(1) THE HISTORY OF A FOUNDLING. BOOK XIII. Containing the Space of Twelve Days. C CHA P. I. An Invocation. OME, bright Love of Fame, infpire my glowing Breaft: Not thee I call, who over fwelling Tides of Blood and Tears, doft bear the Heroe on to Glory, while Sighs of Millions waft his fpreading Sails; but thee, fair, gentle VOL. V. B Maid, Maid, whom Mnefis, happy Nymph, first on the Banks of Hebrus didit produce. Thee, whom Macnia educated, whom Mantua charm'd, and who, on that fair Hill which overlooks the proud Metropolis of Britain, far, with thy Milton, fweetly tuning the Heroic Lyre; fill my ravifhed Fancy with the Hopes of charming Ages yet to come. Foretel me that fome tender Maid, whofe Grandmother is yet unborn, hereafter, when, under the fictitious Name of Sophia, the reads the real Worth which once exifted in my Charlotte, fhall, from her sympathetic Breast, send forth the heaving Sigh. Do thou teach me not only to foresee, but to enjoy, nay, even to feed on future Praife. Comfort me by a folemn Affurance, that when the little Parlour in which I fit at this Instant, shall be reduced to a worfe furnished Box, I fhall be read, with Honour, by those who never knew nor faw me, and whom I fhall neither know nor fee.. And thou, much plumper Dame, whom no airy Forms nor Phantoms of Imagi nation cloathe: Whom the well-feafoned Beef, and Pudding richly ftained with Plumbs delight. Thee, I call; of whom in a Trachtchugt in fome Dutch Canal the 4 fat A fat Ufrow Gelt, impregnated by a jolly. Merchant of Amfterdam, was delivered: In Grubstreet-School didst thou fuck in the Elements of thy Erudition. Here haft thou, in thy maturer Age, taught Poetry: to tickle not the Fancy, but the Pride of the Patron. Comedy from thee learns a grave and folemn Air; while Tragedy ftornis loud, and rends th' affrighted Thea tres with its Thunder. To footh thy wea ried Limbs in Slumber, Alderman History tells his tedious Tale; and again to a waken thee, Monfieur Romance performs. his furprizing Tricks of Dexterity. Nor lefs thy well-fed Bookfeller obeys thy Influence. By thy Advice the heavy, unread, Folio Lump, which long had dozed on the dufty Shelf, piece-mealed into Num bers, runs nimbly through the Nation. Inftructed by thee fome Books, like Quacks impofe on the World by promifing Wonders; while others turn Beaus, and trust : all their Merits to a gilded Outside. Come, thou jolly Subftance, with thy fhining Face, keep back thy Inspiration, but hold forth. thy tempting Rewards; thy fhining, chinking Heap; thy quickly-convertible Bankbill, big with unfeen Riches; thy often-varying Stock; the warm, the comfortable Houfe; B 2 and, |