Critics may find employment for an age: Without my blunders, they were all undone; I twenty feed, where Mason can feed one. When Satire stoops, unmindful of her state, To praise the man I love, curse him I hate; When Sense, in tides of passion borne along, Sinking to prose, degrades the name of song, The censor smiles, and, whilst my credit bleeds, With as high relish on the carrion feeds 200 As the proud earl fed at a turtle feast, Who, turn’d by gluttony to worse than beast, Ate till his bowels gush’d upon the floor, Yet still ate on, and dying call’d for more. When loose Digression, like a colt unbroke, Spurning Connexion and her formal yoke,
Bounds through the forest, wanders far astray From the known path, and loves to lose her way, ‘Tis a full feast to all the mongrel pack To run the rambler down, and bring her back. 210 When gay Description, Fancy’s fairy child, Wild without art, and yet with pleasure wild, Waking with Nature at the morning hour
To the lark’s call, walks o’er the opening flower Which largely drank all night of heaven’s fresh dew, And, like a mountain nymph of Dian’s crew, So lightly walks, she not one mark imprints, Nor brushes off the dews, nor soils the tints; When thus Description sports, even at the time That drums should beat, and cannons roar in rhyme, 220 Critics can live on such a fault as that From one month to the other, and grow fat. Ye mighty Monthly Judges! in a dearth
Of letter’d blockheads, conscious of the worth Of my materials, which against your will Oft you’ve confess’d, and shall confess it still; Materials rich, though rude, inflamed with thought, Though more by Fancy than by Judgment wrought Take, use them as your own, a work begin Which suits your genius well, and weave them in, 230 Framed for the critic loom, with critic art, Till, thread on thread depending, part on part, Colour with colour mingling, light with shade, To your dull taste a formal work is made, And, having wrought them into one grand piece, Swear it surpasses Rome, and rivals Greece. Nor think this much, for at one single word, Soon as the mighty critic fiat’s heard,
Science attends their call; their power is own’d; Order takes place, and Genius is dethroned: 240 Letters dance into books, defiance hurl’d At means, as atoms danced into a world.
Me higher business calls, a greater plan, Worthy man’s whole employ, the good of man, The good of man committed to my charge:
If idle Fancy rambles forth at large, Careless of such a trust, these harmless lays May Friendship envy, and may Folly praise. The crown of Gotham may some Scot assume, And vagrant Stuarts reign in Churchill’s room! 250 O my poor People! O thou wretched Earth! To whose dear love, though not engaged by birth, My heart is fix’d, my service deeply sworn, How, (by thy father can that thought be borne?– For monarchs, would they all but think like me, Are only fathers in the best degree)
How must thy glories fade, in every land Thy name be laugh’d to scorn, thy mighty hand Be shorten’d, and thy zeal, by foes confess’d, Bless’d in thyself, to make thy neighbours bless’d, 260 Be robb’d of vigour; how must Freedom’s pile, The boast of ages, which adorns the isle And makes it great and glorious, fear’d abroad, Happy at home, secure from force and fraud; How must that pile, by ancient Wisdom raised On a firm rock, by friends admired and praised, Envied by foes, and wonder’d at by all,
In one short moment into ruins fall, Should any slip of Stuart’s tyrant race, Or bastard or legitimate, disgrace 270 Thy royal seat of empire! But what care, What sorrow must be mine, what deep despair And self-reproaches, should that hated line Admittance gain through any fault of mine! Cursed be the cause whence Gotham’s evils spring, Though that cursed cause be found in Gotham’s king. Let War, with all his needy ruffian band, In pomp of horror stalk through Gotham’s land Knee-deep in blood; let all her stately towers Sink in the dust; that court which now is ours 280 Become a den, where beasts may, if they can, A lodging find, nor fear rebuke from man; Where yellow harvests rise, be brambles found; Where vines now creep, let thistles curse the ground; Dry in her thousand valleys be the rills; Barren the cattle on her thousand hills; Where Power is placed, let tigers prowl for prey; Where Justice lodges, let wild asses bray; Let cormorants in churches make their nest, And on the sails of Commerce bitterns rest; 290 Be all, though princes in the earth before, Her merchants bankrupts, and her marts no more; Much rather would I, might the will of Fate Give me to choose, see Gotham’s ruin’d state By ills on ills thus to the earth weigh’d down, Than live to see a Stuart wear a crown.
Let Heaven in vengeance arm all Nature’s host, Those servants who their Maker know, who boast Obedience as their glory, and fulfil,
Unquestion’d, their great Master’s sacred will; 300 Let raging winds root up the boiling deep, And, with Destruction big, o’er Gotham sweep; Let rains rush down, till Faith, with doubtful eye, Looks for the sign of mercy in the sky;
Let Pestilence in all her horrors rise; Where’er I turn, let Famine blast my eyes; Let the earth yawn, and, ere they’ve time to think, In the deep gulf let all my subjects sink Before my eyes, whilst on the verge I reel; Feeling, but as a monarch ought to feel, 310 Not for myself, but them, I’ll kiss the rod, And, having own’d the justice of my God, Myself with firmness to the ruin give,
And die with those for whom I wish to live. This, (but may Heaven’s more merciful decrees Ne’er tempt his servant with such ills as these!) This, or my soul deceives me, I could bear; But that the Stuart race my crown should wear, That crown, where, highly cherish’d, Freedom shone Bright as the glories of the midday sun; 320 Born and bred slaves, that they, with proud misrule, Should make brave freeborn men, like boys at school, To the whip crouch and tremble–Oh, that thought! The labouring brain is e’en to madness brought By the dread vision; at the mere surmise The thronging spirits, as in tumult, rise; My heart, as for a passage, loudly beats, And, turn me where I will, distraction meets. O my brave fellows! great in arts and arms, The wonder of the earth, whom glory warms 330 To high achievements; can your spirits bend, Through base control (ye never can descend So low by choice) to wear a tyrant’s chain, Or let, in Freedom’s seat, a Stuart reign? If Fame, who hath for ages, far and wide, Spread in all realms the cowardice, the pride, The tyranny and falsehood of those lords, Contents you not, search England’s fair records; England, where first the breath of life I drew, Where, next to Gotham, my best love is due; 340 There once they ruled, though crush’d by William’s hand, They rule no more, to curse that happy land. The first,[160] who, from his native soil removed, Held England’s sceptre, a tame tyrant proved: Virtue he lack’d, cursed with those thoughts which spring In souls of vulgar stamp, to be a king;
Spirit he had not, though he laugh’d at laws. To play the bold-faced tyrant with applause; On practices most mean he raised his pride, And Craft oft gave what Wisdom oft denied. 350 Ne’er could he feel how truly man is blest In blessing those around him; in his breast, Crowded with follies, Honour found no room; Mark’d for a coward in his mother’s womb, He was too proud without affronts to live, Too timorous to punish or forgive.
To gain a crown which had, in course of time, By fair descent, been his without a crime, He bore a mother’s exile; to secure
A greater crown, he basely could endure 360 The spilling of her blood by foreign knife, Nor dared revenge her death who gave him life: Nay, by fond Pear, and fond Ambition led, Struck hands with those by whom her blood was shed.[161] Call’d up to power, scarce warm on England’s throne, He fill’d her court with beggars from his own: Turn where you would, the eye with Scots was caught, Or English knaves, who would be Scotsmen thought. To vain expense unbounded loose he gave, The dupe of minions, and of slaves the slave; 370 On false pretences mighty sums he raised, And damn’d those senates rich, whom poor he praised; From empire thrown, and doom’d to beg her bread, On foreign bounty whilst a daughter fed, He lavish’d sums, for her received, on men Whose names would fix dishonour on my pen. Lies were his playthings, parliaments his sport; Book-worms and catamites engross’d the court: Vain of the scholar, like all Scotsmen since, The pedant scholar, he forgot the prince; 380 And having with some trifles stored his brain, Ne’er learn’d, nor wish’d to learn, the art to reign. Enough he knew, to make him vain and proud, Mock’d by the wise, the wonder of the crowd; False friend, false son, false father,[162] and false king, False wit, false statesman, and false everything, When he should act, he idly chose to prate, And pamphlets wrote, when he should save the state. Religious, if religion holds in whim;
To talk with all, he let all talk with him; 390 Not on God’s honour, but his own intent, Not for religion’s sake, but argument;
More vain if some sly, artful High-Dutch slave, Or, from the Jesuit school, some precious knave Conviction feign’d, than if, to peace restored By his full soldiership, worlds hail’d him lord. Power was his wish, unbounded as his will, The power, without control, of doing ill; But what he wish’d, what he made bishops preach, And statesmen warrant, hung within his reach 400 He dared not seize; Fear gave, to gall his pride, That freedom to the realm his will denied. Of treaties fond, o’erweening of his parts, In every treaty of his own mean arts
He fell the dupe; peace was his coward care, E’en at a time when Justice call’d for war: His pen he’d draw to prove his lack of wit, But rather than unsheath the sword, submit. Truth fairly must record; and, pleased to live In league with Mercy, Justice may forgive 410 Kingdoms betray’d, and worlds resign’d to Spain, But never can forgive a Raleigh slain.
At length, (with white let Freedom mark that year) Not fear’d by those whom most he wish’d to fear, Not loved by those whom most he wish’d to love, He went to answer for his faults above;
To answer to that God, from whom alone He claim’d to hold, and to abuse the throne; Leaving behind, a curse to all his line, The bloody legacy of Right Divine.[163] 420 With many virtues which a radiance fling Round private men; with few which grace a king, And speak the monarch; at that time of life When Passion holds with Reason doubtful strife, Succeeded Charles, by a mean sire undone, Who envied virtue even in a son.
His youth was froward, turbulent, and wild; He took the Man up ere he left the Child; His soul was eager for imperial sway,
Ere he had learn’d the lesson to obey. 430 Surrounded by a fawning, flattering throng, Judgment each day grew weak, and humour strong; Wisdom was treated as a noisome weed,
And all his follies left to run to seed. What ills from such beginnings needs must spring! What ills to such a land from such a king! What could she hope! what had she not to fear! Base Buckingham[164] possess’d his youthful ear; Strafford and Laud, when mounted on the throne, Engross’d his love, and made him all their own; 440 Strafford and Laud, who boldly dared avow The traitorous doctrine taught by Tories now; Each strove to undo him in his turn and hour, The first with pleasure, and the last with power. Thinking (vain thought, disgraceful to the throne!) That all mankind were made for kings alone; That subjects were but slaves; and what was whim, Or worse, in common men, was law in him; Drunk with Prerogative, which Fate decreed To guard good kings, and tyrants to mislead; 450 Which in a fair proportion to deny
Allegiance dares not; which to hold too high, No good can wish, no coward king can dare, And, held too high, no English subject bear; Besieged by men of deep and subtle arts, Men void of principle, and damn’d with parts, Who saw his weakness, made their king their tool, Then most a slave, when most he seem’d to rule; Taking all public steps for private ends, Deceived by favourites, whom he called friends, 460 He had not strength enough of soul to find That monarchs, meant as blessings to mankind, Sink their great state, and stamp their fame undone, When what was meant for all, they give to one. Listening uxorious whilst a woman’s prate[165] Modell’d the church, and parcell’d out the state, Whilst (in the state not more than women read) High-churchmen preach’d, and turn’d his pious head; Tutor’d to see with ministerial eyes;
Forbid to hear a loyal nation’s cries; 470 Made to believe (what can’t a favourite do?) He heard a nation, hearing one or two;
Taught by state-quacks himself secure to think, And out of danger e’en on danger’s brink; Whilst power was daily crumbling from his hand, Whilst murmurs ran through an insulted land, As if to sanction tyrants Heaven was bound, He proudly sought the ruin which he found. Twelve years, twelve tedious and inglorious years,[166] Did England, crush’d by power, and awed by fears, 480 Whilst proud Oppression struck at Freedom’s root, Lament her senates lost, her Hampden mute. Illegal taxes and oppressive loans,
In spite of all her pride, call’d forth her groans; Patience was heard her griefs aloud to tell, And Loyalty was tempted to rebel.
Each day new acts of outrage shook the state, New courts were raised to give new doctrines weight; State inquisitions kept the realm in awe, And cursed Star-Chambers made or ruled the law; 490 Juries were pack’d, and judges were unsound; Through the whole kingdom not one Pratt was found. From the first moments of his giddy youth He hated senates, for they told him truth. At length, against his will compell’d to treat, Those whom he could not fright, he strove to cheat; With base dissembling every grievance heard, And, often giving, often broke his word. Oh, where shall hapless Truth for refuge fly, If kings, who should protect her, dare to lie? 500 Those who, the general good their real aim, Sought in their country’s good their monarch’s fame; Those who were anxious for his safety; those Who were induced by duty to oppose,
Their truth suspected, and their worth unknown, He held as foes and traitors to his throne; Nor found his fatal error till the hour
Of saving him was gone and past; till power Had shifted hands, to blast his hapless reign, Making their faith and his repentance vain. 510 Hence (be that curse confined to Gotham’s foes!) War, dread to mention, Civil War arose;
All acts of outrage, and all acts of shame, Stalk’d forth at large, disguised with Honour’s name; Rebellion, raising high her bloody hand, Spread universal havoc through the land; With zeal for party, and with passion drunk, In public rage all private love was sunk; Friend against friend, brother ‘gainst brother stood, And the son’s weapon drank the father’s blood; 520 Nature, aghast, and fearful lest her reign Should last no longer, bled in every vein. Unhappy Stuart! harshly though that name Grates on my ear, I should have died with shame To see my king before his subjects stand, And at their bar hold up his royal hand; At their commands to hear the monarch plead, By their decrees to see that monarch bleed. What though thy faults were many and were great? What though they shook the basis of the state? 530 In royalty secure thy person stood,
And sacred was the fountain of thy blood. Vile ministers, who dared abuse their trust, Who dared seduce a king to be unjust,
Vengeance, with Justice leagued, with Power made strong, Had nobly crush’d–‘The king could do no wrong.’ Yet grieve not, Charles! nor thy hard fortunes blame; They took thy life, but they secured thy fame. Their greatest crimes made thine like specks appear, From which the sun in glory is not clear. 540 Hadst thou in peace and years resign’d thy breath At Nature’s call; hadst thou laid down in death As in a sleep, thy name, by Justice borne On the four winds, had been in pieces torn. Pity, the virtue of a generous soul,
Sometimes the vice, hath made thy memory whole. Misfortunes gave what Virtue could not give, And bade, the tyrant slain, the martyr live. Ye Princes of the earth! ye mighty few! Who, worlds subduing, can’t yourselves subdue; 550 Who, goodness scorn’d, wish only to be great; Whose breath is blasting, and whose voice is fate; Who own no law, no reason, but your will, And scorn restraint, though ’tis from doing ill; Who of all passions groan beneath the worst, Then only bless’d when they make others cursed; Think not, for wrongs like these, unscourged to live; Long may ye sin, and long may Heaven forgive; But when ye least expect, in sorrow’s day, Vengeance shall fall more heavy for delay; 560 Nor think that vengeance heap’d on you alone Shall (poor amends!) for injured worlds atone; No, like some base distemper, which remains, Transmitted from the tainted father’s veins, In the son’s blood, such broad and general crimes Shall call down vengeance e’en to latest times, Call vengeance down on all who bear your name, And make their portion bitterness and shame. From land to land for years compell’d to roam, Whilst Usurpation lorded it at home, 570 Of majesty unmindful, forced to fly,
Not daring, like a king, to reign or die, Recall’d to repossess his lawful throne, More at his people’s seeking than his own, Another Charles succeeded. In the school Of Travel he had learn’d to play the fool; And, like pert pupils with dull tutors sent To shame their country on the Continent, From love of England by long absence wean’d, From every court he every folly glean’d, 580 And was–so close do evil habits cling– Till crown’d, a beggar; and when crown’d, no king. Those grand and general powers, which Heaven design’d, An instance of his mercy to mankind,
Were lost, in storms of dissipation hurl’d, Nor would he give one hour to bless a world; Lighter than levity which strides the blast, And, of the present fond, forgets the past, He changed and changed, but, every hope to curse, Changed only from one folly to a worse: 590 State he resign’d to those whom state could please; Careless of majesty, his wish was ease;
Pleasure, and pleasure only, was his aim; Kings of less wit might hunt the bubble Fame; Dignity through his reign was made a sport, Nor dared Decorum show her face at court; Morality was held a standing jest,
And Faith a necessary fraud at best. Courtiers, their monarch ever in their view, Possess’d great talents, and abused them too; 600 Whate’er was light, impertinent, and vain, Whate’er was loose, indecent, and profane, (So ripe was Folly, Folly to acquit)
Stood all absolved in that poor bauble, Wit. In gratitude, alas! but little read,
He let his father’s servants beg their bread– His father’s faithful servants, and his own, To place the foes of both around his throne. Bad counsels he embraced through indolence, Through love of ease, and not through want of sense; 610 He saw them wrong, but rather let them go As right, than take the pains to make them so. Women ruled all, and ministers of state
Were for commands at toilets forced to wait: Women, who have, as monarchs, graced the land, But never govern’d well at second-hand.
To make all other errors slight appear, In memory fix’d, stand Dunkirk[167] and Tangier;[168] In memory fix’d so deep, that Time in vain Shall strive to wipe those records from the brain, 620 Amboyna[169] stands–Gods! that a king could hold In such high estimate vile paltry gold,
And of his duty be so careless found, That when the blood of subjects from the ground For vengeance call’d, he should reject their cry, And, bribed from honour, lay his thunders by, Give Holland peace, whilst English victims groan’d, And butcher’d subjects wander’d unatoned! Oh, dear, deep injury to England’s fame, To them, to us, to all! to him deep shame! 630 Of all the passions which from frailty spring, Avarice is that which least becomes a king. To crown the whole, scorning the public good, Which through his reign he little understood, Or little heeded, with too narrow aim
He reassumed a bigot brother’s claim, And having made time-serving senates bow, Suddenly died–that brother best knew how. No matter how–he slept amongst the dead, And James his brother reigned in his stead: 640 But such a reign–so glaring an offence
In every step ‘gainst freedom, law, and sense, ‘Gainst all the rights of Nature’s general plan, ‘Gainst all which constitutes an Englishman, That the relation would mere fiction seem, The mock creation of a poet’s dream;
And the poor bards would, in this sceptic age, Appear as false as _their_ historian’s page. Ambitious Folly seized the seat of Wit, Christians were forced by bigots to submit; 650 Pride without sense, without religion Zeal, Made daring inroads on the Commonweal;
Stern Persecution raised her iron rod, And call’d the pride of kings, the power of God; Conscience and Fame were sacrificed to Rome, And England wept at Freedom’s sacred tomb. Her laws despised, her constitution wrench’d From its due natural frame, her rights retrench’d Beyond a coward’s sufferance, conscience forced, And healing Justice from the Crown divorced, 660 Each moment pregnant with vile acts of power, Her patriot Bishops sentenced to the Tower, Her Oxford (who yet loves the Stuart name) Branded with arbitrary marks of shame,
She wept–but wept not long: to arms she flew, At Honour’s call the avenging sword she drew, Turn’d all her terrors on the tyrant’s head, And sent him in despair to beg his bread; Whilst she, (may every State in such distress Dare with such zeal, and meet with such success!) 670 Whilst she, (may Gotham, should my abject mind Choose to enslave rather than free mankind, Pursue her steps, tear the proud tyrant down, Nor let me wear if I abuse the crown!)
Whilst she, (through every age, in every land, Written in gold, let Revolution stand!)
Whilst she, secured in liberty and law, Found what she sought, a saviour in Nassau.
Book III
Can the fond mother from herself depart?[170] Can she forget the darling of her heart, The little darling whom she bore and bred, Nursed on her knees, and at her bosom fed; To whom she seem’d her every thought to give, And in whose life alone she seem’d to live? Yes, from herself the mother may depart, She may forget the darling of her heart, The little darling whom she bore and bred, Nursed on her knees, and at her bosom fed, 10 To whom she seem’d her every thought to give, And in whose life alone she seem’d to live; But I cannot forget, whilst life remains, And pours her current through these swelling veins, Whilst Memory offers up at Reason’s shrine; But I cannot forget that Gotham’s mine.
Can the stern mother, than the brutes more wild, From her disnatured breast tear her young child, Flesh of her flesh, and of her bone the bone, And dash the smiling babe against a stone? 20 Yes, the stern mother, than the brutes more wild, From her disnatured breast may tear her child, Flesh of her flesh, and of her bone the bone, And dash the smiling babe against a stone; But I, (forbid it, Heaven!) but I can ne’er The love of Gotham from this bosom tear; Can ne’er so far true royalty pervert
From its fair course, to do my people hurt. With how much ease, with how much confidence– As if, superior to each grosser sense, 30 Reason had only, in full power array’d,
To manifest her will, and be obey’d– Men make resolves, and pass into decrees The motions of the mind! with how much ease, In such resolves, doth passion make a flaw, And bring to nothing what was raised to law! In empire young, scarce warm on Gotham’s throne, The dangers and the sweets of power unknown, Pleased, though I scarce know why, like some young child, Whose little senses each new toy turns wild, 40 How do I hold sweet dalliance with my crown, And wanton with dominion, how lay down,
Without the sanction of a precedent, Rules of most large and absolute extent; Rules, which from sense of public virtue spring, And all at once commence a Patriot King! But, for the day of trial is at hand,
And the whole fortunes of a mighty land Are staked on me, and all their weal or woe Must from my good or evil conduct flow, 50 Will I, or can I, on a fair review,
As I assume that name, deserve it too? Have I well weigh’d the great, the noble part I’m now to play? have I explored my heart, That labyrinth of fraud, that deep dark cell, Where, unsuspected e’en by me, may dwell Ten thousand follies? have I found out there What I am fit to do, and what to bear?
Have I traced every passion to its rise, Nor spared one lurking seed of treacherous vice? 60 Have I familiar with my nature grown?
And am I fairly to myself made known? A Patriot King!–why, ’tis a name which bears The more immediate stamp of Heaven; which wears The nearest, best resemblance we can show Of God above, through all his works below. To still the voice of Discord in the land; To make weak Faction’s discontented band, Detected, weak, and crumbling to decay,
With hunger pinch’d, on their own vitals prey; 70 Like brethren, in the self-same interests warm’d, Like different bodies, with one soul inform’d; To make a nation, nobly raised above
All meaner thought, grow up in common love; To give the laws due vigour, and to hold That secret balance, temperate, yet bold, With such an equal hand, that those who fear May yet approve, and own my justice clear; To be a common father, to secure
The weak from violence, from pride the poor; 80 Vice and her sons to banish in disgrace, To make Corruption dread to show her face; To bid afflicted Virtue take new state,
And be at last acquainted with the great; Of all religions to elect the best,
Nor let her priests be made a standing jest; Rewards for worth with liberal hand to carve, To love the arts, nor let the artists starve; To make fair Plenty through the realm increase, Give fame in war, and happiness in peace; 90 To see my people virtuous, great, and free, And know that all those blessings flow from me; Oh! ’tis a joy too exquisite, a thought
Which flatters Nature more than flattery ought; ‘Tis a great, glorious task, for man too hard; But no less great, less glorious the reward, The best reward which here to man is given, ‘Tis more than earth, and little short of heaven; A task (if such comparison may be)
The same in Nature, differing in degree, 100 Like that which God, on whom for aid I call, Performs with ease, and yet performs to all. How much do they mistake, how little know Of kings, of kingdoms, and the pains which flow From royalty, who fancy that a crown,
Because it glistens, must be lined with down! With outside show, and vain appearance caught, They look no further, and, by Folly taught, Prize high the toys of thrones, but never find One of the many cares which lurk behind. 110 The gem they worship which a crown adorns, Nor once suspect that crown is lined with thorns. Oh, might Reflection Folly’s place supply, Would we one moment use her piercing eye, Then should we find what woe from grandeur springs, And learn to pity, not to envy kings!
The villager, born humbly and bred hard, Content his wealth, and Poverty his guard, In action simply just, in conscience clear, By guilt untainted, undisturb’d by fear, 120 His means but scanty, and his wants but few, Labour his business, and his pleasure too, Enjoys more comforts in a single hour
Than ages give the wretch condemn’d to power. Call’d up by health, he rises with the day, And goes to work, as if he went to play, Whistling off toils, one half of which might make The stoutest Atlas of a palace quake;
‘Gainst heat and cold, which make us cowards faint, Harden’d by constant use, without complaint 130 He bears what we should think it death to bear; Short are his meals, and homely is his fare; His thirst he slakes at some pure neighbouring brook, Nor asks for sauce where appetite stands cook. When the dews fall, and when the sun retires Behind the mountains, when the village fires, Which, waken’d all at once, speak supper nigh, At distance catch, and fix his longing eye, Homeward he hies, and with his manly brood Of raw-boned cubs enjoys that clean, coarse food, 140 Which, season’d with good-humour, his fond bride ‘Gainst his return is happy to provide;
Then, free from care, and free from thought, he creeps Into his straw, and till the morning sleeps. Not so the king–with anxious cares oppress’d His bosom labours, and admits not rest:
A glorious wretch, he sweats beneath the weight Of majesty, and gives up ease for state. E’en when his smiles, which, by the fools of pride, Are treasured and preserved from side to side, 150 Fly round the court, e’en when, compell’d by form, He seems most calm, his soul is in a storm. Care, like a spectre, seen by him alone, With all her nest of vipers, round his throne By day crawls full in view; when Night bids sleep, Sweet nurse of Nature! o’er the senses creep; When Misery herself no more complains,
And slaves, if possible, forget their chains; Though his sense weakens, though his eyes grow dim, That rest which comes to all, comes not to him. 160 E’en at that hour, Care, tyrant Care, forbids The dew of sleep to fall upon his lids;
From night to night she watches at his bed; Now, as one moped, sits brooding o’er his head; Anon she starts, and, borne on raven’s wings, Croaks forth aloud–‘Sleep was not made for kings!’ Thrice hath the moon, who governs this vast ball, Who rules most absolute o’er me and all; To whom, by full conviction taught to bow, At new, at full, I pay the duteous vow; 170 Thrice hath the moon her wonted course pursued, Thrice hath she lost her form, and thrice renew’d, Since, (bless’d be that season, for before I was a mere, mere mortal, and no more,
One of the herd, a lump of common clay, Inform’d with life, to die and pass away) Since I became a king, and Gotham’s throne, With full and ample power, became my own; Thrice hath the moon her wonted course pursued, Thrice hath she lost her form, and thrice renew’d, 180 Since sleep, kind sleep! who like a friend supplies New vigour for new toil, hath closed these eyes. Nor, if my toils are answer’d with success, And I am made an instrument to bless
The people whom I love, shall I repine; Theirs be the benefit, the labour mine.
Mindful of that high rank in which I stand, Of millions lord, sole ruler in the land, Let me,–and Reason shall her aid afford,– Rule my own spirit, of myself be lord. 190 With an ill grace that monarch wears his crown, Who, stern and hard of nature, wears a frown ‘Gainst faults in other men, yet all the while Meets his own vices with a partial smile. How can a king (yet on record we find
Such kings have been, such curses of mankind) Enforce that law ‘gainst some poor subject elf Which conscience tells him he hath broke himself? Can he some petty rogue to justice call
For robbing one, when he himself robs all? 200 Must not, unless extinguish’d, Conscience fly Into his cheek, and blast his fading eye, To scourge the oppressor, when the State, distress’d And sunk to ruin, is by him oppress’d?
Against himself doth he not sentence give; If one must die, t’ other’s not fit to live. Weak is that throne, and in itself unsound, Which takes not solid virtue for its ground. All envy power in others, and complain
Of that which they would perish to obtain. 210 Nor can those spirits, turbulent and bold, Not to be awed by threats, nor bought with gold, Be hush’d to peace, but when fair legal sway Makes it their real interest to obey;
When kings, and none but fools can then rebel, Not less in virtue, than in power, excel. Be that my object, that my constant care, And may my soul’s best wishes centre there; Be it my task to seek, nor seek in vain, Not only how to live, but how to reign; 220 And to those virtues which from Reason spring, And grace the man, join those which grace the king. First, (for strict duty bids my care extend And reach to all who on that care depend, Bids me with servants keep a steady hand, And watch o’er all my proxies in the land) First, (and that method Reason shall support) Before I look into, and purge my court,
Before I cleanse the stable of the State, Let me fix things which to myself relate. 230 That done, and all accounts well settled here, In resolution firm, in honour clear,
Tremble, ye slaves! who dare abuse your trust, Who dare be villains, when your king is just. Are there, amongst those officers of state, To whom our sacred power we delegate,
Who hold our place and office in the realm, Who, in our name commission’d, guide the helm; Are there, who, trusting to our love of ease, Oppress our subjects, wrest our just decrees, 240 And make the laws, warp’d from their fair intent, To speak a language which they never meant; Are there such men, and can the fools depend On holding out in safety to their end?
Can they so much, from thoughts of danger free, Deceive themselves, so much misdeem of me, To think that I will prove a statesman’s tool, And live a stranger where I ought to rule? What! to myself and to my state unjust,
Shall I from ministers take things on trust, 250 And, sinking low the credit of my throne, Depend upon dependants of my own?
Shall I,–most certain source of future cares,– Not use my judgment, but depend on theirs? Shall I, true puppet-like, be mock’d with state, Have nothing but the name of being great; Attend at councils which I must not weigh; Do what they bid, and what they dictate, say; Enrobed, and hoisted up into my chair,
Only to be a royal cipher there? 260 Perish the thought–’tis treason to my throne– And who but thinks it, could his thoughts be known Insults me more than he, who, leagued with Hell, Shall rise in arms, and ‘gainst my crown rebel. The wicked statesman, whose false heart pursues A train of guilt; who acts with double views, And wears a double face; whose base designs Strike at his monarch’s throne; who undermines E’en whilst he seems his wishes to support; Who seizes all departments; packs a court; 270 Maintains an agent on the judgment-seat, To screen his crimes, and make his frauds complete; New-models armies, and around the throne Will suffer none but creatures of his own, Conscious of such his baseness, well may try, Against the light to shut his master’s eye, To keep him coop’d, and far removed from those Who, brave and honest, dare his crimes disclose, Nor ever let him in one place appear,
Where truth, unwelcome truth, may wound his ear. 280 Attempts like these, well weigh’d, themselves proclaim, And, whilst they publish, balk their author’s aim. Kings must be blind into such snares to run, Or, worse, with open eyes must be undone. The minister of honesty and worth
Demands the day to bring his actions forth; Calls on the sun to shine with fiercer rays, And braves that trial which must end in praise. None fly the day, and seek the shades of night, But those whose actions cannot bear the light; 290 None wish their king in ignorance to hold But those who feel that knowledge must unfold Their hidden guilt; and, that dark mist dispell’d By which their places and their lives are held, Confusion wait them, and, by Justice led, In vengeance fall on every traitor’s head. Aware of this, and caution’d ‘gainst the pit Where kings have oft been lost, shall I submit, And rust in chains like these? shall I give way, And whilst my helpless subjects fall a prey 300 To power abused, in ignorance sit down,
Nor dare assert the honour of my crown? When stern Rebellion, (if that odious name Justly belongs to those whose only aim,
Is to preserve their country; who oppose, In honour leagued, none but their country’s foes; Who only seek their own, and found their cause In due regard for violated laws)
When stern Rebellion, who no longer feels Nor fears rebuke, a nation at her heels, 310 A nation up in arms, though strong not proud, Knocks at the palace gate, and, calling loud For due redress, presents, from Truth’s fair pen, A list of wrongs, not to be borne by men: How must that king be humbled, how disgrace All that is royal in his name and place, Who, thus call’d forth to answer, can advance No other plea but that of ignorance!
A vile defence, which, was his all at stake, The meanest subject well might blush to make; 320 A filthy source, from whence shame ever springs; A stain to all, but most a stain to kings. The soul with great and manly feelings warm’d, Panting for knowledge, rests not till inform’d; And shall not I, fired with the glorious zeal, Feel those brave passions which my subjects feel? Or can a just excuse from ignorance flow To me, whose first great duty is–to know? Hence, Ignorance!–thy settled, dull, blank eye Would hurt me, though I knew no reason why. 330 Hence, Ignorance!–thy slavish shackles bind The free-born soul, and lethargise the mind. Of thee, begot by Pride, who look’d with scorn On every meaner match, of thee was born
That grave inflexibility of soul,
Which Reason can’t convince, nor Fear control; Which neither arguments nor prayers can reach, And nothing less than utter ruin teach.
Hence, Ignorance!–hence to that depth of night Where thou wast born, where not one gleam of light 340 May wound thine eye–hence to some dreary cell Where monks with superstition love to dwell; Or in some college soothe thy lazy pride, And with the heads of colleges reside;
Fit mate for Royalty thou canst not be, And if no mate for kings, no mate for me. Come, Study! like a torrent swell’d with rains, Which, rushing down the mountains, o’er the plains Spreads horror wide, and yet, in horror kind, Leaves seeds of future fruitfulness behind; 350 Come, Study!–painful though thy course, and slow, Thy real worth by thy effects we know–
Parent of Knowledge, come!–Not thee I call, Who, grave and dull, in college or in hall Dost sit, all solemn sad, and moping weigh Things which, when found, thy labours can’t repay– Nor, in one hand, fit emblem of thy trade, A rod; in t’ other, gaudily array’d,
A hornbook gilt and letter’d, call I thee, Who dost in form preside o’er A, B, C: 360 Nor (siren though thou art, and thy strange charms, As ’twere by magic, lure men to thine arms) Do I call thee, who, through a winding maze, A labyrinth of puzzling, pleasing ways,
Dost lead us at the last to those rich plains, Where, in full glory, real Science reigns; Fair though thou art, and lovely to mine eye, Though full rewards in thy possession lie To crown man’s wish, and do thy favourites grace; Though (was I station’d in an humbler place) 370 I could be ever happy in thy sight,
Toil with thee all the day, and through the night, Toil on from watch to watch, bidding my eye, Fast rivetted on Science, sleep defy;
Yet (such the hardships which from empire flow) Must I thy sweet society forego,
And to some happy rival’s arms resign Those charms which can, alas! no more be mine! No more from hour to hour, from day to day, Shall I pursue thy steps, and urge my way 380 Where eager love of science calls; no more Attempt those paths which man ne’er trod before; No more, the mountain scaled, the desert cross’d, Losing myself, nor knowing I was lost,
Travel through woods, through wilds, from morn to night, From night to morn, yet travel with delight, And having found thee, lay me down content, Own all my toil well paid, my time well spent. Farewell, ye Muses too!–for such mean things Must not presume to dwell with mighty kings– 390 Farewell, ye Muses! though it cuts my heart E’en to the quick, we must for ever part. When the fresh morn bade lusty Nature wake; When the birds, sweetly twittering through the brake, Tune their soft pipes; when, from the neighbouring bloom Sipping the dew, each zephyr stole perfume; When all things with new vigour were inspired, And seem’d to say they never could be tired; How often have we stray’d, whilst sportive rhyme Deceived the way and clipp’d the wings of Time, 400 O’er hill, o’er dale; how often laugh’d to see, Yourselves made visible to none but me,
The clown, his works suspended, gape and stare, And seem to think that I conversed with air! When the sun, beating on the parched soil, Seem’d to proclaim an interval of toil;
When a faint langour crept through every breast, And things most used to labour wish’d for rest, How often, underneath a reverend oak,
Where safe, and fearless of the impious stroke, 410 Some sacred Dryad lived; or in some grove, Where, with capricious fingers, Fancy wove Her fairy bower, whilst Nature all the while Look’d on, and view’d her mockeries with a smile, Have we held converse sweet! How often laid, Fast by the Thames, in Ham’s inspiring shade, Amongst those poets which make up your train, And, after death, pour forth the sacred strain, Have I, at your command, in verse grown gray, But not impair’d, heard Dryden tune that lay 420 Which might have drawn an angel from his sphere, And kept him from his office listening here! When dreary Night, with Morpheus in her train, Led on by Silence to resume her reign,
With darkness covering, as with a robe, The scene of levity, blank’d half the globe; How oft, enchanted with your heavenly strains, Which stole me from myself; which in soft chains Of music bound my soul; how oft have I,
Sounds more than human floating through the sky, 430 Attentive sat, whilst Night, against her will, Transported with the harmony, stood still! How oft in raptures, which man scarce could bear, Have I, when gone, still thought the Muses there; Still heard their music, and, as mute as death, Sat all attention, drew in every breath, Lest, breathing all too rudely, I should wound, And mar that magic excellence of sound;
Then, Sense returning with return of day, Have chid the Night, which fled so fast away! 440 Such my pursuits, and such my joys of yore, Such were my mates, but now my mates no more. Placed out of Envy’s walk, (for Envy, sure, Would never haunt the cottage of the poor, Would never stoop to wound my homespun lays) With some few friends, and some small share of praise, Beneath oppression, undisturb’d by strife, In peace I trod the humble vale of life. Farewell, these scenes of ease, this tranquil state; Welcome the troubles which on empire wait! 450 Light toys from this day forth I disavow; They pleased me once, but cannot suit me now: To common men all common things are free, What honours them, might fix disgrace on me. Call’d to a throne, and o’er a mighty land Ordain’d to rule, my head, my heart, my hand, Are all engross’d; each private view withstood, And task’d to labour for the public good: Be this my study; to this one great end
May every thought, may every action tend! 460 Let me the page of History turn o’er,
The instructive page, and needfully explore What faithful pens of former times have wrote Of former kings; what they did worthy note, What worthy blame; and from the sacred tomb Where righteous monarchs sleep, where laurels bloom, Unhurt by Time, let me a garland twine,
Which, robbing not their fame, may add to mine. Nor let me with a vain and idle eye
Glance o’er those scenes, and in a hurry fly, 470 Quick as the post, which travels day and night; Nor let me dwell there, lured by false delight; And, into barren theory betray’d,
Forget that monarchs are for action made. When amorous Spring, repairing all his charms, Calls Nature forth from hoary Winter’s arms, Where, like a virgin to some lecher sold, Three wretched months she lay benumb’d, and cold; When the weak flower, which, shrinking from the breath Of the rude North, and timorous of death, 480 To its kind mother earth for shelter fled, And on her bosom hid its tender head,
Peeps forth afresh, and, cheer’d by milder sties, Bids in full splendour all her beauties rise; The hive is up in arms–expert to teach, Nor, proudly, to be taught unwilling, each Seems from her fellow a new zeal to catch; Strength in her limbs, and on her wings dispatch, The bee goes forth; from herb to herb she flies, From flower to flower, and loads her labouring thighs 490 With treasured sweets, robbing those flowers, which, left, Find not themselves made poorer by the theft, Their scents as lively, and their looks as fair, As if the pillager had not been there.
Ne’er doth she flit on Pleasure’s silken wing; Ne’er doth she, loitering, let the bloom of Spring Unrifled pass, and on the downy breast
Of some fair flower indulge untimely rest; Ne’er doth she, drinking deep of those rich dews Which chemist Night prepared, that faith abuse 500 Due to the hive, and, selfish in her toils, To her own private use convert the spoils. Love of the stock first call’d her forth to roam, And to the stock she brings her booty home. Be this my pattern–as becomes a king,
Let me fly all abroad on Reason’s wing; Let mine eye, like the lightning, through the earth Run to and fro, nor let one deed of worth, In any place and time, nor let one man,
Whose actions may enrich dominion’s plan, 510 Escape my note; be all, from the first day Of Nature to this hour, be all my prey.
From those whom Time, at the desire of Fame, Hath spared, let Virtue catch an equal flame; From those who, not in mercy, but in rage, Time hath reprieved, to damn from age to age, Let me take warning, lesson’d to distil, And, imitating Heaven, draw good from ill. Nor let these great researches, in my breast A monument of useless labour rest; 520 No–let them spread–the effects let Gotham share, And reap the harvest of their monarch’s care: Be other times, and other countries known, Only to give fresh blessings to my own.
Let me, (and may that God to whom I fly, On whom for needful succour I rely
In this great hour, that glorious God of truth, Through whom I reign, in mercy to my youth, Assist my weakness, and direct me right; From every speck which hangs upon the sight 530 Purge my mind’s eye, nor let one cloud remain To spread the shades of Error o’er my brain!) Let me, impartial, with unwearied thought, Try men and things; let me, as monarchs ought, Examine well on what my power depends;
What are the general principles and ends Of government; how empire first began;
And wherefore man was raised to reign o’er man. Let me consider, as from one great source We see a thousand rivers take their course, 540 Dispersed, and into different channels led, Yet by their parent still supplied and fed, That Government, (though branch’d out far and wide, In various modes to various lands applied) Howe’er it differs in its outward frame, In the main groundwork’s every where the same; The same her view, though different her plan, Her grand and general view–the good of man. Let me find out, by Reason’s sacred beams, What system in itself most perfect seems, 550 Most worthy man, most likely to conduce
To all the purposes of general use; Let me find, too, where, by fair Reason tried, It fails, when to particulars applied;
Why in that mode all nations do not join, And, chiefly, why it cannot suit with mine. Let me the gradual rise of empires trace, Till they seem founded on Perfection’s base; Then (for when human things have made their way To excellence, they hasten to decay) 560 Let me, whilst Observation lends her clue Step after step to their decline pursue, Enabled by a chain of facts to tell
Not only how they rose, but why they fell. Let me not only the distempers know
Which in all states from common causes grow, But likewise those, which, by the will of Fate, On each peculiar mode of empire wait;
Which in its very constitution lurk, Too sure at last to do its destined work: 570 Let me, forewarn’d, each sign, each symptom learn, That I my people’s danger may discern,
Ere ’tis too late wish’d health to reassure, And, if it can be found, find out a cure. Let me, (though great, grave brethren of the gown Preach all Faith up, and preach all Reason down, Making those jar whom Reason meant to join, And vesting in themselves a right divine), Let me, through Reason’s glass, with searching eye, Into the depth of that religion pry 580 Which law hath sanction’d; let me find out there What’s form, what’s essence; what, like vagrant air, We well may change; and what, without a crime, Cannot be changed to the last hour of time. Nor let me suffer that outrageous zeal
Which, without knowledge, furious bigots feel, Fair in pretence, though at the heart unsound, These separate points at random to confound. The times have been when priests have dared to tread, Proud and insulting, on their monarch’s head; 590 When, whilst they made religion a pretence, Out of the world they banish’d common-sense; When some soft king, too open to deceit, Easy and unsuspecting join’d the cheat,
Duped by mock piety, and gave his name To serve the vilest purposes of shame.
Pear not, my people! where no cause of fear Can justly rise–your king secures you here; Your king, who scorns the haughty prelate’s nod, Nor deems the voice of priests the voice of God. 600 Let me, (though lawyers may perhaps forbid Their monarch to behold what they wish hid, And for the purposes of knavish gain,
Would have their trade a mystery remain) Let me, disdaining all such slavish awe, Dive to the very bottom of the law;
Let me (the weak, dead letter left behind) Search out the principles, the spirit find, Till, from the parts, made master of the whole, I see the Constitution’s very soul. 610 Let me, (though statesmen will no doubt resist, And to my eyes present a fearful list
Of men, whose wills are opposite to mine, Of men, great men, determined to resign) Let me, (with firmness, which becomes a king. Conscious from what a source my actions spring, Determined not by worlds to be withstood, When my grand object is my country’s good) Unravel all low ministerial scenes,
Destroy their jobs, lay bare their ways and means, 620 And track them step by step; let me well know How places, pensions, and preferments go; Why Guilt’s provided for when Worth is not, And why one man of merit is forgot;
Let me in peace, in war, supreme preside, And dare to know my way without a guide. Let me, (though Dignity, by nature proud, Retires from view, and swells behind a cloud,– As if the sun shone with less powerful ray, Less grace, less glory, shining every day,– 630 Though when she comes forth into public sight, Unbending as a ghost, she stalks upright, With such an air as we have often seen,
And often laugh’d at, in a tragic queen, Nor, at her presence, though base myriads crook The supple knee, vouchsafes a single look) Let me, (all vain parade, all empty pride, All terrors of dominion laid aside,
All ornament, and needless helps of art, All those big looks, which speak a little heart) 640 Know (which few kings, alas! have ever known) How Affability becomes a throne,
Destroys all fear, bids Love with Reverence live, And gives those graces Pride can never give. Let the stern tyrant keep a distant state, And, hating all men, fear return of hate, Conscious of guilt, retreat behind his throne, Secure from all upbraidings but his own: Let all my subjects have access to me,
Be my ears open, as my heart is free; 650 In full fair tide let information flow;
That evil is half cured, whose cause we know. And thou, where’er thou art, thou wretched thing, Who art afraid to look up to a king,
Lay by thy fears; make but thy grievance plain, And, if I not redress thee, may my reign Close up that very moment. To prevent
The course of Justice from her vain intent, In vain my nearest, dearest friend shall plead, In vain my mother kneel; my soul may bleed, 660 But must not change. When Justice draws the dart, Though it is doom’d to pierce a favourite’s heart, ‘Tis mine to give it force, to give it aim– I know it duty, and I feel it fame.
* * * * *
Footnotes:
[148] ‘Gotham:’ is designed as a satire on England and its kings, and as a picture of what a king of England should be. The first book is a wild and fanciful bravura.
[149] ‘Mandeville:’ the famous lying traveller.
[150] ‘Monmouth:’ in Wales, once visited, and ever afterwards hated by the poet.
[151] ‘Bonnell Thornton:’ author of a humorous burlesque, ‘Ode on St Cecilia’s Day.’ See Boswell.
[152] ‘William Boyce:’ a celebrated musician.
[153] ‘Hayman:’ Francis Hayman, the painter, was monotonous in his style.
[154] ‘Saint James:’ The 25th of July, St James’s day, or the first day of oysters.
[155] ‘August:’ alluding to a rowing match, held on 1st August, in honour of George the First’s accession; instituted by one Doggett, an actor, &c.
[156] ‘George:’ George the Second was born on the 30th of October 1683.
[157] ‘Augusta:’ wife of Frederic, Prince of Wales, a great friend of Lord Bute’s.
[159] ‘Colonel Norborne Berkeley:’ second to Lord Talbot in his duel with Wilkes.
[160] ‘First:’ James the First.
[161] ‘Blood was shed:’ Secretary Cecil, who had been a bitter foe of Queen Mary, and became a favourite of James.
[162] ‘False father:’ alluding to the death of the very promising Prince Henry, popularly supposed to have been hated and removed by his father.
[163] ‘Right Divine:’ see, as a _per contra_ to this fierce invective against poor ‘King Jamie,’ Scott’s ‘Fortunes of Nigel.’
[164] ‘Buckingham:’ George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham.
[165] ‘Woman’s prate:’ Henrietta, the intriguing Queen of Charles the First.
[166] ‘Inglorious years:’ no parliament was summoned from 1628 to 1640.
[167] ‘Dunkirk:’ Dunkirk was, in 1662, sold by Charles the Second to the French for L400,000.
[168] ‘Tangier:’ Tangier, in Africa, was also shamefully sacrificed by Charles the Second.
[169] ‘Amboyna:’ where the Dutch inflicted dreadful and unavenged cruelties on the English. This happened, however, in 1622, under James the First, not Charles the Second.
[170] Isa. xlix. 15.
THE AUTHOR.[171]
Accursed the man, whom Fate ordains, in spite, And cruel parents teach, to read and write! What need of letters? wherefore should we spell? Why write our names? A mark will do as well. Much are the precious hours of youth misspent, In climbing Learning’s rugged, steep ascent; When to the top the bold adventurer’s got, He reigns, vain monarch, o’er a barren spot; Whilst in the vale of Ignorance below,
Folly and Vice to rank luxuriance grow; 10 Honours and wealth pour in on every side, And proud Preferment rolls her golden tide. O’er crabbed authors life’s gay prime to waste, To cramp wild genius in the chains of taste, To bear the slavish drudgery of schools, And tamely stoop to every pedant’s rules; For seven long years debarr’d of liberal ease, To plod in college trammels to degrees;
Beneath the weight of solemn toys to groan, Sleep over books, and leave mankind unknown; 20 To praise each senior blockhead’s threadbare tale, And laugh till reason blush, and spirits fail; Manhood with vile submission to disgrace, And cap the fool, whose merit is his place, Vice-Chancellors, whose knowledge is but small, And Chancellors, who nothing know at all: Ill-brook’d the generous spirit in those days When learning was the certain road to praise, When nobles, with a love of science bless’d, Approved in others what themselves possess’d. 30 But now, when Dulness rears aloft her throne, When lordly vassals her wide empire own; When Wit, seduced by Envy, starts aside, And basely leagues with Ignorance and Pride; What, now, should tempt us, by false hopes misled, Learning’s unfashionable paths to tread; To bear those labours which our fathers bore, That crown withheld, which they in triumph wore? When with much pains this boasted learning’s got, ‘Tis an affront to those who have it not: 40 In some it causes hate, in others fear,
Instructs our foes to rail, our friends to sneer. With prudent haste the worldly-minded fool Forgets the little which he learn’d at school: The elder brother, to vast fortunes born, Looks on all science with an eye of scorn; Dependent brethren the same features wear, And younger sons are stupid as the heir. In senates, at the bar, in church and state, Genius is vile, and learning out of date. 50 Is this–oh, death to think!–is this the land Where Merit and Reward went hand in hand? Where heroes, parent-like, the poet view’d, By whom they saw their glorious deeds renew’d? Where poets, true to honour, tuned their lays, And by their patrons sanctified their praise? Is this the land, where, on our Spenser’s tongue, Enamour’d of his voice, Description hung? Where Jonson rigid Gravity beguiled,
Whilst Reason through her critic fences smiled? 60 Where Nature listening stood whilst Shakspeare play’d, And wonder’d at the work herself had made? Is this the land, where, mindful of her charge And office high, fair Freedom walk’d at large? Where, finding in our laws a sure defence, She mock’d at all restraints, but those of sense? Where, Health and Honour trooping by her side, She spread her sacred empire far and wide; Pointed the way, Affliction to beguile,
And bade the face of Sorrow wear a smile; 70 Bade those, who dare obey the generous call, Enjoy her blessings, which God meant for all? Is this the land, where, in some tyrant’s reign, When a weak, wicked, ministerial train,
The tools of power, the slaves of interest, plann’d Their country’s ruin, and with bribes unmann’d Those wretches, who, ordain’d in Freedom’s cause, Gave up our liberties, and sold our laws; When Power was taught by Meanness where to go, Nor dared to love the virtue of a foe; 80 When, like a leprous plague, from the foul head To the foul heart her sores Corruption spread; Her iron arm when stern Oppression rear’d; And Virtue, from her broad base shaken, fear’d The scourge of Vice; when, impotent and vain, Poor Freedom bow’d the neck to Slavery’s chain? Is this the land, where, in those worst of times, The hardy poet raised his honest rhymes
To dread rebuke, and bade Controlment speak In guilty blushes on the villain’s cheek; 90 Bade Power turn pale, kept mighty rogues in awe, And made them fear the Muse, who fear’d not law? How do I laugh, when men of narrow souls, Whom Folly guides, and Prejudice controls; Who, one dull drowsy track of business trod, Worship their Mammon, and neglect their God; Who, breathing by one musty set of rules, Dote from their birth, and are by system fools; Who, form’d to dulness from their very youth, Lies of the day prefer to gospel truth; 100 Pick up their little knowledge from Reviews, And lay out all their stock of faith in news; How do I laugh, when creatures, form’d like these, Whom Reason scorns, and I should blush to please, Rail at all liberal arts, deem verse a crime, And hold not truth, as truth, if told in rhyme! How do I laugh, when Publius,[172] hoary grown In zeal for Scotland’s welfare, and his own, By slow degrees, and course of office, drawn In mood and figure at the helm to yawn, 110 Too mean (the worst of curses Heaven can send) To have a foe, too proud to have a friend; Erring by form, which blockheads sacred hold, Ne’er making new faults, and ne’er mending old, Rebukes my spirit, bids the daring Muse
Subjects more equal to her weakness choose; Bids her frequent the haunts of humble swains, Nor dare to traffic in ambitious strains; Bids her, indulging the poetic whim
In quaint-wrought ode, or sonnet pertly trim, 120 Along the church-way path complain with Gray, Or dance with Mason on the first of May! ‘All sacred is the name and power of kings; All states and statesmen are those mighty things Which, howsoe’er they out of course may roll, Were never made for poets to control.’
Peace, peace, thou dotard! nor thus vilely deem Of sacred numbers, and their power blaspheme. I tell thee, wretch, search all creation round, In earth, in heaven, no subject can be found: 130 (Our God alone except) above whose height The poet cannot rise, and hold his state. The blessed saints above in numbers speak The praise of God, though there all praise is weak; In numbers here below the bard shall teach Virtue to soar beyond the villain’s reach; Shall tear his labouring lungs, strain his hoarse throat, And raise his voice beyond the trumpet’s note, Should an afflicted country, awed by men Of slavish principles, demand his pen. 140 This is a great, a glorious point of view, Fit for an English poet to pursue;
Undaunted to pursue, though, in return, His writings by the common hangman burn
How do I laugh, when men, by fortune placed Above their betters, and by rank disgraced, Who found their pride on titles which they stain, And, mean themselves, are of their fathers vain; Who would a bill of privilege prefer,
And treat a poet like a creditor; 150 The generous ardour of the Muse condemn, And curse the storm they know must break on them! ‘What! shall a reptile bard, a wretch unknown, Without one badge of merit but his own,
Great nobles lash, and lords, like common men, Smart from the vengeance of a scribbler’s pen?’ What’s in this name of lord, that I should fear To bring their vices to the public ear?
Flows not the honest blood of humble swains Quick as the tide which swells a monarch’s veins? 160 Monarchs, who wealth and titles can bestow, Cannot make virtues in succession flow.
Wouldst thou, proud man! be safely placed above The censure of the Muse? Deserve her love: Act as thy birth demands, as nobles ought; Look back, and, by thy worthy father taught, Who earn’d those honours thou wert born to wear, Follow his steps, and be his virtue’s heir. But if, regardless of the road to fame,
You start aside, and tread the paths of shame; 170 If such thy life, that should thy sire arise, The sight of such a son would blast his eyes, Would make him curse the hour which gave thee birth, Would drive him shuddering from the face of earth, Once more, with shame and sorrow, ‘mongst the dead In endless night to hide his reverend head; If such thy life, though kings had made thee more Than ever king a scoundrel made before;
Nay, to allow thy pride a deeper spring, Though God in vengeance had made thee a king, 180 Taking on Virtue’s wing her daring flight, The Muse should drag thee, trembling, to the light, Probe thy foul wounds, and lay thy bosom bare To the keen question of the searching air. Gods! with what pride I see the titled slave, Who smarts beneath the stroke which Satire gave, Aiming at ease, and with dishonest art
Striving to hide the feelings of his heart! How do I laugh, when, with affected air, (Scarce able through despite to keep his chair, 190 Whilst on his trembling lip pale Anger speaks, And the chafed blood flies mounting to his cheeks) He talks of Conscience, which good men secures From all those evil moments Guilt endures, And seems to laugh at those who pay regard To the wild ravings of a frantic bard.
‘Satire, whilst envy and ill-humour sway The mind of man, must always make her way; Nor to a bosom, with discretion fraught, Is all her malice worth a single thought. 200 The wise have not the will, nor fools the power, To stop her headstrong course; within the hour, Left to herself, she dies; opposing strife Gives her fresh vigour, and prolongs her life. All things her prey, and every man her aim, I can no patent for exemption claim,
Nor would I wish to stop that harmless dart Which plays around, but cannot wound my heart; Though pointed at myself, be Satire free; To her ’tis pleasure, and no pain to me.’ 210 Dissembling wretch! hence to the Stoic school, And there amongst thy brethren play the fool; There, unrebuked, these wild, vain doctrines preach. Lives there a man whom Satire cannot reach? Lives there a man who calmly can stand by, And see his conscience ripp’d with steady eye? When Satire flies abroad on Falsehood’s wing, Short is her life, and impotent her sting; But when to Truth allied, the wound she gives Sinks deep, and to remotest ages lives. 220 When in the tomb thy pamper’d flesh shall rot, And e’en by friends thy memory be forgot, Still shalt thou live, recorded for thy crimes, Live in her page, and stink to after-times. Hast thou no feeling yet? Come, throw off pride, And own those passions which thou shalt not hide. Sandwich, who, from the moment of his birth, Made human nature a reproach on earth,
Who never dared, nor wish’d, behind to stay, When Folly, Vice, and Meanness led the way, 230 Would blush, should he be told, by Truth and Wit, Those actions which he blush’d not to commit. Men the most infamous are fond of fame,
And those who fear not guilt, yet start at shame. But whither runs my zeal, whose rapid force, Turning the brain, bears Reason from her course; Carries me back to times, when poets, bless’d With courage, graced the science they profess’d; When they, in honour rooted, firmly stood, The bad to punish, and reward the good; 240 When, to a flame by public virtue wrought, The foes of freedom they to justice brought, And dared expose those slaves who dared support A tyrant plan, and call’d themselves a Court? Ah! what are poets now? As slavish those Who deal in verse, as those who deal in prose. Is there an Author, search the kingdom round, In whom true worth and real spirit’s found? The slaves of booksellers, or (doom’d by Fate To baser chains) vile pensioners of state; 250 Some, dead to shame, and of those shackles proud Which Honour scorns, for slavery roar aloud; Others, half-palsied only, mutes become, And what makes Smollett write, makes Johnson dumb. Why turns yon villain pale? Why bends his eye Inward, abash’d, when Murphy passes by?
Dost thou sage Murphy for a blockhead take, Who wages war with Vice for Virtue’s sake? No, no, like other worldlings, you will find He shifts his sails and catches every wind. 260 His soul the shock of Interest can’t endure: Give him a pension then, and sin secure. With laurell’d wreaths the flatterer’s brows adorn: Bid Virtue crouch, bid Vice exalt her horn; Bid cowards thrive, put Honesty to flight, Murphy shall prove, or try to prove it right. Try, thou state-juggler, every paltry art; Ransack the inmost closet of my heart;
Swear thou’rt my friend; by that base oath make way Into my breast, and flatter to betray. 270 Or, if those tricks are vain; if wholesome doubt Detects the fraud, and points the villain out; Bribe those who daily at my board are fed, And make them take my life who eat my bread. On Authors for defence, for praise depend; Pay him but well, and Murphy is thy friend: He, he shall ready stand with venal rhymes, To varnish guilt, and consecrate thy crimes; To make Corruption in false colours shine, And damn his own good name, to rescue thine. 280 But, if thy niggard hands their gifts withhold, And Vice no longer rains down showers of gold, Expect no mercy; facts, well-grounded, teach, Murphy, if not rewarded, will impeach.
What though each man of nice and juster thought, Shunning his steps, decrees, by Honour taught, He ne’er can be a friend, who stoops so low To be the base betrayer of a foe?
What though, with thine together link’d, his name Must be with thine transmitted down to shame? 290 To every manly feeling callous grown,
Rather than not blast thine, he ‘ll blast his own. To ope the fountain whence sedition springs, To slander government, and libel kings;
With Freedom’s name to serve a present hour, Though born and bred to arbitrary power; To talk of William with insidious art,
Whilst a vile Stuart’s lurking in his heart; And, whilst mean Envy rears her loathsome head, Flattering the living, to abuse the dead, 300 Where is Shebbeare?[173] Oh, let not foul reproach, Travelling thither in a city-coach,
The pillory dare to name: the whole intent Of that parade was fame, not punishment; And that old staunch Whig, Beardmore,[174] standing by, Can in full court give that report the lie. With rude unnatural jargon to support, Half-Scotch, half-English, a declining court; To make most glaring contraries unite,
And prove beyond dispute that black is white; 310 To make firm Honour tamely league with Shame, Make Vice and Virtue differ but in name; To prove that chains and freedom are but one, That to be saved must mean to be undone, Is there not Guthrie?[175] Who, like him, can call All opposites to proof, and conquer all? He calls forth living waters from the rock; He calls forth children from the barren stock; He, far beyond the springs of Nature led, Makes women bring forth after they are dead; 320 He, on a curious, new, and happy plan,
In wedlock’s sacred bands joins man to man; And to complete the whole, most strange, but true, By some rare magic, makes them fruitful too; Whilst from their loins, in the due course of years, Flows the rich blood of Guthrie’s ‘English Peers.’ Dost thou contrive some blacker deed of shame, Something which Nature shudders but to name, Something which makes the soul of man retreat, And the life-blood run backward to her seat? 330 Dost thou contrive, for some base private end, Some selfish view, to hang a trusting friend; To lure him on, e’en to his parting breath, And promise life, to work him surer death? Grown old in villany, and dead to grace, Hell in his heart, and Tyburn in his face, Behold, a parson at thy elbow stands,
Lowering damnation, and with open hands, Ripe to betray his Saviour for reward,
The Atheist chaplain of an Atheist lord![176] 340 Bred to the church, and for the gown decreed, Ere it was known that I should learn to read; Though that was nothing, for my friends, who knew What mighty Dulness of itself could do,
Never design’d me for a working priest, But hoped I should have been a Dean at least: Condemn’d, (like many more, and worthier men, To whom I pledge the service of my pen)[177] Condemn’d (whilst proud and pamper’d sons of lawn, Cramm’d to the throat, in lazy plenty yawn) 350 In pomp of reverend beggary to appear,
To pray, and starve on forty pounds a-year: My friends, who never felt the galling load, Lament that I forsook the packhorse road, Whilst Virtue to my conduct witness bears, In throwing off that gown which Francis[178] wears. What creature’s that, so very pert and prim, So very full of foppery, and whim,
So gentle, yet so brisk; so wondrous sweet, So fit to prattle at a lady’s feet; 360 Who looks as he the Lord’s rich vineyard trod, And by his garb appears a man of God?
Trust not to looks, nor credit outward show; The villain lurks beneath the cassock’d beau; That’s an informer; what avails the name? Suffice it that the wretch from Sodom came. His tongue is deadly–from his presence run, Unless thy rage would wish to be undone. No ties can hold him, no affection bind, And fear alone restrains his coward mind; 370 Free him from that, no monster is so fell, Nor is so sure a blood-hound found in Hell. His silken smiles, his hypocritic air,
His meek demeanour, plausible and fair, Are only worn to pave Fraud’s easier way, And make gull’d Virtue fall a surer prey. Attend his church–his plan of doctrine view– The preacher is a Christian, dull, but true; But when the hallow’d hour of preaching’s o’er, That plan of doctrine’s never thought of more; 380 Christ is laid by neglected on the shelf, And the vile priest is gospel to himself. By Cleland[179] tutor’d, and with Blacow[180] bred, (Blacow, whom, by a brave resentment led, Oxford, if Oxford had not sunk in fame,
Ere this, had damn’d to everlasting shame) Their steps he follows, and their crimes partakes; To virtue lost, to vice alone he wakes,
Most lusciously declaims ‘gainst luscious themes, And whilst he rails at blasphemy, blasphemes. 390 Are these the arts which policy supplies? Are these the steps by which grave churchmen rise? Forbid it, Heaven; or, should it turn out so, Let me and mine continue mean and low.
Such be their arts whom interest controls; Kidgell[181] and I have free and modest souls: We scorn preferment which is gain’d by sin, And will, though poor without, have peace within.
* * * * *
Footnotes:
[171] ‘The Author:’ published in 1763. For this poem and ‘The Duellist,’ Churchill received L450.
[172] ‘Publius:’ Smollett.
[173] ‘Shebbeare:’ Dr John Shebbeare, a physician and notorious jacobitical writer, who, after having been pilloried for a seditious production, was pensioned by George the Third.
[174] ‘Beardmore:’ under sheriff.
[175] ‘Guthrie:’ William Guthrie, a literary hack. See Boswell. He wrote an absurd History of the Peerage.
[176] ‘Atheist lord:’ See note on ‘Epistle to William Hogarth.’
[177] ‘Service of my pen:’ he designed, and partly executed, a poem entitled ‘The Curate.’
[178] ‘Francis:’ the Rev. Philip Francis, the translator of Horace, and father of Sir Philip Francis.
[179] ‘Cleland:’ John Cleland, an infamous witling of the time.
[180] ‘Blacow:’ an Oxfordian, who informed against some riotous students, who were shouting out drunken Jacobitism.
[181] ‘Kidgell:’ Rector of Horne, the subject of the above sketch, and here ironically praised, had obtained surreptitiously a copy of Wilkes’s ‘Essay on Woman,’ and betrayed it to the secretaries of state.
THE CONFERENCE.[182]
Grace said in form, which sceptics must agree, When they are told that grace was said by me; The servants gone to break the scurvy jest On the proud landlord, and his threadbare guest; ‘The King’ gone round, my lady too withdrawn; My lord, in usual taste, began to yawn,
And, lolling backward in his elbow-chair, With an insipid kind of stupid stare,
Picking his teeth, twirling his seals about– Churchill, you have a poem coming out: 10 You’ve my best wishes; but I really fear Your Muse, in general, is too severe;
Her spirit seems her interest to oppose, And where she makes one friend, makes twenty foes. _C_. Your lordship’s fears are just; I feel their force, But only feel it as a thing of course.
The man whose hardy spirit shall engage To lash, the vices of a guilty age,
At his first setting forward ought to know That every rogue he meets must be his foe; 20 That the rude breath of satire will provoke Many who feel, and more who fear the stroke. But shall the partial rage of selfish men From stubborn Justice wrench the righteous pen? Or shall I not my settled course pursue, Because my foes are foes to Virtue too?
_L_. What is this boasted Virtue, taught in schools, And idly drawn from antiquated rules?
What is her use? Point out one wholesome end. Will she hurt foes, or can she make a friend? 30 When from long fasts fierce appetites arise, Can this same Virtue stifle Nature’s cries? Can she the pittance of a meal afford,
Or bid thee welcome to one great man’s board? When northern winds the rough December arm With frost and snow, can Virtue keep thee warm? Canst thou dismiss the hard unfeeling dun Barely by saying, thou art Virtue’s son? Or by base blundering statesmen sent to jail, Will Mansfield take this Virtue for thy bail? 40 Believe it not, the name is in disgrace; Virtue and Temple now are out of place.
Quit then this meteor, whose delusive ray Prom wealth and honour leads thee far astray. True virtue means–let Reason use her eyes– Nothing with fools, and interest with the wise. Wouldst thou be great, her patronage disclaim, Nor madly triumph in so mean a name:
Let nobler wreaths thy happy brows adorn, And leave to Virtue poverty and scorn. 50 Let Prudence be thy guide; who doth not know How seldom Prudence can with Virtue go?
To be successful try thy utmost force, And Virtue follows as a thing of course. Hirco–who knows not Hirco?–stains the bed Of that kind master who first gave him bread; Scatters the seeds of discord through the land, Breaks every public, every private band; Beholds with joy a trusting friend undone; Betrays a brother, and would cheat a son: 60 What mortal in his senses can endure
The name of Hirco? for the wretch is poor! Let him hang, drown, starve, on a dunghill rot, By all detested live, and die forgot;
Let him–a poor return–in every breath Feel all Death’s pains, yet be whole years in death, Is now the general cry we all pursue.
Let Fortune change, and Prudence changes too; Supple and pliant, a new system feels,
Throws up her cap, and spaniels at his heels: 70 Long live great Hirco, cries, by interest taught, And let his foes, though I prove one, be nought. _C_. Peace to such men, if such men can have peace; Let their possessions, let their state increase; Let their base services in courts strike root, And in the season bring forth golden fruit. I envy not; let those who have the will, And, with so little spirit, so much skill, With such vile instruments their fortunes carve; Rogues may grow fat, an honest man dares starve.[183] 80 _L_. These stale conceits thrown off, let us advance For once to real life, and quit romance. Starve! pretty talking! but I fain would view That man, that honest man, would do it too. Hence to yon mountain which outbraves the sky, And dart from pole to pole thy strengthen’d eye, Through all that space you shall not view one man, Not one, who dares to act on such a plan. Cowards in calms will say, what in a storm The brave will tremble at, and not perform. 90 Thine be the proof, and, spite of all you’ve said, You’d give your honour for a crust of bread. _C_. What proof might do, what hunger might effect, What famish’d Nature, looking with neglect On all she once held dear; what fear, at strife With fainting virtue for the means of life, Might make this coward flesh, in love with breath, Shuddering at pain, and shrinking back from death, In treason to my soul, descend to boar,
Trusting to fate, I neither know nor care. 100 Once,–at this hour those wounds afresh I feel, Which, nor prosperity, nor time, can heal; Those wounds which Fate severely hath decreed, Mention’d or thought of, must for ever bleed; Those wounds which humbled all that pride of man, Which brings such mighty aid to Virtue’s plan– Once, awed by Fortune’s most oppressive frown, By legal rapine to the earth bow’d clown, My credit at last gasp, my state undone, Trembling to meet the shock I could not shun, 110 Virtue gave ground, and blank despair prevail’d; Sinking beneath the storm, my spirits fail’d Like Peter’s faith, till one, a friend indeed– May all distress find such in time of need!– One kind good man, in act, in word, in thought, By Virtue guided, and by Wisdom taught,
Image of Him whom Christians should adore, Stretch’d forth his hand, and brought me safe to shore.[184] Since, by good fortune into notice raised, And for some little merit largely praised, 120 Indulged in swerving from prudential rules, Hated by rogues, and not beloved by fools; Placed above want, shall abject thirst of wealth, So fiercely war ‘gainst my soul’s dearest health, That, as a boon, I should base shackles crave, And, born to freedom, make myself a slave? That I should in the train of those appear, Whom Honour cannot love, nor Manhood fear? That I no longer skulk from street to street, Afraid lest duns assail, and bailiffs meet; 130 That I from place to place this carcase bear; Walk forth at large, and wander free as air; That I no longer dread the awkward friend. Whose very obligations must offend;
Nor, all too froward, with impatience burn At suffering favours which I can’t return; That, from dependence and from pride secure, I am not placed so high to scorn the poor, Nor yet so low that I my lord should fear, Or hesitate to give him sneer for sneer; 140 That, whilst sage Prudence my pursuits confirms, I can enjoy the world on equal terms;
That, kind to others, to myself most true, Feeling no want, I comfort those who do, And, with the will, have power to aid distress: These, and what other blessings I possess, From the indulgence of the public rise,
All private patronage my soul defies. By candour more inclined to save, than damn, A generous Public made me what I am. 150 All that I have, they gave; just Memory bears The grateful stamp, and what I am is theirs. _L_. To feign a red-hot zeal for Freedom’s cause, To mouth aloud for liberties and laws,
For public good to bellow all abroad, Serves well the purposes of private fraud. Prudence, by public good intends her own; If you mean otherwise, you stand alone.
What do we mean by country and by court? What is it to oppose? what to support? 160 Mere words of course; and what is more absurd Than to pay homage to an empty word?
Majors and minors differ but in name; Patriots and ministers are much the same; The only difference, after all their rout, Is, that the one is in, the other out.
Explore the dark recesses of the mind, In the soul’s honest volume read mankind, And own, in wise and simple, great and small, The same grand leading principle in all. 170 Whate’er we talk of wisdom to the wise,
Of goodness to the good, of public ties Which to our country link, of private bands Which claim most dear attention at our hands; For parent and for child, for wife and friend, Our first great mover, and our last great end Is one, and, by whatever name we call
The ruling tyrant, Self is all in all. This, which unwilling Faction shall admit, Guided in different ways a Bute and Pitt; 180 Made tyrants break, made kings observe the law; And gave the world a Stuart and Nassau.
Hath Nature (strange and wild conceit of pride!) Distinguished thee from all her sons beside? Doth virtue in thy bosom brighter glow,
Or from a spring more pure doth action flow? Is not thy soul bound with those very chains Which shackle us? or is that Self, which reigns O’er kings and beggars, which in all we see Most strong and sovereign, only weak in thee? 190 Fond man, believe it not; experience tells ‘Tis not thy virtue, but thy pride rebels. Think, (and for once lay by thy lawless pen) Think, and confess thyself like other men; Think but one hour, and, to thy conscience led By Reason’s hand, bow down and hang thy head: Think on thy private life, recall thy youth, View thyself now, and own, with strictest truth, That Self hath drawn thee from fair Virtue’s way Farther than Folly would have dared to stray; 200 And that the talents liberal Nature gave, To make thee free, have made thee more a slave. Quit then, in prudence quit, that idle train Of toys, which have so long abused thy brain. And captive led thy powers; with boundless will Let Self maintain her state and empire still; But let her, with more worthy objects caught, Strain all the faculties and force of thought To things of higher daring; let her range Through better pastures, and learn how to change; 210 Let her, no longer to weak Faction tied, Wisely revolt, and join our stronger side. _C_. Ah! what, my lord, hath private life to do With things of public nature? Why to view Would you thus cruelly those scenes unfold Which, without pain and horror to behold, Must speak me something more or less than man, Which friends may pardon, but I never can? Look back! a thought which borders on despair, Which human nature must, yet cannot bear. 220 ‘Tis not the babbling of a busy world,
Where praise and censure are at random hurl’d, Which can the meanest of my thoughts control, Or shake one settled purpose of my soul; Free and at large might their wild curses roam, If all, if all, alas! were well at home. No–’tis the tale which angry Conscience tells, When she with more than tragic horror swells Each circumstance of guilt; when, stern but true, She brings bad actions forth into review; 230 And like the dread handwriting on the wall, Bids late Remorse awake at Reason’s call; Arm’d at all points, bids scorpion Vengeance pass, And to the mind holds up Reflection’s glass,– The mind which, starting, heaves the heartfelt groan, And hates that form she knows to be her own. Enough of this,–let private sorrows rest,– As to the public, I dare stand the test; Dare proudly boast, I feel no wish above The good of England, and my country’s love. 240 Stranger to party-rage, by Reason’s voice, Unerring guide! directed in my choice,
Not all the tyrant powers of earth combined, No, nor of hell, shall make me change my mind. What! herd with men my honest soul disdains, Men who, with servile zeal, are forging chains For Freedom’s neck, and lend a helping hand To spread destruction o’er my native land? What! shall I not, e’en to my latest breath, In the full face of danger and of death, 250 Exert that little strength which Nature gave, And boldly stem, or perish in the wave?
_L_. When I look backward for some fifty years, And see protesting patriots turn’d to peers; Hear men, most loose, for decency declaim, And talk of character, without a name;
See infidels assert the cause of God, And meek divines wield Persecution’s rod; See men transferred to brutes, and brutes to men; See Whitehead take a place, Ralph[185] change his pen; 260 I mock the zeal, and deem the men in sport, Who rail at ministers, and curse a court. Thee, haughty as thou art, and proud in rhyme, Shall some preferment, offer’d at a time When Virtue sleeps, some sacrifice to Pride, Or some fair victim, move to change thy side. Thee shall these eyes behold, to health restored, Using, as Prudence bids, bold Satire’s sword, Galling thy present friends, and praising those Whom now thy frenzy holds thy greatest foes. 270 _C_. May I (can worse disgrace on manhood fall?) Be born a Whitehead,[186] and baptized a Paul; May I (though to his service deeply tied By sacred oaths, and now by will allied), With false, feign’d zeal an injured God defend, And use his name for some base private end; May I (that thought bids double horrors roll O’er my sick spirits, and unmans my soul) Ruin the virtue which I held most dear,
And still must hold; may I, through abject fear, 280 Betray my friend; may to succeeding times, Engraved on plates of adamant, my crimes Stand blazing forth, whilst, mark’d with envious blot, Each little act of virtue is forgot;
Of all those evils which, to stamp men cursed, Hell keeps in store for vengeance, may the worst Light on my head; and in my day of woe,
To make the cup of bitterness o’erflow, May I be scorn’d by every man of worth,
Wander, like Cain, a vagabond on earth; 200 Bearing about a hell in my own mind,
Or be to Scotland for my life confined; If I am one among the many known
Whom Shelburne[187] fled, and Calcraft[188] blush’d to own. _L_. Do you reflect what men you make your foes? _C_. I do, and that’s the reason I oppose. Friends I have made, whom Envy must commend, But not one foe whom I would wish a friend. What if ten thousand Butes and Hollands bawl? One Wilkes had made a large amends for all. 300 ‘Tis not the title, whether handed down From age to age, or flowing from the crown In copious streams, on recent men, who came From stems unknown, and sires without a name: Tis not the star which our great Edward gave To mark the virtuous, and reward the brave, Blazing without, whilst a base heart within Is rotten to the core with filth and sin; ‘Tis not the tinsel grandeur, taught to wait, At Custom’s call, to mark a fool of state 310 From fools of lesser note, that soul can awe, Whose pride is reason, whose defence is law.
_L_. Suppose, (a thing scarce possible in art, Were it thy cue to play a common part)
Suppose thy writings so well fenced in law, That Norton cannot find nor make a flaw– Hast thou not heard, that ‘mongst our ancient tribes, By party warp’d, or lull’d asleep by bribes, Or trembling at the ruffian hand of Force, Law hath suspended stood, or changed its course? 320 Art thou assured, that, for destruction ripe, Thou may’st not smart beneath the self-same gripe? What sanction hast thou, frantic in thy rhymes, Thy life, thy freedom to secure?
_G_. The Times.
‘Tis not on law, a system great and good, By wisdom penn’d, and bought by noblest blood, My faith relies; by wicked men and vain, Law, once abused, may be abused again.
No; on our great Lawgiver I depend,