25 Rend with tremendous sound your ears asunder, With gun, drum, trumpet, blunderbuss, and thunder? Or nobly wild, with Budgel's fire and force, P. 2 Alas! few verses touch their nicer ear: 30 They scarce can bear the Laureate twice a-year; 35 It is to history he trusts for praise. F. 3 Better be Cibber, I'll maintain it still, Than ridicule all taste, blaspheme Quadrille, Abuse the City's best good men in metre, And laugh at peers that put their trust in Peter. Agmina, nec fracta pereuntes cuspide Gallos, T. Attamen et justum poteras et scribere fortem, Scipiadam ut sapiens Lucilius. H. Haud mihi deero, T. 3 Quanto rectius hoc, quam tristi lædere versu Pantolabum scurram, Nomentanumve nepotem? 40 Ev'n those you touch not, hate yɔu. P. What should ail 'em? F. A hundred smart in Timon and in Balaam: The fewer still you name, you wound the more; Bond is but one, but Harpax is a score. P. 2 Each mortal has his pleasure: none deny Scarsdale his bottle, Darty his ham-pie; 45 Ridotta sips and dances, till she see The doubling lustres dance as fast as she; 3 F--- loves the senate, Hockley-hole his brother, Like in all else, as one egg to another. * I love to pour out all myself as plain 50 As downright Shippen, or as old Montaigne: In them, as certain to be lov'd as seen, The soul stood forth, nor kept a thought within; 55 In this impartial glass, my Muse intends . Cum sibi quisque timet, quanquam est intactus, et odit. 2 Quid faciam? saltat Milonius, ut semel icto Accessit fervor capiti, numerusque lucernis. 3 Castor gaudet equis; ovo prognatus eodem, Publish the present age; but where my text My head and heart thus flowing thro' my quill, 1 Verseman or Proseman, term me which you will, Papist or Protestant, or both between, Like good Erasmus, in an honest mean, In moderation placing all my glory, While Tories call me Whig, and Whigs a Tory. 2 Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run a-muck, and tilt at all I meet; 3 I only wear it in a land of Hectors, Thieves, supercargoes, sharpers, and directors. 60 65 70 Ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim Credebat libris; neque, si male gesserat, usquam, Vita senis. sequor hunc, 1 Lucanus an Appulus, anceps: [Nam Venusinus arat finem sub utrumque colonus, 3 Tutus ab infestis latronibus? O pater et rex 'Save but our army! and let Jove incrust 4 Slander, or poison, dread from Delia's rage; 5 Its proper pow'r to hurt each creature feels; Bulls aim their horns, and asses lift their heels; 'Tis a bear's talent not to kick, but hug; And no man wonders he's not stung by pug. 75 85 85 1 Jupiter, ut pereat positum rubigine telum, 4 Servius iratus leges minitatur et urnam; F I So drink with Walters, or with Chartres eat, 2 Then, learned Sir! (to cut the matter short) Whether the darken'd room to muse invite, 90 95 3 Like Lee, or Budgell, I will rhyme and print. 100 F. 4 Alas! young man, your days can ne'er be long: In flow'r of age you perish for a song! Plums and directors, Shylock and his wife, Will club their testers now to take your life. Monstratum? Scævæ vivacem crede nepoti Sed mala tollet anum vitiato melle cicuta. 2 Ne longum faciam, seu me tranquilla senectus Expectat, seu mors atris circumvolat alis; Dives, inops, Romæ, seu fors ita jusserit, exul; 3 Quisquis erit vitæ, scribam, color. T. 4O puer, ut sis Vitalis metuo; et majorum ne quis amicus |