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When lawless passion seiz'd th' imperial | Fix'd in Hibernia's hemisphere to rule,

damell,

Brothels were only found, to quench the flame;
No routs, or balls, the kind convenience gave,
To lose her virtue, yet her honour save.
In Cupid's rites, now, so improv'd our skill,
Mode find the means, when nature finds the will.
Each rev'rend relict keeps a private pack,
And sturdy stallion with Atlean back;
Where British dames to mystic rites repair,
Nor fail to meet a lurking Clodio there;
In amorous stealths defraud the public stews,
And rob the Drury vestal of her dues; [gown,
Who hapless mourns her last, long-mortgag'd
While Douglass 13 damns the drums of lady
Brown.

By names celestial, mortal females call;
Angels they are, but angels in their fall.
One royal phenix 14 yet redeems the race,
And proves, in Britain, beauty may have grace.
Vain shall the Muse the various symptoms find,
When every doctor 's of a diff'rent mind.
In **'s palm, be foul corruption found,
Each court-empiric holds, his grace is sound;
In Sackville's 15 breast let public spirit reign,
Blisters! (they cry) the cause is in his brain;
So, Talbot's want of place is want of sense,
And Dashwood's 16 stubborn virtue, downright
insolence.

When ills are thus just what the doctors please, And the soul's health is held the mind's disease; Not all thy art, O Horace! had prevail'd; Here, all thy Roman recipes 17 had fail'd.

Had fate to Flaccus but our days decreed, What Pollio would admire? what Cæsar read? Great Maro's 18 self had dy'd an humble swain, And Terence sought a Lælius now in vain. Science no more employs the courtier's care, No muse's voice can charm Northumberland's

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And shed your influence o'er each knave and

fool 20.

Whilst the sad summons of a mortar's knell
The rival deeds of each diploma tell ;
And death's increasing muster-rolls declare,
That health and Thompson are no longer here;
How shall the Muse this salutation send?
What place enjoys thee? or what happier
friend?

Say, if in Eastbury's 21 majestic towers,
Or wrapt in Ashley's 22 amarantine bowers,
By friendship favour'd, and unaw'd by state,
You barter science with the wise and great :
O'er Pelham's politics in judgment sit,
Reform the laws of nations, or of wit;
With attic zest enrich the social bowl,
Crack joke on joke, and mingle soul with soul;
On laughter's wanton wing now frolic sport,
Nor envy Fox 23 the closet of a court.

Lost in this darling luxury of ease,
Alike regardless both of fame and fees,
"Let Shaw" (you cry) “o'er physic sov❜reign
Or W** boast his hecatombs of slain : [reign,
Be mine, to stay some friend's departing breath.
And Child's 24 may take the drudgery of death."

Yet, Thompson! say (whose gift it is to save,
Make sickness smile, and rescue from the grave)
Say, to what end this healing pow'r was meant ?
Nor hide the talent, which by Heav'n is lent.
Though envy all her hissing serpents raise,
And join with harpy fraud to blast thy bays:
Shall wan disease in vain demand thy skill,
While health but waits the summons of your
quill?

Shall Egypt's plague 25 the virgin cheek invade,
And beauty's wreck not win thee to its aid?
O! stretch a saving hand, and let the fair
Owe all her future triumphs to thy care:
Resume the pen! and be thyself, once more,
What Ratcliff, Friend, and Syd❜nham were
before

Yet, when reviving patients set you free,
Let Vaughan 26 yield one social hour to me.

20 As our author lamented the occasion of these lines, so no one more sincerely rejoices to find, that the beam of public spirit is likely to dispel the clouds which had interposed between loyalty and patriotism-A new political star in our days, and which some more eastern magi would do well to follow.

21 A seat belonging to the right hon. George Dodington.

22 Another, belonging to lord Middlesex. 23 Lord Holland.

24 A coffee-house noted for the resort of our

"Pompeia, consort to Julius Cæsar, whom the young Claudius took an opportunity of seduc-modern Esculapics, where they ply for those

ing at a solemn sacrifice of the Bona Dea. 12 Intravit calidum veteri centone lupanar.

13 An infamous, famous bawd.

Juv.

14 Princess of Wales, mother of his present majesty George III.

15 See a proposal for a militia, published by lord Middlesex.

16 Sir Francis Dashwood, afterwards lord Le Despenser, the patron and protector of our author. 18 Virgil. Lord Orrery.

Satires.

19

patients the apothecary is pleased to consign over to them; and where another appendage to physic (called the undertakers) never fails to attend the physical levee, in order to receive the lucrative news of their joint endeavours.

25 The sinall pox, said to have first appeared at Alexandria. See the doctor's treatise on this distemper.

26 Owen Evan Vaughan, esq; of Bodidris castle; a gentleman, in whose friendship the doctor and our author more particularly pride

Come then, my friend! if friendship's name

can woo,

Come! bring me all I want, that all in you.
If rural scenes have still the pow'r to please,
Flocks, vallies, hills, streams, villas, cots, and
trees;

Here all in one harmonious prospect blend,
And landscapes rise, scarce Lambert's 27 art
can mend.

Thames, made immortal by her Denham's strains, [plains; Meand'ring glides through Twick'nham's flow'ry While royal Richmond's cloud-aspiring wood Pours all its pendent pomp upon the flood. By Rome's proud dames let storied Tiber flow, And all Palladio grace the banks of Po; Here nature's charms in purer lustre rise, Nor seek from wanton art her vain supplies.

Lo! Windsor, rev'rend in a length of years,
Like Cybele, her tow'r-crown'd summit rears;
And Hampton's turrets, with majestic pride,
Reflect their glories in the passing tide:
There British Henries gave to Gallia law;
Here bloom'd the laurels of a great Nassau 29.
O! could these scenes one monarch more but
please:

No frozen climates, no tempestuous seas,
For Brunswick's weal alarining fears shall bring,
Nor Britain envy meaner courts her king. [see,
Here Campbell's 29 varied shades with wonder
Like Heaven's own Eden, stor'd with every tree;
Each plant with plant in verdant glory vies;
High-tow'ring pines, like Titans, scale the skies;
And Lebanon's rich groves on Hounslow's deserts
rise.

But chief-with awful step, O! let us stray,
Where Britain's Orpheus tun'd his sacred lay,
Whose grove enchanted from his numbers grew,
And proves, what once was fabled, now is true.
Here oft the bard with Arbuthnot retir'd;
Here flow'd the verse his healing art inspir'd30;
Alike thy merit like thy fame should rise,
Could friendship give, what feeble art denies :
Though Pope's immortal verse the gods refuse,
Accept this off'ring from an humbler Muse.
Weak though her flight, yet honest still her
strain,

| No wreaths I court, no subsidies I claim,
Too rich for want, too indolent for fame.
Whilst here with vice a bloodless war I wage,
Or lash the follies of a trifling age,

And what no minister could ever gain;
Pleas'd if the grateful tribute of her song,
Thy merit, Thompson! shall one day prolong.
In marshal'd slaves let hungry princes trade,
And Britain's bullion bribe their venal aid31;
Let brave Boscawen trophied honours gain,
And Anson wield the trident of the main.
Safe, in the harbour of iny Twick’nam 32 bower,
From all the wrecks of state, or storms of power;
themselves, as he has never polluted his ancient
British pedigree with any modern Anti-British
principles.

27 A landscape-painter, much celebrated.
28 William the Third.

19 Duke of Argyle, celebrated as a warrior and a statesman.

30 Pope's Epistle to Arbuthnot.

31 Alluding to a modern kind of military traffic, which consists in the exchange of British gold for German valour; and by which means, it is presumed, our politicians intend the native want of either party shall be reciprocally supplied.

32 He had a neat villa, in the style of a chateau,

Each gay-plum'd hour, upon its downy wings,
The Hybla freight of rich contentment brings;
Health, rosy handmaid, at my table waits,
And halcyon peace broods watchful o'er my
gates.

Here oft, on contemplation's pinions bore,
To Heav'n I mount, and nature's works explore;
Or, led by reason's intellectual clue, [sue;
Through errour's maze, truth's secret steps pur-
View ages past in story's mirror shown, [own:
And make time's mould'ring treasures all my
Or here the Muse now steals me from the throng,
And wraps me in th' enchantment of her song.
Thus flow, and thus for ever flow! my days,
Unaw'd by censure, or unbrib'd by praise;
No friend to faction, and no dupe to zeal;
Foe to all party, but the public weal.
Why then, from every venal bondage free,
Courts have no glitt'ring shackles left for me:
My reasons, Thompson! prithee ask no more;
Take them, as Oxford's Flaccus sung before 33.
My case and freedom if for aught I vend,
Would not you cry, to Bedlam, Bedlam, friend!
But to speak out-shall what could ne'er engage
My frailer youth, now captivate in age?
What cares can vex, what terrours frightful be,
To him whose shield is hoary sixty-three 34?
When life itself so little worth appears,
That ministers can give no hopes, or fears;
Although grown grey within my humbler gate,
I ne'er kiss'd hands, or trod the rooms of state;
Yet not unhonour'd have I liv'd, and blest
With rich convenience, careless of the rest;
What boon more grateful can the gods bestow
On those avow'd their favourite sons below35 ?”

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on the north side of Twickenham Common, sacred to the muses. It was afterwards inhabited by the lady Bridget Tallmach, daughter of the late lord Northington.

33 See conclusion of Dr. King's apology.

31 Though the translator's virtue is not yet secured by this palladium of his grand climacteric, yet he flatters himself he shall at least be able to rival our truly Roman author, in the practice of his heroic indifference, however short he may fall of him in his elegant description of it.

36 Libera si pretio quantôvis otia vendam, Cui non insanus videar? Sed apertius audi: Quæ juvenem, infirmumque animi captare nequibant,

Illa senem capiant? aut quæ terrere perîcla
Posse putes hominem, cui climactericus annus
Præsidio est omni majus? cui vita videtur.
Haud equidem tanti esse, ut quid caveatre
petatve

A regni satrapis, ullaque sit anxius borâ.
Si mihi non dextram tetigisse, aut limina regum
Contigit, & lare sub tenui mea canuit ætas :
Non inhonoratus vixi: neque gratius usquam
Attamen æquo animo, non ullis rebus egenus,
Dii munus dederunt, cui si favisse fatentur.

Your fortunes and lives,

AN

OCCASIONAL SONG,

AS PERFORMED BY MR. BEARD, IN THE CHARACTER

Your children and wives,

To defend, 'tis the time now or never:
Then let each volunteer
To the drum-head repair-

OF A RECRUITING SERJEANT, AT THE THEATRE- King George and old England for ever!

ROYAL IN COVENT-GARDEN,

TAINMENT OF THE FAIR.

IN story we're told

How our monarchs of old

IN THE ENTER

O'er France spread their royal domain;

But no annals shall show

Her pride laid so low,

As when brave George the Second did reign,

SONG,

Brave boys! King George, &c.

Brave boys!
As when brave, &c.

Of Roman and Greek
Let Fame no more speak;

Though their arms did the Old world subdue,
Through the nations around
Let her trumpet now sound,
How Britons have conquer'd the New,

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Brave boys! With the sports of the field there's no pleasure How Britons have, &c.

East, west, north, and south,
Our cannon's loud mouth

Shall the rights of our monarch maintain ;
On America's strand
Amherst limits the land,
Boscawen gives law on the main,

Brave boys!
Boscawen gives, &c.

Each fort, and each town,

We still make our own,

Cape Breton, Crown Point, Niagar;
Guardelupe, Senegal,

And Quebec's mighty fall,

Shall prove we've no equal in war,

Brave boys!
Shall prove we've, &c.

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Mankind are all hunters in various degree;
The priest hunts a living-the lawyer a fee,
The doctor a patient-the courtier a place,
Though often, like us, he's flung out in the chase.
With the sports, &c.

The cit hunts a plumb-while the soldier hunts
The poet a dinner-the patriot a name; [fame,
And the practis'd coquette, though she seems to
refuse,

In spite of her airs, still her lover pursues.

With the sports, &c. Let the bold and the busy hunt glory and wealth; All the blessing we ask is the blessing of health, With hound and with horn through the woodlands to roam,

Brave boys! And, when tired abroad, find contentment at And gave him, &c

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The prodigal here without danger may spend ; That ne'er can be lavish'd, to Heaven we lend; And the miser his purse-strings may draw with out pain,

For what miser won't give—when giving is gain? Derry down. The gamester, who sits up whole days and whole nights,

To hazard his health and his fortune at White's; Much more to advantage his bets he may make, Here, set what he will, he will double his stake. Derry down.

The fair-one, whose heart the four aces control, Who sighs for sans-prendre, and dreams of a vole, [drille, 'Let her bere send a tithe of her gains at quaAnd she'll ne'er want a friend-in victorious

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Let the merchant, who trades on the perilous sea,
Come here, and insure, if from loss he'd be free;
A policy here from all danger secures,
-For safe is the venture-which Heaven insures.
Derry down.
The stock-jobber too may subscribe without fear,
In a fund which for ever a premium must bear;
Where the stock must still rise, and where Scrip
will prevail,

Though South-Sea, and India, and Omnium, should fail.

Derry down. The churchman likewise his advantage may draw,

1

And here buy a living, in spite of the law-
In Heaven, I mean; then, without any fear.
Let him purchase away-here's no simony here.

Derry down.

Ye rakes, who the joys of Hymen disclaim, And seek, in the ruin of virtue, a fame; [duty, You may here boast a triumph consistent with And keep, without guilt, a seraglio of beauty. Derry down.

If from charity then such advantages flow, That you still gain the more-the more you bestow; [ease: Here's the place will afford you rich profit with When the bason comes round-be as rich as you please.

Derry down. Then a health to that patron, whose grandeur and store

Yield aid and defence to the sick and the poor;

'Additional stanza for the annual feast of the sons of the Clergy

Ditto for the Magdalen Hospital.
The late duke of Devonshire.

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Insensible and free:

Love's balmy blessing would you try, No longer sport a Butterfly,

But imitate the Bee.

VERSES

DROPT IN MR. GARRICK'S TEMPLE OF SHAKE

SPEARE.

WHILE here to Shakespeare' Garrick pays
His tributary thanks and praise;
Invokes the animated stone,
To make the poet's mind his own;
That he each character may trace
With humour, dignity, and grace;
And mark, unerring mark, to men,
The rich creation of his pen;

Prefer'd the pray'r the marble god
Methinks I see, assenting, nod,
And, pointing to his laurell'd brow,
Cry-"Half this wreath to you I owe:
Lost to the stage, and lost to fame;
Murder'd my scenes, scarce known my name;
Sunk in oblivion and disgrace
Among the common, scribbling race,
Unuotic'd long thy Shakespeare lay,
To dulness and to time a prey:
But now I rise, I breathe, I live
In you my representative!
Again the hero's breast I fire,
Again the tender sigh inspire;

Fach side, again, with laughter shake,
And teach the villain-heart to quake;
All this, my son! again I do
1-No, my son!-'Tis I, and you."

While thus the grateful statue speaks, A blush o'erspreads the suppliant's cheeks"What!-Half this wreath, wit's mighty chief?

O grant," he cries, "one single leaf;
That far o'erpays his humble merit,
Who's but the organ of thy spirit."

Phoebus the gen'rous contest heard-
When thus the god address'd the bard:
"Here, take this laurel from my brow,
On him your mortal wreath bestow ;-
Fach matchless, each the palm shall bear,
In Heav'n the bard, on Earth the play'r."

CUPID BAFFLED.

DIANA, hunting on a day,
Beheld where Cupid sleeping lay,
His quiver by his head:

One of his darts she stole away,
And one of her's did close convey
Into the other's stead.

When next the archer through the grove,
In search of prey, did wanton rove,
Aurelia fair he 'spy'd;
Aurelia, who to Damon's pray'r
Disdain'd to lend a tender ear,

And Cupid's pow'r defy'd.

'The statue of Shakespeare, in the temple dedicated to the bard by Mr. Garrick, in his delichtful garden at Hampton, was the work of that able and ingenious master, Roubiliac.

Soon as he ey'd the rebel maid;
"Now know my pow'r !" enrag'd, he said;
Then levell'd at her heart:

Full to the head the shaft he drew;
But harmless to her breast it flew,
For, lo!-'twas Dian's dart.

Exulting, then the fair-one cry'd,
"Fond urchin lay your bow aside;
Your quiver be unbound:
Would you Aurelia's heart subdue,.
Thy play-thing arrows ne'er will do;
Bid Damon give the wound."

DEATH AND THE DOCTOR. "TWIXT Death and Schomberg, t'other day, A contestdid arise;

Death swore his prize he'd bear away;
The Doctor, Death defies.

Enrag'd to hear his pow'r defy'd,

Death drew his keenest dart;
But wond'ring saw it glance aside,
And miss the vital part.

AN

OCCASIONAL PROLOGUE,

SPOKEN BY MR. POWELL, AT THE OPENING OF TH?
THEATRE ROYAL IN COVENT-GARDEN, ON MON-
DAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1767.

As when the merchant, to increase his store,
For dubious seas, advent'rous quits the shore;
Still anxious for his freight, he trembling sees
Rocks in each buoy, and tempests in each breeze;
The curling wave to mountain billows swells,
And ev'ry cloud a fancied storm foretells:
Thus rashly lanch'd on this theatric main,
Our all on board, each phantom gives us pain;
The catcall's note seems thunder in our ears,
And ev'ry hiss a hurricane appears;
In journal-squibs we lightning's blast espy,
And meteors blaze in every critic's eye.

Spite of these terrours,still some hopes we view, Hopes ne'er can fail us since they're plac'd -in you,

Your breath the gale, our voyage is secure,
And safe the venture which your smiles insure;
Though weak his skill, th' advent'rer must suc-

ceed,

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