網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

Lo! ftill he bids thy wonted bounty flow
To weeping families of worth and woe.
He ftops all tears, however fast they rife,
Save thofe, that still muft fall from grateful eyes,
And, fpite of griefs that so ufurp his mind,
Still watches o'er the welfare of mankind.

Father of thofe, whofe rights thy care defends, Still moft their own, when moft their fovereign's friends; Then chiefly brave, from bondage chiefly free, When most they truft, when moft they copy thee; Ah! let the lowest of thy subjects pay His honeft heart-felt tributary lay; In anguish happy, if permitted here, One figh to vent, to drop one virtuous tear; Happier, if pardon'd, should he wildly moan, And with a monarch's forrow mix his own,

LONDON

LONDON AND BRISTOL

DELINEATE D. *

Two fea-port cities mark Britannia's fame,

And these from commerce different honours claim.
What different honours fhall the mufes

pay,
While one infpires and one untunes the lay?
Now filver Ifis bright'ning flows along,
Echoing from Oxford fhore each claffic fong,
Then weds with Thame; and thefe, O London, fee
Swelling with naval pride, the pride of thee!
Wide, deep, unfullied Thames, meand'ring glides,
And bears thy wealth on mild majestic tides.
Thy fhips, with gilded palaces that vie,

In glitt'ring pomp, ftrike wond'ring China's eye;
And thence returning bear, in fplendid state,
To Britain's merchants, India's eastern freight,
India, her treasures from her western shores,
Due at thy feet, a willing tribute pours;

Thy warring navies diftant nations awe,
And bid the world obey thy righteous law.

The author preferred this title to that of LONDON AND BRISTOL COMPARED; which when he began the piece, he intended to prefix to it.

Thus

Thus fhine thy manly fons of lib'ral mind;
Thy change deep-bufied, yet as courts refin'd;
Councils, like fenates, that enforce debate
With fluent eloquence and reason's weight.
Whofe patriot virtue, lawless pow'r controls;
Their British, emulating Roman fouls.
Of these the worthiest still selected stand,
Still lead the fenate, and still fave the land :-
Social, not selfish, here, O Learning, trace
Thy friends, the lovers of all human race!
"In a dark bottom funk, O Bristol, now,
With native malice, lift thy low'ring brow!
Then as fome hell-born fprite, in mortal guife,
Borrows the shape of goodness and belies,

All fair, all fmug, to yond proud hall invite,
To feast all strangers, ape an air polite !

Crom Cambria drain'd, or England's western coast,
Not elegant, yet coftly banquets boast!
Revere, or seem the stranger to revere;
Praife, fawn, profess, be all things but fincere ;
Infidious now, our bofom-secrets steal,

And these with fly, farcaftic fneer reveal.

Present we meet thy sneaking treach❜rous fmiles;

The harmless abfent still thy fneer reviles ;

Such as in thee all parts fuperior find,

The fneer that marks the fool and knave combin'd; When melting pity would afford relief,

The ruthlefs fneer that infult adds to grief.

[blocks in formation]

What friendship canst thou boast, what honours claim?
To thee each stranger owes an injur❜d name.

What smiles thy fons must in their foes excite?
Thy fons, to whom all difcord is delight:
From whom eternal mutual railing flows;
Who in each others crimes, their own expofe:
Thy fons, tho" crafty, deaf to wisdom's call;
Defpifing all men, and defpis'd by all.
Sons, while thy cliffs a ditch-like river laves,
Rude as thy rocks, and muddy as thy waves,
Of thoughts as narrow as of words immense,
As full of turbulence as void of fense:
Thee, thee, what fenatorial fouls adorn?

Thy natives fure would prove a fenate's scorn.
Do strangers deign to ferve thee; what their praife?
Their gen'rous fervices thy murmurs raise.
What fiend malign, that o'er thy air prefides,
Around from breast to breast inherent glides,
And, as he glides, there scatters, in a trice,
The lurking feeds of ev'ry rank device?
Let foreign youths to thy indentures run!
Each, each will prove, in thy adopted fon,
Proud, pert and dull-tho' brilliant once from schools,
Will fcorn all learning's, as all virtue's rules;
And, tho', by nature friendly, honest, brave,
Turn a fly, selfish, fimpʼring, sharping knave.
Boaft petty-courts, where 'ftead of fluent eafe,
Of cited precedents and learned pleas;

'Stead

[ocr errors][merged small]

'Stead of fage counfel in the dubious caufe,
Attornies chatt'ring wild, burlefque the laws-
(So fhameless quacks, who doctors rights invade,
Of jargon and of poifon form a trade.

So canting coblers, while from tubs they teach,
Buffoon the Gospel they pretend to preach.)
Boaft petty courts, whence rules new rigour draw,
Unknown to Nature's and to Statute-law;
Quirks that explain all saving rights away,
To give th' attorney and the catchpoll prey.
Is there where law too rig'rous may descend,
Or charity her kindly hand extend ?
Thy courts, that shut when pity wou'd redress;
Spontaneous open to inflict diftrefs.

Try misdemeanours !—all thy wiles employ,
Not to chastise the offender, but destroy;
Bid the large lawless fine his fate foretel;
Bid it beyond his crime and fortune fwell;
Cut off from fervice due to kindred blood,
To private welfare and to public good,
Pitied by all, but thee, he sentenc'd lies;
Imprison'd languishes, imprison'd dies.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

*

* *

*

*

Boaft

« 上一頁繼續 »