If, after this, you took the graceless lad, Could you complain, my friend, he prov'd so bad? Faith, in such case, if you should prosecute, I think Sir Godfrey should decide the suit; Who sent the thief that stole the cash away, And punish'd him that put it in his way. Consider then, and judge me in this light; I told you when I went I could not write; You said the same; and are you discontent With laws to which you gave your own assent ? 30 Denied all posts of profit or of trust. For right hereditary tax'd and fin'd Indebted to no prince or peer alive, Sure I should want the care of ten Monroes, 70 If I would scribble rather than repose. Years foll'wing years steal something ev'ry day, pass, Two Aldermen dispute it with an Ass? And Peers give way, exalted as they are, Ev'n to their own s-r-v -nce in a car? Go, lofty Poet, and in such a crowd Sing thy sonorous verse but not aloud. Alas! to grottos and to groves we run, 110 To ease and silence, ev'ry Muse's son: Blackmore himself, for any grand effort Would drink and doze at Tooting or Earl'scourt. How shall I rhyme in this eternal roar? How match the bards whom none e'er match'd before? The man who, stretch'd in Isis' calm retreat, To books and study gives sev❜n years complete, See! strew'd with learned dust, his night To court applause by printing what I write : But let the fit pass o'er; I'm wise enough To stop my ears to their confounded stuff. In vain bad rhymers all mankind reject, They treat themselves with most profound respect; "T is to small purpose that you hold your tongue, Each, prais'd within, is happy all day long: But how severely with themselves proceed The men who write such verse as we can read? Their own strict judges, not a word they spare That wants or force, or light, or weight, or Howe'er unwillingly it quits its place, Nay, tho' at Court (perhaps) it may find grace. Such they'll degrade; and, sometimes in its stead, In downright charity revive the dead; Mark where a bold expressive phrase appears, Bright thro' the rubbish of some hundred years; Half that the Devil o'erlooks from Lincoln town. The laws of God, as well as of the land, Loose on the point of ev'ry wav'ring hour, Man? and for ever? Wretch! what wouldst thou have? Heir urges heir, like wave impelling wave. All vast possessions (just the same the Enclose whole towns in walls; 't is all a joke! Inexorable death shall level all, And trees, and stones, and farms, and farmer fall. Gold, silver, ivory, vases sculptured high, Paint, marble, gems, and robes of Persian dye, There are who have not-and, thank Heav'n, there are Who, if they have not, think not worth their care. Talk what you will of Taste, my friend, you 'll find Two of a face as soon as of a mind. Why one, like Bubb, with pay and scorn content, Bows and votes on in Court and Parliament; One, driv'n by strong benevolence of soul, Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole; Is known alone to that directing Power 278 Who forms the genius in the natal hour; That God of Nature, who, within us still, Inclines our action, not constrains our will; Various of temper, as of face or frame, Each individual: His great end the same. Yes, Sir, how small soever be my heap, A man so poor would live without a place; And pleas'd, if sordid want be far away. What is 't to me (a passenger, God wot) Whether my vessel be first-rate or not? The ship itself may make a better figure, But I that sail, am neither less nor bigger. I neither strut with ev'ry fav'ring breath, 300 Nor strive with all the tempest in my teeth; In Power, Wit, Figure, Virtue, Fortune, placed Behind the foremost, and before the last. I wish you joy, sir, of a tyrant gone: Not the black fear of Death, that saddens all? With terrors round, can Reason hold her throne, Despise the known, nor tremble at th' un known? 310 |