"Studious to please, and ready to submit, The supple Gaul was born a parasite: Still to his interest true, where'er he goes, Wit, bravery, worth, his lavish tongue bestows: In every face a thousand graces shine, "Besides, with justice, this discerning age Admires their wondrous talents for the stage: Well may they venture on the mimic's art, Who play from morn to night a borrow'd part: Practised their master's notions to embrace, To pour at will the counterfeited tear; Your taste in snuff, your judgment in a whore ; Can Balbo's eloquence applaud, and swear They first invade your table, then your breast; Explore your secrets with insidious art, heart; Then soon your ill-placed confidence repay, Commence your lords, and govern or betray. "By numbers here, from shame or censure free, All crimes are safe but hated poverty: Wakes from his dream, and labours for a joke; With brisker air the silken courtiers gaze, But here more slow, where all are slaves to gold, Where looks are merchandise, and smiles are sold; Where, won by bribes, by flatteries implored, The groom retails the favours of his lord. "But hark! the affrighted crowd's tumultuous cries Roll through the street, and thunder to the skies: Raised from some pleasing dream of wealth and power, Some pompous palace, or some blissful bower, Aghast you start, and scarce with aching sight Sustain the approaching fire's tremendous light; Swift from pursuing horrors take your way, And leave your little all to flames a prey; Then through the world a wretched vagrant roam, For where can starving Merit find a home? And spread his flaming palace on the ground, dome ; The price of boroughs and of souls restore, content, For the fair banks of Severn or of Trent; There mightst thou find some elegant retreat, Some hireling senator's deserted seat, And stretch thy prospects o'er the smiling land, For less than rent the dungeons of the Strand; There prune thy walks, support thy drooping flowers, Direct thy rivulets, and twine thy bowers: On all thy hours security shall smile, toil. Prepare for death, if here at night you roam; And sign your will, before you sup from home. Some fiery fop, with new commission vain, Who sleeps on brambles till he kills his man; Some frolic drunkard, reeling from a feast, Provokes a broil, and stabs you for a jest. "Yet e'en these heroes, mischievously gay, Lords of the street, and terrors of the way; Flush'd as they are with folly, youth, and wine, Their prudent insults to the poor confine; Afar they mark the flambeau's bright approach, And shun the shining train and golden coach. "In vain, these dangers pass'd, your doors you close, And hope the balmy blessings of repose: Invades the sacred hour of silent rest, And plants, unseen, a dagger in your breast. "Scarce can our fields, such crowds at Tyburn die, With hemp the gallows and the fleet supply. Propose your schemes, ye senatorian band, Whose ways and means support the sinking land; Lest ropes be wanting in the tempting spring, To rig another convoy for the king. "A single jail, in Alfred's golden reign, Could half the nation's criminals contain ; Fair Justice then, without constraint adored, Held high the steady scale, but sheathed the sword; No spies were paid, no special juries known; Bless'd age! but ah! how different from our own! "Much could I add,-but see the boat at hand, The tide retiring, calls me from the land: Farewell!-When youth, and health, and for Where wav'ring man, betray'd by vent'rous pride, To chase the dreary paths, without a guide, How nations sink by darling schemes oppress'd, When vengeance listens to the fool's request. Fate wings with ev'ry wish th' afflictive dart, Each gift of nature and each grace of art: With fatal heat impetuous courage glows, With fatal sweetness elocution flows, Impeachment stops the speaker's powerful breath, And restless fire precipitates on death. But, scarce observed, the knowing and the Fall in the general massacre of gold; For gold his sword the hireling ruffian draws, buys, The dangers gather as the treasures rise. Let history tell where rival kings com. mand, And dubious title shakes the madded land, When statutes glean the refuse of the sword, How much more safe the vassal than the lord; Low skulks the hind beneath the rage of power, And leaves the wealthy traitor in the Tower, Untouch'd his cottage, and his slumbers sound, Though confiscation's vultures hover round. Does envy seize thee? crush th' upbraiding joy, Increase his riches, and his peace destroy. The rustling brake alarms, and quiv'ring shade, Nor light nor darkness bring his pain relief, One shows the plunder, and one hides the thief. Yet still one gen'ral cry the skies assails, And gain and grandeur load the tainted gales; Few know the toiling statesman's fear or care, The insidious rival and the gaping heir. Once more, Democritus, arise on earth, With cheerful wisdom and instructive mirth, See motley life in modern trappings dress'd, And feed with varied fools the eternal jest: Thou who couldst laugh, where want enchain'd caprice, Toil crush'd conceit, and man was of a piece; Where wealth unloved without a mourner died; And scarce a sycophant was fed by pride; Where ne'er was known the form of mock debate, Or seen a new-made mayor's unwieldy state; Where change of fav'rites made no change of laws, And senates heard before they judged a cause; How wouldst thou shake at Britain's modish tribe, Dart the quick taunt, and edge the piercing gibe ! Attentive truth and nature to descry, And pierce each scene with philosophic eye. Such was the scorn that fill'd the sage's Renew'd at ev'ry glance on human kind; gate, Athirst for wealth, and burning to be great; Love ends with hope, the sinking statesman's Pours in the morning worshipper no more; For growing names the weekly scribbler lies, To growing wealth the dedicator flies; From ev'ry room descends the painted face, That hung the bright palladium of the place; And, smoked in kitchens, or in auctions sold, To better features yields the frame of gold; For now no more we trace in ev'ry line Horoic worth, benevolence divine: The form distorted justifies the fall, And detestation rids the indignant wall. But will not Britain hear the last appeal, Sign her foe's doom, or guard her favourite's zeal? Through Freedom's sons no more remon- Degrading nobles and controlling kings; And ask no questions but the price of votes; In full-blown dignity, see Wolsey stand, Through him the rays of regal bounty shine, His smile alone security bestows: [SIXTH PERIOD. Still to new heights his restless wishes tower, Till conquest unresisted ceased to please, Mark the keen glance, and watch the sign to Where'er he turns, he meets a stranger's eye, Now drops at once the pride of awful state, He seeks the refuge of monastic rest. Speak thou whose thoughts at humble Shall Wolsey's wealth with Wolsey's end be Or livest thou now, with safer pride content, Why, but to sink beneath misfortune's blow, What gave great Villiers to the assassin's And fix'd disease on Harley's closing life? By kings protected, and to kings allied? And power too great to keep or to resign? When first the college rolls receive his name, The young enthusiast quits his ease for fame; Resistless burns the fever of renown, gown: O'er Bodley's dome his future labours spread, And Bacon's mansion trembles o'er his head. Are these thy views? Proceed, illustrious And Virtue guard thee to the throne of Yet should thy soul indulge the gen'rous heat Till captive Science yields her last retreat; ray, And pour on misty doubt resistless day; Should Beauty blunt on fops her fatal dart, Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes, And pause awhile from letters to be wise; Nor deem, when Learning her last prize bestows, The glitt'ring eminence exempt from foes; See, when the vulgar 'scapes, despised or awed, Rebellion's vengeful talons seize on Laud. From meaner minds though smaller fines content, The plunder'd palace, or sequester'd rent, Mark'd out by dangerous parts, he meets the shock, And fatal Learning leads him to the block: Around his tomb let Art and Genius weep, But hear his death, ye blockheads, hear and sleep. The festal blazes, the triumphal show, The ravish'd standard, and the captive foe, The senate's thanks, the Gazette's pompous tale, With force resistless o'er the brave prevail. Such bribes the rapid Greek o'er Asia whirl'd, For such the steady Roman shook the world; For such in distant lands the Britons shine, And stain with blood the Danube or the Rhine; This power has praise, that virtue scarce can warm Till fame supplies the universal charm. From age to age in everlasting debt; Wreaths which at last the dear-bought right convey To rust on medals, or on stones decay. On what foundation stands the warrior's pride, How just his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide; A frame of adamant, a son of fire, No dangers fright him, and no labours tire; War sounds the trump, he rushes to the field; Behold surrounding kings their powers com bine, And one capitulate, and one resign; Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain ; "Think nothing gain'd," he cries, "till nought remain, On Moscow's walls till Gothic standards fly, Hide, blushing glory, hide Pultowa's day: He left the name, at which the world grew pale, To point a moral, or adorn a tale. All times their scenes of pompous woes afford, From Persia's tyrant to Bavaria's lord. more; Fresh praise is tried till madness fires his mind, The waves he lashes, and enchains the wind; New powers are claim'd, new powers are still bestow'd, Till rude resistance lops the spreading god; A single skiff to speed his flight remains; Through purple billows and a floating host. The queen, the beauty, sets the world in arms; From hill to hill the beacon's rousing blaze Spreads wide the hope of plunder and of praise; The fierce Croatian, and the wild Hussar, With all the sons of ravage, crowd the war; The baffled prince, in honour's flatt'ring bloom Of hasty greatness, finds the fatal doom: His foes' derision and his subjects' blame, And steals to death from anguish and from shame. "Enlarge my life with multitude of days!" In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays: Hides from himself its state, and shuns to know, That life protracted is protracted woe. In vain their gifts the bounteous seasons pour, The fruit autumnal, and the vernal flower; With listless eyes the dotard views the store, He views, and wonders that they please no more; Now pall the tasteless meats, and joyless wines, And Luxury with sighs her slave resigns. Approach, ye minstrels, try the soothing strain, Diffuse the tuneful lenitives of pain: No sounds, alas! would touch the impervious ear, Though dancing mountains witness'd Orpheus near; Nor lute nor lyre his feeble powers attend, While growing hopes scarce awe the gath'ring sneer, And scarce a legacy can bribe to hear: The watchful guests still hint the last offence; The daughter's petulance, the son's expense, Improve his heady rage with treach'rous skill, And mould his passions till they make his will. Unnumber'd maladies his joints invade, Lay siege to life, and press the dire blockade; But unextinguish'd av'rice still remains, And dreaded losses aggravate his pains; He turns, with anxious heart and crippled hands, His bonds of debt, and mortgages of lands; Or views his coffers with suspicious eyes, Unlocks his gold, and counts it till he dies. But grant, the virtues of a temp rate prime Bless with an age exempt from scorn crime; or An age that melts with unperceived decay, Yet ev'n on this her load Misfortune flings, To press the weary minutes' flagging wings; New sorrow rises as the day returns, away; New forms arise, and different views engage, Superfluous lags the vet'ran on the stage, Till pitying Nature signs the last release, And bids afflicted worth retire to peace. But few there are whom hours like these await, Who set unclouded in the gulfs of Fate. By Solon caution'd to regard his end, And Swift expires a driv'ler and a show. The teeming mother, anxious for her race, Begs for each birth the fortune of a face; Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring; And Sedley cursed the form that pleased a king. Ye nymphs of rosy lips and radiant eyes, Each nymph your rival, and each youth your slave? Against your fame with fondness hate combines, The rival batters, and the lover mines. Tired with contempt, she quits the slipp'ry reign, And Pride and Prudence take her seat in vain. In crowd at once, where none the pass defend, The harmless freedom, and the private friend. The guardians yield, by force superior plied: To Int'rest, Prudence; and to Flatt'ry, Pride. Here beauty falls, betray'd, despised, distress'd, And hissing Infamy proclaims the rest. Where then shall Hope and Fear their objects find? Must dull suspense corrupt the stagnant mind? Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate, No cries invoke the mercies of the skies? |