founded by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and figures in several of Gillray’s caricatures. He it was who, referring to Gay’s Beggars’ Opera, designated the author the Orpheus of Highwaymen. He died 24th March, 1816.—Ed.]