'
To such a degree of unrestrained frankness had he now accustomed me,
that in the course of this evening I talked of the numerous reflections
which had been thrown out against him on account of his having accepted
a pension from his present Majesty. 'Why, Sir, (said he, with a hearty
laugh,) it is a mighty foolish noise that they make.* I have accepted of
a pension as a reward which has been thought due to my literary merit;
and now that I have this pension, I am the same man in every respect
that I have ever been; I retain the same principles. It is true, that I
cannot now curse (smiling) the House of Hanover; nor would it be decent
for me to drink King James's health in the wine that King George gives
me money to pay for. But, Sir, I think that the pleasure of cursing
the House of Hanover, and drinking King James's health, are amply
overbalanced by three hundred pounds a year.'
* When I mentioned the same idle clamour to him several
years afterwards, he said, with a smile, 'I wish my pension
were twice as large, that they might make twice as much
noise.
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