ht him a brush, and one a black ball;
For clouts at a loss he could not be much,
The clothes on his back as being but such;
Thus vamp'd and accoutred, with clouts, ball, and brush,
He gallantly ventured his fortune to push:
Vespasian[2] thus, being bespatter'd with dirt,
Was omen'd to be Rome's emperor for't.
But as a wise fiddler is noted, you know,
To have a good couple of strings to one bow;
So Hartley[3] judiciously thought it too little,
To live by the sweat of his hands and his spittle:
He finds out another profession as fit,
And straight he becomes a retailer of wit.
One day he cried--"Murders, and songs, and great news!"
Another as loudly--"Here blacken your shoes!"
At Domvile's[4] full often he fed upon bits,
For winding of jacks up, and turning of spits;
Lick'd all the plates round, had many a grubbing,
And now and then got from the cook-maid a drubbing;
Such bastings effect upon him could have none:
The dog will be patient that's struck with a bone.
Sir Thomas, observing this Hartley withal
So expert and so active at brushes and ball,
Was moved with compassion, and thought it a pity
A youth should be lost, that had been so witty:
Without more ado, he vamps up my spark,
And now we'll suppose him an eminent clerk!
Suppose him an adept in all the degrees
Of scribbling _cum dasho_, and hooking of fees;
Suppose him a miser, attorney, _per_ bill,
Suppose him a courtier--suppose what you will--
Yet, would you believe, though I swore by the Bible,
That he took up two news-boys for crying the libel?

[Footnote 1: Variation from Ovid, "Met.," ii, 541:
"Qui color albus erat, nunc est contrarius albo."--_W. E. B._]

[Footnote 2: So in _Hudibras_, Pt. II, Canto II:
"_Vespasian_ being dawb'd with Durt,
Was destin'd to the Empire for't
And from a Scavinger did come
To be a mighty Prince in _Rome_."]

[Footnote 3: Squire Hartley Hutcheson, "that zealous prosecutor of
hawkers and libels," who signed Faulkner's committal to prison. See
"Prose Works," vii, 234.--_W. E. B._]

[Footnote 4: Sir T. Domvile, patentee of the Hanaper office.--_F._]

A FRIENDLY APOLOGY FOR A CERTAIN JUSTICE OF PEACE
BY WAY OF DEFENCE OF HARTLEY HUTCHESON, ESQ.
BY JAMES BLACK-WELL, OPERATOR FOR THE FEET

But he by bawling news about,
And aptly using brush and clout,
A justice of the peace became,
To punish rogues who do the same.

I sing the man of courage tried,
O'errun with ignorance and pride,
Who boldly