inimicus et iniquus homo superseminavit
zizania in medio tritici_, the other discreet and indifferent readers,
out of sense and reason, found out the same conclusion, both in respect
of the vanity of the phrase, and for that I, publishing about the same
time one of my commentaries, would, if I had intended the publication
of any such matter, have done it myself, and not to have suffered any
of my works pass under the name of Pricket; and so _una voce
conclamaverunt omnes_, that it was a shameful and shameless practice,
and the author thereof to be a wicked and malicious falsary."

J. G.

Exon.

* * * * *

WHITE ROSES.

(Vol. vii., p. 329.)

The allusion is to the well-known Jacobite badge of the white rose, which
was regularly worn on June 10, the anniversary of the Old Pretender's
birthday, by his adherents. Fielding refers to the custom in his _Amelia_:

"On the lovely 10th of June, under a serene sky, the amorous Jacobite,
kissing the odoriferous Zephyr's breath, gathers a nosegay of white
roses to deck the whiter breast of Celia."--_Amelia_, edit. 1752, vol.
i. p. 48.

The following lines are extracted from a collection of considerable merit,
now become uncommon, the authors of the different papers in which were Dr.
Deacon and Dr. Byrom, and which is entitled _Manchester Vindicated_
(Chester, 1749, 12mo.). The occasion was on a soldier snatching a white
rose from the bosom of a young lady on June 10, 1747:

I.

"Phillis to deck her snowy breast
The rival-flowers around display'd,
Thraso, to grace his war-like crest
Of orange-knots a huge cockade,
That reds and whites, and nothing else,
Should set the beaux against the belles!

II.

"Yet so it was; for yesterday
Thraso met Phillis with her posies,
And thus began th' ungentle fray,
'Miss, I must _execute_ those roses.'
Then made, but fruitless made, a snatch,
Repuls'd with pertinacious scratch.

III.

"Surpriz'd at such a sharp rebuke,
He cast about his cautious eyes,
Invoking _Vict'ry_ and _the Duke_,
And once again attack'd the prize;
Again is taught to apprehend,
How guardian thorns the rose defend.

IV.

"Force being twice in vain apply'd,
He condescended then to reason;
'Ye _Jacobitish_ ----,' he cry'd
'In open street, the love of treason
With yo