For who would leave, unbrib'd, Hibernia's land,
Or change the rocks of Scotland for the Strand?
There none are swept by sudden fate away,
But all whom hunger fpares, with age decay ;;
Here malice, rapine, accident, conspire,
And now a rabbie rages, now a fire ;
Their ambush here relentless ruffians lay,
And here the fell attorney prowls for prey ;
Here falling houfes thunder on your head,
And here a female atheist talks you dead.
← While THALES waits the wherry that contains Of diffipated wealth the fmall remains,
On Thames's bank in filent thought we ftood,
Where Greenwich fmiles upon the filver flood.
Struck with the seat that gave
d Eliza birth,
We kneel, and kifs the confecrated earth;
In pleafing dreams the blissful age renew,
And call Britannia's glories back to view:
Behold her cross triumphant on the main,
The guard of commerce, and the dread of Spain.
-Ego vel Prochytam præpono Suburræ.
Nam quid tam miferum, tam folum vidimus, ut non
Deterius credas horrere incendia, lapfus
Tectorum affiduos, et mille pericula fævæ
c Sed, dum tota domus rhedâ componitur unâ,
Subftitit ad veteres arcus.-
Queen Elizabeth born at Greenwich.
Ere mafquerades debauch'd, excife opprefs'd,
Or English honour grew a standing jest.
A tranfient calm the happy fcenes bestow,
And for a moment lull the fenfe of woe.
At length awaking with contemptuous frown,
Indignant THALES eyes the neighb'ring town.
e Since worth, he cries, in thefe degen❜rate days
Wants ev'n the cheap reward of empty praife;
In those curs'd walls, devote to vice and gain,
Since unrewarded fcience toils in vain ;
Since hope but fooths to double
And every moment leaves my
While yet my steady steps no f staff sustains,
And life ftill vig'rous revels in my veins;
Grant me, kind heaven, to find fome happier place,
Where honesty and fenfe are no difgrace;
Some pleafing bank where verdant ofiers play,
Some peaceful vale with nature's painting gay;
Where once the harrass'd Briton found repose,
And fafe in poverty defy'd his foes;
• Hic tunc Umbricius: Quando artibus, inquit, honeftis
Nullus in urbe locus, nulla emolumenta laborum,
Res hodie minor eft, heri quam fuit, atque eadem cras
Deteret exiguis aliquid: proponimus illuc
Jre, fatigatas ubi Dædalus exuit alas;
Dum nova canities.
Porto meis, nullo dextram fubeunte bacillo.
Some fecret cell, ye powers, indulgent give.
has learn'd to live.
Here let those reign, whom pensions can incite
To vote a patriot black, a courtier white;
Explain their country's dear-bought rights away,
And plead for pirates in the face of day;
With flavish tenets taint our poison'd youth,
And lend a lye the confidence of truth.
h Let fuch raife palaces, and manors buy, Collect a tax, or farm a lottery,
With warbling eunuchs fill a licens'd ftage,
And lull to fervitude a thoughtless age.
Heroes, proceed! what bounds your pride fhall hold ?
What check restrain your thirst of pow'r and gold?
Behold rebellious virtue quite o'erthrown,
Behold our fame, our wealth, our lives your own.
To fuch, a groaning nation's fpoils are giv❜n,
When public crimes inflame the wrath of heav'n:
But what, my friend, what hope remains for me,
Who ftart at theft, and blufh at perjury?
Cedamus patriâ: vivant Arturius iftic
Et Catulus: maneant qui nigra in candida vertunt.
k Queis facile eft ædem conducere, flumina, portus,
Şiccandam eluviem, portandum ad bufta cadaver.-
Munera nunc edunt.
i Quid Romæ faciam ? mentiri nefcio: librum
Si malus eft, nequeo laudare & pofcere.
Who fcarce forbear, though BRITAIN'S court he fing,
To pluck a titled poet's borrow'd wing;
A ftatefman's logic unconvinc'd can hear,
And dare to flumber o'er the Gazetteer;
Defpife a fool in half his penfion drefs'd,
And strive in vain to laugh at H-y's jest.
* Others with fofter fmiles, and fubtler art,
Can fap the principles, or taint the heart;
With more addrefs a lover's note convey,
Or bribe a virgin's innocence away.
Well may they rife, while I, whofe ruftic tongue
Ne'er new to puzzle right, or varnish wrong,
Spurn'd as a beggar, dreaded as a spy,
Live unregarded, unlamented die.
1 For what but focial guilt the friend endears?
Who fhares Orgilio's crimes, his fortune shares :
m But thou, fhould tempting villainy present,
All Marlb'rough hoarded, or all Villiers " spent,
Ferre ad nuptas, quæ mittit adulter,
Quæ mandat, norint alii: me nemo miniftro
Fur erit, atque ideo nulli comes exeo.
1 Quis nunc diligitur, nifi conscius ?
Carus erit Verri, qui Verrem tempore, quo vult,
Accufare poteft.
- Tanti tibi non fit opaci
Omnis arena Tagi, quodque in mare volvitur aurum,
» George Villiers, the witty and profligate Duke of Buckingham.
Torn from the glitt'ring bribe thy fcornful eye,
Nor fell for gold, what gold could never buy,
The peaceful flumber, felf-approving day,
Unfullied fame, and confcience ever gay..
• The cheated nation's happy fav'rites fees on 1:
Mark whom the great carefs, who frown on me.
LONDON! the needy villain's gen'ral home,w
The common fewer of Paris and of Rome, ing
With eager thirst, by folly or by fate,
Sucks in the dregs of each corrupted flate.
Forgive my tranfports on a theme like this,
I cannot bear a French metropolis. 1
a Illuftrious EDWARD! from the realms of day b The land of heroes and of faints furvey;
Nor hope the British lineaments to traced ..... . A
The ruftic grandeur, or the furly grace,MO
But loft in thoughtless eafe, and empty, show,
Behold the warrior dwindled to a beau;
Senfe, freedom, piety, refin'd away,
Of France the mimic, and of Spain the prey.
All that at home no more canbeg or steal,
Or like a gibbet better than a wheel;
Que nunc divitibus gens acceptiffima noftris,
Et quos præcipue fugiam, properabo fateri.
Non poffum ferre, Quirites,
Rufticus ille tuus fumit trechedipna, Quirine,
Et ceromatico fert niceteria collo..
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