Or virtue, or religion, turn to sport,

215

To please a lewd, or unbelieving Court.
Unhappy Dryden!---In all Charles's days
Roscommon only boasts unspotted bays;
And in our own (excuse some courtly strains)
No whiter page than Addison remains:
He from the taste obscene reclaims our youth,
And sets the passions on the side of truth;
Forms the soft bosom with the gentlest art,
And pours each humán virtue in the heart.
Let Ireland tell how Wit upheld her cause,
Her trade supported, and supply'd her laws,
And leave on Swift this grateful verse engrav'd,
"The rights a court attack'd---a Poet sar'd."
Behold the hand, that wrought a nation's cure,
Stretch'd to relieve the idiot, and the poor,
Proud vice to brand, or injur'd worth adorn,
And 3 stretch the ray to ages yet unborn.
Not but there are who merit other palms;
Hopkins and Sternhold glad the heart with psalms;
The 4 boys, and girls, whom charity maintains,
Implore your help in these pathetic strains:
How could Devation touch the country pews,
Unless the gods bestowld a proper Muse?

Mox etiam pectus præceptis format amicis,
Asperitatis et invidiæ corrector et iræ;
Recte facta refert; orientia tempora notis
Instruit exemplis : 2 inopem solatur et ægrum.
Castis cum 3 pueris ignara puella mariti

Disceret unde 4 preces, vatem ni Musa dedisset?

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Verse cheers their leisure, verse assists their work, 235
Verse prays for peace, or sings down 1 Pope and Turk.
The silenc'd preacher yields to potent strain,
And feels that grace his pray'r besought in vain;
The blessing thrills thro' all the lab'ring throng,
And 2 heav'n is won by violence of song.

3 Our rural ancestors, with little blest,
Patient of labour, when the end was rest,
Indulg'd the day that hous'd their annual grain,
With feasts, and off'rings, and a thankful strain:
The joy their wives, their sons, and servants, share,
Ease of their toil, and partners of their care:
The laugh, the jest, attendants on the bowl,
Smooth'd ev'ry brow, and open'd ev'ry soul:
With growing years the pleasing licence grew,
And 4 taunts alternate innocently flew.

Poscit opem chorus, et presentia numina sentit ;
Cœlestes implorat aquas docta prece blandus;
Avertit morbos, metuenda pericula pellit;
Impetrat et pacem, et locupletem frugibus annum.
2 Carmine Di superi placantur, carmine Manes.
3 Agricolæ prisci, fortes, parvoque beati,
Condita post frumenta, levantes tempore festo.
Corpus et ipsum animum spe finis dura ferentem,
Cum sociis operum pueris et conjuge fida,
Tellurem porco, Silvanum lacte'piabant,
Floribus et vino Genium memorem brevis ævi..
Fescennina per hunc inventa licentia morém
4 Versibus alternis opprobría rustica fudit;

240

246

25

But times corrupt, and nature ill-inclin'd,
Produc'd the point that left a sting behind;

Till friend with friend, and families at strife,
Triumphant malice rag'd thro' private life.

Who felt the wrong, or fear'd it, took th' alarm, 255
Appeal'd to Law, and Justice lent her arm.

At length by wholesome 2 dread of statutes bound,
The poets learn'd to please, and not to wound:
Most warp'd to 3 Flatt'ry's side; but some, more nice,
Preserv'd the freedom, and forebore the vice.

Hence Satire rose, that just the medium hit,
And heals, with morals, what it hurts with wit.

260

4 We conquer'd France, but felt our captive's charms; Her arts victorious triumph'd o'er our arms;

Britain to soft refinements less a foe,

Wit grew polite, and 5 numbers learn'd to flow.

265

Libertasque recurrentes accepta per annos
Lusit amabiliter: 1 donec jam sævus apertam
In rabiem verti cœpit jocus, et per honestas.
Ire domos impune minax. doluere cruento
Dente lacessiti: fuit intactis quoque cura
Conditione super communi: 2 quin etiam lex
Pœnaque lata, malo quæ nollet carmine quemquam ́
Describi. vertere modum, formidine fustis
Ad 3 bene dicendum, delectandumque redacti.
4 Græcia capta, ferum victorem cepit, et artes
Intulit agresti Latio. sic horridus ille
Deffuxits numerus Saturnius, et grave virus
Munditiæ pepulere: sed in longum tamen ævum

Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join
The varying verse, the full-resounding line,
The long majestic march, and energy divine;
Tho' still some traces of our 2 rustic vein,

275

And splay-foot verse, remain'd, and will remain.
Late, very late, correctness grew our care,

When the tir'd nation 2 breath'd from Civil war.

Exact 3 Racine, and Corneille's noble fire

Show'd us that France had something to admire. 275

Not but the 4 tragic spirit was our own,

And full, in Shakespeare, fair, in Otway, shone;
But Otway fail'd to polish, or refine,

And 5 fluent Shakespeare scarce effac'd a line.
Ev'n copious Dryden wanted, or forgot,

The last, and greatest art, the art to blot.
Some doubt, if equal pains, or equal fire,

The humbler Muse of Comedy require.
But in known images of life I guess
The labour greater, as th' indulgence less.

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285

Manserunt, hodieque manent, vestigia ruris.
Serus enim Græcis admovit acumina chartis;
Et post Punica bella, quietus quærere cœpit,
Quid 3 Sophocles, et Thespis, et Æschylus, utile ferrent:
Tentavit quoque rem si digne vertere posset;
Et placuit sibi, natura sublimis, et acer:
Nam 4 spirat tragicum satis, et feliciter audet:
Sed, turpem putat inscite, metuitque lituram.

Creditur, ex medio quia res arcessit, habere
Sudorie minimum, sed habet comœdia tanto

Observe how seldom ev'n the best succeed;
Tell me if Congreve's fools are fools indeed?
What pert low dialogue has Farquhar writ!
How Van. wants grace, who never wanted wit!
The stage how 3 loosely does Astrea tread,
Who fairly puts all characters to bed!
And idle Cibber, how he breaks the laws,

290

To make poor Pinkey, 4 eat with vast applause!
But fill their 5 purse, our Poet's work is done,
Alike to them by Pathos, or by Pun.

O you! whom 5 vanity's light bark conveys

On Fame's mad voyage by the wind of praise,
With what a shifting gale your course you ply,
For ever sunk too low, or børne too high!
Who pants for glory finds but short repose;
A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows.
7 Farewell the stage! if just as thrives the play,
The silly bard grows fat, or falls away.

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300

Plus oneris, quanto veniæ minus. aspice, Plautus

I

Quo pacto partes tuetur amantis ephebi,

Ut patris attenti, leonis ut insidiosi; ·

Quantus sit Dossennus 3 edacibus in parasitis;
Quam 4 non astricto percurrat pulpita socco.
Gestits enim nummum in loculos demmittere; post hoc
Securus, cadat, an recto stet fabula talo.

Quem tulit ad scenam ventoso gloria curru; Exanimat lentus spectator, sedulus inflat:

Sic leve, sic parvum est, animum quod laudis avarum Subruit aut reficit. 7 valeat res ludicra, si me