SECTION III. OF OLD FOOLS-VIZ. THE LONGER THEY LIVE THE MORE THEY ARE GIVEN TO FOLLY. The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. SPITE of the winters thou hast told, Thy frozen blood, thy visage old, Thy reason still is mute: "Tis not the infancy of age That lulls thy sense-'tis still the rage To wear the youthful suit. SOLOMON. Thine hairs of honour turn'd quite gray, Every reader must allow the justice of these remarks of the poet, for even the most casual observer cannot saunter down Bond Street in the fashionable season, without witnessing living objects of this cast, whose gray hairs, Instead of suit demure, I see Thy wither'd frame in foppery I hear no precepts from thy tongue, To gain admittance to thy brain, The wise contemn, the young deride, From sentiment exempt; the insignias of age, and the ensurers of respect, are shaven off; while in their place is substituted a curly boyish wig, accompanied with the extravagant livery of the latest fashion, and gouty feet wedged into thin dress pumps, which, notwithstanding their natty appearance, convince the wearer at every step, by the acuteness of the twinge endured, that the guise of youth does not become him. Yet, all in vain, he bids defiance to advice, nor heeds the poet who exclaims. Sperne voluptates, nocet empta dolore voluptas. D Thy death-bed views thee void of friend, When gone, no tongue laments thine end, L'ENVOY OF THE POET. The hoary head, with wisdom's radiance crown'd, THE POET'S CHORUS TO FOOLS. Come trim the boat, row on each Rara Avis, * It is most assuredly a matter of serious regret, that the vain folly of old persons is far more detrimental to the rising generation than to themselves. With what degree of confidence, let me ask, can the preceptor and instructor produce as an example, such a father to the pupil he is tutoring? If his lessons are correct, they must inevitably hold up the parent in a contemptible and debased point of view; and if, on the other hand, he vindicates the follies of the father, he extends the fostering hand to vice, and thus willingly contaminates the mind which he was imperiously called upon to rear in the paths of science, virtue, and ho nour. A testa bianca spesso cervello manca. SECTION IV. OF OLD FOOLS WHO HANKER AFTER YOUNG WOMEN. Concubitu prohibere vago. HAST thou sixty winters counted, Now by some dark alley‡ waiting, All thy wither'd limbs on fire; + There might be many instances adduced of this propensity still remaining in full force with persons, though not even a stump of the strongest grinder is left in their jaws. Such a deficiency, however, is easily replaced by rows of ivory, which speedily imbibe a deep yellow tinge, a certain index of the raging and unquenchable fire that burns within. The picture here displayed by the poet, cannot be Knees unsteady, legs quite spindle, All thy life one scene of riot, Fancy ever on the rack; Forming plans for which thou'rt thirsting, But on trial prove disgusting, Heaping ennui on thy back. Senseless idiot; driv'ller* tell me, Think'st thou virtue e'er will sell thee more strikingly exemplified than in the first plate of the Harlot's Progress, from the pencil of that inimitable satirist, Hogarth, which displays the arrival of a beautiful country girl in the metropolis, who is supposed to have that moment alighted from the waggon, being accosted by an artful procuress; while in the back ground appears the infamous Colonel Crt-s, her employer, whose age and attitude may serve as a resemblance of our poet's hoary headed debauchee. Nothing affords matter for more melancholy reflection, than to witness this dotage in men who, during the vigour of manhood, ennobled themselves; a striking instance of which is recorded in the person of the renowned Ed |