Слике страница
PDF
ePub

PART

II.

ARE nobly then: But confcious of your

D4

truft,

As ever warm and bold be ever just:

Nor court applause in these degen'rate days:
The Villain's cenfure is extorted praise.

But chief, be steady in a noble end,

170

And fhew Mankind that Truth has yet a friend.
"Tis mean for empty praise of wit to write, 175
As Foplings grin to show their teeth are white:
To brand a doubtful folly with a smile,
Or madly blaze unknown defects, is vile :
'Tis doubly vile, when, but to prove your art,
You fix an arrow in a blameless heart.

O loft to honour's voice, O doom'd to fhame,
Thou Fiend accurs'd, thou Murderer of Fame!
Fell Ravisher, from Innocence to tear

That name,

180

than liberty, than life more dear! Where shall thy baseness meet its just return, 185 Or what repay thy guilt, but endless scorn!

And know, immortal Truth shall mock thy toil: Immortal Truth fhall bid the shaft recoil;

With rage retorted, wing the deadly dart;
And empty all its poyfon in thy heart.

190

With caution next, the dang'rous pow'r apply; An eagle's talon asks an eagle's eye:

Let SATIRE then her proper object know,
And ere she strike, be sure she strike a foe.
Nor fondly deem the real fool confest,
Because blind Ridicule conceives a jest:
Before whose altar Virtue oft hath bled,
And oft a deftin'd Victim fhall be led:

195

Lo, Shaftfb'ry rears her high on Reason's throne,
And loads the Slave with honours not her own:
Big-fwoln with folly, as her smiles provoke, 201
Prophaneness spawns, pert Dunces nurse the joke!
Come, let us join a while this tittering crew,
And own the Ideot Guide for once is true;
Deride our weak forefather's musty rule,
Who therefore fmil'd, because they saw a Fool;
Sublimer logic now adorns our ifle,

We therefore fee a Fool, because we fmile.
Truth in her gloomy Cave why fondly feek?
Lo, gay fhe fits in Laughter's dimpled cheek:
Contemns each furly Academic foe,

205

211

And courts the spruce Freethinker and the Beau.

Dadalian arguments but few can trace,

But all can read the Language of grimace.
Hence mighty Ridicule's all-conqu'ring hand 215
Shall work Herculean wonders thro' the Land:
Bound in the magic of her cobweb chain,
You, mighty WARBURTON, fhall rage in vain,
In vain the tracklefs maze of Truth You fcan,
And lend th' informing Clue to erring Man: 220
No more fhall Reafon boast her pow'r divine,
Her Base eternal fhook by Folly's mine!
Truth's facred Fort th' exploded laugh shall win;
And Coxcombs vanquish BERKLEY by a grin.

But you, more fage, reject th' inverted rule, 225
That truth is e'er explor'd by Ridicule :
On truth, on falfehood let her colours fall,
She throws a dazzling glare alike on all;

A's the
gay Prism but mocks the flatter'd
And gives to ev'ry object ev'ry dye.

eye,

Beware the mad Advent'rer: bold and blind
She hoifts her fail, and drives with ev'ry wind;
Deaf as the Storm to finking Virtue's groan,
Nor heeds a Friend's deftruction, or her own..

230

Let clear-ey'd Reafon at the helm prefide,

235

Bear to the wind, or stem the furious tide;
Then Mirth may urge, when Reason can explore,
This point the way, that waft us glad to shore.

Tho' distant Times may rife in SATIRE's page,
Yet chief 'tis Her's to draw the prefent Age: 240
With Wisdom's luftre, Folly's fhade contraft,
And judge the reigning Manners by the past:
Bid Britain's Heroes (awful Shades!) arise,
And ancient Honour beam on modern Vice:
Point back to minds ingenuous, actions fair, 245
Till the Sons blush at what their Fathers were:

Ere yet 'twas beggary the great to trust;

Ere yet
'twas quite a folly to be juft;
When low-born Sharpers only dar'd a lie,

Or falfify'd the card, or cogg'd the dye;

250

Ere Lewdness the ftain'd garb of Honour wore,

Or Chastity was carted for the Whore ;

Vice flutter'd, in the plumes of Freedom dress'd;

Or public Spirit was the public jeft.

Be ever, in a juft expreflion, bold,

Yet ne'er degrade fair SATIRE to a Scold:

a-:

260

Let no unworthy mien her form debase,
But let her smile, and let her frown with grace:
In mirth be temp'rate, temp'rate in her spleen;
Nor, while fhe preaches modefty, obscene.
Deep let her wound, not rankle to a fore,
Nor call his Lordship —, her Grace a
The Mufe's charms refiftless then affail,
When wrapt in Irony's transparent veil :
Her beauties half-conceal'd the more furprize, 265
And keener luftre sparkles in her eyes.
Then be your line with sharp encomiums grac❜d:
Style Clodius honourable, Bufa chafte.

Dart not on Folly an indignant eye: Who e'er discharg'd Artillery on a Fly? Deride not Vice: Abfurd the thought and vain,

270

To bind the Tyger in fo weak a chain.
Nay more when flagrant crimes your laughter

move,

The Knave exults: to fmile is to approve.
The Muse's labour then fuccefs fhall crown, 275
When Folly feels her fimile, and Vice her frown.

Know next what Measures to each Theme belong, And fuit your thoughts and numbers to your fong:

« ПретходнаНастави »