On her poor kindred deigns fhe word or look?
'Tis cold refpect, or 'tis unjust rebuke;
Worfe when good-natur'd, than when most severe :
The jeft impure then pains the me deft ear.
How just the fceptic! the divine how odd!
What turns of wit play fmartly on her god!
The fates, my nearest kindred, foes decrce :
Fulvia, when piqu'd at them, ftrait pities me.
She, like Benevolence, a smile bestows,
Favours to me indulge her fpleen to those.
The banquet ferv'd, with peereffes I fit:
She tells my story, and repeats my wit.
With mouth distorted, through a founding nofe
It comes, now homelinefs more homely grows.
With fee-faw founds, and nonfenfe not my own,
She fkrews her features, and the cracks her tone.
How fine your bastard! why fo foft a strain?
What, fuch a mother? fatirife again!

Oft I object--but fix'd is Fulvia's will-
Ah though unkind, fhe is my mother ftill!
The verfe now flows, the manufcript fhe claims.
'Tis fam'd-The fame each curious fair enflames:
The wild-fire runs; from copy, copy grows:
The Brets, alarm'd, a fepatate peace propose.
'Tis ratified---How alter'd Fulvia's look!
My wit's degraded, and my cause forfook.
Thus fhe: What's poetry but to amufe?
Might I advife---there are more folid views.
With a cool air fhe adds: This tale is old:
Were it my cafe, it fhould no more be told.
Complaints--had I been worthy to advise...
You know...But when are wits, like women, wife?
True it may take; but, think whate'er you lift,
All love the fatire, none the fatirift.

I start, I ftare, ftand fix'd, then pause a while;
Then hesitate, then ponder well, then smile.
Madam--a pension loft---and where's amends!
Sir, (the replies) indeed you'll lole your friends.
Why did I start? 'twas but a change of wind---
Or the fame thing--the lady chang'd her mind.
I bow, depart, defpife, difcern her all :
Nanny revifits, and difgrac'd I fall.

Let Fulvia's friendship whirl with every whim!
A reed, a weathercock, a fhade, a dream:
No more the friendship shall be now display'd
By weathercock, or reed, or dream, or fhade;
To Nanny fix'd unvarying fhall it tend,
For fouls, fo form'd alike, were form'd to blend.

EPITAPH ON A YOUNG LADY. CLOS'D are thofe eyes that beam'd feraphic fire; Cold is that breaft which gave the world defire; Mute is the voice where winning foftnefs warm'd, Where mufic melted, and where wildom charm'd, And lively wit, which, decently confin'd,

No prude e'er thought impure, no friend unkind.
Could modeft knowledge, fair untṛifling youth,
Perfuafive reafon and endearing truth,
Could honour, fhown in friendships most refin'd,
And fenfe, that fhields th'attempted virtuous mind;
The focial temper never known to strife,
The heightening graces that embellish life;
Could these have e'er the darts of death defied,
Never, ah! never had Melinda died;

Nor can the die-ev'n now furvives her name, Immortaliz'd by friendship, love, and fame.

THE GENIUS OF LIBERTY.

A POEM.

OCCASIONED BY THE DEPARTURE OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF ORANGE,

(Written in the Year 1734.)

MILD rofe the morn! the face of nature bright
Wore one extensive smile of calm and light;
Wide, o'er the land, did hovering filence reign,
Wide o'er the blue diffufion of the main;
When lo! before me, on the fouthern fhore,
Stood forth the power, whom Albion's fons adore;
Bleft Liberty whofe charge is Albion's isle;
Whom reafon gives to bloom, and truth to fmile;
Gives peace to gladden, sheltering law to fpread,
Rich induftry to view, with pleasing eyes,
Learning to lift aloft her laurel'd head,
Her fleets, her cities, and her harvests rife.
In curious emblems every art, expreft,
Glow'd from the loom, and brighten'd on his veft,
Science in various lights attention won,
Wav'd on his robe, and glitter'd in the fun.

My words, he cried, my word obfervance claim:
Refound, ye mufes; and receive them, fame!
Here was my station, when, o'er ocean wide,
The great, third William, ftretch'd his naval pride:
Th' enflav'd to fee, th' enflaver to controul.
I with my facred influence fwell'd his foul;
In vain did waves difperfe, and winds detain:
He came, he fav'd; in his was feen my reign.
How juft, how great, the plan his foul defign'd,
To humble tyrants, and fecure mankind!
Next Marlborough in his fteps fuccefsful trod :
This, godlike plann'd; that, finish'd like a god!
And, while oppreflion fled to realms unknown,
Europe was free, and Britain glorious fhone.

Where Naffau's race extenfive growth difplay'd, Still heaven is kind !---See, from the princely root, There freedom ever found a sheltering fhade. Millions to blefs, the BRANCH aufpicious shoot! He lives, he flourishes, his honours spread; Fair virtues blooming on his youthful head: Nurie him, ye heavenly dews, ye funny rays, Into firm health, fair fame, and length of days!

He paus'd, and cafting o'er the deep his eye, Where the la billow fwells into the sky, Where, in gay vifion, round th' horizon's line, The moving clouds with various beauty fhine; As dropping from their bofom, ting'd with gold, Shoots forth a fail, amufive to behold! Lo while its light the glowing wave returns, Broad like a fun the bark approaching burns. Near, and more near, great Nassau foon he spy'd, And beauteous Anna, Britain's eldest pride! Thus fpoke the Genius, as advanc'd the fail--Hail, blooming hero! high-born princefs, hail! Thy charms thy mother's love of truth display, Her light of virtue, and her beauty's ray; Her dignity; which, copying the divine, Soften'd, through condefcenfion, learns to fhine

Next, on an open front, is pleafing wrought A penfive fweetness, born of patient thought: Above your lucid fhoulders locks display'd, Prone to defcend, fhall foften light with fhade. All, with a nameless air and mein, unite, And, as you move, each movement is delight. Tun'd is your melting tongue and equal mind, At once by knowledge heighten'd and refin'd. The virtues next to beauty's nod incline; For, where they lend not light, she cannot fhine; Let thefe, the temperate fenfe of tafte reveal, And give, while nature spreads the fimple meal. The palate pure, to relish health defign'd, From luxury as taintless as your mind. The virtues, chastity and truth, impart, And mould to fweet benevolence your heart. Thus beauty finish'd-Thus the gains the fway, And love still follows where she leads the way. rom every gift of heaven, to charm is thine; 'o love, to praise, and to adore, be mine.

SENT TO MRS. BRIDGET JONES;

WITH THE WANDERER.

-Huding to an Episode, where a young Man turns Hermit, for the lofs of his Wife Olympia.

HEN with delight fond love on beauty dwelt, While this the youth, and that the fair expreft, int was his joy compar'd to what I felt, When in my angel Biddy's prefence bleft. ell her, my mufe, in soft, fad, fighing breath, If the his piercing grief can pitying see, "orfe than to him was his Olympia's death, From her each moment's absence is to me.

ON FALSE HISTORIANS.

A SATIRE.

RE of all plagues with which dull profe is curft, andals, from falfe hiftorians, fpot the worst. queft of these the mufe fhall firft advance, ld, to explore the regions of romance; mance, call'd history-Lo! at once the skims le vifionary world of monkish whims; here fallacy, in legends, wildly fhines, d vengeance glares from violated shrines; here faints perform all tricks, and startle thought ith many a miracle that ne'er was wrought, ints that never liv'd, or such as justice paints, gglers, on fuperftition palm'd for faints. :re, canoniz'd, let creed-mongers be shown, d-letter'd faints, and red affaffins known; hile thofe they martyr'd, fuch as angels rofe! I black enroll'd among religion's foes, atch'd by fulphureous clouds, a LIE proclaims amber'd with fiends, and plung'd in endless flames.

Hiftory, from air or deep draws many a spright, ch as, from nurse or priest, might boys affright; fuch as but o'er feverish flumbers fly, od fix in melancholy frenzy's eye. ww meteors make enthusiast wonder ftare, d image wild portentous wars in air!

Seers fall entranc'd! fome wizard's lawlefs skill
Now whirls, now fetters nature's works at will!
Thus hiftory, by machine, mock epic, feems,
Not from poetic, but from morkish dreams.

The devil, who priest and forcerer mult obey
The forcerer us'd to raife, the parfon lay,
When Echard wav'd his pen, the hiflory fhows,
The parfon conjur'd, and the fiend tiprofe.
A camp at diftance, and the fcere a word,
Here enter'd Noll, and there old Satan stood:
No tail his rump, his foot no hoof reveal'd;
Like a wife cuckold, with his horns conceal'd
Not a gay ferpent, glittering to the eye;
But more than ferpent, or than harlor Hy:
For, lawyer-like, a fiend no wit can 'icape,
The demon ftands confeft in proper shape!
Now fpreads his parchment, now is fign'd the
fcroll;

Thus Noll gains empire, and the devil has Noll. Wondrous hiftorian! thus account for evil, And thus for its fuccefs-'tis all the devil. Though ne'er that devil we faw, yet one we fee, One of an author fure, and thou art he.

But dusky phantoms, mufe, no more purfue! Now clearer objects open-yer untrue. Awful the genuine hiftorian's name ' Falfe ones with what materials build they fame Fabrics of fame, by dirty means made good, As nefts of martins are compil'd of mud. Peace be with Curll-with him I wave all ftrife, Who pens each felon's, and each actor's life; Biography that cooks the devil's martyrs,

And lards with infcious rapes the cheats of Chara

tres.

Materials, which belief in gazzetes claim, Loofe ftrung, run gingling into history's name. Thick as Egyptian clouds of raining flies; As thick as worms where man corrupting lies; As pefts obfcene that haunt the roin'd pile; As monsters floundering in the muddy Nile; Minutes, memoirs, views, and reviews appear, Where flander darkens each recorded year In a paft reign is feign'd fome amorous league; Some ring or letter now reveals th' intrigue : Queens, with their minions, work unfeem y things; And boys grow dukes, when catamites to kings. Does a prince die? What poilons they furmife! No royal mortal fure by nature dies.

Is a prince born? What birth more bafe believ'd? Or, what's more strange, his mother ne'er conceiv'd!

Thus flander popular o'er truth prevails,
And eafy minds imbibe romantic tales.
Thus, 'ftead of history, fuch authors raise
Mere crude wild novels of bad hints for plays.

Some ufurp names-an Engiifh garreteer,
From minutes forg'd, is Monfieur Mefnager *

• The Minutes of Monf. Mefnager; a bock calculated to vilify the adminiflration in the four loft years of Queen Anne's reign. The truth is that this libel was not written by Monf. Mefnager, neither was any fuch book ever printed in the French tongue, from which it is impudently faid in the title page to be tranf lated.

Some, while on good or ill fuccefs they ftare,
Give conduct a complexion dark or fair:
Others, as little to inquiry prone,

Account for actions, though their spring's unknown.
One statesman vices has, and virtues too;
Hence will contefted character enfue.

View but the black, he's fiend; the bright but fcan,
He's angel: view him all-he's still a man.
But fuch hiftorians all accufe, acquit;
No virtue these, and those no vice admit;
For either in a friend no fault will know,
And neither own a virtue in a foe.

Where hear-fay knowledge fits on public names,
And bold conjecture or extols or blames,
Spring party libeis; from whofe afhes dead,
A monfter, mifnam'd Hiftory, lifts its head.
Contending factions crowd to hear its roar!
But when once heard, it dies to noife no more.
From thefe no aufwer, no applause from thofe,
O'er half they fimper, and o'er half they doze.
So when in fenate, with egregious pate.
Perks up Sir**

in fome deep debate; He hems, looks wife, tunes thin his labouring throat,

To prove black white, poftpone or palm the vote:
In fly contempt, fome, Hear him! Hear him! cry;
Some yawn, fome fneer; none fecond, none reply.
But dare fuch mifcreants now rush abroad,
By blanket, cane, pump, pillory, unaw'd?
Dare they imp falfehood thus, and plume her
wings,

From prefent characters and recent things?
Yes: What untruths! or truths in what disguise!
What Boyers and what Oldmixons arife!
What facts from all but them and flander screen'd!
Here meets a council, no where else conven'd;
There, from originals, come, thick as spawn,
Letters ne'er wrote, memorials never drawn;
To fecret conference never held they yoke,
Treaties ne'er plann'd, and speeches never spoke.
From, Oldmixen, thy brow, too well we know,
Like fin from Satan's far and wide they go.

In vain may St. John fafe in confcience fit;
In vain with truth confute, contemn with wit:
Confute, contemn, amid felected friends;
There finks the justice, there the fatire ends,
Here, though a century scarce fuch leaves unclofe,
From mould and duft the flander facred grows.
Now none reply where all defpife the page;
But will dumb fcorn deceive no future age?
Then, should dull periods cloud not seeming fast,
Will no fine pen th' unanfwer'd lie extract?
Well-fet in plan, and polish'd into style,
Fair and more fair may finish'd fraud beguile;
By every language fnatch'd, by time receiv'd,
In every clime, by every age believ'd:
How vain to virtue trust the great their name,
When fuch their lot for infamy or fame?

A CHARACTER.

FAIR truth, in courts where juftice fhould prefide,
Alike the judge and advocate would guide;
And these would vie each dubious point to clear,
To stop the widow's and the orphan's tear;

Where all, like Yorke, of delicate addrefs,
Strength to difcern, and fweetness to expref,
Learn'd, jufl, polite, born every heart to gain,
Like Cummins mild; like Fortescue humane,
All eloquent of truth, divinely known,
So deep, fo clear, all fcience is his own.

Of heart impure, and impotent of head,
In hiftory, rhetoric, ethics, law, unread;
How far unlike fuch worthies, once a drudge,
From floundering in low cafes, rofe a judge.
Form'd to make pleaders laugh, his nonsent
thunders,

And, on low juries, breathes contagious blunders
His brothers blush, because no blush he knows,
Nor e'er "one uncorrupted finger fhowe."
See, drunk with power, the circuit lord expreft!
Full, in his eye, his betters ftand confeft: [loa
Whofe wealth, birth, virtue, from a tongue is
'Scape not provincial, vile, buffoon abuse.
Still to what circuit is affign'd his name,
There, fwift before him, flies the warner-Fant
Contest ftops fhort, confent yields every cause
To coft; delay, endures them, and withdraws
But how 'fcape prifoners? To their trial chain'
All, all fhall fand condemn'd, who stand arraign
Dire guilt, which elfe would deteftation caufe,
Prejudg'd with infult, wonderous pity draws.
But 'fcapes e'en innocence his harsh harangue?
Alas!-c'en innocence itself muft hang;
Muft hang to please him, when of spleen poffel;
Muft hang to bring forth an abortive jeft.

Why liv'd he not ere ftar-chambers had fail
When fine, tax, cenfure, all but law prevail'd;
Or law, fubfervient to fome murderous will,
Became a precedent to murder will?
Yet ev'n when patriots did for traitors bleed,
Was e'er the job to fuch a flave decreed,
Whofe favage mind wants fophift-art to draw,
O'er murder'd virtue, fpacious veils of law?
Why, ftudent, when the bench your youth a
mits;
[fits:
Where, though the worst, with the best rank'd he
Where found opinions you attentive write,
As once a Raymond, now a Lee to cite,
Why paufe you fcornful when he dins the court?
Note well his cruel quirks, and well report.
Let his own words against himself point clear
Satire more fharp than verfe when most severe.

Though frugal care, in wifdom's eye admir'd, Knew to preferve what industry requir'd; Yet, at her board with decent plenty bleft, The journeying stranger fat a welcome guest. Preft on all fides, did trading neighbours fear Ruin, which hung o'er exigence severe ? Farewell the friend, who fpar'd th' affistant loanA neighbour's woe or welfare was her own. Did piteous lazars oft attend her door? She gave-farewell the parent of the poor. Youth, age, and want, once cheer'd, now fighing fwell,

Blefs her lov'd name, and weep a last farewell.

VALENTINE'S DAY.

A POEM.

Addreffed to a young Widow Lady.

ADIEU, ye rocks that witness'd once my flame,
Return'd my fighs, and echo'd Chloe's name!
Cambria, farewell!-my Chloe's charms no more
Invite my fteps along Llanelly's fhore;
There no wild dens conceal voracious foes,
The beach no fierce, amphibious monster knows;
No crocodile there flesh'd with prey appears,
And o'er that bleeding prey weeps cruel tears;
No falfe hyæna, feigning human grief,
There murders him, whofe goodness means relief:
Yet tides, confpiring with unfaithful ground,
Though diftant feen, with treacherous arms, fur-
round.

There quickfands, thick as beauty's fnares, annoy,
Look fair to tempt, and whom they tempt, deftroy,
I watch'd the feas, I pac'd the fands with care,
Efcap'd, but wildly rush'd on beauty's snare.
Ah-better far, than by that fnare overpow'r'd,
Had fands engulf'd me, or had feas devour'd.

Far from that fhore, where fyren beauty dwells,
And wraps tweet ruin in refiftlefs fpells; [boak,
From Cambrian plains; which Chloe's luftre
Me native England yields a safer coaft.
Chloe, farewell!--Now feas, with boisterous pride,
Divide us, and will ever far divide :

Yet while each plant, which vernal youth refumes,
Feels the green blood afcend in future blooms;
While little feather'd fongsters of the air
In woodlands tuneful woo and fondly pair,
The mufe exults, to beauty tunes the lyre,
And willing loves the fwelling notes infpire.

Sure on this day, when hope attains fuccefs,
Bright Venus first did young Adonis bless.
Her charms not brighter, Chloe, fure than thine;
Though flush'd his youth, not more his warmth

than mine.

Sequefter'd far within a myrtle grove,
Whofe blooming bofom courts retiring love;
Where a clear fun, the blue ferene displays,
And sheds, through vernal air, attemper'd rays;
Where flowers their aromatic incense bring,
And fragrant flourish in eternal fpring;
There mate to mate each dove responsive coos,
While this affcnts, as that enamour'd woos,
There rills amufive, fend from rocks around,
A folitary, pleafing, murmuring found;

Then form a limpid lake. The lake ferene
Reflects the wonders of the blissful fcene.
To love the birds attune their chirping throats,
And on each breeze immortal mufic floats.
There feated on a rifing turf is feen,
Graceful, in loose array, the Cyprian queen;
All fresh and fair, all mild, as Ocean gave
The goddess, rifing from the azure wave;
Difhevel'd locks distil celeftial dews,

647

And all her limbs, divine perfumes diffuse.
Her voice fo charms, the plumy, warbling throngs,
In liftening wonder loft, fufpend their fongs.
It founds" Why loiters my Adonis ?"-cry,
"Why loiters my Adonis ?"-rocks reply.
"Oh, come away!"-they thrice, repeating, fay;
And echo thrice repeats,-" Oh, come away!"-
Kind zephyrs waft them to her lover's ears;
Who, inftant at th' enchanting call, appears.
Her placid eye, where sparkling joy refines,
Benignant, with alluring luftre fhines.
His locks, which, in loofe ringlets, charm the view,
Float careless, lucid from their amber hue.
A myrtle wreath her rofy fingers frame,
Which, from her hand, his polifh'd temples claim ;
His temples fair, a ftreaking beauty ftains,
As fmooth white marble fhines with azure veins.
He kneel'd. Her fnowy hand he trembling feiz'd,
Just lifted to his lip, and gently fqueez'd;
The meaning fqueeze return'd, love caught its lore
And enter'd, at his palm, through every pore.
Then fweil'd her downy breafts, till then enclos'd,
Faft heaving, half-conceal'd and half-expos'd:
Soft the reclines. He, as they fall and rife,
Hangs, hovering o'er them, with enamour'd eyes,
And, warm'd, grows wanton-As he thus ad-
mir'd,

He pry'd, he touch'd, and with the touch was fir'd,
Half-angry, yet half pleas'd, her frown beguiles
The boy to fear; but, at his fear, fhe fmiles.
The youth lefs timorous and the fair lefs coy,
Supinely amorous they reclining toy.
More amorous fill his fanguine meaning stole
In wiftful glances, to her foftening foul:
In her fair eye her foftening foul he reads:
To freedom, freedom, boon, to boon, fucceeds.
With confcious blush, th' impaflion'd charmer
burns;
[turns.
And, blush for blush, the impaffion'd youth re-
They look, they languish, figh with pleafing pain,
And with and gaze, and gaze and with again.
'Twixt her white, parting bofom fteals the boy,
And more than hope preludes tumultous joy;
Through every vein the vigorous transport ran,
Strung every nerve, and brac'd the boy to man.
Struggling, yet yielding, half o'erpower'd, fhe
pants,

Seems to deny, and yet, denying, grants.
Quick, like the tendrils of a curling vine,
Fond limbs with limbs, in amorous folds, entwine.
Lips prefs on lips, careffing and careft,
Now eye darts flame to eye, and breast to breast.
All the refigns, as dear defires incite,
And rapt he reach'd the brink of full delight.
Her waist comprefs'd in his exulting arms,
He ftorms, explores, and rifles all her charms;