Ecclesfield, March 26. 1850.
_Queries as to "Lines on London Dissenting Ministers" of a former
Day_.--Not having made _Notes_ of the verses so entitled, I beg to
submit the following _Queries_:--
1. Does there exist any printed or manuscript copy of lines of the
above description, in the course of which Pope's "Modest Foster" is
thus introduced and apostrophised:--
"But see the accomplish'd orator appear,
Refined in judgment, and in language clear:
Thou only, Foster, hast the pleasing art
At once to charm the ear and mend the heart!"
Other conspicuous portraits are those of THOMAS BRADBURY, ISAAC
WATTS, and SAMUEL CHANDLER. The date of the composition must be placed
between 1704 and 1748, but I have to solicit information as to who was
its author.
2. Has there been preserved, in print or manuscript, verses which
circulated from about 1782-1784, on the same body of men, as
characterised, severally, by productions of the vegetable world,
and, in particular, by _flowers_? The _bouquet_ is curious, nor
ill-selected and arranged. One individual, for example, finds his
emblem in a _sweet-briar_; another, in a _hollyhock_; and a third, in
a _tulip_. RICHARD WINTER, JAMES JOUYCE, HUGH WASHINGTON, are parts
of the fragrant, yet somewhat thorny and flaunting nosegay. These
intimations of it may perhaps aid recollection, and lead to the
wished-for disclosure. It came from the hand, and seemed to indicate
at least the theological partialities of the lady[1] who culled and
bound together the various portions of the wreath.