Of Ministers what mighty matters tell? Add we to what we've said, this little more, Till nothing bigger than a grig remain'd; And must remain so till blank years of grace, But while we're on this subject, 'tis worth thinking, How little salt has kept this world from stinking; 'Tis the same wit, at different times alive, Sunk at Whitehall, to rise up at Queenhithe. Born in whatever clime, whatever age, We trace it first from the Athenian stage, Where Liberty a little licence claim'd, There, just as somewhere else, that shan't be nam'd; Taught all her sons this fav'rite to adore, Much for itself, because abusive more; For every comic writer braided it, Two threads of Scandal to one thread of Wit: And flash his lightnings round on every side, What was the burst directly over head, So loud its echo, now its fires so red, Tho' oft thro' Time's thick cloud the trembling gleam We only catch, but miss the vivid beam ; While half-seen thoughts, like meteors, twinkle light, And draw their lucid trails athwart the night. Hither, unto their fountain, other stars From him, and them, Swift crowded his close-stool. Fully convinc'd his jessamine and rose The nasty lines, my Lord, demand excuse, Happ'ly the times are free from that abuse : Our decent manners all obsceneness flout, And Wit is at one entrance quite shut out. From hence, my Lord, Wit took a tour about, Residing in few countries on his rout, Appear'd in places, but ne'er took his seat in One spot of earth, except Greece, France, and Britain. The rest a single trophy only bear, And just enough to show he had been there. As Nature's ideot never fails to hit, Once in his life, on some sheer strokes of Wit; Then stoops ten thousand fathoms down behind, A like excursion never to repeat To the warm regions of aetherial heat. Yet when we look at home, my Lord, at best, But then the boasted days of Charles the Second, In the next reigns how could it flourish much? And the glad stars responsive tun'd their choirs; To follow those who lighted her to church. Then Halifax, my Lord, as you do yet, Stood forth the friend of Poetry and Wit; Sought silent Merit in its secret cell, And Heav'n, nay even man repaid him well. Man, in the praise of every grateful quill, And Heav'n in him, who bears his title still; Who, on a kingdom to his virtues won, Reflects the glories of our British Sun. EPISTLE VI. TO A. YOUNG LADY, WITH FENTON's MISCELLANIES. FROM WALTER HARTE, M. A. THESE various strains, where every talent charms, 'Tis hard to say what mysteries of fate, Misled by pride, and taught to sin by power, Who, crush all might that can invade their own. |