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The purple conqueror in chains you bind,
And are to us your valfals only kind..

If, in return, all diligence we pay

To fix your empire, and confirm your sway,
Far as the weekly,bills can reach around,

From Kent-street end, to fam'd St. Giles's Pound;
Behold this poor libation with a smile,

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And let aufpicious light break through the pile.
He fpoke; and on the pyramid he laid
Bay-leaves and vipers-hearts, and thus he faid;
As these confume in this myfterious fire,
So let the curs'd Difpenfary expire!
And as thofe crackle in the flames, and die,
So let its veffels burft, and glasses fly!
But a finifter cricket straight was heard;
The altar fell, the offering disappear'd.
As the fam'd wight the omen did regret,
Squirt brought the news the company was met.
Nigh where Fleet-ditch defcends in fable streams, 125
To wash his footy Naiads in the Thames;

There ftands a ftructure on a rifing hill,

Where Tyros take their freedom out to kill.
Some pictures in these dreadful shambles tell,
How, by the Delian god, the Python fell;
And how Medea did the philtre brew,
That could in Æfon's veins young force renew;
How mournful Myrrha for her crimes appears,
And heals hyfteric matrons ftill with tears;
How Mentha and Althea, nymphs no more,
Revive in facred plants, and health restore;

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How

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How fanguine fwains their amorous hours repent,
When pleasure 's paft, and pains are permanent;
And how frail nymphs oft', by abortion, aim
To lose a fubftance, to preferve a name.

Soon as each member in his rank was plac'd,
The affembly Diafenna thus addrefs'd:

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My kind confederates, if my poor intent,
As 'tis fincere, had been but prevalent,
We here had met on fome more fafe design,
And on no other business but to dine;
The Faculty had still maintain'd their sway,
And intereft then had bid us but obey;
This only emulation we had known,

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Who beft could fill his purse, and thin the town.
But now from gathering-clouds destruction pours,
Which ruins with mad rage our halcyon hours:
Mifts from black jealoufies the tempest form,
Whilft late divifions reinforce the ftorm.

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Know, when these feuds, like thofe at law, were past, 155
The winners will be lofers at the laft.

Like heroes in fea-fights we seek renown;
To fire fome hoftile fhip, we burn our own.
Whoe'er throws duft against the wind, defcries
He throws it, in effect, but in his eyes.
That juggler which another's fleight will show,
But teaches how the world his own may know.

Thrice happy were thofe golden days of old,
When dear as burgundy, ptisans were fold;

Gilftorp, an apothecary.

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Wher

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When patients chofe to die with better will,
Than breathe, and pay th' apothecary's bill;
And, cheaper than for our affiftance call,
Might go to Aix or Bourbon, fpring and fall.
Then priests increas'd, and piety decay'd,
Churchmen the church's purity betray'd,

Their lives and doctrine flaves and atheifts made.
The laws were but the hireling judge's fense;
Juries were fway'd by venal evidence.
Fools were promoted to the council-board,
Tools to the bench, and bullies to the fword.
Penfions in private were the fenate's ain;
And patriots for a place abandon'd faine.
But now no influencing art remains,
For Somers has the feal, and Naffau reigns.
And we, in spite of our refolves, must bow,
And fuffer by a reformation too.

For now late jars our practices detect,

And mines, when once difcover'd, lose effect.

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VARIATIONS.

Ver. 182.

But now late jars our practices detect,

For mines, when once difcover'd, lofe th' effect.
Diffenfions, like fmall ftreams, are first begun,
Scarce feen they rife, but gather as they run.
So lines that from their parallel decline,
More they advance, the more they still disjoin.
'Tis therefore my advice, in hafte we fend,
And beg the Faculty to be our friend.
As he revolving food to say the reft,
Rough Colocynthus thus his rage expreft.

Diffen

Diffenfions, like finall ftreams, are first begun,
Scarce feen they rife, but gather as they run :
So lines that from their parallel decline,
More they proceed, the more they still disjoin.
"Tis therefore my advice, in. hafte we fend,
And beg the Faculty to be our friend;

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Send fwarms of patients, and our quarrels end. 190.
So awful beadles, if the vagrant treat,

Straight turn familiar, and their fafces quit.
In vain we but contend, that planet's power
Thofe vapours can difperfe it rais'd before..

As he prepar'd the mifchief to recite,
Keen Colocynthus * paus'd, and foam'd with fpite.
Sour ferments on his fhining surface swim,
Work up the froth, and bubble o'er the brim:
Not beauties fret fo much if freckles come,
Cr nofe fhould redden in the drawing-room;
Or lovers that mistake th' appointed hour,
Or in the lucky minute want the power..

Thus he Thou fcandal of great Pæan's art,

At thy approach the fprings of nature start,

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The nerves unbrace: nay, at the sight of thee, 205
A fcratch turns cancer, itch a leprofy.

Could't thou propofe, that we, the friends of fates,
Who fill churchyards, and who unpeople states,

Who baffle nature, and difpofe of lives,

Whilft Ruffelt, as we please, or ftarves, or thrives, 210

*Dare, an apothecary.

+ A celebrated undertaker of funerals.

Should

Should e'er fubmit to their defpotic will,
Who out of confolation fcarce can kill?
The towering Alps fhall fooner fink to vales,
And leeches, in our glaffes, fwell to whales;
Or Norwich trade in inftruments of fteel,

And Birmingham in ftuffs and druggets deal!
Alleys at Wapping furnish us new modes,

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And Monmouth-ftreet; Versailles with riding-hoods !
The Sick to th' hundreds in pale throngs repair,
And change the Gravel-pits for Kentish air!
Our properties muft on our arms depend;
'Tis next to conquer, bravely to defend.
'Tis to the vulgar death too harsh appears ;
The ill we feel is only in our fears.

To die, is landing on fome filent shore,
Where billows never break, nor tempefts roar :
Ere well we feel the friendly ftroke, 'tis o'er.

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The wife through thought th' infults of death defy;
The fools, through bleft infenfibility.

'Tis what the guilty fear, the pious crave ;
Sought by the wretch, and vanquish'd by the brave.
It eases lovers, fets the captive free;

And, though a tyrant, offers liberty.

Sound but to arms, the foe fhall foon confefs
Our force increases, as our funds grow lefs;
And what requir'd fuch induftry to raise,
We'll scatter into nothing as we please.
Thus they'll acknowledge, to annihilate
Shews no lefs wondrous power than to create.

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