Besides, with justice, this discerning age
Admires their wond'rous talents for the stage;
Well may they venture on the mimic's art,
Who play from morn to night a borrow'd part;
Practis'd their master's notions to embrace,
Repeat his maxims, and reflect his face;
With ev'ry wild absurdity comply,

And view each object with another's eye;
To shake with laughter ere the jest they hear,
To pour at will the counterfeited tear;
And as their patron hints the cold or heat,
To shake in dog-days, in December sweat.

How, when competitors like these contend,
Can surly virtue hope to fix a friend?
Slaves that with serious impudence beguile,
And lie without a blush, without a smile;
Exalt each trifle, ev'ry vice adore,
Your taste in snuff, your judgment in a whore;
Can Balbo's eloquence applaud; and swear
He gropes his breeches with a monarch's air.

For arts like these preferr'd, admir'd, caress'd,
They first invade your table, then your breast;
Explore your secrets with insidious art,
Watch the weak hour, and ransack all the heart;
Then soon your ill- plac'd confidence repay,
Commence your lords, and govern or betray.

By numbers here from shame or censure free,
All crimes are safe, but hated poverty.

This, only this, the rigid law

pursues,

This, only this, provokes the snarling muse.
The sober trader at a tatter'd cloak,

Wakes from his dream, and labours for a joke;

18) Natio comoda est. Rides? majore cachinno Concutitur, etc.

19) Non sumus ergo pares: melior qui semper et omni Nocte dieque potest alienum sumere vultum:

A facie jactare manus; laudare paratus,

Si bene factavit, si rectum minxit amicus.

20) Scire volunt secreta domûs, atque inde timeri.

21)

Materiem præbet causasque jocorum Omnibus hic idem? si foda et scissa lacerna, etc.

23)

With brisker air the silken courtiers gaze,
And turn the varied taunt a thousand ways.
22) Of all the griefs that harrass the distress'd;
Sure the most bitter is a scourniul jest;
Fate never wounds more deep the gen'rous heart,
Than when a blockhead's insult points the dart.
Has heaven reserv'd, in pity to the poor.
No pathless waste, or undiscover'd shore?
No secret island in the boundless main?
No peaceful desert yet unclaim'd by Spain *)?
Quick let us rise, the happy seats explore,
And bear oppression's insolence no more.
This mournful truth is ev'ry where confess'd.
24) SLOW RISES WORTH, BY POVERTY DEPRESS'D:

But here more slow, where all are slaves to gold,
Where looks are merchandise, and smiles are sold:
Where won by bribes, by flatteries implor'd,
The groom retails the favours of his lord.

But hark! th' affrighted crowd's tumultuous cries
Roll through the streets, and thunder to the skies:
Rais'd from some pleasing dream of wealth and pow't,
Some pompous palace, or some blissful bow'r,
Aghast you start, and scarce with aching sight
Sustain th' approaching fire's tremendous light;
Swift from pursuing horrors take your way,
And leave your little ALL to flames a prey:
25) Then through the world a wretched vagrant roam,

22) Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se, Quam quod ridiculos homines facit.

23)

Aginine facto,

Debuerant olim tenues migrasse Quirites.

24) Haud facile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domi. Sed Romæ durior illis Conatus

Aerumnæ cumulus, quod nudum, et frustra rogantem
Nemo cibo, nemo hospitio, tecioque juvabit.

*) The Spaniards at this time were said to make claim to sơme of our American provinces.

For where can starving merit find a home? In vain your mournful narrative disclose, While all neglect and most insult your woes. 2) Should Heaven's just bolts Orgilio's wealth confound, And spread his flaming palace on the ground, Swift o'er the land the dismal rumour flies, And public mournings pacify the skies;

The laureat tribe in servile *) verse relate,

How virtue wars with persecuting fate;

With well feign'd gratitude the pension'd band

27) Refund the plunder, of the beggar'd land.
See! while he builds, the gaudy vassals come,
And crowd with sudden wealth the rising dome;
2) The price of boroughs and of souls restore;
And raise his treasures higher than before:
Now bless'd with all the baubles of the great,
29) The polish'd marble, and the shining plate,
Orgilio sees the golden pile aspire,

And hopes from angry Heav'n another fire.

Could'st thou resign the park and play content, For the fair, banks of Severn or of Trent;

30) There might'st thou find some elegant retreat,
Some hireling senator's deserted seat;

And stretch thy prospects o'er the smiling land,
For less than rent the dungeons of the Strand;
There prune thy walks, support thy drooping flowr's,
Direct thy rivulets, and twine thy bow'rs;

26) Si magna Asturici cecidit domus, horrida mater, Pullati proceres.

27) Jam accurrit, qui marmora donet,

28)

Conferat impensas: hic, etc.
Hic modium argenti

Meliora, ac plura reponit

Persicus orborum lautissimus.

29) Si potes avelli Circensibus, optima Soræ,

Aut Fabretariæ domus, aut Frosinone paratur. 30) Quanti nunc tenebras unum conducis in annum. Hortulus hic

Vive bidentis amans, et culti villicus horti,
Unde epulam possis centum dare Pythagoræis.

⚫) Nach Anderson's Ausgabe: venal verse,

31)

32)

33)

And, while thy grounds a cheap repast afford,
Despise the dainties of a venal lord:

There ev'ry bush with nature's music rings,
There ev'ry breeze bears health upon its wings;
On all thy hours security shall smile,

And bless thine evening walk and morning toil.
Prepare for death if here at night you roam,
And sign your will before you sup from home.
Some fiery fop, with new commission vain,
Who sleeps on brambles till he kills his man;
Some frolic drunkard, reeling from a feast,
Provokes a broil, and stabs you for a jest.

Yet ev'n these heroes, mischievously gay,
Lords of the street, and terrors of the way;
Flush'd as they are with folly, youth and wine,
Their prudent insults to the poor confine;
Afar they mark the flambeau's bright approach,
And shun the shining train, and golden coach.

In vain these dangers past, your doors you close,
And hope the balmy blessings of repose:

Cruel with guilt, and daring with despair,

The midnight murd'rer bursts the faithless bar;
Invades the sacred hour of silent rest,

And plants, unseen, a dagger in your breast.

Scarce can our fields, such crowds at Tyburn die,
With hemp the gallows and the fleet supply.
Propose your schemes, ye senatorian band,

31) Possis ignavus haberi,

Et subiti casus improvidus, ad cœnam si
Intestatus eas.

Ebrius, ac petulans, qui nullum forte cecidit,
Dat poenas, noctem patitur lugentis amicum
Peleida.

Sed, quamvis improbus annis,

Atque mero fervens, cavet hunc, quem coccina læna
Vitari jubet, et comitum longissimus ordo:

Multum præterea flammatum, atque ænea lampas,

32) Nec tamen hoc tantum metuas: nam qui spoliet te Non deerit: clausis domibus, etc.

33) Maximus in vinclis ferri modus: ut timeas, ne Vomer deficiat, ne marræ et sarcula desint.

34)

Whose ways and means) support the sinking land;
Lest ropes be wanting in the tempting spring,
To rig another convoy for the king **).

A single gaol, 'in ALFRED's golden reign,
Could half the nation's criminals contain;
Fair Justice then, without constraint ador'd,

-Held high the steady scale, but deep'd ***) the sword;
No spies were paid, no special juries known,

Blest age! but ah! how diff'rent from our own!

Much could I add, but see the boat at hand,
The tide retiring, calls me from the land:

Farewel! When youth, and health, and fortune spent,
Thou fly'st for refuge to the wilds of Kent;
And tir'd like me with follies and with crimes,
In angry numbers warn'st succeeding times;
Then shall thy friend nor thou refuse his aid,
Still foe to vice, forsake his Cambrian shade;
In virtue's cause once more exert his rage,
Thy satire point, and animate thy page.

RICHARD GLOVER, 1712 zu London geboren, und in der Schule zu Cheam erzogen, verrieth früh eine nicht gemeine Anlage zur Poesie. Erst 16 Jahr alt, schrieb er etn Gedicht auf Newton, welches Dr. Pemberton's view of Newton's

34) Felices proavorum atavos, felicia dicas

Secula quæ quondam sub regibus atque tribunis
Viderunt uno contentam carcere Romam.

35) His alias poteram, et plures subnectere causas :
Sed jumenta vocant.

Ergo vale nostri memor: et quoties to

Roma tuo refici properantem reddet Aquino,

Me quoque ad Eleusinam Cererem, vestramque Dianam
Convelle a Cumis: satirarum ego, ni pudet illas,

Adjutor gelidos veniam caligatus in agros.

*) A cant term in the house of commons for methods of raising money, **) The nation was discontented at the visits made by the King to Hannover, ***) Statt deep'd lesen andere: sheath'd the sword.