Thus boys hatch game-eggs under birds of prey,
To make the fowl more furious for the fray.

Slow Carus next discover'd his intent,
With painful paufes muttering what he meant.
His fparks of life, in fpite of drugs, retreat,
So cold, that only calentures can heat.
In his chill veins the fluggish puddle flows,
And loads with lazy fogs his fable brows.
Legions of lunaticks about him prefs;
His province is, lost reason to redress.
So when perfumes their fragrant fcent give o'er,
Nought can their odour, like a jakes, restore.
When for advice the vulgar throng, he's found
With lumber of vile books befieg'd around.
The gazing throng acknowledge their furprize,
And, deaf to reafon, ftill confult their eyes.
Well he perceives, the world will often find,
To catch the eye is to convince the mind.
Thus a weak state by wife diftruft inclines
To numerous flores, and firength in magazines.
So fools are always moft profufe of words,
And cowards never fail of longeft swords.
Abandon'd authors here a refuge meet,

105

110

115

120

1 5

And from the world to duft and worms retreat.

Here dregs and fediment of autions reign,

Refuse of fairs, and gleanings of Duck-lane.
And up thefe walls much Gothic lumber climbs,
With Swifs philofophy, and Runic rhymes.

130

Hither, retriev'd from cooks and grocers, come

Mede's works entire, and endlefs reams of Blome.
Where would the long-neglected Collins fly,
If bounteous Carus fhould refufe to buy?
But each vile fcribbler 's happy on this fcore:
He'll find fome Carus ftill to read him o'er.

135

Umbra fpare,

140

Who foft by nature, yet declar'd for war.
But when fome rival power invades a right,
Flies fet on flies, and turtles turtles fight.
Elfe courteous Umbra to the laft had been
Demurely meek, infipidly ferene.

With him, the prefent ftill fome virtues have;
The vain are fprightly; and the ftupid, grave;
The flothful, negligent; the foppish, neat;
The lewd are airy; and the fly, difcreet;
A Wren, an Eagle; a Baboon, a Bean;

Colt, a Lycurgus; and a Phocion, ‡ Rowe.
Heroic ardour now th' affembly warms,
Each combatant breathes nothing but alarms.
For future glory while the scheme is laid,
Fam'd Horoscope thus offers to diffuade :

Since of each enterprize th' event's unknown,
We'll quit the sword, and hearken to the gown.
Nigh lives Vagellius, one reputed long
For ftrength of lungs, and pliancy of tongue.

* Dr. Gould.

1 Mr. Anthony Rowe. Sir Barth. Shower,

+ Sir H. Dutton Colt.

145

1-50

155

For

For fees, to any form he moulds a caufe,

The worst has merits, and the best has flaws.

160

Five guineas make a criminal to-day;

And ten to-morrow wipe the ftain away.
Whatever he affirms is undeny'd,

Milo's the Lecher, Clodius th' Homicide;
Cato pernicious, Catiline a faint,

Orford fufpected, Duncomb innocent.

To law then, friends, for 'tis by Fate decreed,
Vagellius, and our money, shall fucceed.
Know, when I first invok’d Disease by charms
To prove propitious to our future arms,
Ill omens did the facrifice attend,
Nor would the Sibyl from her grot afcend.
As Horoscope urg'd farther to be heard,
He thus was interrupted by a * Bard:

In vain your magic myfteries you use,
Such founds the Sibyl's facred ears abuse.
These lines the pale divinity fhall raise,
Such is the power of found, and force of lays.

165

170

175

"+ Arms meet with arms, fauchions with fauchions “clash,

"And sparks of fire ftruck out from armour flash. 180 "Thick clouds of duft contending warriors raise, "And hideous war o'er all the region brays. "Some raging ran with huge Herculean clubs, "Some matly balls of brafs, fome mighty tubs "Of cinders bore.

Sir Richard Blackmore.

+ King Arthur, p. 307. King Arthur, p. 327.

185

"Naked and half-burnt hills with hideous wreck

Affright the skies, and fry the ocean's back ”

As he went rumbling on, the Fury straight

Crawl'd in, her limbs could fcarce fupport her weight.
A rueful rag her meagre forehead bound,

And faintly her furr'd lips thefe accents found:
Mortal, how dar'ft thou with fuch lines addrefs
My awful feat, and trouble my recess ?

In Effex marthy hundreds is a cell,

Where lazy fogs and drizzling vapours dwell:
Thither raw damps on drooping wings repair,
And fhivering quartens fhake the fickly air.
There, when fatigu'd, fome filent hours I pass,
And fubftitute Phyficians in my place.

Then dare not, for the future, once rehearse
The diffonance of fuch untuneful verfe;

But in your lines let energy be found,

And learn to rife in fenfe, and fink in found.
Harth words, though pertinent, uncouth appear;
None please the fancy, who offend the car.
In fenfe and numbers if you would excel,
Read Wycherley, confider Dryden well.
In one, what vigorous turns of fancy fhine!..
In th' other, Syrens warble in each line.
If Dorfet's fprightly Mufe but touch the lyre,
The Smiles and Graces melt in foft defire,
And little Loves confefs their amorous fire.

210

190

195

200

205

After ver. 212. thefe lines are omitted:
The Tiber now no gentle Gallus fees,
But fimiling Thames enjoys her Normanbys.
*Prince Arthur, p. 130.

The

The gentle Ifis claims the ivy crown,

To bind th' inmortal brows of Addifon.

As tuneful Congreve tries his rural strains,

215

Pan quits the woods, the liftening Fawns the plains;
And Philomel, in notes like his, complains.
And Britain, fince Paufanias was writ,
Knows Spartan virtue, and Athenian wit.
When Stepney paints the godlike acts of kings,
Or, what Apollo dictates, Prior fings;

The banks of Rhine a pleas'd attention fhow,
And filver Sequana forgets to flow.

220

Such juft examples carefully read o'er;

Slide without falling; without ftraining, foar.

225

Oft' though your strokes furprize, you should not choose

The Fury paus'd, till with a frightful found

A rifing whirlwind burst th' unhallow'd ground.

Then she—The Deity we Fortune call,
Though diftant, rules and influences all.

Ver. 232.

VARIATIONS.

The Fury faid; and vanishing from fight,

Cry'd out, To arms; fo left the realms of light.
The combatants to th' enterprize confent,
And the next day fmil'd on the great event.

235

Straight