Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

And they alone, who in themselves oft view
Man's image, know what method to pursue.
All other creatures keep in beaten ways,
Man only moves in an eternal maze:
He lives and dies, not tam'd by cultivation,
The wretch of reason, and the dupe of paffion;
Curious of knowing, yet too proud to learn ;
More prone to doubt, than anxious to discern:
Tir'd with old doctrines, prejudic'd at new;
Miftaking ftill the pleasing for the true;
Foe to restraints approv'd by gen❜ral voice,
Yet to each fool-born mode a slave by choice :
Of reft impatient, yet in love with ease;
When moft good-natur'd, aiming how to teaze :
Difdaining by the vulgar to be aw'd,

Yet never pleas'd but when the fools applaud :
By turns fevere, indulgent, humble, vain ;
A trifle ferves to lose him or to gain.

Then grant this trifle, yet his vices fhun,
Not like to CATO or to a CLINIAS' fon:
This for each humour every shape could take,
Ev'n virtue's own, tho' not for virtue's fake ;
At Athens rakifh, thoughtless, full of fire,
Severe at Sparta, as a Chartreux fryar;

In Thrace, a bully, drunken, rash, and rude;
In Afia gay, effeminate and lewd;

VOL. I.

a

Alcibiades.

U

While

While the rough Roman, virtue's rigid friend,
Cou'd not to fave the cause he dy'd for bend:
In him 'twas scarce an honour to bê good,
He more indulg'd a paffion than fubdu'd.
See how the skilful lover spreads his toils,
When eager in pursuit of beauty's spoils !
Behold him bending at his idol's feet;
Humble, not mean; difputing, and yet fweet;
In rivalihip not fierce, nor yet unmov'd;
Without a rival ftudious to be lov'd;
For ever fearful, tho' not always witty,
And never giving caufe for hate or pity:
These are his arts, fuch arts as must prevail,
When riches, birth, and beauty's felf will fail:
And what he does to gain a vulgar end,

Shall we neglect, to make mankind our friend?

Good fenfe and learning may esteem obtain ;
Humour and wit a laugh, if rightly ta'en:
Fair virtue admiration may impart ;
But 'tis good-nature only wins the heart:
It molds the body to an easy grace,
And brightens every feature of the face:
It fmooths th' unpolifh'd tongue with eloquence,
And adds perfuafion to the fineft fenfe.

Yet this, like every difpofition, has

Fixt bounds, o'er which it never ought to pass;
When ftretch'd too far, its honour dies away,

Its merit finks, and all its charms decay;

2

Among

Among the good it meets with no applause,
And to its ruin the malicious draws,
A flave to all, who force it, or entice,
It falls by chance in virtue or in vice,
'Tis true, in pity for the poor it bleeds,
It cloaths the naked, and the hungry feeds;
It cheers the ftranger, nay its foes defends,
But then as oft it injures its best friends.

Study with care Politeness, that must teach
The modifh forms of gefture and of speech:
In vain Formality, with matron mien,
And Pertness apes her with familiar grin :
They against nature for applauses strain,
Distort themselves, and give all others pain:
She moves with easy, tho' with measur❜d pace,
And fhews no part of study, but the grace.
Yet ev❜n by this man is but half refin'd,
Unless philofophy fubdues the mind :
"Tis but a varnish that is quickly toft,
Whene'er the foul in paffion's sea is loft.

Wou'd you both please and be inftructed too,
Watch well the rage of fhining to fubdue;
Hear every man upon his fav'rite theme,
And ever be more knowing than you feem.
The loweft genius will afford fome light,
Or give a hint that had escap'd your fight.
Doubt, till he thinks you on conviction yield,
And with fit queftions let each pause be fill'd:

[blocks in formation]

And the most knowing will with pleasure grant,
You're rather much referv'd, than ignorant.

The rays of wit gild wherefoe'er they strike,
But are not therefore fit for all alike;

They charm the lively, but the grave offend,
And raise a foe as often as a friend;

Like the refiftless beams of blazing light,
That cheer the strong, and pain the weakly fight.
If a bright fancy therefore be your share,
Let judgment watch it with a guardian's care;
'Tis like a torrent apt to overflow,
Unless by conftant government kept low;
And ne'er inefficacious paffes by,

But overturns or gladens all that's nigh.

Or elfe, like trees, when fuffer'd wild to shoot,
That put forth much, but all unripen'd fruit;
It turns to affectation and grimace,

As like to wit, as dullness is to grace.

How hard foe'er it be to bridle wit,
Yet mem❜ry oft no lefs requires the bit:
How many, hurried by its force away,
For ever in the land of goffips ftray?
Ufurp the province of the nurfe to lull,
Without her privilege for being dull ?
Tales upon tales they raise ten ftories high,
Without regard to use or fymmetry:

So R, till his deftin'd space is fill'd,

Heaps bricks on bricks, and fancies 'tis to build.

A ftory

A story should, to please, at least seem true,
Be à propos, well told, concife, and new:
And whenfoe'er it deviates from these rules,
The wife will sleep, and leave applause to fools.
But others, more intolerable yet,

The waggeries, that they've faid, or heard, repeat;
Heavy by mem'ry made, and what's the worst,
At fecond-hand, as often as at first.

And can even patience hear, without disdain,
The maiming register of sense once slain ?
While the dull features, big with archness, strive
In vain, the forc'd half-fmile to keep alive.

Some know no joy like what a word can raise,
Haul'd thro' a language's perplexing maze;
Till on a mate, that feems t'agree, they light,
Like man and wife, that ftill are oppofite;
Not lawyers at the bar play more with sense,
When brought to the laft trope of eloquence,
Than they on ev'ry fubject, great or small,
At clubs, or councils, at a church, or ball;
Then cry we rob them of their tributes due:
Alas! how can we laugh and pity too?

While others to extremes as wild will run,
And with four face anatomize a pun :
When the brisk glafs to freedom does intice,
And rigid wisdom is a kind of vice.

But let not fuch grave fops your laughter spoil;
Ne'er frown where fenfe may innocently fmile.

[blocks in formation]
« ПредишнаНапред »