THE

POEMS

M R.

OF

TICKEL L.

TO THE SUSPPOSED AUTHOR OF THE

SPECTATOR.

N courts licentious, and a fhameless stage,

IN

How long the war fhall wit with virtue wage ?
Inchanted by this prostituted fair,

Our youth run headlong in the fatal snare;
In height of rapture clasp unheeded pains,
And fuck pollution through their tingling veins ?
Thy spotlefs thoughts unshock'd the priest may hear;
And the pure vestal in her bosom wear.

To confcious blufhes and diminish'd pride,

Thy glass betrays what treacherous love would hide;
Nor harsh thy precepts, but infus'd by stealth,
Pleas'd while they cure, and cheat us into health.
Thy works in Chloe's toilet gain a part,
And with his tailor fhare the fopling's heart:
Lafh'd in thy fatire, the penurious cit
Laughs at himself, and finds no harm in wit:
From felon gamefters the raw fquire is free,
And Britain owes her refcued oaks to thee.
His mifs the frolic Viscount dreads to toaft,
Or his third cure the fhallow Templar boast;
And the rash fool, who fcorn'd the beaten road,
Dares quake at thunder, and confefs his God.

The brainless stripling, who, expell'd the town,
Damn'd the stiff college and pedantic gown,
Aw'd by thy name, is dumb, and thrice a week.
Spells uncouth Latin, and pretends to Greek.

A fauntering

A fauntering tribe! fuch born to wide eftates,
With yea and no in fenates hold debates:

At length despis'd each to his fields retires,
First with the dogs, and king amidst the squires ;
From pert to ftupid, finks fupinely down,

In youth a coxcomb, and in age a clown.

Such readers fcorn'd, thou wing'ft thy daring flight Above the stars, and tread'ft the fields of light; Fame, heaven and hell, are thy exalted theme, And visions such as Jove himself might dream ; Man funk to flavery, though to glory born, Heaven's pride when upright, and deprav'd his fcorn. Such hints alone could British Virgil lend,

And thou alone deferve from fuch a friend;

A debt fo borrow'd is illuftrious flame,

And fame when fhar'd with him is double fame.
So, flufh'd with fweets by Beauty's Queen 'bestow'd,
With more than mortal charms Æneas glow'd:
Such generous ftrifes Eugene and Marlborough try,
And as iħ glory, fo in friendship vie.

Permit thefe lines by thee to live—nor blame
A Mufe that pants and languishes for fame;
That fears to fink when humbler themes fhe fings,
Loft in the mafs of mean forgotten things:
Receiv'd by thee, I prophefy, my rhymes,

The praife of virgins in fucceeding times :

Mix'd with thy works, their life no bounds fhall fee, But stand protected, as infpir'd, by thee.

So fome weak fhoot, which elfe would poorly rife, Jove's tree adopts, and lifts him to the fkies;

Through

Through the new pupil fostering juices flow,

Thruft forth the gems, and give the flowers to blow.

Aloft; immortal reigns the plant unknown,

With borrow'd life, and vigour not his own.

A PO E M,

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE LORD PRIVY. SEAL, ON THE PROSPECT OF PEACE.

Sacerdos

"Fronde fuper Mitram, & felici comptus Oliva.”

TO THE LORD PRIVY SEAL.

VIRG.

ONTENDING kings, and fields of death, too long
Have been the kibject of the British long

Who hath not read of fam'd Ramillia's plain,
Bavaria's fall, and Danube chok'd with flain!
Exhaufted themes! a gentler note I raise,
And fing returning peace in fofter lays.
Their fury quell'd, and martial rage allay'd,
I wait our heroes in the sylvan shade : .
Difbanding hosts are imag'd to my mind,

And warring powers in friendly leagues combin'd,
While ease and pleasure make the nations smile,
And Heaven and Anna blefs Britannia's ifle.