To falt the meat upon the spit :
Or just to keep our meat from stinking.
And then-a special friend to drinking!"
"Your folly moves me with furprize,
(The filver tripod thus replies)
Pray, mafter Pepper, why fo hot?
Firft coufin to the muftard-pot!
What boots it how our life began ?
'Tis breeding makes the gentleman.
Yet would you fearch my pedigree,
I rofe like Venus from the sea :
The fun, whofe influence you boast,
Nurs'd me upon the British coaft.
The chymifts know my rank and place,
When nature's principles they trace:
And wifeft moderns yield to me
The elemental monarchy.
By me all nature is fupplied
With all her beauty, all her pride!
In vegetation, I afcend;
To animals, their vigour lend;
Corruption's foe, I life preferve,
And ftimulate each flacken'd nerve.
I give jonquils their high perfume;'
The peach its flavour, rose its bloom:
Nay, I'm the caufe, when rightly trac❜d,
Of Pepper's aromatic tafte.
Such claims you teach me to produce;
But need I plead my obvious use?
In seasoning all terrestrial food?
When heav'n declares, that salt is good.
Grant then, fome few thy virtues find;
Yet falt gives health to all mankind:
Phyficians fure will fide with me,
While cooks alone fhall plead for thee.
In fhort, with all thine airs about thee,
The world were happier far without thee."
The 'fquire, who all this time fate mute,
Now put an end to their dispute :
He rung the bell-bade Tom convey
The doughty difputants away-
The falt, refresh'd by fhaking up,
At night did with his mafter fup:
The pepper, Tom aflign'd his lot
With vinegar, and mustard-pot:
A fop with bites and fharpers join'd,
And, to the fide-board, well confin'd!
MORA L.
Thus real genius is refpected!
Conceit and folly thus neglected !
And, O my SHENSTONE! let the vain,
With mifbecoming pride, explain
Their fplendor, influence, wealth or birth;
'Tis men of fenfe are men of worth.
Quæ tu deferta et inhofpita tefqua
Dicis, amana vocat mecum qui fentit.
ACH faucy cit, who ftrolls from town,
With scorn furveys my gothic cell,
Or wond'ring asks, what fordid clown
In this drear folitude can dwell.
Thefe mould'ring walls, with ivy crown'd,
That charm me with their folemn scene,
These flow'rs that bloom fpontaneous round,
Provoke his mirth, or raise his fpleen.
Inur'd to fmoke, throughout the year
Yon verdant meads unmov'd he fees
Those hills unfightly rocks appear-
You facred groves, mere heaps of trees.-
The lucid fount, that murmuring falls,
Then thro' my fhrubs meand'ring fteals, An ufeful stream the infipid calls,
But no poetic rapture feels.
Hither from noify crowds I fly;
Here dwells foft ease, and peace of mind;.
Yet think not Fancy's curious eye,
To thefe deep folitudes confin'd.
Whene'er at morn or eve I rove,
Where yonder cliffs with pines are crown'd,
More fplendid fcenes my rapture move;
How charm'd I range th' horizon round.
There Allen's ftately columns rife,
And glittering from the circling wood,
With constant beauty feed my eyes,
As he the poor with conftant food.
Each pompous work, proud Bath! I share
That decks thy hills.-Well-pleas'd I fee
Thy rifing cirque eclipfe thy fquare,
And Pitt and Stanhope build for me.
Here Bathurst's high aërial feat,
There Seymour's lofty groves are seen ;
And Riggs's elegant retreat
Adorns the variegated Scene.
Would I fair Eden's bloom restore!
Lo! Widcomb's cultivated vale,
Where Flora paints her flopes for Moore,
And all Arabia's fweets exhale.
Luxurious thus I freely rove,
Nor at the fons of wealth repine;
Mere tenant of each hill and grove,
Which fovereign Fancy renders mine.
Familiar grown by conftant use,
The statelieft dome its mafter cloysThen grant him but these tranfient views, What you poffefs, the bard enjoys.
|