Has the noble lord found a better rhymster? Or will the victory of
the great Duke have to go unsung by the Muse?"
"What! have you not heard the end of that matter? Why, my Lord
Halifax declared that he knew the man worthy of the occasion; but
he would not reveal the name unless it was promised that he should
be excellently well treated. And this man is none other than Joseph
Addison, a fellow of the University of Oxford, and a man well
thought of and pensioned, too, by the late King William. But since
the death of His Majesty, the poet has been living in poverty and
obscurity in a humble lodging hard by the Haymarket. There it was
that he received a visit one day from the two noble lords; and it
hath since been whispered that a poem is a-preparing so fine in
quality and so finished in style, that my Lord Godolphin is now fit
to dance a hornpipe for joy, and has promised a bountiful reward to
the genius whose brain has devised and whose hand has penned the
lines. They say that the poem is to be called 'The Campaign,' and
that it is one of the finest the world has ever seen."
Whilst this sort of talk was going on in one corner, there were
counter-conversations, more interesting to Tom, being carried on in
other parts of the room.
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