182 
H1730? 7 
Gratewue 
and 
of Caricature 
another collection)? a fatirical poem againft the people of a place called 
Stockton (perhaps Stockton-on-Tees in Durham), by the monk of a 
monaftic houfe, of which they were ferfs. It appeared that they had 
rifen againtt the tyranny of their lord, but had been unfucceisful in 
defending their caufe in a court of law, and the ecclefiattical fatirilt 
exults over their defeat in a very uncharitable tone. There will be found 
in the " Reliquae Antiquae,"1' a very curious fatire in Latin profe directed 
againtt the inhabitants of Rochefter, although it is in truth aimed againfl: 
Englifhmen in general, and is entitled in the manufcript, which is of the 
fourteenth century, "Proprietates Anglicorum" (the Peculiarities of 
Englilhmen). In the firlt place, we are told, that the people of Rochetter 
had tails, and the queilion is difcufled, very fcholaitically, what fpecies 
of animals thefe Roceltrians Were. We are then told that the caufe of 
their deformity arofe from the infolent manner in which they treated 
St. Augultine, when he came to preach the Gofpel to the heathen Englifh. 
After vititing many parts of England, the faint came to Rochefter, where 
the people, inltead of litlening to him, hooted at him through the ftreets, 
and, in derition, attached tails of pigs and calves to his veittnents, and 
fo turned him out of the city. The vengeance of Heaven came upon 
them, and all who inhabited the city and the country round it, and their 
defcendants after them, were condemned to bear tails exadly like 
thofe of pigs. This ftory of the tails was not an invention of the author 
of the fatire, but was a popular legend connected with the hiitory of 
St. Augu[tine's preaching, though the fcene of the legend was laid in 
Dnrfetfhire. The writer of this {ingular compofition goes on to defcribe 
the people of Rochetier as feducers of other people, as men without 
gratitude, and as traitors. He proceeds to {how that Rochefler being 
fituated in England, its vices had tainted the whole nation, and he 
illuftrates the bafenefs of the Englilh character by a number of anecdotes 
of Worfe than doubtful authenticity. It is, in fact, a fatire on the Englifh 
compofed in France, and leads us into the domains of political fatire. 
Political 
" Anecdota Literaria," p. 
"T " Reliquae Antiqux," vol. ii.