THAT this Poem was really Written by me shortly after Their Majesties Happy Accession to the Throne, and therefore can be no Trick or Device to serve a present Turn, several of my Friends that were privy to the Writing of it, and others, among whom it was handed about in Manuscript, have done me the Justice to attest. And indeed, the Concern I have been under, for being Questioned as a Disafected Person to His Majesty, has made me incapable to Impose in such a way upon the World. My Modesty and Difidence of the Performance, considering the great deference that Subjects ought to pay to Princes, would not permit me then to Print it; and the Reason why I do it now is too obvious. For tho' I was as­sur'd, by very good Judges, that it was not Inferiour to any that was Pub­lish'd on that Occasion, when those that could have done better were silent; yet I could not but be sensible how very short this, as well as the rest, were of the Transcendent Subject, which I thought ought not to have been attempt­ed but by the Skilfuls't Hand. ‘None but a Phidias should attempt a Jove,’ And for little Poets to approach Majesty with their Muses, I fear'd might look something like Familiar, and ought not to expect Acceptance. It seems Pictoribus arque Poetis, &c. did not extend thus far, when Horace himself, who had the Honour of Augustus's Friendship, thought that he should offend by a long Epistle.

And Certainly there is as much Deference and good Manners due from us to King William, upon all those accounts which Horace mentions, as was from him to Augustus; For did Augustus undergoe more or greater Cares and Perils for the People of Rome, than His Majesty has for us and all Europe? Has not his Arms Preserv'd us more Eminently than ever Augustus's did them? And for Reformation of Manners, and Restoring the Laws to their due Administration, could Augustus or any other Prince take more effectual care than His Majesty? And if the Modesty of Horace would not permit him, but he thought himself Insufficient to Sing Augustus's Praises, and that for him to offer at it, would look Officious, and might be Ʋnacceptable, as he tells Augustus afterwards in the same Epistle,

What Construction can we think ought to be put on the best of our Perform­ances?

Kings, like him whose Vicegerents they are, ought not to be Address'd, or even thought of, but with Reverence, and if a Late Noble Wit judg'd right, that the Supreme Being was not to be Worship'd by Tedious Familiar [Page] Addresses, but by some short significant Hymn, expressing the profoundest Admiration; Poets would do well to observe that measure in their Pane­gyricks on Princes? but then who should Write that Hymn?

These Considerations, tho' unheeded by others, prevailed on me not to Pub­lish this Poem, tho I think it contriv'd so as may pretty well answer those Objections, and have a better pretence than the rest for being Publick, viz. By making the Address not from the Poet, but from Britania: And the joynt sence of a whole Island may be Acceptable, when in the Person of a Poet, it would be Insolent. Wherefore, and Considering withal that my Loyalty to His Majesty is call'd in Question by False Accusations, and Malicious In­formations, this Poem is even Extorted from me in my Vindication, and as I hope, without Offence, or else it had not further seen the Light.

There is abundant Evidence upon Oath from Gentlemen, Clergymen, Pra­ctisers of the Law, and others of Ʋnquestionable Reputation (and I take care to Converse with none but are so) of my Loyalty, and good Affection to His Majesty; And I am confident that every Honest unprejudic'd Person that knows me is satisfi'd of it; I have upon all Occasions shewn it, and have gi­ven a great many Instances of it, and amongst several others that I could men­tion, I do assert that the Writing this Poem is One: For what ever defects it may have as a Poem, I think there has not been any extant, that excells it in Loyalty, not Slight, Artificial, and Poetical, but Real, Affectionate, and Substantial Loyalty, and such as another might at that time perhaps have thought dangerous to expose. The expressions are bold and high, even to Te­merity, and such as indeed would not be allowable in any other sort of Poem, than the Pindarique Ode; But how I have perform'd in the Poetical part I do not at all concern my self, nor care if there are some Flat or some Rough Lines in it; The Designe of this Publication being to shew the World, not that I am a Poet but a Loyal Subject; And for that, if the Sence be good; ‘Tom. Sternhold's, or Tom. [...] — l's Rhimes will serve.’

For I think it concernes me to give all the Evidence I can of my Loyalty, at this time, when the Grand Accuser is so busy with his base Implements to traduce me; but because I am under a prosecution by the Government for the contrary, in submission to that, I shall say nothing of them; but do de­clare solmnly, that there is not a Man that lives upon English Ground that loves and honours His Majesty King William more than I doe, and let me Perish, if after the utmost Recollection of my Words and Actions, I know my self in the least Guilty of what is charg'd against me.

The occasion of this malicious Accusation is generaly known; Before I happen'd to disoblige the Person that set it on Foot, even in his Opi­nion, I was a very Honest, Loyal and Good Man, and used and treated by him, with all the Kindness and Respect imaginable by Letters and otherwise. Since, he has made it his perfect Study and Business to contrive my Ruine, and by Words and Writing, upon all occasions has declar'd as much; the Acti­ons of my Life almost to my Child-hood, have been examin'd into, and now after almost twenty Years, with Additions and Aggravations Falsely (as this whole Town knows) and Maliciously exposed in Print, and dispersed thro the Countrey, which shews the foul Rancour of an Inveterate Enemy, but not the Justice of a fair one, and nothing of a Loyal Subject, a Gentleman, or a Man, and of which notice shall be taken in due time, and in due form.