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L'ENVOY OF THE POET.

Gold, that by any unjust means is urn'd,
Although punition's lash the sin escape,
Is but against its foul possessor turn'd,
Debauching honesty in syren's shape.

THE POET'S CHORUS TO FOOLS.

Come, trim the boat, row on each Rara Avis, Crowds flock to man my Stultifera Navis.

SECTION XII.

OF FOOLS WHO MASQUERADE AT MIDNIGHT.

You must forget to be a woman; change
Command into obedience; fear, and niceness,
(The handmaids of all women, or, more truly,
Woman its pretty self,) to a waggish courage;
Ready in gibes, quick-answer'd, saucy, and
As quarrellous as the weazel: nay, you must
Forget that rarest treasure of your cheek,
Exposing it (but Oh, the harder heart!
Alack, no remedy) to the greedy touch
Of common kissing Titan; and forget
Your laboursome and dainty trims, wherein
You made great Juno angry.

THOUGH fool thyself, thou canst not rest con

tent,

But, clad in borrow'd guise, thou shows't

another;

And to thy zany's wit giv'st twofold vent,

By aping apes, thyself an apish brother.

To midnight revel,* clad in tawdry guise,

Thy cap and ladle thou art fond of bringing: Purblind thyself, thou think'st not other's eyes Thine antics view, as thou thy bells art ringing.

As when the wanton oaf, bereft of sense,

And void of dress, kept shamelessly advancing;

* There is no amusement in this country which has been productive of such ill effects as masquerades, where all distinction of persons is at an end: and where the coarse ribaldry, not to say obscenity, of the illiterate, the vulgar, and the abandoned, is incessantly heard, calling forth-the blush from delicacy and feeling. It is at this scene of disgusting folly, that the insidious seducer has so frequently put into practice his infamous purposes against unsuspecting innocence, or destroyed the peace of an affectionate husband, by effecting his guilty purposes with the mother of a family; and it is during the riot and confusion attendant on this species of amusement, as it is termed, that the fortune hunter has carried off in triumph the giddy school girl who little dreamt that her money was his sole object; and that she was soon to end the wished-for career of matrimony with a broken heart. In short, masquerades in England are of so despicable a cast, that no woman who is de

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Nor thought that others mark'd his impudence, Since 'neath a net the naked fool was dancing.

Or, as the story goes, yclep'd We Three,

'Neath brace of loggerheads on sign appear

ing:

Thou gaping read'st then cry'st," But two I see;"

Thyself the third art—at thyself thus jeering.

Disdaining rest, soft balm of human life,

The jocund morn peeps in upon thy folly; Views thee oppress'd with drunkards'* dreams

of strife;

And sees thee rise at eve quite melancholy,

sirous of being regarded as modest, should frequent a scene that can only disgust the eye and offend the ear.

Inebriety is not merely observable in the male part of creation, but even females too shamelessly indulge at masquerades in this abominable vice: for the writer has to notice with pain, that instances have frequently occurred within his knowledge of women, who, in that degrading state, have been guilty of the most beastial conduct; and has literally observed that two thirds of the females present, whether pure or impure, have, by their conduct, sufficiently indicated the deranged state of their intellects; and on these accounts

L'ENVOY OF THE POET.

If mask'd, thou need'st must be my counsel, hear;

Thy brother's antics henceforth leave alone; 'Neath Wisdom's Visor hide thine ass's ear; Then cast at other fools the chiding stone.

THE POET'S CHORUS TO FOOLS.

Come, trim the boat, row on each Rara Avis,
Crowds flock to man my Stultifera Navis..

it has been very justly remarked by foreigners, that masquerades in England "begin stupidly, proceed riotously, and terminate drunkenly." In France, Italy, &c. this amusement is managed otherwise: no inebriety disgraces either and instead of men placing dependence on dress alone for the support of a character, which is uniformly the case in this country, you never find a foreigner who is not in a great measure calculated to sustain, with wit and humour, the part which he has undertaken to personate.

sex;

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