Childhood and youth engage my pen; "Tis labour loft to talk to men. Youth may, perhaps, reform when wrong; Age will not listen to my fong. He who at fifty is a fool, Is far too ftubborn grown for school. What is that vice which still prevails, When almost every paffion fails: Which with our very dawn begun, Nor ends, but with our setting fun : Which, like a noxious weed, can spoil The fairest flow'rs, and choak the foil? "Tis SLANDER.-And, with fhame I own, The vice of human-kind alone. Be SLANDER then my leading dream, The The bird, in peacock's plumes who shone, The filly theft betray'd her pride, Th' infidious fland'ring thief is worse Ah! guiltless wretch who fteals for bread! No gold to glut th' infatiate knave! Improve the hint of Shakespear's tongue, 'Twas thus immortal Shakespear fung*. * Othello. A 2 And And trust the Bard's unerring rule, As I was nodding in my chair, I faw a rueful wild appear: The dreary profpect fpread around! Deep fnow had whiten'd all the ground! A bleak and barren mountain nigh, Expos'd to every friendless íky! Here foul-mouth'd SLANDER lay reclin'd, Her fnaky treffes hifs'd behind : *A bloated toad-ftool rais'd her head ; "The plumes of ravens were her bed : "She fed upon the viper's brood, "And flak'd her impious thirft with blood." The rifing fun and western ray Were witness to her diftant fway. * Garth's Dispensary. The The tyrant claim'd a mightier host,' No plea diverts the Fury's rage; The Fury fpares nor fex nor age. Ev'n merit, with deftructive charms, Provokes the vengeance of her arms. Whene'er the tyrant founds to war, Her canker'd trump is heard afar. PRIDE, with a heart unknown to yield, Commands in chief, and guides the field. + XERXES king of Perfia and fon of Darius. He invaded Greece with an army confifting of more than a million of men (fome fay more than two millions) who, together with their cattle, perifh'd in great meafure through the inability of the countries to fupply fuch a vast hoft with provision. He stalks with vaft gigantic ftride, And fcatters fear and ruin wide. REVENGE, that bafe* Hefperian, known A chief support of SLANDER's throne, Amidst the bloody croud is seen, And Treachery brooding in his mien ; ENVY commands a fecret band, With fword and poifon in her hand. Around her haggard eye-balls roll; A thousand fiends poffefs her foul. * Hefperia includes Italy, as well as Spain, and the inhabitants of both are remarkable for their revengeful difpofition. The |