'And see, thy very Gazetteers give o'er,
Even Ralph repents, and Henley writes no more.' — Dunciad, i. 215.
'Silence, ye Wolves! while Ralph to Cynthia howls,
And makes night hideous-answer him, ye owls!' — Dunciad, iii. 165.
These 'Gazetteers' were men who received in those days pay from the government out of the secret service money, to write in their support, and abuse their opponents, which last they certainly did most lustily. James Ralph appears to have been one of them.
'James Ralph, a name inserted after the first editions, not known to our author till he writ a swearing-piece called Sawney, very abusive of Dr. Swift, Mr. Gay, and himself. These lines allude to a thing of his, entitled "Night, a Poem."' — Note by Warburton, on Dunciad, iii. 165.