PART II

The Patriot libretto from the Excise Bill to the

Jew Bill: Israelite oratorios and English
politics

Shew me the man that dares and sings

Great DavicPs verse to British strings:
Sublime attempt!
Isaac Watts, T h e Hebrew Poet', in Reliquiae Juveniles: Miscellaneous
Thoughts in Prose and Verse, on Natural, Moral, and Divine Subjects,
Written chiefly in Younger Years (1734)

It is no doubt, as worthy of Praise in an Englishman to fight in

Defence of his Religion, whenever it is necessary in order to
preserve our Church, as it was heretofore in the Jews to take up
Arms in Defence of theirs: And, to speak Truth, our Nation is in
point of Religion, in Circumstances that pretty much resemble
the Jewish] for, let our Enemies come from what Quarter they
will, who can say that our Religion is so out of Danger, that a
prudent Lover of it will have no Cause to be afraid of its being
hurt?
A Dissertation on Patriotism: Shewing, the Use of those Two Great
Qualifications of a Patriot, Integrity and Courage (1735) 1

Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009

https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511470240.010 Published online by Cambridge University Press
 Cambridge Books Online © Cambridge University Press, 2009
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511470240.010 Published online by Cambridge University Press