208 



The Ayliffes of Grittenham. 



The occasion, accordingly, was not neglected by the wits of the 

 day. In a " Collection of Epigrams from Martial, adapted to the 

 Nobility Clergy and Gentry," by the Rev. Mr. Scott, Trin. Coll., 

 Cambridge, one addressed " To Lord H-l-d" makes allusion to this 

 affair :— 



" Would I slip out and fling the Bailiff ? 

 As somebody once, 'tis said, did Ayliffe ; 

 No, not of Egypt were I Caliph ! " 1 



But the severest hit came from Charles Churchill, a satirist whose 

 productions were eagerly looked for and were in everybody's hands. 

 It is said that a bribe was ineffectually offered, through Dr. Philip 

 Francis (the translator of Horace), chaplain to Lady Holland, to 

 stop the publication of the following verses : — 8 



AYLIFFE'S GHOST, 

 Or The FOX stinks worse than ever. 

 By CHARLES CHURCHILL. 



"I'd take the Ghost's word for a thousand pounds." — Hamlet. 



RECITATIVE. 



Who has not heard of Reynard's crafty tricks 

 His pride, his rapine and his politicks ; 

 His ways and means to plunder King and State, 

 Distress the needy and enrich the great ? 

 Then list ! O list ! while I a tale unfold, 

 Shall make your hair erect, your blood run cold. 

 At Holland House, not far from this great City, 

 Was acted lately this strange dismal ditty. 



1 See " Notes and Queries," 3rd S., Vol. XII., p. 125, Also "New Foundling 

 Hospital for Wit," Vol. I., p, 125, ed. 1781. 



2 Printed in the "Gentleman's Magazine " 1770, p. 478. 



