“Si quid habent veri vatum præfagia, vivam.”

To the Right Honourable THOMAS Earl of OSSORY, Baron of Moor Park, Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter, &c.

T

MY LORD,

HOUGH never any man had more need of excuse for a prefumption of this nature than I have now; yet, when I have laid out every way to find one, your lordship's goodness must be my best refuge: and therefore I humbly caft this at your feet for protection, and myfelf for pardon.

My Lord, I have great need of protection; for to the best of my heart I have here published in fome measure the truth, and I would have it thought honestly too (a practice never more out of countenance than now): yet truth and honour are things which your lordfhip must needs be kind to, because they are relations to your nature, and never left you.

'Twould

'Twould be a fecond prefumption in me to pretend in this a panegyric on your lordship; for it would require more art to do your virtue juftice, than to flatter any other man.

If I have ventured at a hint of the prefent fufferings of that great prince mentioned in the latter end of this paper, with favour from your lordship I hope to add a fecond part, and do all thofe great and good men juftice, that have in his calamities ftuck faft to fo gallant a friend and fo good a mafter. To write and finish which great fubject faithfully, and to be honoured with your lordship's patronage in what I may do, and your approbation, or at least pardon, in what I have done, will be the greatcft pride of,

My Lord,

Your most humble admirer and fervant,

O D

THOMAS OTWAY.

E.

'O a high hill where never yet ftood tree,

T%

Where only heath, coarfe fern, and furzes grow,

Where (nipt by piercing air)

The flocks in tatter'd fleeces hardly gaze,

Led by uncouth thoughts and care,

Which did too much his penfive mind amaze, A wandering bard, whose Muse was crazy grown, Cloy'd with the naufeous follies of the buzzing town, Came, look'd about him, figh'd, and laid him down;

Twas

'Twas far from any path, but where the earth
Was bare, and naked all as at her birth,

When by the word it first was made,
Ere God had said,

Let grafs and herbs and every green thing grow, With fruitful trees after their kind, and it was fo. The whistling winds blew fiercely round his head, Cold was his lodging, hard his bed;

Aloft his eyes on the wide heavens he caft,
Where we are told Peace only 's found at last :
And as he did its hopeless distance see,

Sigh'd deep, and cry'd, How far is Peace from me!

II.

Nor ended there his moan:

The distance of his future joy

Had been enough to give him pain alone;
But who can undergo

Defpair of eafe to come, with weight of prefent woe?
Down his afflicted face

The trickling tears had ftream'd so fast a pace,
As left a path worn by their briny race.

Swoln was his breast with sighs, his well-
proportion'd limbs as ufelefs fell,

Whilft the poor trunk (unable to fustain
Itfelf) lay rackt, and shaking with its pain.
I heard his groans as I was walking by,
And (urg'd by pity) went aside, to fee

What the fad caufe could be

Had prefs'd his ftate fo low, and rais'd his plaints so high.

On

On me he fixt his eyes. I crav'd, Why fo forlorn? he vainly rav'd. Peace to his mind I did commend : But, oh! my words were hardly at an end,

When I perceiv'd it was my friend,
My much-lov'd friend; fo down I fat,
And begg'd that I might share his fate:

I laid my cheek to his, when with a gale
Of fighs he eas'd his breast, and thus began his tale:

III.

I am a wretch of honeft race;

My parents not obscure, nor high in titles were,
They left me heir to no difgrace.

My father was (a thing now rare)

Loyal and brave, my mother chaste and fair : The pledge of marriage-vows was only I; Alone I liv'd their much-lov'd fondled boy : They gave me generous education, high

They strove to raise my mind, and with it grew their joy.
The fages that inftructed me in arts,

And knowledge, oft would praise my parts,
And chear my parents longing hearts.

When I was call'd to a dispute,

My fellow-pupils oft stood mute;
Yet never Envy did disjoin

Their hearts from me, nor Pride diftemper mine.

Thus my firft years in happiness I past,

Nor any

bitter cup did tafte:

But, oh! a deadly potion came at last.

}

As

As I lay loosely on my bed,

A thousand pleasant thoughts triumphing in my head, And as my fenfe on the rich banquet fed,

A voica (it feem'd no more, fo bufy I

Was with myself, I faw not who was nigh)

Pierc'd through my cars; Arife, thy good Senander's dead. It shook my brain, and from their feast my frighted fenfes fled.

IV.

From thence fad difcontent, uneasy fears,
And anxious doubts of what I had to do,
Grew with fucceeding years.

The world was wide, but whither should I go?
I, whose blooming hopes all wither'd were,
Who 'd little fortune, and a deal of care?
To Britain's great metropolis I ftray'd,

Where Fortune's general game is play'd;

Where honesty and wit are often prais'd,
But fools and knaves are fortunate and rais'd;
My forward spirit prompted me to find

A converfe equal to my mind:

But by raw judgment easily misled,

(As giddy callow boys

Are very fond of toys)

I mifs'd the brave and wife, and in their stead
On every fort of vanity I fed.

Gay coxcombs, cowards, knaves, and prating fools,
Bullies of o'er-grown bulks and little fouls,
Gamesters, half-wits, and spendthrifts (such as think
Mischievous midnight frolics, bred by drink

Are