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WHAT! no way left to fhun th' inglorious stage, .

And fave from infamy my finking age!

Scarce half-alive, opprefs'd with many a year,
What in the name of dotage drives me here?
A time there was, when glory was my guide,
Nor force nor fraud could turn my steps afide;
Unaw'd by power, and unappȧl'd by fear,
With honeft thrift I held my honour dear:

* This translation was first printed in one of our Author's earliest works, "The Prefent State of Learning in "Europe." 12mo. 1759.

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But this vile hour difperfes all my ftore,
And all my hoard of honour is no more;
For ah! too partial to my life's decline,
Cæfar perfuades, fubmiffion must be mine;
Him I obey, whom Heaven itself obeys,
Hopeless of pleafing, yet inclin'd to please.
Here then at once I welcome every shame,
And cancel at threefcore a life of fame;
No more my titles fhall my children tell
The old buffoon will fit my name as well;
This day beyond its term my fate extends,
For life is ended when our honour ends.

THE

DOUBLE

THE

TRANSFORMATION.

AT AL E.·

SECLUDED from domestic strife,
Jack Book-worm led a college life;
A fellowship at twenty-five,

Made him the happiest man alive;
He drank his glafs, and crack'd his joke,
And freshmen wonder'd as he fpoke.

Such pleasures, unallay'd with care,
Could any accident impair?
Could Cupid's fhaft at length transfix
Our fwain arriv'd at thirty-fix?
O had the archer ne'er come down
To ravage in a country town!
Or Flavia been content to stop
At triumphs in a Fleet-ftreet fhop.
O had her eyes forgot to blaze!
Or Jack had wanted eyes to gaze.
B 3

O! But let exclamation cease,
Her prefence banish'd all his peace.
So with decorum all things carry'd;

Mifs frown'd, and blush'd, and then was-married.

Need we expofe to vulgar fight

The raptures of the bridal night?
Need we intrude on hallow'd ground,
Or draw the curtains clos'd around?
Let it fuffice, that each had charms;
He clafp'd a goddess in his arms;
And, though fhe felt his ufage rough,
Yet in a man 'twas well enough.

The honey-moon like light'ning flew,
The fecond brought its transports too.
A third, a fourth, were not amifs,
The fifth was friendship mix'd with bliss:
But, when a twelvemonth pass'd away,
Jack found his goddess made of clay;
Found half the charms that deck'd her face
Arofe from powder, fhreds, or lace;
But ftill the worst remain'd behind,
That very face had robb'd her mind.

Skill'd in no other arts was she, But dreffing, patching, repartee; And, juft as humour rofe or fell, By turns a flattern or a belle ;

"Tis

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