Note 153 — DRYDEN’S LETTERS. LETTER I. TO THE FAIRE HANDS OF MADAME HONOR DRYDEN THESE CRAVE ADMITTANCE.56
Reading edition
Dr Thomas Tennison, who succeeded to the see of Canterbury in 1694, on the death of Tillotson. He is thus sarcastically described by William Shippen, in “Faction Displayed,” a poem written a few years afterwards:
“A pause ensued, till Patriarcho’s grace Was pleased to rear his huge unwieldy mass; A mass unanimated with a soul, Or else he’d ne’er be made so vile a tool: He’d ne’er his apostolic charge profane, And atheists’ and fanaticks’ cause maintain. At length, as from the hollow of an oak, The bulky Primate yawned, and silence broke: I much approve,” &c.
So also Edmund Smith, in his elegant ode, Charlettus Percivallo suo;
“Scribe securus, quid agit Senatus, Quid caput stertit grave Lambethanum, Quid comes Guilford, quid habent novorum Dawksque Dyerque.”—Malone.