What joy attends a new-paid debt!
Our Manciple I lately met
Of visage wife and prudent;
I on the nail my Battels paid,
The monster turn'd away difmay'd.
Hear this, each OXFORD Student!
With justice and with truth to trace
The grifly features of his face,
Exceeds all man's recounting;
Suffice, he look'd as grim and four
As any lion in the tower,
Or half-ftarv'd cat-a-mountain.
A phiz fo grim you scarce can meet
In Bedlam, Newgate, or the Fleet,
Dry nurfe of faces horrid ;
Not BUCKHORSE, fierce with many a bruise,
Difplays fuch complicated hues
On his undaunted forehead.
Place me on Scotland's bleakest hill,
Provided I can pay my bill,
Hang ev'ry thought of forrow;
There falling fleet, or froft, or rain
Attack a foul refolv'd, in vain :-
It may be fair to-morrow,
To Heddington then let me ftray,
And take Jo. Pullen's tree away,
I'll ne'er complain of Phoebus;
But while he fcorches up the grass,
I'll fill a bumper to my lass,
And toast her in a Rebus.
HILE Oxford Bards, with teeming fancy fraught, Difplay the texture of their fine-fpun thought; While WT's charms of fymmetry inspire Reflected ardor from poetic fire;
Shall I, tho' meaneft of the tuneful train,
Tho' plodding for the Je ne fcai quoi in vain,
Shall I my tributary ftrains refuse,
When merit claims allegiance from the mufe?
What pow'r of charms our ravish'd sense surprize!
What soft attraction! brilliancy of eyes!
What sweet-attemper'd fmiles, and roseat grace,
With all the beauteous harmony of face!
Why should I dwell on her external pow'r,
And lavish odours on the fragrant flow'r?'
Since independent of thofe arts to please,
The lure of tutor'd looks and labour'd ease,
Secure of conqueft, fhe affails our hearts
With a bright magazine of keener darts ;
Conscious how tranfient beauty's gaudy boast,
How fhort the triumph of a reigning toast;
Confcious, as flashy lightnings gild the sky,
So pafs the luftre of a sparkling eye.
While other nymphs anxiety express
For filver-tinfel'd elegance of drefs,
She, bleft with genuine tafte of blifs refin'd,
Enjoys more real elegance of mind.
While the gay circle of bright nymphs you fee
Exhaling scandal o'er prolific tea,
Observe this fair, intent on nobler views,
Quaffs the Pierian nectar of the Mufe;
Scans the juft moral of fatiric rage,
Or virtuous Ethic's philofophic page.
As goodly elms fupport the wanton vine,
As the foft lymph allays the fprightly wine,
So wit, attemper'd with fuperiour sense,
Combines to speak her mental excellence :
Ev'n captious tea-tables admire to fee
Such clashing inconfiftencies agree;
A nymph, tho' fair, by pride not led away,
Sublimely humble, and ferenely gay,
Of easy temper, amiably good,
Free, no coquet, and virtuous, tho' no prude:
Such early fruit to bloom before its time,
Forget its age and ripen into prime.
But hark! Attention hangs in wonder loft, And speaking looks strive to admire her most. What elocution from a voice fo fweet, Enrich'd with all the charms of tuneful wit! By dint of found the adds to MILTON fire, Gives harmony to POPE and ease to PRIOR; Her tongue, with soft mellifluous accents fraught, Sets in the faireft light each brilliant thought; Mean ones fhe cafts in quite another mould, And by rich Alchymy turns all to gold.
Ye prudes of prim-fet face and ftudied air,
Ye fhining belles elaborately fair,
Say, does my fancy only pour the strain,
The gaudy fiction of an idle brain?
Behold the Graces dancing hand in hand,
The heav'n-born Mufes, fweetly-warbling band;
The Queen of beamy eyes and dalliance gay,
The virgin Pallas clad in white array;
All, all with fmiles of approbation fee
Their choiceft attributes combin'd in L-
On a bastard-child murder'd by its mother,
OVE, fpite of HONOUR's dictates, gave thee breath;
HONOUR, in spite of Love, pronounc'd thy death.
Spretâ juffit AMOR FAMA te, parvule, nafci :
FAMAque te fpreto juffit AMORE mori.
EE, with what virtue WIT is fraught!
SEE, Its poignancy admire!
Which, by contracting flights of thought,
Can fet the foul on fire.
So convex glaffes, made compleat,
Contract the rays of light;
Which when apart give little heat,
But burn when they unite,
FEBRIS INTERMITTENS.
UNDE repentinam trahimus fub pectore flammam
Alternafque nives? tantas quid fædere lites
Claudit? Hyperborei coeunt quâ pace Suëci
Marmaricis? tepidumve Hebro quid mifcet Hydaspen?
Arte Machaoniâ totoque in carmine Phoebo
Eft opus, ingentes feu vult mulcere dolores,
Seu canere; ægrotis feu det, feu verfibus ævum.
Felices animi! queis tu, Thymbræe, potentem
Indulfifti artem, circum præcordia cæcos
Explorare ignes, morbique recludere fontes.
His licet inftantis per mille pericula fati
Ire redire viam, flammatas pollice venas
Tractare, & nocuus fi quis fuper halitus erret,
Securis legere, atque haurire & reddere febrim.
Qualis cafta fidem teftans Cunegunda marito
Fixit inoffenfam candenti vomere plantam,
Non fecus ac teneri per florea gramina prati
Ferret iter, celeremve pedes imitata Camillam,
Sufpenfa in gelidis legeret veftigia lymphis.
Sic pius Æneas, comitifque onerifque faluti
Dum ftudet, evadit, focios quibus eripit, hoftes.
Nos gravior natura premit; nos plurima peftis
Corporea exercet, quas aut incuria fundit,
Corruptufve æther, vel lævo Delius aftro
Refpiciens. Ægras fenfi violare medullas
Angorem, Ætneis incendiaque æmula prunis.
Namque putes Siculos imo fub pectore fabros
Exercere opus, hinc verfare Pyracmona follem,
Hinc Steropem infandum præcordia tundere crebris.
Ictibus, & prenfare immani forcipe Brontem ;
Mox gelido durare lacu, rurfufque fub ignes
Formare alterno tormenta reciproca gyro.
Nam fimul ac venis infatis trifte venenum
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