THE illustrious Arbiters, of whom we may, with great truth, describe the noble Earl as the very alter-ipse of Maecenas, and. the worthy Pierot as the most correct counterpart of Petronius, had carefully revised the whole of the preceding productions, and had indulged the defeated ambition of restless and aspiring Poetry, with a most impartial and elaborate Scrutiny (thé whole account of which, faithfully translated from the Italian of Signor Delpini, and the English of the Earl of Salisbury, will, in due time, be submitted to the inspection of the curious), were preparing to make a legal return, when an event happened that put a final period to their proceedings. The following is a correct account of this interesting occurrence:

ON Sunday the 17th of the present month, to wit, July, Anno Domini 1785, just as His Majesty was ascending the stairs of his gallery, to attend divine worship at WINDSOR, he was surprised by the appearance of a little, thick, squat, red-faced man, who, in a very odd dress, and kneeling upon one knee, presented a piece of paper for the Royal

acceptation. His Majesty, amazed at the sight of such a figure in such a place, had already given orders to one of the attendant beef-eaters to dismiss him from his presence, when, by a certain hasty spasmodic mumbling, together with two or three prompt quotations from Virgil, the person was discovered to be no other than the Rev. Mr. Thomas Warton himself, dressed in the official vesture of his professorship, and the paper which he held in his hand being nothing else but a fair written petition designed for the inspection of His Majesty, our gracious Sovereign made up for the seeming rudeness of the first reception, by a hearty embrace on recognition; and the contents of the petition being forthwith examined, were found to be pretty nearly as follows: -We omit the common-place compliments generally introduced in the exordia of these applications, as, "relying upon your Ma"jesty's well-known clemency;" con"vinced of your Royal regard for the real "interest of your subjects;" "penetrated "with the fullest conviction of your wis"dom and justice," &c. &c. which, though undoubtedly very true; when considered as

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addressed to George the Third, might, perhaps, as matters of mere form, be applied to a Sovereign, who neither had proved wisdom nor regard for his subjects in one act of his reign, and proceed to the substance and matter of the complaint itself. It sets forth, "That the Petitioner, Mr. Thomas, had "been many years a maker of Poetry, as his "friend Mr. Sadler, the pastry-cook, of Oxford, and some other credible witnesses, could well evince: that many of his works "of fancy, and more particularly that one “which is known by the name of his Cri"ticisms upon Milton, had been well re.. ceived by the learned; that, thus encou"raged, he had entered the list, together "with many other great and respectable "candidates, for the honour of a succession

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to the vacant Laureatship; that a decided "return had been made in his favour by the "officers best calculated to judge, namely, “the Right Hon. the Earl of Salisbury, and "the learned Signor Delpini, his Lordship's worthy coadjutor; that the Signor's delicacy, unhappily for the Petitioner, like "that of Mr. Corbett, in the instance of the "Westminster election, had inclined him to

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"the grant of a SCRUTINY; that in conse quence of the vexatious and pertinacious perseverance on the part of several gentlemen in this illegal and oppressive measure, the Petitioner had been severely injured in his spirits, his comforts, and his interest: that he had been for many years engaged in a most laborious and expensive "undertaking, in which he had been ho"noured with the most liberal communica

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tions from all the universities in Europe, "to wit, a splendid and most correct edition "of the Poemata Minora of the immortal "Mr. Stephen Duck; that he was also under

positive articles of literary partnership "with his brother, the learned and well

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known Dr. Joseph, to supply two pages "per day in his new work, now in the press, entitled his Essay on the Life and "Writings of Mr. THOMAS HICKATHRIFT; " in both of which great undertakings, the fee progress had been most essentially interrupted by the great anxiety and distress of mind, under which the Petitioner has for "some time laboured, on account of this 66 inequitable scrutiny; that the Petitioner "is bound, by his honour and his engage

ment, to prepare a new Ode for the birth"day of Her most gracious Majesty, which "he is very desirous of executing with as "much poetry, perspicuity, and originality, "as are universally allowed to have charac"terized his last effusion, in honour of the

Natal Anniversary of his Royal Master's "sacred self: that there are but six months "to come for such a preparation, and that

the Petitioner has got no further yet than "Hail Muse!' in the first stanza, which $6 very much inclines him to fear he shall "not be able to finish the whole in the "short period above-mentioned, unless His "Majesty should be graciously pleased to

order some of his Lords of the Bedcham"ber to assist him, or should command a "termination to the vexatious inquiry now "pending. In humble hopes that these "several considerations would have their "due influence with His Majesty, the Petitioner concludes with the usual prayer, and "signed himself as underneath, &c. &c. &c. THO. WARTON, B. D. &c. &c."

Such was the influence of the above admirable appeal on the sympathetic feelings