As if Paul's cupola were brought to bed,
After hard labour, of a small pin's head.
19 Some Rufus, fome the Conqueror bring in,
And fome from Julius Cæfar's days begin.
A cunning speaker can command his chops,
And when the house is not in humour, ftops;
In falfehood probability employs,
Nor his old lies with newer lies destroys.
20 If when you speak, you'd hear a needle fall, And make the frequent hear-hims rend the wall, In matters fuited to your tafte engage,
Rememb'ring ftill your quality and age.
Thy task be this, young knight, and hear my fong,
What politics to every age belong.
21 When babes can speak, babes fhould be taught to fay King George the fecond's health, huzza, huzza!
19 Nec reditum Diomedis ab interitu Meleagri,
Nec gemino bellum Trojanum orditur ab ovo;
Desperat tractata nitefcere poffe, relinquit;
Atque ita mentitur, fic veris falfa remifcet,
Primo ne medium, medio ne difcrepet imum.
20 Tu, quid ego & populus mecum defideret, audi;
Si plauforis eges aulea manentis, & ufque
Seffori, donec cantor, Vos plaudite, dicat ;
Etatis cujufque notandi funt tibi mores,
Mobilibufque decor naturis dandus & annis.
21 Reddere qui voces jam scit puer, & pede certo
VOL. I.
Boys fhould learn Latin for Prince William's ↑ fake,
And girls Louifa their example make.
22 More loves the youth, just come to his estate,
To range the fields, than in the house debate;
More he delights in fav'rite Jowler's tongue,
Than in Will Shippen, or Sir William Yonge :
If in one chafe he can two horfes kill,
He cares not two pence for the land-tax bill :
Signat humum, geftit paribus colludere, & iram
Colligit ac ponit temere, & mutatur in horas.
22 Imberbis juvenis, tandem cuftode remoto,
Gaudet equis canibufque, & aprici gramine campi,
Cereus in vitium flecti, monitoribus afper,
Utilium tardus provifor, prodigus æris,
Sublimis cupidufque, & amata relinquere pernix.
William, duke of Cumberland.
• Louisa, afterwards Queen of Denmark, youngest daughter of George the fecond. She died the 8th of December 1751.
s These two orators were always in oppofition to each other. The former was member for Newton in Lancashire, and celebrated for the bluntnefs of his manners. In a debate the 6th of December 1717, he incurred the displeasure of the House of Commons, and was committed to the Tower for afferting that the king's fpeech was calculated rather for the meridian of Germany, than England, and that his majesty was a ftranger to our language and conftitution. He died in 1743. The latter reprefented Honiton in Devonshire, and held fucceffively several lucrative pofts under the government. He died in 1755.
Loud in his wine, in women not o'er nice,
He damns his uncles if they give advice;
Votes as his father did when there's a call,
But had much rather never vote at all.
23 We take a different turn at twenty-fix,
And lofty thoughts on fome lord's daughter fix;
With men in pow'r ftri&t friendship we pursue,
With fome confiderable post in view.
A man of forty years to change his note, One way to speak, and t'other way to vote; Careful his tongue in paffion to command, Avoids the bar, and speaker's reprimand.
24 In bags the old man lets his treasure rust, Afraid to use it, or the funds to truft;
When flocks are low he wants the heart to buy,
And through much caution fees them rife too high;
23 Converfis ftudiis, ætas animufque virilis
Quærit opes & amicitias, infervit honori;
Commififfe cavet quod mox mutare laboret.
24 Multa fenem circumveniunt incommoda; vel quod
Quærit, & inventis mifer abftinet, ac timet uti;
Dilator, fpe longus, iners, avidufque futuri;
Difficilis, querulus, laudator temporis acti
Se puero, cenfor caftigatorque minorum.
Multa ferunt anni venientes commoda fecum,
Multa recedentes adimunt; ne forte feniles
Mandentur juveni partes, pueroque viriles ;
Semper in adjunctis ævoque morabimur aptis."
Thinks nothing rightly done fince seventy-eight,
Swears prefent members do not talk, but prate:
In Charles the fecond's days, fays he, ye prigs,
Tories were Tories then, and Whigs were Whigs.
Alas, this is a lamentable truth,
We lose in age, as we advance in youth:
I laugh when twenty will like eighty talk,
And old Sir John with Polly Peachum walk.
25 Now as to double, or to falfe returns,
When pockets fuffer, and when anger burns ;
O thing furpaffing faith! knight ftrives with knight,
When both have brib'd, and neither's in the right.
The bailiff's felf is fent for in that case,
And all the witneffes had face to face.
Selected members foon the fraud unfold,
In full committee of the house 'tis told;
Th' incredible corruption is destroy'd,
The chairman's angry, and th' election void.
26 Thofe who would captivate the well-bred throng, Should not too often speak, nor speak too long:
Aut agitur res in scenis, aut acta refertur.
Segnius irritant animos demiffa per aures,
Quàm quæ funt oculis fubjecta fidelibus, & quæ
Ipfe fibi tradit fpectator.
Quodcunque oftendis mihi fic, incredulus odi.
25 Neve minor, neu fit quinto productior actu
Fabula, quæ pofci vult, & fpectata reponi;
Church, nor church-matters ever turn to fport,
Nor make St. Stephen's chapel, Dover-court.
27 The speaker, when the commons are affembled,
May to the Græcian chorus be resembled ;
'Tis his the young and modeft to espouse,
And fee none draw, or challenge in the house:
"Tis his, old hospitality to use,
And three good printers for the house to chufe;
To let each reprefentative be heard,
And take due care the chaplain be preferr'd;
To hear no motion made that's out of joint,
And when he spies his member, make his point.
Nec Deus interfit, nifi dignus vindice nodus
Inciderit; nec quarta loqui perfona laboret.
27 Actoris partes Chorus officiumque virile
Defendat: neu quid medios intercinat actus,
Quod non propofito conducat & hæreat apte;
Ille bonis faveatque, & concilietur amicis,
Et regat iratos, & amet peccare timentes ;
Ille dapes laudet menfe brevis ; ille falubrem
Juftitiam, legefque, & apertis otia portis ;
Ille tegat commiffa, Deofque precetur & oret,
Ut redeat miferis, abeat fortuna fuperbis.
t Dover-court is a term ftill in ufe for a company, where all are for fpeaking at the fame time. In The Norfolk Drollery by Stevenfon, 1673, it is faid,
"I'm not a man ordain'd for Dover-court,
"For I'm a hearer ftill where I refort."
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