To knights new chofen in old time would come The country trumpet, and perhaps a drum;

Now when a burgefs new elect appears,

Come trainbands, horfeguards, footguards, grenadiers;

When the majority the town-clerk tells,

His honour pays the fiddles, waits, and bells:
Harangues the mob, and is as wife and great,
As the most mystic oracle of state.

f When the duke's grandfon for the county stood, His beef was fat, and his october good;

His lordship took each ploughman by the fift,
Drank to their fons, their wives, their daughters kifs'd;
But when strong beer their free-born hearts inflames,
They fell him bargains, and they call him names.
Thus it is deem'd in English nobles wife

To stoop for no one reafon but to rise.

• Tibia non, ut nunc Orichalcho vincta, tubæque
Æmula, fed tenuis fimplexque foramine pauco
Afpirare, & adeffe choris erat utilis, &c.

Poftquam cœpit agros extendere victor, & urbem.
Latior amplecti murus, &c.

Acceffit numerifque modifque licentia major ;
Sic etiam fidibus voces crevere feveris,

Et tulit eloquium infolitum facundia præceps:
Utiliumque fagax rerum & divina futuri
Sortilegis non difcrepuit fententia Delphis.
f Carmine qui tragico vilem certavit ob hircum,
Incolumi gravitate jocum tentavit, eo quod
Illecebris erat & grata novitate morandus
Spectator, functufque facris, & potus, & exlex.

Election matters fhun with cautious awe,
O all ye judges learned in the law;

A judge by bribes as much himself degrades,
As duchefs-dowager by masquerades.

h

Try not with jefts obscene to force a smile,

Nor lard your fpeech with mother Needham's ftile:

Let not your tongue to Ωλφιεδισμα run, with abhorrence fhun;

And Kiepioμ

Let not your looks affected words disgrace,

Nor join with filver tongue a brazen face;
Let not your hands, like tallboys be employ'd,
And the mad rant of tragedy avoid.
Juft in your thoughts, in your expreffion clear,
Neither too modeft, nor too bold appear.

i Others in vain a like fuccefs will boast, He speaks most easy, who has study'd most.

Effutire leves indigna Tragoedia verfus,
Ut feftis matrona moveri juffa diebus,
Intererit Satyris paulum pudibunda protervis.
h Non ego inornata & dominantia nomina folum,
Verbaque, Pifones, Satyrorum fcriptor amabo;
Nec fic enitar Tragico differre colori,

Ut nihil interfit Davufne loquatur, & audax
Pythias, emunc&to lucrata Simone talentum :
An cuftos famulufque Dei Silenus alumni.

i

-Ut fibi quivis

Speret idem, fudet multum, fruftráque laboret.

A peer'

A peer's pert heir has to the commons fpoke A vile reflection, or a bawdy joke:

Call'd to the houfe of lords, of this beware,

'Tis what the bishops' bench will never bear.
Among the commons is fuch freedom shown,
They lafh each other, and attack the throne;
Yet fo unskilful or fo fearful some,
For nine that speak there's nine-and-forty dumb.

When James the first, at great Britannia's helm,
Rul'd this word-clipping and word-coining realm,
No word to royal favour made pretence,
But what agreed in found, and clash'd in fenfe.
Thrice happy he! how great that fpeaker's praise,
Whose every period look'd an hundred ways!
What then? we now with just abhorrence shun
The trifling quibble, and the school-boy's pun;
Though no great connoiffeur, I make a shift
Juft to find out a Durfey from a Swift;

k Ne nimium teneris juvenentur verfibus unquam,
Aut immunda crepent ignominiofaque dicta :
Offenduntur enim quibus eft equus, & pater & res,
Nec fi quid fricti ciceris probat, & nucis emptor,
Equis accipiunt animis, donantve corona.
At noftri proavi Plautinos & numeros &
Laudavêre fales; nimium patienter utrumque,
Ne dicam ftulte, mirati; fi modo ego & vos
Scimus inurbanum lepido feponere dicto,
Legitimumque fonum digitis callemus & aure.
U 4

I can

I can difcern with half an eye, I hope,
Mift from Jo Addifon; from Eufden, Pope:
I know a farce from one of Congreve's plays,
And Cibber's opera from Johnny Gay's.

m When pert Defoe his faucy papers writ,
He from a cart was pillor'd for his wit:
By mob was pelted half a morning's space,
And rotten eggs befmear'd his yellow face;
The Cenfor then improv'd the lift'ning isle,
And held both parties in an artful smile.
A fcribbling crew now pinching winter brings,
That spare no earthly nor no heav'nly things,
Nor church, nor state, nor treasurers, nor kings.
But blafphemy displeases all the town;

And for defying fcripture, law, and crown,
Woolfton fhould pay his fine, and lose his gown.

m Ignotum Tragicæ genus inveniffe Camœnæ
Dicitur, & plauftris vexiffe poëmata Thefpis,
Quæ canerent agerentque perun&ti fæcibus ora.
Poft hunc perfonæ pallæque repertor honestæ
Æfchylus, & modicis inftravit pulpita tignis,
Et docuit magnumque loqui, nitique cothurno.
Succeffit vetus his Comedia, non fine multa
Laude: fed in vitium libertas excidit, & vim
Dignam lege regi: lex eft accepta, chorufque
Turpiter obticuit fublato jure nocendi.

It

n It must be own'd the journals try all ways
To merit their refpective party's praife:
They jar in every article from Spain;

A war these threaten, those a peace maintain:
Though lie they will, to give them all their due,
In foreign matters, and domestic too.

Whoe'er thou art that would'ft a Postman write,
Enquire all day, and hearken all the night.
Sure, Gazetteers and writers of Courants
Might foon exceed th' intelligence of France:
To be out-done old England fhould refuse,
As in her arms, fo in her public news:
But truth is scarce, the scene of action large,
And correfpondence an exceffive charge.

There are who fay, no man can be a wit
Unless for Newgate, or for Bedlam fit;
Let pamphleteers abusive satire write, ·
To fhew a genius is to fhew a fpite:

n Nil intentatum noftri liquêre Poëtæ ;
Nec minimum meruêre decus, veftigia Græca
Aufi deferere, & celebrare domeftica facta:
Nec virtute foret clarifve potentius armis,
Quàm linguâ, Latium, fi non offenderet unum-
quemque Poëtarum limæ labor & mora.
Ingenium miferâ quia fortunatius arte
Credit, & excludit fanos Helicone Poëtas

Democritus, bona pars non ungues ponere curat,
Non barbam

Nancifcetur enim pretium nomenque Poëtæ,

That