But hark! th' affrighted crowd's tumultous cries Roll through the streets and thunder to the skies: Rais'd from fome pleafing dream of wealth and power,
Some pompous palace, or fome blissful bow'r, 185
Aghaft you start, and scarce with aking fight
Suftain th' approaching fire's tremendous light;
Swift from pursuing horrors take your way,
And leave your little ALL to flames a prey;
Then thro' the world a wretched vagrant roam, 190
For where can ftarving merit find a home?
In vain your mournful narrative disclose,
While all neglect, and most insult your woes.
Should heaven's just bolts Orgilio's wealth con-
found,
And fpread his flaming palace on the ground, 195
Swift o'er the land the difmal rumour flies,
And publick mournings pacify the skies;
The laureat tribe in fervile verse relate,
How virtue wars with perfecuting fate;
With well-feign'd gratitude the penfion'd band 200
Refund the plunder of the beggar'd land.
See! while he builds, the gaudy vaffals come,
And crowd with fudden wealth the rifing dome;
The price of boroughs and of fouls restore,
And raise his treasures higher than before:
Now blefs'd with all the baubles of the great,
The polish'd marble, and the fhining plate,
Orgilio fees the golden pile afpire,
And hopes from angry heav'n another fire.
Could'st thou refign the park and play content, 2 ro For the fair banks of Severn or of Trent;
There might'st thou find fome elegant retreat,
Some hireling fenator's deferted feat;
And ftretch thy profpects o'er the fmiling land,
For less than rent the dungeons of the Strand; 215
There prune thy walks, fupport thy drooping flow'rs,
Direct thy rivulets, and twine thy bow'rs;
And, while thy beds a cheap repast afford,
Defpife the dainties of a venal lord;
There ev'ry bush with nature's musick rings, 220
There ev'ry breeze bears health upon its wings;
On all thy hours fecurity fhall fmile,
And bless thy evening walk and morning toil.
Prepare for death, if here at night you roam, And fign your will before you fup from home. 225 Some fiery fop, with new commiffion vain, Who fleeps on brambles till he kills his man; Some frolick drunkard, reeling from a feast, Provokes a broil, and stabs you for a jeft.
Yet ev❜n these heroes, mifchievously gay, 230 Lords of the street, and terrors of the way; Flush'd as they are with folly, youth and wine, Their prudent infults to the poor confine; Afar they mark the flambeau's bright approach, And fhun the fhining train, and golden coach. 235
In vain, thefe dangers paft, your doors you clofe,
And hope the balmy bleffings of repofe :
Cruel with guilt, and daring with despair,
The midnight murd'rer bursts the faithless bar;
Invades the facred hour of filent rest,
And plants, unfeen, a dagger in your breast.
Scarce can our fields, fuch crowds at Tyburn die,
With hemp the gallows and the fleet fupply.
Propose your schemes, ye fenatorian band,
Whofe ways and means fupport the finking land;
Leit ropes be wanting in the tempting spring,
To rig another convoy for the k—g.
A fingle jail, in ALFRED's golden reign,
Could half the nation's criminals contain;
Fair Juftice then, without conftraint ador'd,
Held high the steady scale, but deep'd the fword;
No spies were paid, no special juries known,
Bleft age! but ah! how diff'rent from our own!
Much could I add, but fee the boat at hand,
The tide retiring, calls me from the land :
Farewel!-When youth, and health, and fortune
Thou fly'it for refuge to the wilds of Kent;
And, tir'd like me with follies and with crimes,
In angry numbers warn'ft fucceeding times;
Then shall thy friend, nor thou refuse his aid, 260
Still foe to vice, forfake his Cambrian fhade;
In virtue's caufe once more exert his
Thy fatire point, and animate thy page.
HE UPBRAIDS AND THREATENS THE AVA
RICE OF NEÆRA, AND RESOLVES
QUIT HER.
SHOULD Jove defcend in floods of liquid ore,
And golden torrents stream from every part,
That craving bosom still wou'd heave for more,
Not all the gods cou'd fatisfy thy heart:
But may thy folly, which can thus difdain
My honeft love, the mighty wrong repay,
May midnight fire involve thy fordid gain,
And on the fhining heaps of rapine prey :
May all the youths, like me, by love deceived,
Not quench the ruin, but applaud the doom;
And, when thou dy't, may not one heart be grieved,
May not one tear bedew the lonely tomb.
But the deferving, tender, generous maid,
Whose only care is her poor lover's mind,
Tho' ruthlefs age may bid her beauty fade,
every friend to love, a friend shall find:
* Born 1710; dyed 1742.
And, when the lamp of life will burn no more,
When dead the feems as in a gentle fleep,
The pitying neighbour shall her loss deplore,
And round the bier affembled lovers weep:
With flow'ry garlands, each revolving year,
Shall ftrow the grave where truth and softness rest,
Then, home returning, drop the pious tear,
And bid the turf lie eafy on her breast.
HILE calm you fit beneath your fecret fhade, And lofe in pleafing thought the fummer-day, Or tempt the wish of fome unpractifed maid, Whofe heart at once inclines and fears to ftray:
The sprightly vigour of my youth is fled,
Lonely and fick on death is all my thought,
Oh, fpare, Perfephone*, this guiltless head,
Love, too much love, is all thy fuppliant's fault.
No virgin's eafy faith I e'er betray'd,
My tongue ne'er boasted of a feign'd embrace; 10
No poifons in the cup have I convey'd,
Nor veil'd deftruction with a friendly face:
|