Yet still my calmer thoughts his choice commend, I praise the hermit, but regret the friend, Resolv'd at length, from vice and LONDON far, To breathe in distant fields a purer air, And fix'd on Cambria's solitary shore, Give to St. David one true Briton more. [land, 3 While THALES waits the wherry that contains Of dissipated wealth the small remains, On Thames's banks, in silent thought we stood Where Greenwich smiles upon the silver flood; 2-Ego vel Prochytam præpono Suburræ. 3 Sed dum tota domus rhedâ componitur unâ, Substitit ad veteres arcus. praised a stranger in such terms, and gives a very strong probability to Sir John Hawkins's conjecture. That Savage did not set out for Wales until the following year, is a matter of little consequence, as the intention of such a journey would justify the lines alluding to it. well's Life of Johnson, vol. i. p. 100 and p. See Bos 199, Svo. Struck with the seat that gave ELIZA* birth, A transient calm the happy scenes bestow, + Hinc tunc Umbritius: Quando artibus, inquit, honestis Nullus in urbe locus, nulla emolumenta laborum, Res hodie minor est, heri quam fuit, atque eadem cras Deteret exiguis aliquid: proponimus illuc Ire, fatigatas ubi Dædalus exuit alas: Dum nova canities. Some secret cell, ye Pow'rs, indulgent give, 6 Let live here, for has learn'd to live. Here let those reign, whom pensions can incite To vote a patriot black, a courtier white; Explain their country's dear-bought rites away, And plead for* pirates in the face of day; With slavish tenets taint our poison'd youth, And lend a lie the confidence of truth. 7 Let such raise palaces, and manors buy, Collect a tax, or farm a lottery; With warbling eunuchs +fill a licens'd stage, And lull to servitude a thoughtless age. [hold? Heroes, proceed! what bounds your pride shall What check restrain your thirst for pow'r and Behold rebellious Virtue quite o'erthrown, [gold? Behold our fame, our wealth, our lives your own. To such the plunder of a land is giv❜n, When public crimes inflame the wrath of Heav'n 6 Cedamus patriâ: vivant Arturius istic 8 Quid Romæ faciam ? mentiri nescio: librum, Si malus est, nequeo laudare & poscere. *The invasions of the Spaniards were defended in the Houses of Parliament. The Licensing Act was then lately made. The paper which at that time contained apologies for the Court. Despise a fool in half his pension dress'd, 9 Others with softer smiles and subtler art, Well may they rise, while I, whose rustic tongue 10 For what but social guilt the friend endears? 12 The cheated nation's happy fav'rites see! Mark whom the great caress, who frown on me! LONDON! the needy villain's gen'ral home, The common-sewer of Paris and of Rome! With eager thirst, by folly or by fate, Sucks in the dregs of each corrupted state. 9 -Ferre ad nuptam quæ mittit adulter, Quæ mandat, norint alii; me nemo ministro Fur erit, atque ideo nulli comes exeo. 10 Quis nunc diligitur, nisi conscius ?Carus erit Verri, qui Verrem tempore, quo vult, Accusare potest. 11 Tanti tibi non sit opaci Omnis arena Tagi, quodque in mare volvitur aurum, 12 Quæ nunc divitibus gens acceptissima nostris, Et quos præcipue fugi, m, properabo fateri. Forgive my transports on a theme like this, 13 I cannot bear a French metropolis. 14 Illustrious EDWARD! from the realms of day, The land of heroes and of saints survey; Nor hope the British lineaments to trace, The rustic grandeur, or the surly grace; But, lost in thoughtless ease and empty show, Behold the warrior dwindled to a beau; Sense, freedom, piety, refin'd away, Of France the mimic, and of Spain the prey. All that at home no more can beg or steal, Or like a gibbet better than a wheel; Hiss'd from the stage, or hooted from the court, Their air, their dress, their politics, import; 15 Obsequious, artful, voluble and gay, On Britain's fond credulity they prey. No gainful trade their industry can 'scape, 16 They sing, they dance, clean shoes, or cure a All sciences a fasting Monsieur knows, And, bid him go to hell, to hell he goes. [clap: 17 Ah! what avails it, that, from slav'ry far, 13 Græcam urbem. Non possum ferre, Quirites, 14 Rusticus ille tuus sumit trechedipna, Quirine, Et ceromatico fert niceteria collo. 15 Ingenium velox, audacia perdita, sermo Promptus. 16 Augur, schoenobates, medicus, magnus: omnia novit. Græculus esuriens, in cœlum, jusseris, ibit. 17 Usque adeo nihil est, quod nostra infantia cœlum Hausit Aventini? |