s thy play.
Lodge not such petty trifles in thy breast,
But bar their sway;
And let them know, that thy heroic bays
Can scorn their censure, as it doth their praise.

Think not thy answer will their nice reclaim,
Whose heads are proof
Against all reason, and in spite of shame
Will stand aloof;
'Twould cherish further libels on thy fame,
Should these thee move.
Stand firm, my Dryden, maugre all their plots,
Thy bays shall flourish when their ivy rots.

But if you are resolved to break your use,
And basely sin,
In answer; I'll be sworn some haggard muse
Has you in her gin;
Or in a fit you venture to abuse
Your Polyhymn',
You may serve him so far: But if you do,
All your true friends, sir, will reflect on you.

The remonstrance of this friendly poet was unavailing; Dryden having
soon after published the following Vindication.

Footnotes:
1. "A Defence of the Charter and Municipal Rights of the City of
London, and the Rights of other Municipal Cities and Towns of
England. Directed to the Citizens of London, by Thomas Hunt.

_Si populus vult decipi, decipiatur._

London, printed, and to be sold, by Richard Baldwin." 4to, pages
46.

Wood informs us, that Thomas Hunt, the author, was educated at
Queen's College, Cambridge, and was esteemed a person of quick
parts, and of a ready fluency in discourse, but withal too pert and
forward. He was called to the bar, and esteemed a good lawyer. In
1659 he became clerk of the assizes at Oxford circuit, but was
ejected from the office at the Restoration, to his great loss, to
make room for the true owner. He wrote, "An Argument for the
Bishops' right of judging in capital Cases in Parliament, &c.;" for
which he expected (says Anthony) no less than to be made lord chief
baron of the exchequer in Ireland. But falling short of that
honourable office, which he too ambitiously catched at, and
considering the loss of another place, which he unjustly possessed,
he soon after appeared one of the worst and most inveterate enemies
to church and state that was in his time, and the most malicious,
and withal the most ignorant, scribbler of the whole herd; and was
thereupon stiled, by a noted author, (Dryden, in the following
Vindication,) _Magni nominis umbra_. Hunt also published, "Great
and weighty Considerations on the Duke of York, &c." in favour of