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Maximus in vinclis ferri modus: ut timeas ne
Vomer deficiat, ne marræ et farcula defint.

Felices

proavorum atavos, felicia dicas

Secula, quæ quondam fub regibus atque tribunis
Viderunt uno contentam carcere Romam.

His alias poteram, & plures fubnectere caufas;
Sed jumenta vocant.

-Ergo vale noftri memor: & quoties te

Roma tuo refici properantem reddet Aquino,

Me quoque ad Eleufinam Cererem, veftramque
Dianam

Convelle a Cumis: fatirarum ergo, ni pudet illas
Adjutor gelidos veniam caligatus in agros.

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Invades the facred hour of filent reft,

And plants, unfeen, a dagger in your breast.
Scarce can our fields, fuch crowds at Tyburn die,
With hemp the gallows and the fleet supply.
Propose your schemes, ye fenatorian band,
Whose ways and means fupport the finking land;
Left ropes be wanting in the tempting spring,
To rig another convoy for the k-g.

A fingle jail, in ALFRED's golden reign,
Could half the nation's criminals contain;
Fair Juftice then, without conftraint ador'd,
Held high the steady scale, but deep'd the fword;
No fpies were paid, no special juries known ;
Bleft age! but ah! how diff'rent from our own!
Much could I add, but fee the boat at hand,
The tide retiring, calls me from the land: [fpent,
Farewel!-When youth, and health, and fortune.
Thou fly'ft for refuge to the wilds of Kent;
And tir'd like me with follies and with crimes,
In angry numbers warn'ft fucceeding times;
Then fhall thy friend, nor thou refuse his aid,
Still foe to vice, forfake his Cambrian shade;
In virtue's cause once more exert his rage,
Thy fatire point, and animate thy page.

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THE

VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES.

IN IMITATION OF THE

TENTH SATIRE OF JUVENAL.

LET* obfervation with extensive view,

Survey mankind, from China to Peru;
Remark each anxious toil, each eager ftrife,
And watch the busy scenes of crowded life;
Then fay how hope and fear, defire and hate,
O'erfpread with fnarés the clouded maze of fate,
Where wav'ring man, betray'd by vent'rous pride,
To tread the dreary paths without a guide;
As treach'rous phantoms in the mist delude,
Shuns fancied ills, or chafes airy good.

How rarely reason guides the stubborn choice,

Rules the bold hand, or prompts the fuppliant voice;

How nations fink, by darling schemes opprefs'd,
When vengeance liftens to the fool's request.
Fate wings with ev'ry wish th' afflictive dart,
Each gift of nature, and each grace of art;

* Ver. 1 11.

With fatal heat impetuous courage glows,
With fatal fweetness elocution flows;
Impeachment stops the speaker's pow'rful breath,
And restlefs fire precipitates on death.

* But scarce obferv'd, the knowing and the bold Fall in the gen'ral maffacre of gold;

Wide-wafting peft! that rages unconfin'd,

And crowds with crimes the records of mankind;
For gold his fword the hireling ruffian draws,
For gold the hireling judge diftorts the laws;
Wealth heap'd on wealth, nor truth nor fafety buys,
The dangers gather as the treasures rife.

Let hift'ry tell where rival kings command,
And dubious title fhakes the madded land,
When statutes glean the refuse of the fword,
How much more fafe the vaffal than the lord;
Low fculks the hind beneath the rage of pow'r,
And leaves the wealthy traitor in the Tow'r,
Untouch'd his cottage, and his flumbers found,
Tho' confifcation's vultures hover round.

The needy traveller, ferene and gay,

Walks the wild heath, and fings his toil away.
Does envy feize thee? crush th' upbraiding joy,
Increase his riches, and his peace destroy ;
New fears in dire viciffitude invade,

The rustling brake alarms, and quiv'ring fhade;

* Ver. 12

22.

C 4

Nor

Nor light nor darkness bring his pain relief,
One fhews the plunder, and one hides the thief.

Yet * ftill one gen'ral cry the skies affails,

And gain and grandeur load the tainted gales;
Few know the toiling statesman's fear or care,
Th' infidious rival and the gaping heir.

Once † more, Democritus, arife on earth,
With cheerful wifdom and inftructive mirth,
See motley life in modern trappings drefs'd,
And feed with varied fools th' eternal jest:
Thou who couldft laugh where want enchain'd caprice,
Toil crush'd conceit, and man was of a piece;
Where wealth unlov'd without a mourner dy'd;
And scarce a fycophant was fed by pride;
Where ne'er was known the form of mock debate,
Or feen a new-made mayor's unwieldly state;
Where change of fav'rites made no change of laws,
And fenates heard before they judg'd a caufe;
How wouldst thou shake at Britain's modish tribe,
Dart the quick taunt, and edge the piercing gibe?
Attentive truth and nature to decry,

And pierce each scene with philofophic eye.
To thee were folemn toys or empty fhow,
The robes of pleasure and the veils of woe:
All aid the farce, and all thy mirth maintain,
Whofe joys are caufelefs, or whofe griefs are vain.

Ver. 23- -27.

+ Ver. 28. 55.

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