Perifh the thought! tho' you've been steep'd in stews,
That grov'ling intereft fhould point your views,
By breaking laws, in juftice others fail,
You ftep o'er law, to balance juftice' fcale.
By treating freedom as you'll ferve the King,
(Ás eunuchs by caftration learn to fing)
Curtailing rights which troublefome were grown,
You feat fair freedom firmlier on her throne.
For what are Charters to thy fpacious mind,
Which grafps at once the good of human kind,
And paltry individuals leaves to rave,
Who faith and fees to legiflature gave.
In vain may P- and Win ruth *,
(With as much modefty at leaft as youth)
To prop our beauteous conftitution call,
And fear for English honour in its fall.
In vain may ** nice diftinctions draw;
W-curfe all fwindling: Th-grumble law.
You tread a downward paffage to the fkies.
As fkiltul divers by their finking rife;
And plunging boldly from old Thames's fide,
Emerge triumphant on the Ganges' tide.
From flaming Chartres a fair Phoenix fprings,
Bearing a labell'd title, King of Kings!
Ground in the magic mill contriv'd by you,
Britannia wonders at her rofy hue.
Hail to the new-pois'd sphere! hail golden times!
When Leadenhall is purg'd of all its crimes.
To thee! to thee! Directors fhall give place,
And coufin George the Bua of thy grace.
"Empire in Empires," as ye fail around,
Ye fages in balloons, repeat the found.
As fome old fcraper, grudg'd his massy stores,
Dreads to the world to open his dark doors,
Should a fly fpendthrift wriggle to his fide,
'Tho' tough the mifer, many a winter try'd,
The parafite each hiccup hears with dread,
And wonders, long before he was not dead;
Laments how wan! his pulfe's languid beat!
Holds out a truce with Death, that fpecious cheat!
Doctors and 'Pothecaries do the feat!
In vain Gripe grafps his bags with fwimming eyes,
The falfe friend feizes them, he dies! he dies!
If the reader cannot find an interpretation of this truly claffical word in Dr. Johnfon's Dictionary, he is defired to confult Archæological Epifte
Ver. 31. The Company is not bankrupt, but infolvent.- -See Debates.
this thould be miftaken for the name of fome old companion at the E O table, from the familiar epithet of propinquity to Charles, be it known that the perfonage here intended was once ftiled King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, &c. &c.
The Bua is the nominal King of Tonquin, where the Chouah, or Foxite, claims all the executive powers of government.
Ver. 65. Te duce fi qua manent fceleris veftigia noftri,,
Irrita perpetuâ folvent formidine terras,
So you, with remedies unknown before,
Directors quack, their cholic is no more.
Let others glimm'ring politics pursue,
The Northern ftar is ever in thy view;
Safe fhalt thou brave the tempefts of the deep,
While liberty and honour, finking, weep.
No more fhall Gallia, Spain, or Holland fret,
Prefto! the Indian fpunge fhall wipe away our debt.
The lucubrations foon of Dr. Price,
Shall cover cheesecakes, or envelope fpice.
Flow, rhet'ric, flow, from thy delightful fource,
Untir'd, unftopp'd, unrivall'd in thy course,
On whofe fmooth waves e'en children fafely play,
Tho' the finooth waves to kingdoms fate convey;
While Wit her pofies fcatters as they glide,
And pearls and diamonds lurk beneath the tide;
While journals, that would difembogue the store,
With Ganges' num'rous mouths, have need of more.
Dreaming their wealth, how fwells Joe Miller's page!
What new Lyceums glad a future age!
A many-headed monfter fome may trace,
Like Janus, thou haft got a double face;
One mark'd by age with characters of truth,
The other fmiling with perpetual youth.
Bleft Coalition! where we fee combin'd,
All that can raife the laughter of mankind;
Where, fpite of fretful virtue's prudish frown,
The bawd and ftrumpet play upon the town.
Though Scott may bafely black quotations * frame,
Lo! Sheridan defends thy righteous aim,
And seven bright Angels iffue from thy throne,
All drefs'd in linen whiter than thy own.
Let fordid fouls (for fuch there are at Court)
With thy respectful name unpitying sport.
As water from an eminence defcends,
As cork floats in it, as flame upward fends.
As odour fprings from incenfe, fmoke from coals,
As owls love folitude, as herrings fhoals,
As birds their airy houfes built in trees,
As wafps fuck honey, and as flowerets, bees,
As toafts delight in public to be seen,
As the bowl rolls along the level green,
As children's little minds are fix'd on fruit,
Bishops on ease, and bigots on dispute,
As critics true on Ariftotle dote,
As yea and nay the Quaker meek denote,
As the smooth mirrors to the face is true,
Punning and pleasantry they have in view,
See Revelations, Chapter xiii. and bless Providence, who hath given our Senators piety in this infidel age! Ver. 121. This alluding to an anecdote of fcandalous Hiftory, the world (for all the world will undoubtedly read this poem) is affured, that it will be developed very shortly in a New Atalantis.
Dear as to maiden feventy beauty's name,
To Poets dreams of univerfal fame.
But thou'rt a Fox that, leaping o'er all mounds,
Their yell defpifeft, and will tire thofe hounds.
From dirty roftrums, never hoarie tho' loud,
Thou shalt no more deal noftrums to the croud..
Camels, or elephants, fhall gladly kneel,
To bear the great reftorer of their weal..
With lovely Perdita to grace thy fide,
E'en Mahomed fhall envy fuch a bride:
And for a moment flooping from his sphere,.
Ravifh'd, on luxury thy lectures hear;
Then own, furpris'd, the blissful fcenes he drew,.
Prophet of pleafure! are refin'd by you;
While Cachemirians, fairer than the Spring,
With muffled nofes fhall falute thee, King!
To the Worthy and Independent ELECTORS of the City and Liberty of WESTMINSTER.
"HIS Majefty's Ministers having thought fit,
"I fay, Sirs, his Minifters-tho' tis young Pitt,
"To diffolve his good Parliament with little wit;
"In flat contradiction to what they declar'd,
"(Tho' 'tis what I confefs I had very much fear'd).
"Nay, in flat contradiction to me and my friends,
"In majority voting, for no private ends;—
"And without any public pretenfion whatever,
"To fend us a canvaffing-in this horrid weather;
"I again muft folicit your votes and your favour,
"As I dare fay you doubt not my future behaviour.
"To fecure to the people their weight in the fcale
"Of our good conftitution, fo as never to fail,
"Has ftill been my thoughts, both by night and by day,
"At Weltjie's in wine, and at Brookes's in play.
"And, Gentlemen, believe me, whether I'm found
"Standing faft on official, or Newmarket ground,
"Your liberty's dear, and your true concerns are
"Moft exactly alike my peculiar care;
"And therefore I hope the fame principles now,
"Which twice have induc'd you your good-will to fhow,
"Will again do the fame for your friend the moft fervent,
Your grateful, devoted, and most humble fervant,
St. James's-fireet, March 24, 1784.
"P. S. As the day of Election, Sirs, happens to fall,
"(And this I would willingly tell my friends all)
"On the first day of April, I beg leave to fay,
"I peculiarly with you to meet me THAT day."
The PRIVATE REFLECTIONS of a PATRIOT.
A CERTAIN great Patriot, whofe name you may guefs,
By Providence given, this country to blefs,
Who conceiving a plan,
Like a very wife man,
To make himself greater, has made himfelf lefs;
Thus fpoke, as he hunter'd in Brookes's alone,
Let me fee what I've done for a People or Throne.
At my first fetting out, as my talents were bright,
I got fome preferment, but that was fo flight,
That my profit by day was difpos'd of by night.
When encumber'd with debts, men of honour must pay,
I applied for more places-Lord Boreas faid, nay;
So I voted against him the very next day.
Then, 'midft various changes of hopes and of fears,
'Midft the Mufes and Graces, Jews, Jockies, and Peers,
I found out the means to rub on a few years.
During this, my Lord Boreas went on very well;
His friends procur'd places as fast as they fell,
And I wifh'd him and all his dependents at hell.
At St. Stephen's I found there was little to do,
The Houfe ill attended, the Speakers were few,
Till the Americans kick'd up à hurliburloo.
Here a new piece of bus'nefs was thrown on my hands;
The State call'd 'em rebels, I call'd 'em our friends;
And I did all I could do, to further their ends.
In vain did the Minifter drain our resources,
My fpeeches went over by various courses,
Before we had embark'd, nay, or voted, our forces.
At length France and Spain were engag'd in the broil;
Here was fomething to fight for, fome profpect of spoil;
And the national fpirit was ready to boil.
Their navy 'gainft ours I was fure could not ftand,
And as that would undo all the schemes I had plann'd,
We voted that Keppel fhould have the command.
Such cooks as this Keppel muft fure fpoil the broth,
He was bold at manoeuv'ring, at fighting was loath,
"Nor fuffer'd the fun to go down on his wrath.”
So we loft a good day; but it anfwer'd my ends,
For he threw all the blame upon Sandwich's friends,
And their quarrel could ne'er make the nation amends.
Diftreffes by land follow'd loffes by fea;
If a conqueft we gain'd, 'twas the bite of a flea;
But if we were beaten, 'twas apples to me.
At length, to fecure the Congress their powers,
Conway mov'd that Sir Guy fhould be fnug in his tow'rs,
At the moment that victory must have been ours.
That bus'nefs thus fettled, I then went to work.
My Lord North and his crew to unfeat with a jerk;
And, to aid my defign, call'd in trumpeter Burke.
And thus we enlifted a number of troops;
Oppofition was form'd into various groupes;
And Rockingham ftood at the head of our dupes.
So Lord North was difinifs'd, and we gain'd the afcendant,
And the Marquis brought in every needy dependant,
Then ftole off to Heaven with virtues tranfcendent.
Shelburne feiz'd on his feat; I difputed his claim;
He call'd me a liar; I call'd him the fame,
And from that time determin'd to play a deep game,
So I quitted my place, and thofe follow'd that would,
Refolving to do all the mifchief we could;
And as for Lord Thurlow, why, G-d d-mn his blood!
Shelburne made up a peace, and, I own what is true,
I abus'd him and all the new Minfters too,
Becaufe 'twas the best thing I thought they could do.
But to cover the better this deep difpofition,
I lamented the Loyalifts wretched condition,
And form'd wi h Lord Boreas a grand Coalition:
On principle form'd it; and who but must say,
Self-intereft's a principle pow'rful in fway,
And that principle led us to draw the fame way.
With this phalanx, 'gainst him and his measures we roar'd;
Lord Boreas was hear him'd, and I was encor'd,
And Burke on balloons of fublimity foar'd.
So Shelburne was turned out of very good bread,
And my friend, Duke or no Duke, was plac'd in his ftead,
A good honeft foul, but no tongue in his head.
Pitt and Townshend were forc'd to walk down the back stair, And fo 'twould have been, had old Chatham been there;
For, like Brentford's ufurpers, we each feiz'd a chair.
And who were fo happy, fo happy as we!"
Conftitutional queftions debated might be;
But no queftion could fever my colleague and me.
Thus our friends carried every new motion before 'em,
Even Majefty's felf was not one of the Quorum,
Till I brought in-"Ah! nunc renovare dolorem !"—
My Reform Bill; 'twas hard fuch a project fhould fail,
So ftrong in effect, and fo mild in detail;
God damme, 'twas drefs'd like a whore in a veil !
With the Commons it met with but faint oppofition,
But the Peers, through the gauze, faw the vile impofition,
And tripp'd up the heels of my ftrumpet Ambition.
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