Words to recall is in no member's power,

One fingle word may fend you to the Tower.

с

The wrong'd to help, the lawless to reftrain,
Thrice
every year in ancient Egbert's reign,
The members to the Mitchelgemot went,
In after-ages call'd the Parliament;
Early the Mitchelgemot did begin

T'inroll their statutes on a parchment skin:
For impious treason hence no room was left,
For murder, for polygamy, or theft:

Since when the fenate's power both fexes know
From hops and claret, foap and callico.
Now wholsome laws young fenators bring in
'Gainst goals, attorneys, bribery, and gin.
Since fuch the nature of the British state,
The power of parliament fo old and great,

Membranis intus pofitis, delere licebit
Quod non edideris: nefcit vox missa reverti.
Sylveftres homines facer interprefque Deorum
Cædibus & vi&tu fœdo deterruit Orpheus.

Fuit hæc fapientia quondam,

Publica privatis fecernere, facra profanis :
Concubitu prohibere vago, dare jura maritis;
Oppida moliri, leges incidere ligno.

Dictæ per carmina fortes,

Et vitæ monftrata via eft, & gratia regum
Pieriis tentata modis: ludufque repertus

Et longorum operum finis:

ne forte pudori Sit tibi Mufa lyræ folers, & cantor Apollo.

VOL. I.

X

Ye

Ye 'fquires and Irish lords, 'tis worth your care
To be return'd for city, town, or fhire,
By fheriff, bailiff, conftable, or mayor.

* Some doubt, which to a feat has beft pretence, A man of fubftance, or a man of sense:

But never any member feats will do,
Without a head-piece and a pocket too;

Senfe is requir'd the depth of things to reach,
And money gives authority to speech.

A man of bus'nefs won't 'till evening dine,
Abstains from women, company, and wine:
From Fig's new theatre he'll miss a night,
Though cocks, and bulls, and Irish women fight:
Nor fultry fun, nor ftorms of foaking rain,
The man of bus'nefs from the house detain:
Nor speaks he for no reason but to fay,
I am a member, and I spoke to-day.

d Natura fieret laudabile carmen, an arte,
Quæfitum eft; ego nec ftudium fine divite venâ,
Nec rude quid profit video ingenium: alterius fic

e

Altera pofcit opem res, & conjurat amice.

Qui ftudet optatam curfu contingere metam,

Multa tulit fecitque puer; fudavit & alfit,
Abftinuit venere & vino.-

Nunc fatis eft dixiffe, Ego mira poëmata pango:
Occupet extremum fcabies, mihi turpe relinqui eft,
Et, quod non didici, fane nefcire fateri.

I fpeak

1

I speak fometimes, you'll hear his lordship cry,
Because some speak that have less sense than I.

f The man that has both land and money too,
May wonders in a trading borough do:
They'll praife his ven'fon, and commend his port,
Turn their two former members into sport,
And, if he likes it, fatirize the court.

But at a feast 'tis difficult to know
From real friends an undifcover'd foe;

The man that fwears he will the poll fecure,
And pawns his foul that your election's fure,
Sufpect that man: beware, all is not right,
He's ten to one a corporation-bite.

Alderman Pond, a downright honest man,
Would fay, I cannot help you, or I can:

f Affentatores jubet ad lucrum ire Poëta,
Dives agris, dives pofitis in fœnore nummis.
Si vero eft unctum qui recte ponere poffit,
Et fpondere levi pro paupere, & eripere atris
Litibus implicitum, mirabor, fi fciet inter-
nofcere mendacem verumque beatus amicum,
Tu feu donaris, feu quid donare voles cui,
Nolito ad verfus tibi factos ducere plenum
Lætitiæ: clamabit enim, Pulchre, bene, recte!
-fi carmina condes,
Nunquam te fallant animi fub vulpe latentes.
8 Quintilio fi quid recitares, corrige, fodes,
Hoc, aiebat, & hoc : melius te poffe negares,
Bis terque expertum fruftra, delere jubebat.
Si defendere deli&tum, quam vertere, mailes,
X 2

Το

To spend your money, fir, is all a jeft;
Matters are fettled, fet your heart at rest:
We've made a compromife, and, fir, you know,
That fends one member high, and t'other low.
But if his good advice you would not take,
He'd fcorn your fupper, and your punch forsake,
Leave you of mighty interest to brag,
And poll two voices like fir Robert Fag.
" Parliamenteering is a fort of itch,
That will too oft unwary knights bewitch.
Two good eftates fir Harry Clodpole spent ;
Sat thrice, but spoke not once, in parliament;
Two good estates are gone-Who'll take his word?
Oh! should his uncle die, he'd fpend a third;
He'd buy a house his happiness to crown,
Within a mile of fome good borough-town;

Tag, rag, and bobtail to fir Harry's run,
Men that have votes, and women that have none;

Nullum ultra verbum, aut operam insumebat inanem,
Quin fine rivali teque & tua folus amares.

h Ut mala quem fcabies aut morbus regius urguet,

Narrabo interitum

-dicam, Siculique Poëta

Nec femel hoc fecit, nec fi retractus erit, jam
Fiet homo, & ponet famofæ mortis amorem.
Indoctum doctumque fugat recitator acerbus.
Quem vero arripuit, tenet, occiditque legendo,
Non miffura cutem, nifi plena cruoris, hirudo.

Sons,

Sons, daughters, grandfons, with his honour dine;
He keeps a public-house without a fign.

Coblers and smiths extol th' enfuing choice,
And drunken taylors boaft their right of voice.
Dearly the free-born neighbourhood is bought,
They never leave him while he's worth a groat :
So leeches stick, nor quit the bleeding wound,
'Till off they drop with fkinfuls to the ground.