THE statesman rakes the town to find a plot, And dreams of forfeitures by treafon got. Nor lefs Tom-t-d-man, of true ftateiman mold, Collects the city-filth in search of gold.
ORPHANS around his bed the lawyer fees, And takes the plaintiff's and defendant's fees. His fellow pick-purfe, watching for a job, Fancies his fingers in the cully's fob.
THE kind phyfician grants the husband's pray'rs, Or gives relief to long-expecting heirs, The fleeping hangman ties the fatal noose, Nor unfuccefsful waits for dead mens fhoes.
THE grave divine with knotty points perplext, As if he was awake, nods o'er his text: While the fly mountebank attends his trade, Harangues the rabble, and is better paid.
THE hireling fenator of modern days Bedaubs the guilty great with nauseous praise: And Dick the fcavenger with equal grace Flirts from his cart the mud in W-1-e's face.
To STELLA vifiting me in my ficknefs, October 1727.
PALLAS, obferving Stella's wit
Was more than for her fex was fit, And that her beauty, foon or late, Might breed confufion in the state, In high concern for human-kind, Fix'd honour in her infant mind.
BUT, (not in wranglings to engage With fuch a ftupid vicious age), If honour I would here define,
It answers faith in things divine. As natʼral life the body warms, And. fcholars teach, the foul informs;
So honour animates the whole,
THOSE num'rous virtues which the tribe
And is the spirit of the foul.
Of tedious moralifts describe,
And by fuch various titles call, True honour comprehends them all. Let melancholy rule fupreme, Choler prefide, or blood, or phlegm, It makes no diff'rence in the cafe, Nor is complexion honour's place. BUT, left we should for honour take The drunken quarrels of a rake; Or think it feated in a scar, Or on a proud triumphal car, Or in the payment of a debt We lose with sharpers at Picquet; Or when a whore in her vocation Keeps punctual to an affignation;
Or that on which his Lordship swears,
When vulgar knaves would lose their ears; Let Stella's fair example preach
A leffon fhe alone can teach.
IN points of honour to be try'd,
All paffions must be laid afide :
Afk no advice, but think alone; Suppofe the question not your own: How fhall I act? is not the cafe But how would Brutus in my place? In fuch a cafe would Cato bleed? And how would Socrates proceed? DRIVE all objections from your mind, Elfe you relapse to human-kind; Ambition, avarice, and luft,
And factious rage, and breach of trust, And flatt'ry tipt with naufeous fleer, And guilty fhame, and fervile fear,
Envy, and cruelty, and pride, Will in your tainted heart prefide. HEROES and heroines of old
By honour only were inroll'd
Among their brethren in the skies, To which (tho' late) fhall Stella rife. Ten thoufand oaths upon
Are not fo facred as her word :
The world fhall in its atoms end, Ere Stella can deceive a friend. By honour feated in her breast She ftill determines what is beft::
What indignation in her mind Against inflavers of mankind Bafe kings, and ministers of state, Eternal objects of her hate.
SHE thinks that nature ne'er defign'd Courage to man alone confin'd:
Can cowardice her fex adorn,
Which most exposes ours to fcorn ?` She wonders where the charm appears
In Florimel's affected fears;
For Stella never learn'd the art
proper times to fcream and ftart; Nor calls up all the house at night, And fwears the faw a thing in white. Doll never flies to cut her lace,
Or throw cold water in her face, Becaufe fhe heard a sudden drum,
Or found an earwig in a plum.
HER hearers are amaz'd from whence
Proceeds that fund of wit and sense; Which, tho' her modefty would fhroud, Breaks like the fun behind a cloud; While gracefulness its art conceals, And yet thro' ev'ry motion fteals.
SAY, Stella, was Prometheus blind,
And, forming you. miftook your kind? No; 'twas for you alone he stole The fire that forms a manly foul;
And how would Cenfure glut her spight, If i fhould Stella's kindness hide
In filence, or forget with pride? When on my fickly couch I lay, Impatient both of night and day, Lamenting in unmanly, strains, Call'd ev'ry pow'r to eafe my pains ; Then Stella ran to my relief With chearful face, and inward grief; And, tho' by heav'n's fevere decree She fuffers hourly more than me, No cruel mafter could require From flaves employ'd for daily hire, What Stella, by her friendship warm'd, With vigour and delight perform'd: My finking fpirits now fupplies With cordials in her hands and eyes; Now with a foft and filent tread Unheard the moves about my bed. I fee her taste each naufeous draught, And fo obligingly am caught:
I blefs the hand from whence they came, Nor dare diftort my face for shame. :
BEST pattern of true friends, beware: You pay too dearly for your care, If, while your tenderness secures My life, it must endanger yours;
For fuch a fool was never found,
Who pull'd a palace to the ground,
Only to have the ruins made
Materials for an houfe decay'd.
VERSES on the death of Dr SWIFT, occafioned by reading the following maxim in RoCHFOUCAULT.
Dans l'adverfité de nos meilleurs amis nous trouvons toujours quelque chofe, qui ne nous deplaist pas.
In the adverfity of our best friends we always find. fomething that doth not difplease us.
S Rochefoucault his maxims drew
From nature, I believe them true;
They argue no corrupted mind In him; the fault is in mankind.
THIS maxim more than all the reft
Is thought too base for human breaft: "In all diftreffes of our friends "We first confult our private ends ; "While nature, kindly bent to eafe us, "Points out fome circumftance, to please us."
Ir this perhaps your patience move,
Let reafon and experience prove. WE all behold with envious eyes
Our equal rais'd above our fize. Who would not at a crouded show Stand high himself, keep others low? I love my friend as well as you : But why should he obftruct my view?... Then let me have the higher poft; Suppose it, but an inch at most.
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