If first I truck the Lesbian lyre,
No fame belongs to me;
I owe my honours, when I please,
(If e'er I please) to thee.
On the approaching CONGRESS of CAMBRA Y. Written in 1721.
E patriots of the world, whofe cares combin'd
Confult the public welfare of mankind,
One moment let the crowding kingdoms wait,
And Europe in fufpence attend her fate,
Which turns on your great councils; nor refuse
To hear the ftrains of the prophetic Mufe;
Who fees thofe councils with a generous care
Heal the wide wounds, and calm the rage of war;
She fees new verdure all the plain o'erspread,
Where the fight burn'd, and where the battle bled.
The fields of death a fofter scene disclose,
And Ceres fmiles where iron harvests rofe.
The bleating flocks along the bastion pass,
And from the awful ruins crop the grass.
Freed from his fears, each unmolested swain,
In peaceful furrows cuts the fatal plain ;
Turns the high bulwark and aspiring mound,
And fees the camp with all the seasons crown'd.
Beneath each clod, bright burnish'd arms appear;
Each furrow glitters with the pride of war;
The fields refound and tinkle as they break,
And the keen faulchion rings against the rake;
At reft beneath the hanging ramparts laid,
He fings fecurely in the dreadful fhade.
Hark! o'er the feas, the British lions roar
Their monarch's fame to every diftant shore:
Swift on their canvass wings his navies go,
Where-ever tides can roll, or winds can blow ;
Their fails within the arctic circle rife,
Led by the stars that gild the northern skies;
Tempt frozen feas, nor fear the driving blaft,
But fwell exulting o'er the hoary waste ;
O'er the wide ocean hold fupreme command,
And active commerce spread through every land;
Or with full pride to southern regions run,
To diftant worlds, on t'other fide the fun;
And plow the tides, where odoriferous gales
Perfume the smiling waves, and stretch the bellying fails.
See the proud merchant feek the precious fhore,
And trace the winding veins of glittering ore;
Low in the earth his wondering eyes behold
Th' imperfect metal ripening into gold.
The mountains tremble with alternate rays,
And caft at once a fhadow and a blaze:
Streak'd o'er with gold, the pebbles flame around,
Gleam o'er the foil, and gild the tinkling ground;
Charg'd with the glorious prize, his veffels come,
And in proud triumph bring an India home.
Fair Concord, hail; thy wings o'er Brunswick spread, And with thy olives crown his laurel'd head. Come; in thy moft diftinguish'd charms appear; Oh! come, and bolt the iron-gates of war.
The fight ftands ftill when Brunswick bids it ceafe,
The monarch fpeaks, and gives the world a peace;
Like awful justice, fits fuperior lord,
To poife the balance, or to draw the fword;
In due fufpenfe the jarring realms to keep,
And hush the tumults of the world to fleep.
Now with a brighter face, and nobler
Shine forth, thou Source of light, and God of day;
Say, didst thou ever in thy bright career
Through all thy journeys paft thou canst not fee
A perfect image of what this fhall be:
Scarce the Platonic year fhall this renew,
Or keep the bright original in view.
THE YOUNG MAN and his CAT.
A Haplefs youth, whom fates averse had drove
To a ftrange paffion, and prepofterous love,
Long'd to poffefs his pufs's fpotted charms,
And hug the tabby beauty in his arms.
To what odd whim fies love inveigles men?
Sure if the boy was ever blind, 'twas then.
Rack'd with his paffion, and in deep despair,
The youth to Venus thus addreit his prayer.
O queen of beauty, fince thy Cupid's dart
Has fir'd my foul, and rankles in
my heart
Since doom'd to burn in this unhappy flame,
From thee at least a remedy I claim;
If on ce, to blefs Pigmalion's longing arms,
The marble foften'd into living charms;
And warm with life the purple current ran
In circling ftreams through every flinty vein;
If, with his own creating hands display'd,
He hugg'd the ftatue, and embrac'd a maid;
And with the breathing image fir'd his heart,
The pride of nature, and the boast of art:
Hear my request, and crown my wondrous flame,
The fame its nature, be thy gift the fame;
Give me the like unusual joys to prove,
And though irregular, indulge my love.
Delighted Venus heard the moving prayer,
And foon refolv'd to eafe the lover's care,
To fet Mifs Tabby off with every grace,
To dress, and fit her for the youth's embrace.
Now the by gradual change her form forfook,
First her round face an oval figure took;
The roguifh dimples next his heart beguile,
And each grave whisker foften'd to a fmile;
Unusual ogles wanton'd in her eye,
Her folemn purring dwindled to a figh:
Sudden, a huge hoop-petticoat display'd,
A wide circumference! intrench'd the maid,
And for the tail in waving circles play'd.
Her fur, as deftin'd still her charms to deck,
Made for her hands a muff, a tippet for her neck.
In the fine lady now her fhape was loft,
And by fuch ftrange degrees fhe grew a toast;
Was all for ombre now; and who but she,
To talk of modes and scandal o'er her tea;
To fettle every fashion of the fex,
And run through all the female politics;
To spend her time at toilet and baffet,
To play, to flaunt, to flutter, and coquet:
From a grave thinking moufer, she was grown
The gayeft flirt that coach'd it round the town.
But fee how often fome intruding woe,
Nips all our blooming prospects at a blow!
For as the youth his lovely confort led
To the dear pleafures of the nuptial bed,
Just on that infant from an inner house,
Into the chamber popt a heedlefs mouse.
Mifs Tabby faw, and brooking no delay,
Sprung from the sheets, and feiz'd the trembling prey.
Nor did the bride, in that ill-fated hour,
Reflect that all her moufing-days were o'er.
The youth, aftonish'd, felt a new despair,
Ixion-like he grafp'd, and grafp'd but air;
He saw his vows and prayers in vain bestow'd,
And loft the jilting goddefs in a cloud.
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