liam, and advanced by him to the
honour of knighthood, with the present of a gold chain and a medal.

The malignity of the wits attributed his knighthood to his new poem;
but king William was not very studious of poetry; and Blackmore,
perhaps, had other merit; for he says, in his dedication to Alfred, that
"he had a greater part in the succession of the house of Hanover than
ever he had boasted."

What Blackmore could contribute to the succession, or what he imagined
himself to have contributed, cannot now be known. That he had been of
considerable use, I doubt not but he believed, for I hold him to have
been very honest; but he might easily make a false estimate of his own
importance: those whom their virtue restrains from deceiving others, are
often disposed, by their vanity, to deceive themselves. Whether he
promoted the succession or not, he at least approved it, and adhered
invariably to his principles and party through his whole life.

His ardour of poetry still continued; and not long after, 1700, he
published a Paraphrase on the book of Job, and other parts of the
scripture. This performance Dryden, who pursued him with great
malignity, lived long enough to ridicule in a prologue.

The wits easily confederated against him, as Dryden, whose favour they
almost all courted, was his professed adversary. He had besides given
them reason for resentment, as, in his preface to Prince Arthur, he had
said of the dramatick writers almost all that was alleged afterwards by
Collier; but Blackmore's censure was cold and general, Collier's was
personal and ardent; Blackmore taught his reader to dislike, what
Collier incited him to abhor.

In his preface to King Arthur he endeavoured to gain, at least, one
friend, and propitiated Congreve by higher praise of his Mourning Bride
than it has obtained from any other critick.

The same year he published a Satire on Wit, a proclamation of defiance
which united the poets almost all against him, and which brought upon
him lampoons and ridicule from every side. This he doubtless foresaw,
and evidently despised; nor should his dignity of mind be without its
praise, had he not paid the homage to greatness which he denied to
genius, and degraded himself by conferring that authority over the
national taste, which he takes from the poets, upon men of high rank and
wide influence, but of less wit, and not greater virtue.

Here is again discovered the inhabitant of Cheapside, whose hea