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Give ear, ambitious Princes, and be wife;
Liften, and learn wherein true greatness lies;
Place not your pride in roofs that shine with gems,
In purple robes, nor sparkling diadems;
Nor in dominion, nor extent of land:
He's only great, who can himself command,
Whofe guard is peaceful innocence, whofe guide
Is faithful reafon; who is yoid of pride.
Checking ambition; nor is idly vain
Of the falfe incenfe of a popular train;
Who without ftrife, or envy, can behold
His neighbour's plenty, and his heaps of gold;
Nor covets other wealth, but what we find
In the poffeffions of a virtuous mind.

Fearless he fees, who is with virtue crown'd,
The tempeft rage, and hears the thunder found;
Ever the fame, let Fortune fmile or frown,
On the red fcaffold, or the blazing throne;
Serenely, as he lived, refigns his breath,
Meets destiny half way, nor shrinks at death.

Ye fovereign Lords, who fit like Gods in state,
Awing the world, and bustling to be great;
Lords but in title, vaffals in effect,
Whom luft controuls, and wild defires direct :
The reins of empire but fuch hands difgrace,
Where Paffion, a blind driver, guides the race.

What is this Fame, thus crowded round with flaves?
The breath of fools, the bait of flattering knaves:
An honeft heart, a confcience free from blame,
Not of great acts, but good, give me the name:
In vain we plant, we build, our ftores increase,
If confcience roots up all our inward peace.
What need of arms, or inftruments of war,
Or battering engines that deftroy from far?
The greatest king, and conqueror is he,
Who Lord of his own appetites can be ;
Bleft with a pow'r that nothing can destroy,
And all have equal freedom to enjoy.

Whom worldly luxury, and pomps allure,
They tread on ice, and find no footing fure;
Place me, ye Powers! in fome obfcure retreat,
O! keep me innocent, make others great :
In quiet fhade, content with rural sports,
Give me a life remote from guilty courts,
Where free from hopes or fears, in humble eafe,
Unheard of,, I may live and die in peace.

Happy the man who thus retir'd from fight,
Studies himself, and feeks no other light:
But most unhappy he, who fits on high,
Expos'd to every tongue and every eye;
Whofe follies blaz`'d about, to all are known,
But are a fecret to himself alone :

Worfe is an evil Fame, much worse than none,

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EASE, tempting Siren, ceafe thy flattering ftrain, Sweet is thy charming fong, but fung in vain : When the winds blow, and loud the tempefts roar, What fool would truft the waves, and quit the fhore? Early, and vain, into the world I came, Big with falfe hopes, and eager after fame ; Till looking round me, ere the race began, Madmen, and giddy fools, were all that ran ; Reclaim'd betimes, I from the lifts retire, And thank the Gods, who my retreat inspire, In happier times our ancestors were bred, When virtue was the only path to tread : Give me, ye Gods! but the fame road to fame, Whate'er my fathers dar'd, I dare the fame. Chang'd is the scene, fome baneful planet rules An impious world, contriv'd for knaves and fools. Look now around, and with impartial eyes Confider, and examine all who rife;

Weigh

Weigh well their actions, and their treacherous ends,
How greatnels grows, and by what steps afcends;
What murders, treasons, perjuries, deceit ;
How many crush'd, to make one monster great.
Would you command? Have fortune in your pow'r?
Hug when you ftab, and smile when you devour?
Be bloody, falfe, flatter, forfwear, and lie,
Turn pander, pathick, parafite, or spy;
Such thriving arts may your wish'd purpose bring,
A Minifter at least, perhaps a King.

Fortune, we most unjustly partial call,
A miftrefs free, who bids alike to all;
But on fuch terms as only fuit the base,
Honour denies and fhuns the foul embrace.
The honeft man, who starves and is undone,
Not fortune, but his virtue keeps him down.
Had Cato bent beneath the conquering caufe,
He might have liv'd to give new Senates laws;
But on vile terms difdaining to be great,
He perih'd by his choice, and not his fate.
Honours and life, th' ufurper bids, and all
That vain mistaken men good-fortune call,
Virtue forbids, and fets before his eyes
An honeft death, which he accepts, and dies:
O glorious refolution! Noble pride!

More honour'd, than the tyrant liv'd, he dy'd;

More lov'd, more prais'd, more envy'd in his doom,
Than Cæfar trampling on the rights of Rome.
The virtuous nothing fear, but life with shame,
And death's a pleasant road that leads to fame.

On bones, and fcraps of dogs let me be fed,
My limbs uncover'd, and expos'd my head
To bleakeft colds, a kennel be my bed.
This, and all other martyrdom for thee,
Seems glorious, all, thrice beauteous Honesty!
Judge me, ye powers! let Fortune tempt or frown,
I ftand prepar'd, my honour is my own.

Ye great Disturbers, who in endless noise, In blood and rapine feek unnatural joys; For what is all this buftle but to fhun Those thoughts with which you dare not be alone? As men in mifery, oppreft with care, Seek in the rage of wine to drown despair. Let others fight, and eat their bread in blood, Regardless if the caufe be bad or good; Or cringe in courts, depending on the nods Of ftrutting pigmies who would pafs for Gods. For me, unpractis'd in the courtiers school, Who loathe a knave, and tremble at a fool; Who honour generous Wycherly opprest, Poffeft of little, worthy of the best, Rich in himself, in virtue that outshines All but the fame of his immortal lines, More than the wealthieft lord, who helps to drain The famith'd land, and rolls in impious gain: What can I hope in courts? Or how fucceed? Tygers and wolves fhall in the ocean breed, The whale and dolphin fatten on the mead ; And every element exchange its kind, Ere thriving honefty in courts we find.

Happy the man, of mortals happieft he, Whofe quiet mind from vain defires is free; Whom neither hopes deceive, nor fears torment, But lives at peace, within himself content,

| In thought, or act, accountable to none,
But to himself, and to the Gods alone!
O fweetness of content! feraphic joy!
Which nothing wants, and nothing can destroy.

Where dwells this peace, this freedom of the mind!
Where, but in shades remote from human kind;
In flowery vales, where nymphs and shepherds meet,
But never comes within the palace gate.
Farewel then cities, courts, and camps, farewell,
Welcome, ye groves, here let me ever dwell,
From cares, from business, and mankind remove,
All but the mufes, and infpiring Love:
How sweet the morn! How gentle is the night!
How calm the evening! And the day how bright!

From hence, as from a hill, I view below The crowded world, a mighty wood in fhow, Where feveral wanderers travel day and night, By different paths, and none are in the right.

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HE Princes fat; Beauty and Law contend;

The Queen of Love will her own caufe defend: Secure fhe looks, as certain none can fee Such Beauty plead, and not her captive be. What need of words with fuch commanding eyes? Muft I then speak? O Heavens! the charmer cries O barbarous clime! where Beauty borrows aid From eloquence, to charm, or to persuade ! Will difcord never leave with envious care To raife debate? But difcord governs here. To Juno, Pallas, wifdom, fame, and power, Long fince preferr'd, what trial needs there more? Confefs'd to fight, three Goddeffes defcend On Ida's hill, and for a prize contend; Nobly they bid, and lavishly pursue A gift, that only could be Beauty's due: Honours and wealth the generous judge denies, And gives the triumph to the brightest eyes.

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Such precedents are numberless, we draw
Our right from custom; custom is a law
As high as heaven, as wide as feas or land;
As ancient as the world is our command.
Mars and Alcides would this plea allow :
Beauty was ever abfolute till now.
It is enough that I pronounce it mine,
And, right or wrong, he should his claim refign:
Not bears nor tygers fure fo favage are,
As thefe ill-manner'd monsters of the bar.

Loud rumour has proclaim'd a nymph divine,
Whofe matchlefs form, to counterbalance mine,
By dint of Beauty fhall extort your grace:
Let her appear, this rival, face to face;
Let eyes to eyes oppos'd this ftrife decide;
Now, when I lighten, let her beams be try'd.
Was 't a vain promife, and a gownfman's lie?
Or ftands fhe here unmark'd, when I am by?
So heav'n was mock'd, and once all Elys round,
Another Jupiter was faid to found;
On brazen floor the royal actor tries
To ape the thunder rattling in the skies;
A brandish'd torch, with emulating blaze,
Affects the forky lightning's pointed rays:
Thus borne aloft, triumphantly he rode
Through crowds of worshippers, and acts the God.
The fire omnipotent prepares the brand,
By Vulcan wrought, and arms his potent hand;
Then flaming huris it hiffing from above,
And in the vast abyfs confounds the mimic Jove,
Prefumptuous wretch! with mortal art to dare
Immortal power, and brave the thunderer!

Caffiope, preferring with difdain,
Her daughter to the Nereids, they complain;
The daughter, for the mother's guilty scorn,
Is doomed to be devoured; the mother's borne
Above the clouds, where, by immortal light,
Revers'd the thines, expofed to human fight,
And to a fhameful posture is confin'd,
As an eternal terror to mankind.

Did thus the Gods fuch private nymphs refpect?
What vengeance might the Queen of Love expect?
But grant fuch arbitrary pleas are vain,
Wav'd let them be; mere justice shall obtain.
Who to a husband juftlier can fucceed,
Than the foft partner of his nuptial bed;
Or to a father's right lay stronger claim,

Than the dear youth in whom furvives his name?
Behold that youth, confider whence he springs,
And in his royal veins refpect your kings:
Immortal Jove, upon a mortal the,
Begat his fire: Second from Jove is he.
Well did the father blindly fight your caufe,
Following the cry-of Liberty and Laws,
If by thofe laws, for which he loft his life +,
You fpoil, ungratefully, the fon and wife.

* A report spread of a beautiful young lady, niece to the Lord Chief justice, who would appear at the bar of the House of Lords, and eclipfe the charms of the Duchefs of Grafton; No fuch lady was feen there, nor perhaps ever in any part of the world.

The Duke of Grafton, flain at the fiege of Cork in Ireland, about the beginning of the Revolution.

What need I more? 'Tis treafon to difpute:
The grant was royal; that decides the fuit.
"Shall vulgar laws imperial power constrain ?
"Kings and the Gods, can never act in vain."

She finish'd here, the Queen of every grace,
Difdain vermilioning her heavenly face:
Our hearts take fire, and all in tumult rife,
And one wish sparkles in a thousand eyes.
O! might fome champion finish these debates!
My fword fhall end, what now my pen relates.
Up rofe the Judge, on each side bending low,
A crafty fmile, accompanies his bow;
Ulyffes like, a gentle paufe he makes,
Then, railing by degrees his oice, he speaks.

In you, my Lords, who judge; and all who hear,
Methinks I read your wishes for the fair;
Nor can I wonder, even I contend
With inward pain, unwilling to offend;
Unhappy! thus oblig'd to a defence,
That may difplease such heavenly excellence.
Might we the laws on any terms abufe,
So bright an influence were the best excufe;
Let Niobe's juft fate, the vile difgrace
Of the Propetides' polluted race;
Let death, or fhame, or lunacy furprize,
Who dare to match the luftre of thofe eyes!
Aloud the fairest of the Sex complain
Of captives loft, and loves invok'd in vain;
At her appearance all their glory ends,
And not a star, but fets, when the afcends.

Where Love prefides, ftill may she bear the prize; But rigid Law has neither ears nor eyes: Charms, to which Mars and Hercules would bow, Minos and Rhadamanthus difavow. Juftice, by nothing bias'd, or inclin'd, Deaf to perfuafion, to temptation blind, Determines without favour, and the laws O'erlook the parties, to decide the cause. What then avails it, that a beardless boy Took a rash fancy for a female toy? Th' infulted Argives, with a numerous hoft, Purfue revenge, and feek the Dardan coaft; Though the Gods built, and though the Gods defend Thofe lofty towers, the hoftile Greeks afcend; Nor leave they, till the town in afhes lies, And all the race of royal Priam dies: The Queen of || Paphos, mixing in the fray, Rallies the troops, and urges on the day; In perfon, in the foremost ranks she stands, Provokes the charge, directs, affifts, commands; Stern Diomed, advancing high in air, His lofty javelin ftrikes the heavenly Fair; The vaulted skies with her loud fhrieks refound, And high Olympus trembles at the wound.

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In caufes juft, would all the Gods oppose,
'Twere honeft to difpute; fo Cato chofe.
Difmifs that plea, and what shall blood avail ?
If beauty is deny'd, fhall birth prevail?
Blood, and high deeds, in diftant ages done,
Are our forefathers merit, not our own.
Might none a juft poffeffion be allow'd,

But who could bring defert, or boast of blood?
What numbers, even here, might be condemn'd,
Strip'd, and defpoil'd of all, revil'd, contemn'd?
Take a juft view, how many may remark,
Who now's a peer, his grandfire was a clerk:
Some few remain, ennobled by the sword
In Gothic times: But now to be My Lord,
Study the law; nor do these robes despise;
Honour the gown, from whence your honours rife.
Thofe fam'd dictators, who fubdu'd the globe,
Gave the precedence to the peaceful robe;
The mighty Julius, pleading at the bar,
Was greater, than when thundering in the war
He conquer'd nations: 'Tis of more renown
To fave a client, than to ftorm a town.

How dear to Britain are her darling laws!
What blood has the not lavish'd in their caufe!
Kings are like common flaves to flaughter led,
Or wander through the world to beg their bread.
"When regal power afpires above the laws,
"A private wrong becomes a public cause."

He fpoke. The nobles differ, and divide,
Some join with Law, and some with Beauty fide.
Mordaunt, though once her flave, infults the Fair,
Whose fetters 'twas his pride, in youth, to wear :
So Lucifer revolting, brav'd the power
Whom he was wont to worship and implore.
Like impious is their rage, who have in chace
A new Omnipotence in Grafton's face.
But Rochefter, undaunted, juft, and wife,
Afferts the Goddefs with the charming eyes;
And O! may Beauty never want reward

For thee, her noble champion, and her guard.
Beauty triumphs, and Law fubmitting lies,
The tyrant tam'd, aloud for mercy cries;
Conqueft can never fail in radiant Grafton's eyes.

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But new attempts fhew other dangers near;
Beauty's attack'd in her imperial fort,

Where all her loves and graces kept their court;
In her chief refidence, befieg'd at laft,
Laments to fee her fairest fields laid waste.

On things immortal, all attempts are vain ;
Tyrant Difeafe, 'tis lofs of time and pain;
Glut thy wild rage, and load thee with rich prize
Torn from her cheeks, her fragrant lips, and eyes ;
Let her but live; as much vermilion take,
As might an Helen, or a Venus make;
Like Thetis, fhe fhall fruftrate thy vain rape,
And in variety of charms efcape.

The twinkling stars drop numberless each night, Yet fhines the radiant firmament as bright; So from the ocean fhould we rivers drain, Still would enough to drown the world remain.

The Duchefs of

FA

- unfeasonably furprised in the Embraces of her Lord.

AIREST Zelinda, ceafe to chide, or grieve;
Nor blush at joys that only you can give;
Who with bold eyes furvey'd thofe matchlefs charms,
Is punish'd, feeing in another's arms:

With greedy looks he views each naked part,
Joy feeds his eyes, but envy tears his heart.
So caught was Mars, and Mercury aloud
Proclaim'd his grief, that he was not the God;
So to be caught was every God's defire:
Nor less than Venus, can Zelinda fire.
Forgive him then, thou more than heavenly Fair,
Forvive his rathness, punish'd by despair;
All that we know, which wretched mortals feel
In those fad regions where the tortur'd dwell,
Is, that they fee the raptures of the bless'd,
And view the joys which they must never taste.

W

TO FLAVIA.

Written on her Garden in the North.

HAT charm is this, that in the midst of fnow, Offtorms and blafts, the choiceft fruits do grow? Melons, on beds of ice are taught to bear, And ftrangers to the fun, yet ripen here; On frozen ground the sweeteft flowers arife, Unfeen by any light, but Flavia's eyes; Where-e'er the treads, beneath the Charmer's feet The rofe, the jefs'mine, and the lilies meet; Where-e'er the looks, behold fome fudden birth Adorns the trees, and fructifies the earth; In midst of mountains, and unfruitful ground, As rich an Eden as the firft is found. In this new Paradife the Goddefs reigns, In fovereign ftate, and mocks the lover's pains; Beneath thofe beams that fcorch us from her eyes, Her fnowy bofom ftill unmelted lies; Love from her lips fpreads all his odours round, But bears on ice, and fprings from frozen ground. So cold the clime that can fuch wonders bear, The garden feems an emblem of the får.

то

TO THE SAME.

W

Her Gardens having efcaped a Flood that had laid all
the Country round under Water.
HAT hands divine have planted and protect,
The torrent fpares, and deluges refpect;
So when the waters o'er the world were spread,
Covering each oak, and every mountain's head,
The chofen Patriarch fail'd within his ark,
Nor might the waves o'erwhelm the facred bark.
The charming Flavia is no lefs, we find,
The favourite of Heav'n, than of mankind;
The Gods, like rivals, imitate our care,
And vie with mortals to oblige the Fair;
These favours thus beftow'd on her alone,
Are but the homage which they fent her down.
O Flavia! may thy virtue from above

Be crown'd with bleffings, endless as my love.

TO MY FRIEND DR. GARTH.

M

IN HIS SICKNESS.

ACHAON fick, in every face we find,
His danger is the danger of mankind;
Whofe art protecting, Nature could expire
But by a Deluge, or the general Fire.

More lives he faves, than perish in our wars,
And fafter than a plague deftroys, repairs.
The bold caroufer, and advent'rous dame,
Nor fear the fever, nor refuse the flame;
Safe in his fkill, from all reftraints fet free,
But confcious fhame, remorfe, or piety.

Sire of all arts, defend thy darling fon;
O! fave the man whofe life's fo much our own!
On whom, like Atlas, the whole world's reclin'd,
And by restoring Garth, preserve mankind.

TO MY DEAR KINSMAN, CHARLES LORD LANSDOWNE. Upon the Bombardment of the Town of Granville in Normandy, by the English Fleet.

TH

HO' built by Gods, confum'd by hoftile flame, Troy bury'd lies, yet lives the Trojan name; And fo fhall thine, though with thefe walls were loft All the records our ancestors could boaft. For Latium conquer'd, and for Turnus flain, Aneas lives, though not one ftone remain Where he arofe: Nor art thou lefs renown'd For thy loud triumphs on Hungarian ground.

Thofe arms which for nine centuries had brav'd The wrath of Time, on antique ftone engrav'd, Now torn by mortars, ftand yet undefac'd On nobler trophies, by thy valour rais'd: Safe on thy Eagle's wings they foar above The rage of war, or thunder to remove, Borne by the Bird of Cæfar, and of Jove.

Apollo, God of Poetry and Phyfic.

The Granville Arms ftill remaining at that time on one of the gates of the town.

He was created a Count of the Empire, the Family Arins to be borne for ever upon the breaft of the Imperial spread Eagle."

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The Poet, with a pencil lefs confin'd,
Shall paint her virtues, and defcribe her mind,
Unlock the fhrine, and to the fight unfold
The fecret gems, and all the inward gold.
Two only patterns do the Mufes name,
Of perpect beauty, but of guilty fame;
A Venus and an Helen have been seen,
Both perjur'd wives, the Goddess and the Queen:
In this the third, are reconcil'd at last
Those jarring attributes of Fair and Chafte,
With graces that attract, but not enfnare,
Divinely good, as the's divinely fair;
With beauty, not affected, vain, nor proud;
With greatnefs, eafy, affable, and good:
Others by guilty artifice, and arts

Of promis'd kindness, practice on our hearts,
With expectation blow the paffion up;
She fans the fire, without one gale of hope,
Like the chafte moon, the fhines to all mankind,
But to Endymion is her love confin'd.
What cruel destiny on Beauty waits,
When on one face depend fo many fates!
Oblig'd by honour to relieve but one,
Unhappy men by thousands are undone.

TO MRS. GRANVILLE, OF WOTTON IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE;

L

AFTERWARDS LADY CONWAY.

OVE, like a tyrant whom no laws constrain, Now for fome ages kept the world in pain; Beauty, by vaft deftructions got renown, And Lovers only by their rage were known : But Granville, more aufpicious to mankind, Conqu'ring the heart, as much inftructs the mind; Bleft in the fate of her victorious eyes, Seeing, we love; and hearing, we grow wife: So Rome for wifdom, as for conqueft fam'd, Improv'd with arts, whom the by arms had tam'd Above the clouds is plac'd this glorious light, Nothing lies hid from her enquiring fight; Athens and Rome for arts reftor'd rejoice, Their language takes new mufic from her voice; Learning and Love, in the fame feat we find, So bright her eyes, and fo adorn'd her mind. Long had Minerva govern'd in the skies, But now defcends, confeft to human eyes; Behold in Granville, that infpiring Queen, Whom learned Athens fo ador'd unfeen.

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