MR. FOOTE's ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC, After a Prosecution against him for a LIBEL. Samuel Foote Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
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Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
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Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T124631 1073 K099398.000 Mendez, Moses. A collection of the most esteemed pieces of poetry: that have appeared for several years. With variety of originals, by the late Moses Mendez, Esq; and other contributors to Dodsley's collection. To which this is intended as a supplement. London printed for Richardson and Urquhart 1767 pp. 123-125. [8],320p. ; 8⁰.

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MR. FOOTE's ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC , After a Prosecution against him for a LIBEL . HUSH ! let me search before I speak aloud — Is no informer skulking in the croud ! With art laconic noting all that's said , Malice at heart , indictments in his head , Prepar'd to levy all the legal war , And rouse the clamorous legions of the bar ! Is there none such ? — not one ? — then entre nous , I will a tale unfold , tho' strange , yet true ; The application must be made by you . At Athens once , fair queen of arms and arts , There dwelt a citizen of moderate parts ! Precise his manner , and demure his looks , His mind unletter'd , tho' he dealt in books ; Amorous , tho' old ; tho' dull , lov'd repartee ; And penn'd a paragraph most daintily : He aim'd at purity in all he said , And never once omitted eth nor ed ; It hath , and doth , was rarely known to fail , Himself the hero of each little tale : With wits and lords this man was much delighted , And once ( it has been said ) was near being knighted . One Aristophanes ( a wicked wit , Who never heeded grace in what he writ ) Had mark'd the manner of this Grecian sage , And thinking him a subject for the stage , Had , from the lumber , cull'd with curious care , His voice , his looks , his gesture , gait and air , His affectation , consequence , and mien , And boldly launch'd him on the comic scene ; Loud peals of plaudits thro' the circle ran , All felt the satire , for all knew the man . Then Peter — Petros was his classic name , Fearing the loss of dignity and fame , To a grave lawyer in a hurry flies , Opens his purse , and begs his best advice . The fee secur'd , the lawyer strokes his band , " The case you put , I fully understand ; " The thing is plain from Cocus's reports , " For rules of poetry an't rules of courts : " A libel this — I'll make the mummer know it . " A Grecian constable took up the poet ; Restrain'd the sallies of his laughing muse , Call'd harmless humour scandalous abuse : The bard appeal'd from this severe decree : Th' indulgent public set the pris'ner free ; Greece was to him , what Dublin is to me .