3o the fam'd fpear, for double force renown'd, Apply'd the remedy that gave the wound.

In tedious lifts 'twere endless to engage,

And draw at length the rabble of the Stage,
Where one for twenty years has given alarms,
And call'd contending monarchs to their arms;
Another fills a more important post,

And rifes every other night a ghoft;

Through the cleft Stage, his mealy face he rears,
Then stalks along, groans thrice, and disappears;
Others, with fwords and fhields, the foldier's pride,
More than a thoufand times have chang'd their side,
And in a thousand fatal battles dy'd.

Thus feveral perfons several parts perform ;
Soft lovers whine, and bluftering heroes ftorm.
The stern exasperated tyrants rage,

Till the kind bowl of poifon clears the Stage,
Then honours vanith, and diftinctions cease;
Then, with reluctance, haughty queens undress.
Heroes no more their fading laurels boast,
And mighty kings in private men are lost.
He, whom fuch titles fwell'd, fuch power made proud,
To whom whole realms and vanquish'd nations bow'd,
Throws off the gaudy plume, the purple train,
And in his own vile tatters ftinks again.

ON

ON THE LADY MANCHESTER.

W

HILE haughty Gallia's dames, that spread O'er their pale cheeks, an artful red, Beheld this beauteous ftranger there In native charms, divinely fair; Confufion in their looks they show'd; And with unborrow'd blushes glow'd.

CAT O.

CA T
T

O.

A

TRAGEDY.

"Ecce fpectaculum dignum, ad quod refpiciat, in"tentus operi fuo, Deus! Ecce par Deo dignum, "vir fortis cum malâ fortunâ compofitus! Non “video, inquam, quid habeat in terris Jupiter pul"chrius, fi convertere animum velit, quàm ut "fpectet Catonem, jam partibus non femel fractis, "nihilominùs inter ruinas publicas ere&tum."

SEN. de Divin. Prov.

VER SE S

TO THE

AUTHOR OF THE TRAGEDY OF CATO.

HILE the fierce divided Britons awe,
you

WH

And Cato with an equal virtue draw; While envy is itself in wonder loft,

moft

And factions strive who fhall applaud you
Forgive the fond ambition of a friend,
Who hopes himself, not you, to recommend:
And joins th' applaufe which all the learn'd beftow
On one, to whom a perfect work they owe.
To my * light scenes I once infcrib'd your name,
And impotently frove to borrow fame;

Soon will that die, which adds thy name to mine;
Let me, then, live, join’d to a work of thine.

RICHARD STEELE.

◄IS nobly done thus to enrich the stage,
And raise the thoughts of a degenerate age;

To fhew how endless joys from freedom spring,
How life in bondage is a worthlefs thing.
The inborn greatness of your foul we view,

You tread the paths frequented by the few;

With

*Tender Hufband, dedicated to Mr. Addifon.