Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

PART II.

[ocr errors]

170

ARE nobly then: But confcious of your trust,
As ever warm and bold be ever just:
Nor court applause in these degen'rate days :
The Villain's cenfure is extorted praise.

But chief, be fteady in a noble end, And fhew Mankind that Truth has yet a friend. 'Tis mean for empty praise of wit to write,

As Foplings grin to fhow their Teeth?

are white:

To brand a doubtful folly with a fmile,
Or madly blaze unknown defects, is vile:
"Tis doubly vile, when, but to prove your art,
You fix an arrow in a blameless heart.

O loft to honour's voice, O doom'd to fhame,
Thou Fiend accurs'd, thou Murderer of Fame ! .

175

180

Fell Ravifher, from Innocence to tear
That name, than liberty, than life more dear!
Where fhall thy baseness meet its just return, 185
Or what repay thy guilt, but endless scorn!

b

[ocr errors]

And know, immortal Truth fhall mock thy toil:
Immortal Truth fhall bid the shaft recoil;
With rage retorted, wing the deadly dart;
And empty all its Poyfon in thy heart.

190

With caution next, the dang'rous pow'r apply; An eagle's talon asks an eagle's eye:

Let SATIRE then her proper object know,

195

200

And ere she strike, be sure she strike a foe.
Nor fondly deem the real fool confeft,
Because blind Ridicule conceives a jeft:
Before whose altar Virtue oft hath bled,
And oft a deftin'd Victim shall be led:
Lo, Shaftfb'ry rears her high on Reason's throne,
And loads the Slave with honours not her own :
Big-fwoln with folly, as her fmiles provoke,
Prophaneness spawns, pert Dunces nurse the joke!
Come, let us join a while this tittering crew,
And own the Ideot Guide for once is true;
Deride our weak forefather's musty rule,
Who therefore fmil'd, because they saw a Fool,
Sublimer logic now adorns our ifle,

We therefore fee a Fool, because we smile.
Truth in her gloomy Cave why fondly feek?

205

Lo, gay fhe fits in Laughter's dimpled cheek: 210

Contemns each furly Academic foe,

And courts the fpruce Freethinker and the Beau.
Dadalian arguments but few can trace,

But all can read the Language of grimace.
Hence mighty Ridicule's all-conquʼring hand 215
Shall work Herculean wonders thro' the Land:
Bound in the magic of her cobweb chain,
You, mighty WARBURTON, fhall rage in vain,
In vain the tracklefs maze of Truth You fcan,
And lend th' informing Clue to erring Man:
No more fhall Reafon boaft her pow'r divine,
Her Bafe eternal fhook by Folly's mine!
Truth's facred Fort th' exploded laugh shall win;
And Coxcombs vanquifh BERKLEY by a grin.

220

But you, more fage, reject th' inverted rule, 225 That truth is e'er explor'd by Ridicule : On truth, on falfehood let her colours fall, She throws a dazzling glare alike on all; As the gay Prifm but mocks the flatter'd eye, And gives to ev'ry object ev'ry dye. Beware the mad Advent'rer: bold and blind She hoifts her fail, and drives with ev'ry wind; Deaf as the Storm to finking Virtue's groan, Nor heeds a Friend's deftruction, or her own.

230

[ocr errors][merged small]

Let clear-ey'd Reason at the helm prefide,

Bear to the wind, or ftem the furious tide;

235

Then Mirth may urge, when Reason can explore,
This point the way, that waft us glad to shore.

240

Tho' diftant Times may rife in SATIRE's page, Yet chief 'tis Her's to draw the prefent Age: With Wisdom's luftre, Folly's fhade contrast, And judge the reigning Manners by the past: Bid Britain's Heroes (awful Shades!) arise, And ancient Honour beam on modern Vice: Point back to minds ingenuous, actions fair, 245 Till the Sons blufh at what their Fathers were: Ere yet 'twas beggary the great to trust;

Ere yet 'twas quite a folly to be just ;

When low-born Sharpers only dar'd a lye,
Or falfify'd the card, or cogg'd the dye;

Ere Lewdness the ftain'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 mien her form debase,
But let her fmile, and let her frown with grace:

250

255

In mirth be temp❜rate, temp'rate in her spleen;
Nor, while fhe preaches modefty, obscene.

260

Deep let her wound, not rankle to a fore,
Nor call his Lordship - her Grace a-
The Mufe's charms refiftlefs then affail,
When wrapt in Irony's tranfparent veil:

Her beauties half-conceal'd the more furprize, 265
And keener luftre sparkles in her eyes.

Then be your line with fharp encomiums graed: Style Clodius honourable, Bufa chaste.

Dart not on Folly an indignant eye:
Who e'er difcharg'd Artillery on a Fly?
Deride not Vice: Abfurd the thought and vain,

To bind the Tyger in fo weak a chain.

270

Nay more: when flagrant crimes your laughter move, The Knave exults: to fmile is to approve.

The Mufe's labour then fuccefs fhall crown,

275

When Folly feels her smile, and Vice her frown.

Know next what Measures to each Theme belong, And fuit your thoughts and numbers to your song: On wing proportion'd to your quarry rise, And ftoop to earth, or foar among the skies. 280 Thus when a modifh folly you rehearse,

Free the expreffion, fimple be the verse.

« ZurückWeiter »