Thou fing loud hymenéals. Let the pride Of outward fhew in lafting leagues combine With shame thread-bare; the gay vermilion face Of rash intemp❜rance, be discreetly pair'd With fallow hunger; the licentious joy,
With mean dependence; ev'n the dear delight Of sculpture, paint, intaglio's, books, and coins, Thy breaft, fagacious prudence! fhall connect With filth and beggary; nor disdain to link With black infolvency. Thy foul alarm'd Shall fhun the firen's voice; nor boldly dare. To bid the foft enchantress share thy breast, With fuch a train of horrid fiends conjoin'd.
Nor think, ye fordid race! ye groveling minds! I frame the fong for you! for you, the muse Cou❜d other rules impart. The friendly strain For gentler bofoms plan'd, to yours wou'd prove The juice of lurid aconite, exceed
Whatever COLCHOS bore; and in your breaft Compaffion, love, and friendship all destroy ! It greatly shall avail, if e'er thy stores. Increase apace, by periodic days
Of annual payment, or thy patron's boon, The lean reward of grofs unbounded praise ! It much avails, to feize the present hour, And, undeliberating, call around
Thy hungry creditors; their horrid rage When once appeas'd, the small remaining store Shall rife in weight tenfold, in luftre rife,
As gold improv'd by many a fierce assay. 'Tis thus the frugal husbandman directs His narrow stream, if o'er its wonted banks By fudden rains impell'd, it proudly fwell; His timely hand thro' better tracks conveys The quick-decreasing tide; ere borne along Or thro' the wild morafs, or cultur'd field, Or bladed grafs mature, or barren sands, It flow deftructive, or it flow in vain ! But happiest he who fanctifies expence By prefent pay! who fubjects not his fame To tradesmen's varlets, nor bequeaths his name, His honour'd name, to deck the vulgar page Of base mechanic, fordid, unfincere !
There haply, while thy mufe fublimely foars Beyond this earthly sphere, in heav'n's abodes, And dreams of nectar and ambrofial fweets, Thy growing debt steals unregarded o'er The punctual record; till nor PHOEBUS felf- Nor fage MINERVA's art can aught avail To foothe the ruthlefs dun's detefted rage. Frantic and fell, with many a curse profane He loads the gentle mufe; then hurls thee down To want, remorfe, captivity and fhame.
Each public place, the glitt'ring haunts of men, With horror fly. Why loiter near thy bane?- Why fondly linger on a hostile fhore Difarm'd, defencelefs? why require to tread The precipice? or why alas to breathe
A moment's space, where ev'ry breeze is death? Death to thy future peace! Away, collect Thy diffipated mind; contract thy train Of wild ideas o'er the flow'ry fields
Of fhew diffus'd, and speed to fafer climes. Economy prefents her glafs, accept The faithful mirror; powerful to disclose A thousand forms, unfeen by careless eyes, That plot thy fate. Temptation in a robe Of Tyrian dye, with every sweet perfum'd, Befets thy sense; extortion follows clofe Her wanton ftep; and ruin brings the rear. These and the reft fhall her mysterious glass Embody to thy view; like VENUS, kind, When to her lab'ring fon, the vengeful pow'rs That urg'd the fall of ILIUM, fhe display'd. He, not imprudent, at the fight declin'd Th' inequal conflict, and decreed to raise The Trojan welfare on fome happier shore. For here to drain thy fwelling purse await A thousand arts, a thousand frauds attend, "The cloud-wrought canes, the gorgeous fnuff-boxes, The twinkling jewels, and the gold etwee, With all its bright inhabitants, fhall wafte Its melting stores, and in the dreary void Leave not a doit behind." Ere
yet exhauft Its flimfy folds offend thy penfive eye,
Away! embofom'd deep in diftant fhades,
Nor feen nor feeing, thou may'ft vent thy scorn
Of lace, embroidery, purple, gems, and gold! There of the farded fop, and essenc'd beau, Ferocious with a ftoic's frown, disclose Thy manly scorn, averfe to tinfel pomp; And fluent thine harangue. But can thy foul Deny thy limbs the radiant grace of dress, Where dress is merit! where thy graver friend Shall wish thee burnish'd! where the sprightly fair Demand embellishment! ev'n DELIA's eye, As in a garden, rovės, of hues alone Inquirent, curious? Fly the curft domain; These are the realms of luxury and fhew; No claffic foil, away! the bloomy spring Attracts thee hence; the waning autumn warns; Fly to thy native fhades, and dread evʼn there, Left bufy fancy tempt thy narrow state Beyond its bounds. Obferve FLORELIO'S mien. Why treads my friend with melancholy step That beauteous lawn? why penfive ftrays his eye O'er statues, grottos, urns by critic art Proportion'd fair? or from his lofty dome Bright glittering thro' the grove, returns his eye Unpleas'd, difconfolate? And is it love, Difaftrous love, that robs the finish'd scenes Of all their beauty? cent'ring all in her
His foul adores? or from a blacker cause
Springs this remorseful gloom? is conscious guilt The latent fource of more than love's defpair? It cannot be within that polish'd breast
'tis the fad furvey of prefent want, paft profufion! Loft to him the fweets on pavilion, fraught with ev'ry charm other eyes; or, if remaining, proofs iminal expence! Sweet interchange ver, valley, mountain, woods, and plains! v gladfome once he rang'd your native turf, r fimple scenes, how raptur'd! ere expence lavish'd thousand ornaments, and taught venience to perplex him, art to pall, p to deject, and beauty to displease. Oh! for a foul to all the glare of wealth, fortune's wide exhaustless treasury, oly fuperior! but let caution guide ecoy difpofal of the wealth we scorn, d prudence be our almoner! Alas! e pilgrim wand'ring o'er fome diftant clime, orn foe of avʼrice! not difdains to learn coin's imputed worth; the deftin'd means fmoothe his paffage to the favour'd fhrine. let not us, who tread this ftranger-world, et none, who fojourn on the realms of life, orget the land is merc'nary; nor wafte is fare, ere landed on no venal fhore: Let never bard confult PALLADIO's rules; et never bard, O BURLINGTON! furvey hy learned art, in CHISWICK's dome display'd; ang'rous incentive! nor with ling'ring eye
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