So shall you keep alive desire,
And Time's swiit wing shall fan the fire.
IN garret high (as stories say)
A poet sung his tuneful lay;
So soft, so smooth his verse, you'd swear
Apollo and the Muses there.
Through all the town his praises rung,
His sonnet at the playhouse sung;
High waving o'er his lab'ring head,
The goddess Want her pinions spread,
And with poetic fury fir'd,
What Phoebus faintly had inspir'd.
A noble youth, of taste and wit,
Approv'd the sprightly things he writ,
And sought him in his cobweb dome,
Discharg'd his rent, and brought him home.
Behold him at the stately board,
Who, but the Poet and my Lord!
Each day deliciously he dines,
And greedy quaffs the gen'rous wines;
His sides were plump, his skin was sleek,
And plenty wanton'd on his cheek;
Astonish'd at the change so new,
Away th' inspiring goddess flew.
Now, dropt for polities, and news,
Neglected lay the drooping Muse;
Unmindful whence his fortune came,
He stifled the poetic flame;
Nor tale, nor sonnet, for my lady,
Lampoon, nor epigram was ready.
With just contempt his patron saw,
(Resolv'd his bounty to withdraw)
And thus, with anger in his look,
The late-repenting fool bespoke.
"Blind to the good that courts thee grown,
Whence has the sun of favour shone?
Delighted with thy tuneful art,
Esteem was growing in my heart;
But idly thou reject'st the charia,
That gave it birth, and kept it warm."
Unthinking fools alone despise
The arts, that taught them first to rise.
THE WOLF, THE SHEEP, AND THE LAMB.
DUTY demands, the parent's voice
Should sanctify the daughter's choice;
In that, is due obedience shown;
To choose, belongs to her alone.
May horrour seize his midnight hour,
Who builds upon a parent's pow'r,
And claims, by purchase vile and base,
The loathing maid for his embrace;
Hence Virtue sickens; and the breast,
Where Peace had built her downy nest,
Becomes the troubled seat of Care,
And pines with anguish and despair.
A WOLF, rapacions, rough and bold, Whose nightly plunders thina'd the fold, Contemplating his ill-spent life,
And cloy'd with thefts, would take a wife.
His purpose known, the savage race,
In num'rous crowds, attend the place;
For why? a mighty Wolf he was,
And held dominion in his jaws.
Her fav'rite whelp each mother brought,
And humbly his alliance sought;
But cold by age, or else too nice,
None found acceptance in his eyes.
It happen'd, as at early dawn
He solitary cross'd the lawn,
Stray'd from the fold, a sportive Lamb
Sk p'd wanton by her fleecy dam;
When Cupid, foe to man and beast,
Discharg'd an arrow at his breast.
The tim'rous breed the robber knew,
And trembling o'er the meadow flew;
Their nimblest speed the Wolf o'ertook,
And, courteous, thus the dam bespoke.
"Stay, fairest, and suspend your fear,
Trust me, no enemy is near;
These jaws, in slaughter oft imbru'd,
At length have known enough of blood;
And kinder business brings me now,
Vanquish'd, at Reauty's feet to bow.
You have a daughter-
A Wo f's address-In her I live;
Love from her eyes like lightning came,
And set my marrow all on flame;
Let your consent confirm my choice,
And ratify our nuptial joys.
"Me ample wealth and pow'r attend,
Wide o'er the plains my realms extend;
What midnight robber dare invade
The fold, if I the guard am made?
At home the shepherd's cur may sleep,
While I secure his master's sheep."
Discourse like this, attention e'aim'd;
Grandeur the mother's breast inflam'd;
Now fearless by his side she walk'd,
Of settlements and jointures talk'd;
ropos'd, and doubled her demands
Of flow`ry fields, and turnip-lands.
The Wolf agrees. Her bosom swells;
To Miss her happy fate she tells;
And of the grand alliance vain,
Contemns her kindred of the plain.
The loathing Lamb with horrour hears,
And wearies out her dam with pray'rs;
But all in vain; mamma best knew
What inexperiene'd girls should do;
So, to the neighb`ring meadow carry'd,
A formal ass the couple marry'd.
Torn from the tyrant-mother's side,
The trembler goes, a victim-bride,
Peluctant, mcets the rude embrace,
And bleats among the howling race.
With horrour oft her eyes behold
Her murder'd kindred of the fold;
Teh day a sister-lamb is serv'd,
And at the glutton's table cary'd ;
The crashing bones he grinds for food,
And slakes his thirst with streaming blood.
Love, who the cruel mind detests,
And lodges but in gentle breasts,
Was now no more.
The savage hunger'd for the feast;
But (as we find in human race,
A mask conceals the villain's face)
Justice must authorize the treat;
Till then he long'd, but durst not eat.
As forth he walk'd, in quest of prey,
The hunters met him on the way;
Year wings his flight; the marsh he sought;
The snuffing dogs are set at fault.
His stomach balk'd, now hunger gnaws,
Howling, he grinds his empty jaws;
Food must be had, and lamb is nigh;
His maw invokes the fraudful lie.
"Is this," dissembling rage, he cry'd,
"The gentle virtue of a bride?
That, leagu'd with man's destroying race,
She sets her husband for the chase?
By treach'ry prompts the noisy hound
To scent his footsteps on the ground?
Thou trait'ress vile! for this thy blood
Shall glut my rage, and dye the wood !"
So saying, on the Lamb he flies,
Beneath his jaws the victim dies.
I HATE the face, however fair,
That carries an affected air;
The lisping tone, the shape constrain'd,
The study'd look, the pass on feign'd,
Are fopperies, which only tend
To injure what they strive to mend.
With what superior grace enchants
The face, which Nature's pencil paints!
Where eyes, unexercis'd in art,
Glow with the meaning of the heart!
Where freedom, and good-humour sit,
And easy gaiety, and wit!
Though perfect beauty be not there,
The master lines, the finish'd air,
We catch from every look delight,
And grow enamour'd at the sight:
For beauty, though we all approve,
Excites our wonder more than love,
While the agreeable strikes sure,
And gives the wounds we cannot cure.
Why then, my Amoret, this care,
That forms you, in effect, less fair?
If Nature on your cheek bestows
A bloom, that emulates the rose,
Or from some heav'nly image drew
A form, Apelles never knew,
Your ill-judg'd aid will you impart,
And spoil by meretricious art?
Or had you, Nature's errour, come
Abortive from the mother's womb,
Your forming care she still rejects,
Which only heightens her defects.
When such, of glitt'ring jewels proud,
Still press the foremost in the crowd,
At every public show are seen,
With look awry, and aukward mien,
The gaudy dress attracts the eye,
And magnifies deformity.
Nature may under-do her part,
But seldom wants the help of Art;
Trust her; she is your surest friend,
Nor made your form for you to mend.
A Goose, affected, empty, vain, The shrillest of the cackling train, With proud, and elevated crest, Precedence claim'd above the rest.
Says she, "I laugh at human race, Who say, geese hobble in their pace:
So saying, with extended wings,
Lightly upon the wave she springs;
Her bosoin swells, she spreads her plumes,
And the swan's stately crest assumes.
Contempt and mockery ensu'd,
And bursts of laughter shook the flood.
A Swan, superior to the rest,
Sprung forth, and thus the fool address'd.
"Conceited thing, elate with pride!
Thy affectation all deride;
These airs thy aukwardness impart,
And show thee plainly, as thou art.
Among thy equals of the flock,
Thou hast escap'd the public mock,
And as thy parts to good conduce,
Been deem'd an honest hobbling goose
Lean hence, to study wisdom s rules;
Know, foppery's the pride of fools;
And striv.ug Nature to conceal,
You only her defects reveal.
Love! thon d'vinest good below,
Thy pure delights few mortals know!
Our rebel hearts thy sway disown,
While tyrant Lust usurps thy throne.
The bounteous God of Nature made
The sexes for each other's aid,
Their mutual talents to employ,
To lessen ills, and heighten joy.
To weaker woman he assign'd
That soft'ning gentleness of mind,
That can, by sympathy, impart
Its likeness to the roughest heart.
Her eyes with magic pow'r endu`d,
To fire the dull, and awe the rude.
His rosy fingers on her face
Shed lavish every blooming grace,
And stamp`d (perfection to display)
His mildest image on her clay.
Man, active, resolute, and bold, He fashion'd in a different mould, With useful arts his mind inform'd, His breast with nobler passions warm'd;
He gave him knowledge, taste and sense,
And courage, for the fai 's defence.
Her frame, resistless to each wrong,
Demands protection from the strong;
To man she flies, when fear alarms,
And claims the temple of his arms.
By Nature's author thus declar'd
The woman's sov'reign, and her guard,
Shall man, by treach'rous wiles, invade
The weakness he was meant to aid?
While beauty, given to inspire
Protecting love, and soft desire,
Lights up a wild-fire in the heart,
And to its own breast points the dart,
Becomes the spoiler's base pretence
To triumph over innocence?
The wolf, that tears the tim'rous sheep, Was never set the fold to keep; Nor was the tiger, or the pard Meant the benighted travller's guard; But man, the wildest beast of prey, Wears friendship's semblance, to betray; His strength against the weak employs, And where he should protect, destroys.
"PAST twelve o'clock," the watchman cry'd,
His brief the studious lawyer ply'd;
The all-prevailing fee lay nigh,
The earnest of to morrow's lie.
Sudden the furious winds arise,
The jarring easement shatter'd flies;
The doors admit a hollow sound,
And rattling from their hinges bound;
When Justice, in a blaze of light,
Reveal'd her radiant form to sight.
The wretch with thrilling horrour shook,
Loose every joint, and pale his look;
Not having seen her in the courts,
Or found her mention'd in Reports,
He ask'd, with falt'ring ton_ue, her name,
Her errand there, and whence she came?
Sternly the white-rob'd Shade reply'd,
(A crimson glow her visage dy'd)
"Canst thou be doubtful who I am?
Is Justice grown so strange a name?
Were not your courts for Just'ce rais'd?
"Twas there, of old, my al ars blaz'd.
My guardian then did I elect,
My sacred temple to protect,
That thou, and all thy venal tribe
Should spura the goddess for the bribe?
Aloud the ruin'd client cries,
Justice has neither cars, nor eyes;'
In foul alliance with the bar,
"Gainst me the judge denounces war,
And rarely issues his deerce,
But with intent to baffle me."
She paus'd. Her breast with fury burn'd. The trembling Lawyer thus returned.
"I own the charge is justly laid,
And weak th' excuse that can be made;
Yet search the spacious globe, and ste
If all mankind are not like me.
"The gown-man, skill'd in Romish lies,
By faith's false glass deludes our eyes;
O'er conscience rides without control,
And robs the man to save his soul.
"The doctor, with important face,
By sly design, mistakes the case;
Prescribes, and spins out the disease,
To trick the patient of his fees.
"The soldier, rough with many a scar,
And red with slaughter, leads the war;
If he a nation's trust betray,
The foe has offer'd double pay.
"When vice o'er all mankind prevails, And weighty int'rest turns the scales, Must I be better than the rest, And harbour Justice in my breast? On one side only take the fee, Content with poverty and thee?"
Thou blind to sense, and vile of mind,"
Th' exasperated Shade rejoin'd,
"If virtue from the world is flown,
Will others' frauds excuse thy own?
For sickly souls the priest was made;
Physicians, for the body's aid;
The soldier guarded liberty;
Man woman, and the lawyer me.
If all are faithless to their trust,
They leave not thee the less unjust.
Henceforth your pleadings I disclaim,
And bar the sanction of my name;
Within your courts it shall be read,
That Justice from the law is fled."
She spoke; and hid in shades her face, Till Hardwicke sooth'd her into grace.
THE FARMER, THE SPANIEL, AND THE CAT.
Why knits my dear her angry brow?
What rude offence alarms you now?
I said, that Delia's fair, 'tis true,
But did I say she equall'd you?
Can't I another's face commend,
Or to her virtues be a friend,
But instantly your forehead lours,
As if her merit lessen'd yours?
From female envy never free,
All must be blind, because you see.
Survey the gardens, fields, and bow'rs,
The buds, the blo soms, and the flow'rs,
Then tell me where the woodbine grows,
That vies in sweetness with the rose?
Or where the lily's snowy white,
That throws such beauties on the sight?
Yet folly is it to declare,
That these are neither sweet, nor fair.
The crystal shines with fainter rays,
Before the di'mond's brighter blaze;
And fops will say, the di'mond dies,
Before the lustre of your eyes:
But I, who deal in truth, deny
That neither shine when you are by.
When zephyrs o'er the blossoms stray,
And sweets along the air convey,
Sha'n't I the fragrant breeze inhale,
Because you breathe a sweeter gale?
Sweet are the flow'rs, that deck the field;
Sweet is te sinell the blossoms yield;
Sweet is the summer gale that blows;
And sweet, though swee.r you, the rose.
Shall envy then torment your breast,
If you are lovelier than the ret?
for while I give to each her due,
By praising them I flatter you ;
And, praising most, I still declare You fairest, where the rest are fair.
As at his board a Farmer sate,
Replenish'd by his homely treat,
His fav'rite Spaniel near him stood,
And with his master shar'd the food;
The crackling bones his jaws devour'd,
His lapping tongue the trenchers scour'd;
Till sated now, supine he lay,
And snor'd the rising fumes away.
The hungry Cat, in turn, drew near,
And humbly crav'd a servant's share;
Her modest worth the master knew,
And straight the fatt'ning morsel threw :
Enrag'd the snarling cur awoke,
And thus, with spiteful envy, spoke.
"They only claim a right to eat,
Who earn by services their meat.
Me, zeal and industry inflame
To scour the fields, and spring the game;
Or, plunging in the wintry wave,
For man the wounded bird to save.
With watchful diligence I keep,
From prowling wolves, his fleecy sheep;
At home his midnight hours secure,
And drive the robber from the door.
For this, his breast with kindness glows;
For this, his hand the food bestows;
And shall thy indolence impart
A warmer friendship to his heart,
That thus he robs me of my due,
To pamper such vile things as you?"
"I own," with meekness Puss reply'd,
"Superior merit on your side;
Nor does my breast with envy swell,
To find it recompens'd so well;
Yet I, in what my nature can,
Contribute to the good of man.
Whose claws destroy the pilf'ring mouse?
Who drives the vermin from the house?
Or, watchful for the lab'ring swain,
From lurking rats secures the grain?
From hence, if he rewards bestow,
Why should your heart with gail o'erflow ?
Why pine my happiness to see,
Since there's enough for you and me?"
Thy words are just," the Farmer cry'd, And spurn'd the snarler from his side.
THE nymph, who walks the public strects,
And sets her cap at all she meets,
May catch the fool who turns to stare,
But men of sense avoid the suare.
As on the margin of the flood,
With silken line, my Lydia stood,
I smil'd to see the pains you took,
To cover o'er the fraudful hook.
Along the forest as we stray'd,
You saw the boy his lime-twigs spread;
Guess'd you the reason of his fear,
Lest, heedless, we approach'd too near? For as behind the bush we lay,
The linnet flutter'd on the spray.
Needs there such caution to delude The scaly fry, and feather'd brood? And think you, with inferior art, To captivate the human heart?
The maid, who modestly conceals Her beauties, while she hides, reveals. Give but a glimpse, and Fancy draws Whate'er the Grecian Venus was. From Eve's first fig-leaf to brocade, All dress was meant for Fancy's aid, Which evermore delighted dwells On what the bashful nymph conceals. When Calia struts in man's attire, She shows too much to raise desire; But from the hoop's bewitching round, Her very shoe has power to wound. The roving eye, the bosom bare, The forward laugh, the wanton air, May catch the fop; for gudgeons strike At the bare hook, and bait, alike; While salmon play regardless by, Till art, like nature, forms the fly.
BENEATH a peasant's homely thatch,
A Spider long had held her watch;
From morn to night, with restless care,
She spun her web, and wove her snare.
Within the limits of her reign
Lay many a heedless captive slain,
Or, flutt'ring, struggled in the toils,
To burst the chains, and shun her wiles.
A straying Bee, that perch'd hard by,
Beheld her with disdainful eye,
And thus began. Mean thing, give o'er,
And lay thy slender threads no more;
A thoughtless fly or two, at most,
Is all the conquest thou canst boast;
For bees of sense thy arts evade,
We see so plain the nets are laid.
"The gaudy tulip, that displays
Her spreading foliage to the gaze;
That points her charms at all she sees,
And yields to every wanton breeze,
Attracts not me: where blushing grows,
Guarded with thorns, the modest rose,
Enamour'd, round and round I fly,
Or on her fragrant bosom lie;
Reluctant, she my ardour meets,
And bashful, renders up her sweets."
To wiser heads attention lend,
And learn this lesson from a friend.
She, who with modesty retires,
Adds fuel to her lover's fires,
While such incautions jilts as you,
By folly your own schemes undo.
THE YOUNG LION AND THE APE.
'Tis true, I blame your lover's choice,
Though flatter'd by the public voice,
And peevish grow, and sick, to hear
His exclamat ns, "O how fair!"
I listen not to wild delights,
And transports of expected nights:
What is to me your hoard of charms?
The whiteness of your neck and arms?
Needs there no acquisition more,
To keep contention from the door?
Yes; pass a fortnight, and you 'll find
All beauty cloys, but of the mind.
Sense and good-humour ever prove
The surest cords to fasten love.
Yet, Phills, simplest of your sex,
You never think but to perplex,
Coquetting it with every ape,
That struts abroad in human shape;
Not that the coxcomb is
your taste,
But that it stings your lover's breast:
To morrow you resign the sway,
Prepar'd to honour, and obey,
The tyrant-mistress change for life,
To the submission of a wife.
Your follies, if you can, suspend,
And learn instruction from a friend.
Reluctant, hear the first address,
Think often, ere you answer, yes;
But once resolv'd, throw off disguise,
And wear your wishes in your eyes.
With caution every look forbear,
That mht create one jealous fear,
A lover's ripening hopes confound,
Or give the generous breast a wound.
Contemn the girlish arts to teaze,
Nor use your pow'r, unless to please;
For tools alone with rigour sway,
When, soon or late, they must obey.
THE king of brutes, in life's decline,
Resoy'd dominion to resign;
The beasts were summon'd to appear,
And bend before the royal heir.
They came; a day was fix'd; the crowd
Before the'r future monarch boy 'd.
A dapper Monkey, pert and va'n,
Stepp'd forth, and thus address'd the train.
"Why ering my friends with slavish awe,
Before this pageant king of straw?
Shal we anticipate the hour,
And ere we feel it, own his power?
The coms is of experience prize,
I know the maxins of the wise;
Subjeton let us cast away,
And live the monarcas of to day;
Ts ons the vacant hand to span,
And play the tyrant each in tura.
So shall he 'ght from wrong discern,
And morey from oppression kara;
At others' woes be taught to melt,
And loath the is himself has felt."
He spoke; hi bosom swell'd with pride.
The youthful Lioa tous reply'd,
"What madness promp's ta e to provoke My wrath, ani dare th' mend ng stroke? Ton wretched fool! can wrongs impart Compassion to the feel ng heart?
Or teach the grateful breast to glow,
The hand to give, or eye to flow?
Learn'd in the practee of their schools,
From women thou hast drawn thy rules:
To them return; in such a cause,
From only such expect applause;
The partial sex I no' con lemn,
For liking those, who copy them.
Wou'd'st thou the generons Lion bind,
By kindness bribe him to be kind;
Good offices their likeness get,
And payment lessens not the debt;
With multiplying hand he gives
The good, from others he receives:
Or for the bad makes fair return,
And pays, with interest, scorn for scorn.
THE COLT AND THE FARMER.
TELL me, Corinna, if you can,
Why so averse, so coy to man?
Did Nature, lavish of her care,
From her best pattern form you fair,
That you, ungrateful to her cause,
Should mock her gifts, and spurn her laws?
And miser-like, withhold that store,
Which, by imparting, blesses more?
Beauty's a gift, by Heav'n assign'd,
The portion of the female kind;
For this the yielding maid demands
Protection at her lover's hands;
And though by wasting years it fade,
Remembrance tells him, once 'twas paid.
And will you then this wealth conceal,
For age to rust, or time to sial?
The summer of your youth to rove,
A stranger to the joys of love?
Then, when life's winter hastens on,
And youth's fair heritage is gone,
Dow'rless to court some peasam's arms,
To guard your wither'd age from harins;
No gratitude to warm his breast,
For blooming beauty, once pos-ess'd;
How will you curse that stubborn pride,
Which drove your bark across the tide,
And sailing before folly's wind,
Lett sense and happiness behind ?
Corinna, lest these whins prevail, To such as you, I write my tale.
A corT, for blood, and mottled speed,
The choicest of the rumming breed,
Of youthful strength, and beauty vain,
Refus'd subjection to the rein.
In vain the groom's officions skill
Oppos'd his pride, and checi,'d his will:
in vain the master's forming care
Restrain'd with threats, or soothed with pray'r
Officelom proud, and scorning man,
Wild o'er the spacious plans he ran.
Where'er luxuriant Nature spread
Her flow 'ry carpet ofer the head,
Or bubbling streams solt-ghdding pass,
To cool and freshen up the grass,
Disdaining bounds, he cropp'd the blade,
An I wanton'd in the spol be made.
In plecy thus the summer pass'd,
Revolving winter came at lase;
The tres no more a shelter vild,
The verdere withers from the field,
Perpetual snows invest the ground,
citals the streams are b. and;
Cold, niping winds, and ractlang had,
His lank, unshelter'd sides ass l.
As round he cast his ruerul eyes, He saw the thatch'd-roof cottage rise;
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