Point back to minds ingenuous, actions fair,
Till the Sons blush at what their Fathers were:
Ere yet 'twas beggary the great to truft;
Ere yet 'twas quite a folly to be juft;
When low-born Sharpers only dar'd a lye,
Or falfify'd the Card, or cogg'd the Dye;
Ere Lewdness the stain'd garb of Honour wore,
Or Chastity was carted for the Whore;
Vice flutter'd, in the plumes of Freedom drefs'd;
Or public Spirit was the public jest.
Be ever, in a juft expreffion, bold,
Yet ne'er degrade fair SATIRE to a Scold:
Let no unworthy mein her form debase,
But let her fmile, and let her frown with grace:
In mirth be temp'rate, temp'rate in her spleen;
Nor, while the preaches modefty, obfcene.
Deep let her wound, not rankle to a fore,
Nor call his Lordship -, her Grace a — :
The Mufe's charms refiftlefs then assail,
When wrapt in Irany's transparent veil :
Her beauties half-conceal'd the more furprize,
And keener luftre fparkles in her eyes.
Then be your line with fharp encomiums grac'd:
Style Clodius honourable, Bufa chaste.
Dart not on Folly an indignant eye: Who e're difcharg'd Artillery on a Fly!
Deride not Vice: Abfurd the thought and vain,
To bind the Tiger in fo weak a chain.
Nay more: when flagrant crimes your laughter move,
The Knave exults: to fmile is to approve.
The Mufe's labour then fuccefs fhall crown,
When Folly feels her smiles, and Vice her frown.
Know next what measures to each Theme belong, And fuit your thoughts and numbers to your fong: On wing proportion'd to your quarry rise, And stoop to earth, or foar among the skies. Thus when a modifh folly you rehearse, Free the expreffion, fimple be the verse. In artless numbers paint th' ambitious Peer, That mounts the box, and fhines a Charioteer : In ftrains familiar fing the midnight toil Of Camps and Senates difciplin'd by Hoyle; Patriots and Chiefs, whofe deep design invades And carries off the captive King of Spades!
Let SATIRE here in milder vigour fhine,
And gayly graceful fport along the line;
Bid courtly Fashion quit her thin pretence,'
And fmile each Affectation into fenfe.
Not fo when Virtue by her Guards betray'd, Spurn'd from her Throne, implores the Mufe's aid; When crimes, which erst in kindred darkness lay, 295 Rife frontlefs, and infult the eye of day s
Indignant Hymen veils his hallow'd fires,
And white-rob'd Chastity with tears retires;
When rank Adultery on the genial bed
Hot from Corytus rears her baleful head :
When private Faith and public Trust are fold;
And Traitors barter Liberty for gold:
When fell Corruption dark and deep, like fate,
Saps the foundation of a finking State:
When Giant-Vice and Irreligion rife,
On mountain'd falfhoods to invade the skies :
Then warmer numbers glow thro' SATIRE's page,
And all her fmiles are darken'd into rage:
On eagle-wing the gains Parnaffus' height,
Nor lofty EPIC foars a nobler flight:
Then keener indignation fires her eye;
Then flath her lightnings and her thunders fly;
Wide and more wide her flaming bolts are hurl'd,
Till all her wrath involves the guilty World.
Yet SATIRE oft affumes a gentler mien,
And beams on Virtue's friends a fmile ferene :
She wounds reluctant; pours her balm with joy;
Glad to commend where worth attracts her eye.
But chief; when Virtue, Learning, Arts decline,
She joys to fee unconquer'd merit fhine;
Where bursting glorious, with departing ray,
True Genius gilds the clofe of Britain's Day :
With joy fhe fees the stream of Roman art
From MURRAY's tongue How purer to the heart:
VOL. III.
Sees YORKE to Fame, e'er yet to Manhood known,
And just to ev'ry virtue, but his own;
Hears unftain'd CAM with generous pride proclaim
A SAGE'S, CRITIC's, and a POET's name :
Beholds, where WIDCOME's happy hills afcend,
Each orphan'd Art and Virtue find a friend : 330
TO HAGLEY'S honour'd Shade directs her view;
And culls each flow'r to form a Wreath for You.
But tread with cautious step this dang❜rous ground,
Befet with faithlefs precipices round:
Truth be your guide: difdain Ambition's call; 335
And if you fall with Truth, you greatly fall.
"Tis Virtue's native luftre that must shine ;
The Poet can but set it in his line:
And who unmov'd with laughter can behold
A Jordid pebble meanly grac'd with gold?
Let real Merit then adorn your lays,
For Shame attends on prostituted praise :
And all your wit, your moft diftinguish'd art -
But makes us grieve you want an honeft heart. 344
Nor think the Mufe by SATIRE'S Law confin'd:
She yields defcription of the nobleft kind.
Inferior art the Landskip may defign,
And paint the purple ev'ning in the line:
Her daring thought essays a higher plan;
Her hand delineates Paffion, pictures Man.
And great the toil, the latent foul to trace,
To paint the art, and catch internal grace;
By turns bid Vice or Virtue ftrike our eyes,
Now bid a Wolfey or a Cromwell rife;
Now with a touch more facred and refin'd,
Call forth a CHESTERFIELD's or LONSDALE's mind.
Here fweet or ftrong may ev'ry Colour flow,
Here let the pencil warm, the canvafs glow:
Of light and fhade provoke the noble ftrife,
And wake each striking feature into life.
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