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, "And all be mine beneath the polar fky."

The march begins in military state,

And nations on his eye fufpended wait;
Stern Famine guards the folitary coaft,
And Winter barricades the realms of Froft;

He comes, not want and cold his course delay ;-
Hide, blushing Glory, hide Pultowa's day:
The vanquish'd hero leaves his broken bands,
And fhews his miseries in diftant lands;
Condemn'd a needy fupplicant to wait;
While ladies interpofe, and flaves debate.
But did not Chance at length her error mend?
Did no fubverted empire mark his end?
Did rival monarchs give the fatal wound?
Or hoftile millions prefs him to the ground?
His fall was deftin'd to a barren ftrand,
A petty fortrefs, and a dubious hand;

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 Perfia's tyrant, to Bavaria's lord.

In gay hoftility, and barb'rous pride,
With half mankind embattled at his fide,

Ver. 168

187.

Great

Great Xerxes comes to feize the certain
prey,
And starves exhaufted regions in his way;
Attendant Flatt'ry counts his myriads o'er,
Till counted myriads footh his pride no more;
Fresh praise is try'd till madness fires his mind,
The waves he lashes, and enchains the wind;
New pow'rs are claim'd, new pow'rs are still beftow'd,"
Till rude refiftance lops the fpreading god;
The daring Greeks deride the martial show,

And heap their vallies with the gaudy foe;
Th' infulted fea with humbler thoughts he gains,
A fingle skiff to speed his flight remains ;

Th' incumber'd oar fcarce leaves the dreaded coaft
Through purple billows and a floating host.
The bold Bavarian, in a luckless hour,
Tries the dread fummits of Cæfarean pow'r,
With unexpected legions burfts away,

And fees defencelefs realms receive his sway;
Short fway! fair Auftria spreads her mournful charms,
The queen, the beauty, fets the world in arms;
From hill to hill the beacons roufing blaze
Spreads wide the hope of plunder and of praise;
The fierce Croatian, and the wild Huffar,
And all the fons of ravage crowd the war;
The baffled prince in honour's flatt'ring bloom
Of hafty greatnefs finds the fatal doom,
His foes derifion, and his fubjects blame,
And steals to death from anguish and from shame.

Enlarge

Enlarge my life with multitude of days,
In health, in ficknefs, thus the fuppliant prays;
Hides from himself his ftate, and shuns to know,

That life protracted, is protracted woe.
Time hovers o'er, impatient to destroy,

And shuts up all the paffages of joy:

In vain their gifts the bounteous feasons pour,
The fruit autumnal, and the vernal flow'r,
With liftlefs
eyes the dotard views the store,
He views, and wonders that they please no more;
Now pall the tastelefs meats, and joyless wines,
And Luxury with fighs her slave refigns.
Approach, ye minstrels, try the foothing ftrain,
And yield the tuneful lenitives of pain :

No founds, alas, would touch th' impervious ear,
Though dancing mountains witnefs'd Orpheus near;
Nor lute nor lyre his feeble pow'r attend,
Nor fweeter mufick of a virtuous friend,
But everlasting dictates crowd his tongue,
Perversely grave or pofitively wrong.
The still returning tale, and ling'ring jeft,
Perplex the fawning niece and pamper'd guest,
While growing hopes fcarce awe the gath'ring fneer,
And scarce a legacy can bribe to hear;

The watchful guests ftill hint the last offence,

The daughter's petulance, the fon's expence,

*Ver. 188.

-288.

Improve

Improve his heady rage with treach'rous skill,
And mould his paffions till they make his will
Unnumber'd maladies his joints invade,
Lay fiege to life, and prefs the dire blockade;
But unextinguifh'd Av'rice ftill remains,
And dreaded loffes aggravate his pains;

He turns, with anxious heart and crippled hands,
His bonds of debt, and mortgages of lands;
Or views his coffers with fufpicious 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 or crime;
An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay,
And glides in modeft innocence away;
Whofe peaceful day Benevolence endears,
Whofe night congratulating Confcience cheers;
The genʼral fav'rite as the gen'ral friend:
Such age there is, and who could wish its end?
Yet ev'n on this her load Misfortune flings,
To prefs the weary minutes flagging wings;
New forrow rifes as the day returns,
A fifter fickens, or a daughter mourns.
Now kindred Merit fills the fable bier,
Now lacerated Friendship claims a tear.
Year chafes year, decay purfues decay,
Still drops fome joy from with'ring life away;
New forms arife, and diff'rent views engage,
Superfluous lags the vet'ran on the stage,

Till pitying Nature figns the laft release,
And bids afflicted worth retire to peace.

But few there are whom hours like these await,
Who fet unclouded in the gulphs of Fate.
From Lydia's monarch should the search defcend,
By Solon caution'd to regard his end;

In life's laft fcene what prodigies furprise,
Fears of the brave, and follies of the wife?
From Marlb'rough's eyes the ftreams of dotage flow,
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 fpring;
And Sedley curs'd the form that pleas'd a king.
Ye nymphs of rofy lips and radiant eyes,
Whom Pleafure keeps too busy to be wife,
Whom joys with foft varieties invite,

By day the frolick, and the dance by night,
Who frown with vanity, who fmile with art,
And ask the latest fashion of the heart,

What care, what rules your heedlefs charms fhall fave,
Each nymph your rival, and each youth your flave?
Against your fame with fondnefs hate combines,
The rival batters, and the lover mines.
With diftant voice neglected Virtue calls,
Lefs heard and lefs, the faint remonftrance falls ;

* Ver. 289345.

Tir'd