[Footnote 8: From Augustus to Louis, the muse has too often
been false and venal: but I much doubt whether any age or
court can produce a similar establishment of a stipendiary
poet, who in every reign, and at all events, is bound to
furnish twice a year a measure of praise and verse, such as
may be sung in the chapel, and, I believe, in the presence,
of the sovereign. I speak the more freely, as the best time
for abolishing this ridiculous custom is while the prince is
a man of virtue and the poet a man of genius.]