I wished upon some occasion to borrow a Martial. He told me he had no
such book, _except by heart_. I therefore inferred, that he could not
immediately detect me. Accordingly I sent him an epigram which I had
made, and an English version of it, as from the original. He commended
the latter, but said, that it wanted the neatness of the Roman. When I
undeceived him, he laughed, and forgave me.

It originated in a whimsical fact. Mr. Cambridge had a rage for news;
and living in effect at Richmond, though on the other side of the
Thames, he had the command of many political reporters. As I was then in
professional business at my chambers, I knew less of public news than he
did; and every Saturday, in my way from Lincoln's Inn to a villa of my
own near him, called upon him for the news from London. This I told him
was not unlike what Martial said, L. iii. 7.

Deciano salutem.

Vix Roma egressus, villa novus advena, ruris
Vicini dominum te "quid in urbe?" rogo.
Tu novitatis amans Roma si Tibura malles
Per nos "de villa quae nova" disce "tua."

_Nichols's Illust. of the Literary Hist, of the xviii. Cent_. v. i.
p. 131.

Of his poems, which are neither numerous, nor exhibit much variety of
manner, little remains to be said. Archimage, though a sprightly sally,
cannot be ranked among the successful imitations of Spenser's style.
_Als ne_ and _mote_, how often soever repeated, do not go far towards a