Ozell was incenſed to the laſt degree by this uſage, and in a paper called The Weekly Medley, September 1729, he publiſhed the following ſtrange Advertiſement[1]. ‘As to my learning, this envious wretch knew, and every body knows, that the whole bench of biſhops, not long ago, were pleaſed to give me a purſe of guineas for diſcovering the erroneous tranſlations of the Common Prayer in Portugueze, Spaniſh, French, Italian, &c. As for my genius, let Mr. Cleland ſhew better verſes in all Pope’s works, than Ozell’s verſion of Boileau’s Lutrin, which the late lord Hallifax was ſo well pleaſed with, that he complimented him with leave to dedicate it to him, &c. &c. Let him ſhew better and truer poetry in The Rape of the Lock, than in Ozell’s Rape of the Bucket, which, becauſe an ingenious author happened to mention in the ſame breath with Pope’s, viz.
‘Let Ozell ſing the Bucket, Pope the Lock,
‘the little gentleman had like to have run mad; and Mr. Toland and Mr. Gildon publicly declared Ozell’s Tranſlation of Homer to be, as it was prior, ſo likewiſe ſuperior, to Pope’s.Surely, ſurely, every man is free to deſerve well of his country!’John Ozell. This author died about the middle of October 1743, and was buried in a vault of a church belonging to St. Mary Aldermanbury. He never experienced any of the viciſſitudes of fortune, which have been ſo frequently the portion of his inſpired brethren, for a perſon born in the ſame county with him, and who owed particular obligations to his family, left him a competent proviſion: beſides, he had always enjoyed good places. He
- ↑ Notes on the Dunciad.
