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In those curs'd walls, devote to vice and gain,
Since unrewarded science toils in vain;

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Since hope but soothes to double my distress,
And every moment leaves my little less;
While yet my steady steps no staff sustains,
And life still vig'rous revels in my veins;
Grant me, kind Heaven, to find some happier place,
Where honesty and sense are no disgrace;
Some pleasing bank where verdant osiers play,
Some peaceful vale with Nature's paintings gay;
Where once the harass'd Briton found repose,
And safe in poverty defy'd his foes;

Some secret cell, ye Powr's, indulgent give,
live here, for has learn'd to live.

• Let
Here let those reign, whom pensions can incite
To vote a patriot black, a courtier white;
Explain their country's dear-bought rights away.
And plead for pirates in the face of day;
With slavish tenets taint our poison'd youth,
And lend a lie the confidence of truth.

7 Let such raise palaces, and manors buy, Collect a tax, or farm a lottery;

With warbling eunuchs fill our † silenc'd stage, And lull to servitude a thoughtless age.

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et pedibus me

Porto meis, nullo dextram subeunte bacillo.

6 Cedamus patriâ: vivant Arturius istic

Et Catullus: maneant qui nigra in candida vertunt.
7 Queis facile est ædem conducere, flumina, portus,]
Siccandam eluviem, portandum ad busta cadaver.-
Munera nunc edunt.

* The invasions of the Spaniards were defended in the houses of parliament.

The licensing act was then lately made,

Heroes, proceed! what bounds your pride shall

hold?

What check restrain your thirst of pow'r and gold? Behold rebellious virtue quite o'erthrown,

Behold our fame, our wealth, our lives, your own.
To such, the plunder of a land is giv'n,

When public crimes inflame the wrath of Heav'n:
8 But what, my friend, what hope remains for me,
Who start at theft, and blush at perjury?
Who scarce forbear, tho' BRITAIN'S court he sing,
To pluck a titled poet's borrow'd wing;
A statesman's logick unconvinc'd can hear,
And dare to slumber o'er the * Gazetteer;
Despise a fool in half his pension dress'd,
And strive in vain to laugh at Clodio's jest.
9 Others with softer smiles, and subtler art,
Can sap the principles, or taint the heart;
With more address a lover's note convey,
Or bribe a virgin's innocence away.

Well may they rise, while I, whose rustick tongne
Ne'er knew to puzzle right, or varnish wrong,
Spurn'd as a beggar, dreaded as a spy,
Live unregarded, unlamented die.

10 For what but social guilt the friend endears? Who shares Orgilio's crimes, his fortune shares.

Quid Romæ faciam ? mentiri nescio: librum,

Si malus est, nequeo laudare & poscere.

9 Ferre ad nuptam quæ mittit adulter, Quæ mandat norint alii; me nemo ministro Fur erit, atque ideo nulli comes exeo.

10 Quis nunc diligitur nisi conscius?.

Carus erit Verri, qui Verrem tempore, quo vult,
Accusare potest.-

* The paper which at that time contained apologies for the court.

"But thou, should tempting villainy present All Marlb'rough hoarded, or all Villiers spent, Turn from the glitt'ring bribe the scornful eye, Nor sell for gold, what gold could never buy, The peaceful slumber, self-approving day, Unsullied fame, and conscience ever gay.

12 The cheated nation's happy fav'rites, see! Mark whom the great caress, who frown on me! LONDON! the needy villain's gen❜ral home, The common-sewer of Paris and of Rome; With eager thirst, by folly or by fate, Sucks in the dregs of each corrupted state. Forgive my transports on a theme like this, 13 I cannot bear a French metropolis.

14 Illustrious EDWARD! from the realms of day, The land of heroes and of saints survey; Nor hope the British lineaments to trace, The rustick grandeur, or the surly grace; But, lost in thoughtless ease and empty show, Behold the warrior dwindled to a beau; Sense, freedom, piety, refin'd away,

Of France the mimick, and of Spain the prey. All that at home no more can beg or steal, Or like a gibbet better than a wheel;

Tanti tibi non sit opaci

Omnis arena Tagi, quodque in mare volvitur aurum,
Ut somno careas,

12 Quæ nunc divitibus gens acceptissima nostris, Et quos præcipue fugiam, properabo fateri.

13

Non possum ferre, Quirites,

Græcam urbem.

14 Rusticus ille tuus sumit trechedipna, Quirine, Et ceromatico fert niceteria collo.

Hiss'd from the stage, or hooted from the court, Their air, their dress, their politicks, import; "Obsequious, artful, voluble, and gay, On Britain's fond credulity they prey. No gainful trade their industry can 'scape, 16 They sing, they dance, clean shoes, or cure aclap: All sciences a fasting Monsieur knows,

And, bid him go to hell, to hell he

goes. "Ah! what avails it, that, from slavery far, I drew the breath of life in English air; Was early taught a Briton's right to prize, And lisp the tale of HENRY's victories; If the gull'd conqueror receives the chain, And flattery prevails when arms are vain ?

18 Studious to please, and ready to submit, The supple Gaul was born a parasite : Still to his int'rest true, where'er he goes, Wit, brav'ry, worth, his lavish tongue bestows; In ev'ry face a thousand graces shine, From ev'ry tongue flows harmony divine. 19 These arts in vain our rugged natives try, Strain out with fault'ring diffidence a lie, And get a kick for aukward flattery.

15 Ingenium velox, audacia perdita, sermo Promptus.

}

16 Augur, schoenobates, medicus, magus: omnia novit, Græculus esuriens, in cœlum, jusseris, ibit.

17 Usque adeo nihil est, quod nostra infantia cœlum Hausit Aventini?

48 Quid? quod adulandi gens prudentissima, laudat Sermonem indocti faciem deformis amici?

19 Hæc eadem licet & nobis laudare: sed illis Creditur.

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Besides, with justice, this discerning age Admires their wond'rous talents for the stage: 10 Well may they venture on the mimick's art, Who play from morn to night a borrow'd part; Practis'd their master's notions to embrace, Repeat his maxims, and reflect his face ; With ev'ry wild absurdity comply, And view each object with another's eye; To shake with laughter ere the jest they hear, To pour at will the counterfeited tear; And, as their patron hints the cold or heat, To shake in dog-days, in December sweat.

21 How, when competitors like these contend, Can surly virtue hope to fix a friend? Slaves that with serious impudence beguile, And lie without a blush, without a smile ; Exalt each trifle, ev'ry vice adore,

Your taste in snuff, your judgment in a whore; Can Balbo's eloquence applaud, and swear

He

gropes his breeches with a monarch's air. For arts like these preferr'd, admir'd, caress'd, They first invade your table, then your breast; Explore your secrets with insidious art,

22

Watch the weak hour, and ransack all the heart; Then soon your ill-plac'd confidence repay, Commence your lords, and govern or betray.

20 Natio comoda est. Rides? majore cachinno Concutitur, &c.

2: Non sumus ergo pares: melior, qui semper & omni Nocte dieque potest alienum sumere vultum.

A facie jactare manus: laudare paratus,

Si bene ructavit, si rectum minxit amicus.

22 Scire volunt secreta domus, atque inde timeri.

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