Spreads in a fecond circle, then a third;
Wide, and more wide, the floating rings advance,
Fill all the watry plain, and to the margin dance:
Thus ev'ry voice and found, when firft they break,
On neighb'ring air a soft impreffion make;
Another ambient circle then they move;
That, in its turn, impels the next above;
Thro' undulating air the founds are fent,
And spread o'er all the fluid element.
There, various news I heard, of love and ftrife,
Of peace and war, health, fickness, death and life;
Of lofs and gain, of famine and of store,
Of ftorms at fea, and travels on the shore;
Of prodigies, and portents seen in air,
Of fires and plagues, and stars with blazing hair,
Of turns of fortune, changes in the state,
"The falls of fav'rites, projects of the great,
Of old mifmanagements, taxations new ;
All neither wholly falfe, nor wholly true.
Above, below, without, within, around,
Confus'd, unnumber'd multitudes are found,
Who pafs, repass, advance, and glide away;
Hofts rais'd by fear, and phantoms of a day.
Aftrologers, that future fates foreshew,
Projectors, quacks, and lawyers not a few ;
And priests, and party-zealots, num'rous bands,
With home-born lyes, or tales from foreign lands;
Each talk'd aloud, or in fome fecret place,
And wild impatience star'd in ev ry face.
The flying rumours gather'd as they roll'd,
Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told ;
And all who told it, added fomething new;
And all who heard it, made enlargements too;
In ev'ry ear it fpread, on ev'ry tongue it grew.
Thus flying eaft and weft, and north and fouth,
News travell'd with encrease from mouth to mouth;
So from a spark, that kindled firft by chance,
With gath'ring force the quick'ning flames advance :
'Till to the clouds their curling heads afpire,
And tow'rs and temples fink in floods of fire.
When thus ripe lyes are to perfection sprung, Full grown, and fit to grace a mortal tongue, Thro' thousand vents, impatient forth they flow, And rush in millions on the world below.
Fame fits aloft, and points them out their course,
Their date determines, and prescribes their force;
Some to remain, and some to perish foon,
Or wane and wax alternate like the moon.
Around a thousand winged wonders fly,
Born by the trumpet's blast, and scatter'd thro' the sky.
There, at one passage, oft you might survey
A lye and truth contending for the way;
And long 'twas doubtful, both so closely pent,
Which firft should iffue thro' the narrow vent:
At laft agreed, together out they fly,
Infeparable now, the truth and lye ;
The ftrict companions are for ever join'd,
And this or that unmix'd, no mortal e'er shall find.
While thus I ftood, intent to fee and hear,
One came, methought, and whisper'd in my ear
What could thus high thy rash ambition raise?
Art thou, fond youth, a candidate for praise?
faid I, not void of hopes I came, For who fo fond, as youthful bards, of fame? But few, alas! the cafual blessing boast, So hard to gain, fo eafy to be loft! How vain that fecond life in others breath, Th' eftate which wits inherit after death! Eafe, health, and life, for this we muft refign (Unfure the tenure, but how vaft the fine!) The great man's curse, without the gains, endure, Be envy'd, wretched, and be flatter'd, poor; All lucklefs wits our enemies profest, And all fuccefsful, jealous friends at best. Nor Fame I flight, nor for her favours call; She comes unlook'd for, if she comes at all: But if the purchase costs fo dear a price, As foothing folly, or exalting vice: Oh! if the Mufe must flatter lawless fway, And follow ftill where Fortune leads the way; Or if no bafis bear my rising name,
But the fall'n ruins of another's fame:
Then teach me, Heav'n! to fcorn the guilty bays;
Drive from my breast that wretched luft of praise;
Unblemish'd let me live, or die unknown;
Oh grant an honeft fame, or grant me none!
HEROI-COMICAL
P.OE M.
Written in the year 2722.
Nolueram, Belinda, tuos violare capillos,
Sed juvat hoc precibus me tribuiffe tuis.
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