P. So proud, I am no slave: So impudent, I own myself no knave: O sacred weapon! left for truth's defence, When black ambition stains a public cause, Not so, when diadem'd with rays divine, Touch'd with the flame that breaks from Virtue's shrine, Her priestess Muse forbids the good to die, And opes the temple of Eternity. There, other trophies deck the truly brave, ** And may descend to Mordington from STAIR;2 1 The chief herald at arms. It is the custom, at the funeral of great men, to cast into the grave the broken staves and ensigns of honour. 2 John Dalrymple, Earl of Stair, served in all the wars under the Duke of Marlborough. 3 Dr. John Hough, Bishop of Worcester, and the Lord Digby: the one an assertor of the church of England, in opposition to the false Let Envy howl, while heaven's whole chorus sings, F. Alas! alas! pray end what you began, LINES ON RECEIVING FROM THE RT. HON. THE LADY FRANCES SHIRLEY A STANDISH AND TWO PENS. YES, I beheld the Athenian queen "Secure the radiant weapons wield; This steel shall stab it to the heart." measures of King James II.; the other as firmly attached to the cause of that king; both acting out of principle, and equally men of honour and virtue. 1 This was the last poem of the kind printed by our author, with a resolution to publish no more, but to enter thus, in the most plain and solemn manner he could, a sort of PROTEST against that insuperable corruption and depravity of manners which he had been so unhappy as to live to see. Could he have hoped to have amended any, he had continued those attacks; but bad men were grown so shameless and so powerful, that ridicule was become as unsafe as it was ineffectual, The poem raised him, as he knew it would, some enemies: but he had reason to be satisfied with the approbation of good men, and the testimony of his own conscience. Awed, on my bended knees I fell, "What well? what weapon?" (Flavia cries) "But, friend, take heed whom you attack; "You'd write as smooth again on glass, "Athenian queen! and sober charms! "Come, if you'll be a quiet soul, Of those that sing of these poor eyes.” ΤΟ THE AUTHOR OF A POEM ENTITLED "SUCCESSIO," [ELKANAH SETTLE.] BEGONE, ye critics! and restrain your spite, A swarm of drones that buzz'd about your head. When you, like Orpheus, strike the warbling lyre, And ponderous slugs move nimbly through the sky. 1740. A FRAGMENT OF A POEM. O WRETCHED B-! jealous now of all, -'s views are clear, To purge and let thee blood, with fire and sword, Is all the help stern S- would afford. That those who bind and rob thee, would not kill, Good C- hopes, and candidly sits still. Of Ch-s W who speaks at all, No more than of Sir Harry or Sir Paul? Whose names once up, they thought it was not wrong To lie in bed, but sure they lay too long. G -r, C -m, B-t, pay thee due regards, Unless the ladies bid them mind their cards. with wit that must And C- -d, who speaks so well and writes, Whose wit and must needs , equally provoke onc, Finds thee, at best, the butt to crack his joke on. As for the rest, each winter up they run, And all are clear, that something must be done. Then urged by Ct, or by Ct stopp'd, Inflamed by P- and by P dropp'd; They follow reverently each wondrous wight, Amazed that one can read, that one can write: So geese to gander prone obedience keep, Hiss if he hiss, and if he slumber, sleep. Till having done whate'er was fit or fine, Utter'd a speech, and ask'd their friends to dine; Each hurries back to his paternal ground, Content but for five shillings in the pound; Yearly defeated, yearly hopes they give, And all agree, Sir Robert cannot live. Rise, rise, great W fated to appear, Spite of thyself, a glorious minister! And treat with half the At length to B-kind, as to thy What can thy H Dress in Dutch Though still he travels on no bad pretence, Or those foul copies of thy face and tongue, Sagacious Bub, so late a friend, and there So late a foe, yet more sagacious H ? Hervey and Hervey's school, F-, H—y, H——n Yea, moral Ebor, or religious Winton. How! what can O- -w, what can D The wisdom of the one and other chair, N- laugh, or D-'s sager, Or thy dread truncheon, M.'s mighty peer? What help from J's opiates canst thou draw, Or H-k's quibbles voted into law? |