OF GOLDSMIT

THE LOGICIANS REFUTED.

IN IMITATION OF DEAN SWIFT.

LOGICIANS have but ill defin'd
As rational the human mind;
Reason, they say, belongs to man,
But let them prove it if they can.
Wise Aristotle and Smiglesius,
By ratiocinations specious,

Have strove to prove with great precision,
With definition and division,
Homo est ratione preditum ;

But for my soul I cannot credit 'em.
And must in spite of them maintain,
That man and all his ways are vain;
And that this boasted lord of nature
Is both a weak and erring creature.
That instinct is a surer guide

C'er plains they ramble No politics disturb their They eat their meals, an Nor know who's in or o They never to the levee To treat as dearest frien They never importune Nor ever cringe to men Nor undertake a dirty Nor draw the quill to Fraught with invective

Than reason, boasting mortals' pride;
And that brute beasts are far before 'em,
Deus est anima brutorum.

Who ever knew an honest brute
At law his neighbour prosecute,
Bring action for assault and battery,
Or friend beguile with lies and flattery?

To folks at Paternoste No judges, fiddlers, d No pickpockets, or p Are known to honest No single brute his f Brutes never meet in

Nor

cut each others'
Of beasts, it is conf
Comes nearest us in
Like man he imitat
And malice is his r
But both in malice

A courtier any ape
Behold him humb
Upon the minister

View him soon af
Aping the condu

1 Sir R

OF GOLDSMITH.

He promises with equal air,
And to perform takes equal care.
He in his turn finds imitators;
At court, the porters, lacqueys, waiters,
Their masters' manners still contract,
And footmen lords and dukes can act.
Thus at the court both great and small
Behave alike, for all ape all.

BY LIGHTNING.

IMITATED FROM THE SPANISH.1

SURE 'twas by providence design'd,
Rather in pity than in hate,
That he should be, like Cupid, blind,
To save him from Narcissus' fate.

1 See The Bee, p. 8, ed. 1759.

sense, and nat reading, I forget what hapter out of Took's I think I met with somet

my purpose to a
let us not proceed to
First please to turn to g
'll find him pictur'd
book the second, pa
The stress of all my pr
And now

proceed we t

Imprimis, pray obs

Wings upon

either si

Well! what is it from Why these denote a

Printed among t

A brain of teather! very right,
With wit that's flighty, learning light;
Such as to modern bards decreed;
A just comparison,―proceed.

In the next place, his feet peruse, Wings grow again from both his shoes; Design'd, no doubt, their part to bear, And waft his godship through the air: And here my simile unites, For in the modern poet's flights, I'm sure it may be justly said, His feet are useful as his head.

Lastly, vouchsafe t' observe his hand,
Fill'd with a snake-encircled wand;
By classic authors term'd caduceus,
And highly fam'd for several uses.
To wit-most wondrously endued,
No poppy water half so good;
For let folks only get a touch,
Its soporific virtue's such,

Though ne'er so much awake before,
That quickly they begin to snore.
Add too, what certain writers tell,
With this he drives men's souls to heli.

Now to apply, begin we then; His wand's a modern author's pen; The serpents round about it twin'd