HORACE, BOOK III. ODE II.
TO THE EARL OF OXFORD, LATE LORD TREASURER.
Sent to him when in the TOWER, 1716.
O W bleft is he, who for his country dies,
Since death purfues the coward as he flies!
The youth in vain would fly from Fate's attack,
With trembling knees and terror at his back;
Though fear fhould lend him pinions like the wind,
Yet fwifter fate will feize him from behind.
Virtue repuls'd, yet knows not to repine;
But fhall with unattainted honour shine;
Nor stoops to take the faff*, nor lays it down,
Juft as the rabble please to fmile or frown.
Virtue, to crown her favourites, loves to try
Some new unbeaten paffage to the sky;
Where Jove a feat among the gods will give
To those who die for meriting to live.
Next, faithful Silence hath a fure reward;
Within our breast be every fecret barr'd!
He, who betrays his friend, fhall never be
Under one roof, or in one fhip, with me..
For who with traitors would his fafety truft,
Left, with the wicked, heaven involve the juft?
And, though the villain 'scape a while, he feels
Slow vengeance, like a blood-hound, at his heels.
* The enfign of the lord treasurer's office.
THE PROGRESS OF LOVE. 1716.
ESPONDING Phyllis was endued
With every talent of a prude:
She trembled when a man drew near;
Salute her, and the turn'd her ear;
If o'er against her you were plac'd,
She durft not look above your waist :
She'd rather take you to her bed,
'Than let you fee her drefs her head:
In church you hear her, through the croud,
Repeat the abfolution loud :
In church, fecure behind her fan,
She durft behold that monfter man;
There practis'd how to place her head,
And bit her lips to make them red;
Or, on the mat devoutly kneeling,
Would lift her eyes up to the cieling,..
And heave her bofom unaware,
For neighbouring beaux to fee it bare.
At length a lucky lover came,
And found admittance to the dame.
Suppofe all parties now agreed,
The writings drawn, the lawyer fee'd,
The vicar and the ring befpoke:
Guefs, how could fuch a match be broke?
See then what mortals place their blifs in !
Next morn betimes the bride was miffing:
The mother scream'd, the father chid;
Where can this idle wench be hid?
No news of Phyl! the bridegroom came,
And thought his bride had skulk'd for shame;
Becaufe her father us'd to fay,
The girl bad fuch a bashful way!
Now John the butler must be sent
To learn the road that Phyllis went.
The groom was wifh'd to faddle Crop;
For John must neither light nor stop,
But find her, wherefoe'er fhe fled,
And bring her back, alive or dead.
See here again the devil to do!
For truly John was miffing too:
The horse and pillion both were gone!
Phyllis, it feems, was fled with John.
Old Madam, who went up to find
What papers Phyl had left behind,
A letter on the toilet fees,
To my much-honour'd father
('Tis always done, romances tell us,
When daughters run away with fellows)
Fill'd with the choiceft common-places,
By others us'd in the like cafes.
"That long ago a fortune-teller
Exactly faid what now befel her; "And in a glass had made her see "A ferving-man of low degree.
"It was her fate, muft be forgiven;
For marriages were made in heaven: "His pardon begg'd: but, to be plain, "She 'd do 't, if 'twere to do again : "Thank'd God, 'twas neither fame nor fin; "For John was come of honeft kin. "Love never thinks of rich and poor : "She'd beg with John from door to door.
Forgive her, if it be a crime;
"She'll never do 't another time.
"She ne'er before in all her life "Once difobey'd him, maid nor wife. "One argument she fumm'd up all in, "The thing was done, and paft recalling “And therefore hop'd she should recover "His favour, when his paffion's over. “She valued not what others thought her, "And was his moft obedient daughter.”
Fair maidens, all attend the Mufe,
Who now the wandering pair pursues :
Away they rode in homely fort,
Their journey long, their money fhort;
The loving couple well bemir'd;
The horfe and both the riders tir'd:
Their victuals bad, their lodging worfe;
Phyl cry'd and John began to curse :
Phyl wifh'd, that she had ftrain'd a limb,
When first the ventur'd out with him;
John wish'd, that he had broke a leg,
When firft for her he quitted Peg.
But what adventures more befel them,
The Mufe hath now no time to tell them,
How Johnny wheedled, threaten'd, fawn'd,
Till Phyllis all her trinkets pawn'd:
How oft' fhe broke her marriage vows
In kindness to maintain her spouse,
Till fwains unwholesome spoil'd the trade ;
For now the furgeons must be paid,
To whom those perquifites are gone,
In Chriftian juftice due to John.
When food and raiment now grew fcarce,
Fate put a period to the farce,
And with exact poetic juftice;
For John was landlord, Phyllis hostess;
They keep, at Staines, the Old Blue Boar,
Are cat and dog, and rogue and whore.
DELICIE Sheridan Mufarum, dulcis amice,
Si tibi propitius Permeffi ad flumen Apollo Occurrat, feu te mimum convivia rident, Equivocofque fales fpargis, feu ludere verfu Malles; dic, Sheridan, quifnam fuit ille deorum, Quæ melior natura orto tibi tradidit artem Rimandi genium puerorum, atque ima cerebri Scrutandi? Tibi nafcenti ad cunabula Pallas
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