We'll raise our numerous cohorts, and oppose
The feeble forces of our pygmy foes;
Legions of quacks fhall join us on the place,
From great Kirleus down to doctor Cafe.
Though fuch vile rubbish fink, yet we shall rife;
Directors ftill fecure the greatest prize.
Such poor fupports ferve only like a stay ;
The tree once fix'd, its reft is torn away.
So patriots, in time of peace and ease,
Forget the fury of the late difeafe :
On dangers paft ferenely think no more,
And curfe the hand that heal'd the wound before.
Arm therefore, gallant friends, 'tis honour's call; Or let us boldly fight, or bravely fall!
To this the feffion feem'd to give consent,
Much lik'd the war, but dreaded much th' event.
At length, the growing difference to compofe,
Two brothers, nam'd Afcarides *, arofe.
Both had the volubility of tongue,
In meaning faint, but in opinion ftrong.
To fpeak they both affum'd a like pretence;
The elder gain'd his juft pre-eminence.
Thus he : 'Tis true, when privilege and right
Are once invaded, honour bids us fight.
But ere we once engage in honour's caufe,
First know what honour is, and whence it was.
Scorn'd by the base, 'tis courted by the brave, The hero's tyrant, and the coward's flave;
The Pearces, apothecaries.
Born in the noisy camp, it lives on air,
And both exifts by hope and by defpair;
Angry whene'er a moment's ease we gain,
And reconcil'd at our returns of pain.
It lives, when in death's arms the hero lies:
But when his fafety he confults, it dies.
Bigoted to this idol, we difclaim
Reft, health, and eafe, for nothing but a name,
Then let us, to the field before we move,
Know, if the gods our enterprize approve.
Suppofe th' unthinking Faculty unveil
What we, through wifer conduct, would conceal :
Is 't reason we should quarrel with the glass
That fhews the monftrous features of our face?
Or grant fome grave pretenders have of late
Thought fit an innovation to create ;
Soon they'll repent what rafhly they begun :
Though projects pleafe, projectors are undone.
All novelties muft this fuccefs expect,
When good, our envy; and when bad, neglect:
If reafon could direct, ere now each gate
Had borne fome trophy of triumphal state;
Temples had told how Greece and Belgia owe
Troy and Namur to Jove and to Nassau.
Then, fince no veneration is allow'd,
Or to the real, or th' appearing good;
The project that we vainly apprehend
Muft, as it blindly rofe, as vilely end.
Some members of the Faculty there are,
Who intereft prudently to oaths prefer.
Our friendship with feign'd airs they poorly court,
And boast, their politics are our support :
Them we 'll confult about this enterprize,
And boldly execute what they advise.
But from below, while fuch refolves they took,
Some Aurum Fulminans the fabric fhook.
The champions, daunted at the crack, retreat,
Regard their fafety, and their ragé forget.
So when at Bathos earth's big offspring ftrove
To fcale the fkies, and wage a war with Jore;
Soon as the afs of old Silenus bray'd,
The trembling rebels in confufion fled.
Ver. 288. If things of use were valued, there had been Some workhoufe where the Monument is feen.
OT far from that frequented theatre,
Where wandering punks each night at five repair;
Where purple emperors in buskins tread,
And rule imaginary worlds for bread;
Where Bentley, by old writers, wealthy grew,
And Brifcoe lately was undone by new;
There triumphs a physician of renown,
To none, but fuch as ruft in health, unknown.
None e'er was plac'd more fitly, to impart
His known experience, and his healing art.
When Burgess deafens all the liftening prefs
With peals of moft feraphic emptiness;
Or when myfterious Freeman mounts on high,
To preach his parish to a lethargy;
This Æfculapius waits hard by, to ease
The martyrs of fuch chriftian cruelties.
Long has this darling quarter of the town,
Ter lewdnefs, wit, and gallantry, been known,
All forts meet here, of whatfoe'er degree,
To blend and juftle into harmony.
The critics each adventurous author fcan,
And praife or cenfure as they like the man.
The weeds of writings for the flowers they cull;
So nicely taftelefs, fo correctly dull!
The politicians of Parnaffus prate,
And poets canvafs the affairs of state ;
The cits ne'er talk of trade and stock, but tell
How Virgil writ, how bravely Turnus fell.
The country-dames drive to Hippolito's,
First find a spark, and after lofe a nose.
The lawyer for lac'd coat the robe does quit,
He grows a madman, and then turns a wit.
And in the cloifter penfive Strephon waits,
Till Cloe's hackney comes, and then retreats;
And if th' ungenerous nymph a fhaft lets fly,
More fatally than from a fparkling eye,
Mirmillo*, that fam'd Opifer, is nigh.
The trading tribe oft' thither throng to dine,
And want of elbow-room.fupply in wine.
Cloy'd with variety, they furfeit there,
Whilft the wan patients on thin gruel fare.
'Twas here the champions of the party met,
Of their heroic enterprife to treat.
Each hero a tremendous air put on,
And ftern Mirmillo in these words begun :
"Tis with concern, my friends, I meet you here;
No grievance you can know, but I must share.
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