Thus boys hatch game-eggs under birds of prey,
To make the fowl more furious for the fray.
Slow* Carus next discover'd his intent,
With painful paufes muttering what he meant.
His fparks of life, in fpite of drugs, retreat,
So cold, that only calentures can heat.
In his chill veins the fluggish puddle flows,
And loads with lazy fogs his fable brows.
Legions of lunaticks about him prefs;
His province is, loft reason to redress.
So when perfumes their fragrant fcent give o'er,
Nought can their odour, like a jakes, restore.
When for advice the vulgar throng, he's found
With lumber of vile books befieg'd around.
The gazing throng acknowledge their furprize,
And, deaf to reafon, ftill confult their eyes.
Well he perceives, the world will often find,
To catch the eye is to convince the mind.
Thus a weak ftate by wife diftruft inclines
To numerous ftores, and ftrength in magazines.
So fools are always moft profufe of words,
And cowards never fail of longest swords.
Abandon'd authors here a refuge meet,
And from the world to duft and worms retreat.
Here dregs and fediment of auctions reign,
Refuse of fairs, and gleanings of Duck-lane.
And up these walls much Gothic lumber climbs,
With Swifs philofophy, and Runic rhymes.
Hither, retriev'd from cooks and grocers, come
Mede's works entire, and endlefs reams of Blome.
Where would the long-neglected Collins fly, 135
If bounteous Carus fhould refuse to buy?
But each vile fcribbler 's happy on this score:
He'll find fome Carus ftill to read him o'er.
Nor must we the obfequious Umbra fpare,
Who foft by nature, yet declar'd for war.
But when fome rival power invades a right,
Flies fet on flies, and turtles turtles fight.
Elfe courteous Umbra to the laft had been
Demurely meek, infipidly ferene.
With him, the present ftill fome virtues have;
The vain are fprightly; and the ftupid, grave;
The flothful, negligent; the foppifh, neat;
The lewd are airy; and the fly, discreet;
A Wren, an Eagle; a Baboon, a Beau ;
+ Colt, a Lycurgus; and a Phocion, Rowe.
Heroic ardour now th' assembly warms,
Each combatant breathes nothing but alarms.
For future glory while the fcheme is laid,
Fam'd Horoscope thus offers to diffuade :
Since of each enterprize th' event 's unknown,
We'll quit the sword, and hearken to the gown.
Nigh lives Vagellius, one reputed long
For ftrength of lungs, and pliancy of tongue.
* Dr. Gould.
Mr. Anthony Rowe.
§ Sir Barth. Shower.
For fees, to any form he moulds a cause,
The worst has merits, and the best has flaws.
Five guineas make a criminal to-day;
And ten to-morrow wipe the stain away..
Whatever he affirms is undeny'd,
Milo's the Lecher, Clodius th' Homicide;
Gato pernicious, Catiline a faint,
Orford fufpected, Duncomb innocent.
To law then, friends, for 'tis by Fate decreed,
Vagellius, and our money, fhall fucceed.
Know, when I first invok'd Disease by charms
To prove propitious to our future arms,
Ill omens did the facrifice attend,
Nor would the Sibyl from her grot ascend.
As Horoscope urg'd farther to be heard,
He thus was interrupted by a * Bard:
In vain your magic myfteries you use,
Such founds the Sibyl's facred ears abuse.
These lines the pale divinity fhall raise,
Such is the power of found, and force of lays.
"+ Arms meet with arms, fauchions with fauchions "clafh,
"And sparks of fire struck out from armour flash. 180 "Thick clouds of dust contending warriors raise, " And hideous war o'er all the region brays. "Some raging ran with huge Herculean clubs, "Some maffy balls of brafs, fome mighty tubs "Of cinders bore.
Sir Richard Blackmore. † King Arthur, p. 307. King Arthur, p. 327.
"Naked and half-burnt hills with hideous wreck
s¢ Affright the skies, and fry the ocean's back "
As he went rumbling on, the Fury straight
Crawl'd in, her limbs could scarce fupport her weight.
A rueful rag her meagre forehead bound,
And faintly her furr'd lips thefe accents found:
Morta', how dar'ft thou with fuch lines addrefs
My awful feat, and trouble my recess ?
In Effex marfhy hundreds is a cell,
Where lazy fogs and drizzling vapours dwell:
Thither raw damps on drooping wings repair,
And fhivering quartens fhake the fickly air.
There, when fatigu'd, fome filent hours I pass,
And fubftitute Phyficians in my place.
Then dare not, for the future, once rehearse
The diffonance of fuch untuneful verfe;
But in your lines let energy be found,
And learn to rife in fenfe, and fink in found.
Harfh words, though pertinent, uncouth appear;
None please the fancy, who offend the ear.
In fenfe and numbers if you would excel,
Read Wycherley, confider Dryden well.
In one, what vigorous turns of fancy shine!
In th' other, Syrens warble in each line.
If Dorfet's fprightly Mufe but touch the lyre,
The Smiles and Graces melt in foft defire,
And little Loves confefs their amorous fire.
After ver. 212. thefe lines are omitted:
The Tiber now no gentle Gallus fees,
But fmiling Thames enjoys her Normanbys.
*Prince Arthur, p. 130.
The gentle Ifis claims the ivy crown,
To bind th’immortal brows of Addison.
As tuneful Congreve tries his rural strains,
Pan quits the woods, the liftening Fawns the plains;
And Philomel, in notes like his, complains.
And Britain, fince Paufanias was writ,
Knows Spartan virtue, and Athenian wit.
When Stepney paints the godlike acts of kings,
Or, what Apollo dictates, Prior fings ;
The banks of Rhine a pleas'd attention show,
And filver Sequana forgets to flow.
Such just examples carefully read o'er;
Slide without falling; without ftraining, foar.
Oft' though your ftrokes furprize, you should not choose
A theme fo mighty for a virgin Muse.
Long did Apelles his fam'd piece decline;
His Alexander was his laft defign.
'Tis Montague's rich vein alone must prove,
None but a Phidias fhould attempt a Jove..
The Fury paus'd, till with a frightful found
A rifing whirlwind burft th' unhallow'd ground.
Then she—The Deity we Fortune call,
Though diftant, rules and influences all.
The Fury faid; and vanishing from fight,
Cry'd out, To arms; fo left the realms of light..
The combatants to th' enterprize confent,
And the next day fmil'd on the great event.
* Paufanias, written by Mr. Norton.,
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