[95]

TO THE SUSPPOSED AUTHOR OF THE

SPECTATOR.

I
N courts licentious, and a shameless stage,

How long the war shall wit with virtue wage ?
Inchanted by this prostituted fair,
Our youth run headlong in the fatal snare;
In height of rapture clasp unheeded pains,
And suck pollution through their tingling veins ?

Thy spotless thoughts unshock'd the priest may hear;
And the pure vestal in her bosom wear.
To conscious blushes and diminish'd pride,
Thy glass betrays what treacherous love would hide;
Nor harsh thy precepts, but infus’d by stealth,
Pleas'd while they cure, and cheat us into health.
Thy works in Chloe's toilet gain a part,
And with his tailor share the fopling's heart :
Lahd in thy satire, the penurious cit
Laughs at himself, and finds no harın in wit:
From felon gamesters the raw squire is free,
And Britain owes her rescued oaks to thee.
His miss the frolic Viscount dreads to toast,
Or his third cure the shallow Templar boast;
And the rash fool, who fcorn'd the beaten road,
Dares quakes at thunder, and confess his God.

The brainless stripling, who, expellid the town,
Damn'd the stiff college and pedantic gown,
Aw'd by thy name, is dumb, and thrice a week
Spells uncouth Latin, and pretends to Greek.

A fauntering

A fauntering tribe ! such born to wide estates,
With yea and no in senates hold debates :
At length despis'd each to his fields retires,
First with the dogs, and king amidst the squires;
From pert to ftupid, finks supinely down,
In youth a coxcomb, and in age a clown.

Such readers fcorn'd, thou wing'st thy daring flight
Above the stars, and tread'st the fields of light;
Fame, heaven and hell, are thy exalted theme,
And visions such as Jove himself might dream;
Man sunk to slavery, though to glory born,
Heaven's pride when upright, and deprav'd his scorn.

Such hints alone could British Virgil lend, And thou alone deserve from such a friend; A debt so borrow'd is illustrious Name, And fame when shar'd with him is double fame. So, fluth'd with sweets by Beauty's Queen bestow'd, With more than mortal charms Æneas glow'd: Such generous strifes Eugene and Marlborough try, And as in glory, so in friendship vie.

Permit these lines by thee to live-nor blame A Muse that pants and languishes for fame; That fears to fink when humbler themes she sings, Lost in the mass of mean forgotten things : Receiv'd by thee, I prophesy, my rhymes, The praise of virgins in succeeding times : Mix'd with thy works, their life no bounds shall see, But stand protected, as infpir'd, by thee.

So some weak shoot, which else would poorly rise, Jove's tree adopts, and lifts him to the skies;

Through

Through the new pupil fostering juices flow,
Thrust forth the gems, and give the flowers to

blow.
Aloft ; immortal reigns the plant unknown,
With borrow'd life, and vigour not his own.

Α Ρ Ο Ε Μ,

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE LORD PRIVYSEAL, ON THE PROSPECT OF PEACE.

Sacerdos “ Fronde super Mitram, & felici comptus Oliva.”

VIRG,

TO THE LORD PRIVY SEAL.

CO
WONTENDING kings, and fields of death, too long

Have been the subject of the British song.
Who hath not read of fam'd Ramillia's plain,
Bavaria's fall, and Danube chok'd with Nain!
Exhausted themes ! a gentler note I raise,
And sing returning peace in softer lays.
Their fury quell’d, and martial rage allay'd,
I wait our heroes in the fylvan shade :
Dibanding hosts are imag'd to my mind,
And warring powers in friendly leagues combin'd,
While ease and pleasure make the nations smile,
And Heaven and Anna blefs Britannia's ille.
H

Well