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Behold the brightest of the race,
And Nature's honour, in difgrace:
With humble refignation own,
That all your talents are a loan;
By Providence advanc'd for use,
Which you should study to produce..
Reflect, the mental stock, alas !
However current now it país,
May haply be recall'd from you
Before the Grave demands his due.
Then, while your morning-ftar proceeds,
Direct your course to worthy deeds,
In fuller day discharge your debts;
For, when your fun of reafon sets,
The night fucceeds; and all your schemes
Of glory vanish with your dreams.

Ah! where is now the fupple train,
That danc'd attendance on the Dean?
Say, where are thofe facetious folks,
Who fhook with laughter at his jokes,
And with attentive rapture hung
On wisdom dropping from his tongue;
Who look'd with high difdainful pride
On all the busy world befide,

And rated his productions more

Than treafures of Peruvian ore ?

Good Christians! they with bended knees
Ingulph'd the wine, but loath the lees,
Averting (fo the text commands),
With ardent eyes and up-caft hands,

The

The

cup of forrow from their lips,
And fly, like rats from finking ships.
While fome, who by his friendship rose
To wealth, in concert with his foes,
Run counter to their former track,
Like old Acteon's horrid pack
Of yelling mungrils, in requitals
To riot on their master's vitals;
And, where they cannot blast his laurels,
Attempt to ftigmatize his morals;
Through Scandal's magnifying-glafs
His foibles view, but virtues pass,
And on the ruins of his fame
Erect an ignominious name.
So vermin foul, of vile extraction,
The fpawn of dirt and putrefaction,
The founder members traverse o'er,
But fix and fatten on a fore.

Hence! peace, ye wretches, who revile
His wit, his humour, and his style;
Since all the monsters which he drew
Were only meant to copy you;

And, if the colours be not fainter,
Arraign yourselves, and not the painter.

But, O! that He, who gave him breath, Dread arbiter of life and death;

That He, the moving foul of all,
The fleeping fpirit would recall,

And crown him with triumphant meeds,
For all his paft heroic deeds,

In manfions of unbroken reft,

The bright republick of the blefs'd!
Irradiate his benighted mind

With living light of light refin'd;
And these the blank of thought employ
With objects of immortal joy!

Yet, while he drags the fad remains
Of life, flow-creeping through his veins,.
Above the views of private ends,
The tributary Muse attends,
To prop his feeble fteps, or fhed
The pious tear around his bed.

So Pilgrims, with devout complaints,
Frequent the graves of martyr'd Saints,
Infcribe their worth in artless lines,
And, in their ftead, embrace their shrines.

INSCRIPTION intended for a MONUMENT. 1765.

SAY,

to the Drapier's vast unbounded fame,

What added honours can the Sculptor give?

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None. - "Tis a fanction from the Drapier's name
Muft bid the Sculptor and his Marble live.

EPIGRAM Occafioned by the above INSCRIPTION.

WHICH gave the Drapier birth two realms contend;

And each afferts her Poet, Patriot, Friend:

Her mitre jealous Britain may deny;

That lofs Iernia's laurel fhall fupply:

Through life's low vale, she, grateful, gave him bread; Her vocal ftones fhall vindicate him dead.

1766.

B. N.

CONTENTS

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