What is that monarch but a mortal man,
His crown a pageant, and his life a span?
With all his guards and his dominions he
Muft ficken too, and die as well as we.

IV.

Those boasted names of conquerors and kings
Are swallow'd, and become forgotten things:
One deftin'd period men in common have,
The great, the base, the coward, and the brave, 24
All food alike for worms, companions in the grave.
The prince and parasite together lie:

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No fortune can exalt but Death will climb as high. 27

BEAUTY AND LAW.

A POETICAL PLEADING*.

THE princes fat. Beauty and Law contend:
The queen of Love will her own caufe defend.
Secure the looks, as certain none can fee

Such Beauty plead and not her captive be.
What need of words with fuch commanding eyes? g
"Muft I then fpeak? O Heav'ns!" the charmer cries:

*King Charles II. having made a grant of the reverfion of an office in the Court of King's Bench to his fon the Duke of Grafton, the Lord Chief Juftice laying claim to it, as a perquifite legally belonging to his office, the caufe came to be heard before the House of Lords between the Duchefs, reli&t of the faid Duke, and the Chief Justice.

ΤΟ

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"O barbarous clime! where Beauty borrows aid "From eloquence to charm or to perfuade! "Will Discord never leave, with envious Care, "To raise debate? But Difcord governs here. "To Juno Pallas wifdom, fame, and pow'r, "Long fince preferr'd, what trial needs there more? "Confefs'd to fight, three goddeffes defcend "On Ida's hill, and for a prize contend; "Nobly they bid, and lavishly pursue "A gift that only could be Beauty's due. "Honours and wealth the gen'rous judge denies, “And gives the triumph to the brightest eyes. "Such precedents are numberless: we draw "Our right from cuftom; cuftom is a law: "As high as heav'n, as wide as feas or land, "As ancient as the world, is our command. "Mars and Alcides would this plea allow; "Beauty was ever abfolute till now.

"It is enough that I pronounce it mine,

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"And, right or wrong, he should his claim refign. "Not bears nor tigers fure fo favage are "As thefe ill-manner'd monsters of the bar.

"Loud Rumour has proclaim'd a nymph divine *, "Whofe matchlefs form, to counterbalance mine, 30

A report spread of a beautiful young lady, niece to the Lord Chief Justice, who would appear at the bar of the Houfe of Lords, and eclipfe the charms of the Duchefs of Grafton. No fuch lady was feen there, nor perhaps ever in any part of the world.

"By dint of beauty fhall extort your grace: "Let her appear, this rival, face to face; "Let eyes to eyes oppos'd this ftrife decide: "Now when I lighten let her beams be try'd. "Was 't a vain promise and a gownman's lie? "Or ftands fhe here unmark'd when I am by? "So Heav'n was mock'd, and once all Elis round "Another Jupiter was faid to found;

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"On brazen floors the royal actor tries "To ape the thunder rattling in the skies; "A brandish'd torch, with emulating blaze, "Affects the forky lightning's pointed rays: "Thus borne aloft, triumphantly he rode "Thro' crowds of worshippers, and acts the god. "The fire Omnipotent prepares the brand 45 "By Vulcan wrought, and arms his potent hand, "Then flaming hurls it hiffing from above, "And in the vast abyss confounds the mimic Jove. "Prefumptuous Wretch with mortal art to dare "Immortal pow'r, and brave the Thunderer.

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"Caffiope preferring, with difdain, "Her daughter to the Nereids, they complain: "The daughter, for the mother's guilty scorn, "Is doom'd to be devour'd: the mother's borne "Above the clouds, where, by immortal light 55 "Revers'd, she shines, expos'd to human fight, "And to a fhameful pofture is confin'd, "As an eternal terror to mankind.

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"Did thus the gods fuch private nymphs respect, "What vengeance might the queen of Love expect! "But grant fuch arbitrary pleas are vain, "Wav'd let them be; mere justice shall obtain. "Who to a husband juftlier can fucceed

"Than the foft partner of his nuptial bed?

"Or to a father's right lay ftronger claim

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"Than the dear youth in whom survives his name? "Behold that youth, confider whence he springs, "And in his royal veins respect your kings; "Immortal Jove upon a mortal she

"Begat his fire; fecond from Jove is he.

"Well did the father blindly fight your cause, "Following the cry-of Liberty and Laws, "If by thofe laws, for which he loft his life*, "You spoil ungratefully the fon and wife.

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"What need I more? 'tis treafon to difpute: 75 "The grant was royal; that decides the fuit. "Shall vulgar laws imperial pow'r constrain? "Kings and the gods can never act in vain."

She finish'd here, the queen of ev'ry grace!

Difdain vermilioning her heav'nly face:
Our hearts take fire, and all in tumult rife,
And one wish sparkles in a thousand eyes.
O might fome champion finish these debates,
My fword should end what now my pen relates!

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*The Duke of Grafton, flain at the fiege of Corke in Ireland about the beginning of the Revolution.

Up rofe the Judge, on each fide bending low,
A crafty smile accompanies his bow;

Ulyffes-like, a gentle pause he makes,

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Then, raifing by degrees his voice, he speaks. "In you, my Lords, who judge, and all who hear, "Methinks I read your wishes for the fair: "Nor can I wonder; even I contend

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"With inward pain, unwilling to offend; "Unhappy, thus oblig'd to a defence

"That may displease fuch heav'nly excellence. "Might we the laws on any terms abuse,

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"So bright an influence were the beft excufe.
"Let Niobe's * juft fate, the vile difgrace
"Of the Propœtides' + polluted race,
"Let death, or fhame, or lunacy, furprise
"Who dare to match the luftre of thofe eyes.
"Aloud the fairest of the sex complain
"Of captives loft, and loves invok'd in vain;
"At her appearance all their glory ends,
"And not a ftar but fets when the afcends.

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"Where Love prefides still may she bear the prize, "But rigid Law has neither ears nor eyes:

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Niobe, turned into a ftone for prefuming to compare herself with Diana.

+ Propœtides, certain virgins, who, for affronting Venus, were condemned to open proftitution, and afterwards turned into flone.