And much muft flatter, if the whim fhould bite
To court applaufe by printing what I write :
But let the fit pafs o'er, I'm wife enough
To ftop my ears to their confounded stuff.
• In vain, bad Rhymers all mankind reject,
They treat themselves with most profcund respect;
'Tis to fmall purpose that you hold your tongue,
Each prais'd, within, is happy all day long:
But how feverely with themselves proceed
The men, who write fuch Verfe as we can read?
Their own ftrict Judges, not a word they spare,
That wants or force, or light, or weight, or care,
Howe'er unwillingly it quits its place,
Nay though at Court (perhaps) it may find grace:
Such they'll degrade; and fometimes, in its ftead,
P In downright charity revive the dead;
Idem, finitis ftudiis, et mente recepta,
Obturem patulas impune legentibus aures.
• Ridentur mala qui componunt carmina: verum
Gaudent fcribentes, et fe venerantur, et ultro,
Si taceas, laudant; quidquid fcripfere, beati.
At qui legitimum cupiet feciffe poema,
Cum tabulis animum cenforis fumet honefti :
Audebit quaecunque parum fplendoris habebunt,
Et fine pondere erunt, et honore indigna ferentur,
Verba movere loco; quamvis invita recedant,
Et verfentur adhuc intra penetralia Vestae :
P Obfcurata diu populo bonus eruet, atque
Proferet in lucem fpeciofa vocabula rerum,
Mark where a bold expreffive phrase appears,
Bright through the rubbish of some hundred years;
Command old words that long have flept, to wake,
Words, that wife Bacon, or brave Rawleigh fpake;
Or bid the new be English, ages hence,
(For Ufe will father what's begot by Senfe)
Pour the full tide of eloquence along,
Serenely pure, and yet divinely ftrong,
Rich with the treasures of each foreign tongue;
Prune the luxuriant, the uncouth refine,
But show no mercy to an empty line:
Then polifh all, with fo much life and ease,
You think 'tis Nature, and a knack to please:
"But eafe in writing flows from Art, not chance; "As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.” q If fuch the plague and pains to write by rule, 180 Better (fay I) be pleas'd, and play the fool;
Quae prifcis memorata Catonibus atque Cethegis,
Nunc fitus informis premit et deferta vetustas :
Adfcifcet nova, quae genitor produxerit ufus :
Vehemens et liquidus, puroque fimillimus amni,
Fundet opes, Latiumque beabit divite lingua :
Luxuriantia compefcet: nimis afpera fano
Levabit cultu, virtute carentia tollet:
Laudentis fpeciem dabit, torquebitur, ut qui
Nunc Satyrum, nunc agreftem Cyclopa movetur.
Praetulerim fcriptor delirus inerfque videri,
Dum mea delectent mala me, vel denique fallant,
Quam fapere, et ringi. Fuit haud ignobilis Argis,
Call, if you will, bad rhyming a disease,
It gives men happiness, or leaves them ease.
There liv'd in primo Georgii (they record)
A worthy member, no fmall fool, a Lord;
Who, though the House was up, delighted fate,
Heard, noted, answer'd, as in full debate :
In all but this, a man of fober life,
Fond of his Friend, and civil to his Wife;
Not quite a madman, though a pasty fell,
And much too wife to walk into a well.
Him, the damn'd Doctors and his Friends immur'd, They bled, they cupp'd, they purg'd; in fhort, they
Whereat the gentleman began to stare-
My Friends! he cry'd, p--x take you for
That from a Patriot of distinguish'd note,
Have bled and purg'd me to a fimple Vote.
Qui fe credebat miros audire tragoedos,
In vacuo laetus feffor plauforque theatro:
Caetera qui vitae fervaret munia recto
More; bonus fane vicinus, amabilis hofpes,
Comis in uxorem ? poffet qui ignofcere servis,
Et figno laefo non infanire lagenae :
Poffet qui rupem, et puteum vitare patentem.
Hic ubi cognatorum opibus curifque refectus,
Expulit elleboro morbum bilemque meraco,
Et redit ad fefe: Pol me occidiftis, amici,
Non fervaftis, ait; cui fic extorta voluptas,
Et demptus per vim mentis gratiffimus error,
r Well, on the whole, plain profe must be my
Wisdom (curfe on it) will come foon or late.
There is a time when Poets will grow dull:
I'll e'en leave verses to the boys at fchool:
To rules of Poetry no more confin'd,
I'll learn to fmooth and harmonize my Mind,
Teach every thought within its bounds to roll,
And keep the equal measure of the Soul.
• Soon as I enter at my country door,
My mind resumes the thread it dropt before;
Thoughts which at Hyde-park corner I forgot,
Meet and rejoin me, in the Pensive Grot.
There all alone, and compliments apart,
I ask these fober queftions of my heart.
t If, when the more you drink, the more you crave, You tell the Doctor; when the more you have,
The more you want, why not with equal eafe
Confefs as well your Folly, as disease?
The heart refolves this matter in a trice,
"Men only feel the Smart, but not the Vice."
Nimirum fapere eft abjectis utile nugis,
Et tempeftivum pueris concedere ludum;
• Ac non verba fequi fidibus modulanda Latinis,
Sed verae numerofque modofque edifcere vitae.
Quocirca mecum loquor haec, tacitufque recordor:
t Si tibi nulla fitim finiret copia lymphae,
Narrares medicis: quod quanto plura parasti,
Tanto plura cupis, nulline faterier audes ?
u When golden Angels cease to cure the Evil:
You give all royal Witchcraft to the Devil :
When fervile Chaplains cry, that birth and place
Indue a Peer with honour, truth, and grace,
Look in that breast, most dirty Dean! be fair,
Say, can you find out one fuch lodger there?
Yet still, not heeding what your heart can teach,
You go to church to hear thefe Flatterers preach.
Indeed, could wealth bestow or wit or merit,
A grain of courage, or a spark of spirit,
The wifeft man might blush, I must agree,
If D*** lov'd fixpence, more than he.
w If there be truth in Law, and Ufe can give
A Property, that's your's on which you live.
Delightful Abs-court, if its fields afford
Their fruits to you, confefles you its lord:
u Si vulnus tibi monftrata radice vel herba
Non fieret levius, fugeres radice vel herba
Proficiente nihil curarier: audieras, cui
Rem Di donarint, ille decedere pravam
Stultitiam; et, cum fis nihilo fapientior, ex quo
Plenior es, tamen uteris monitoribus îfdem ?
At fi divitiae prudentem reddere poffent,
Si cupidum timidumque minus te: nempe ruberes,
Viveret in terris, te fi quis avarior uno.
w Si proprium eft, quod quis libra mercatus et aere eft,
Quaedam (fi credis confultis) mancipat usus :
Qui te pafcit ager, tuus eft; et villicus Orbi,
Cum fegetes occat tibi mox frumenta daturus,
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