Survey the window VENICE calls her own.
Better for him, with no ingrateful mufe,
To fing a requiem to that gentle foul
Who plan'd the sky-light; which to lavish bards
Conveys alone the pure etherial ray.
For garrets him, and fqualid walls await,
Unless, prefageful, from this friendly strain,
He glean advice, and fhun the fcribler's doom.
ET once again, and to thy doubtful fate
The trembling mufe configns thee. Ere contempt.
Or want's empoifon'd arrow, ridicule,
Transfix thy weak unguarded breast, behold!
The poet's roofs, the careless poet's, his
Who fcorns advice, fhall close my serious lay.
When GULLIVER, now great, now little deem'd,
The play-thing of comparison, arriv'd
Where learned bofoms their aerial schemes
Projected, ftudious of the public weal;
Mid thefe, one subtler artist he descry'd,
Who cherish'd in his dufty tenement
The spider's web, injurious, to fupplant
Fair ALBION's fleeces! Never, never may
Our monarch on fuch fatal purpose smile,
And irritate MINERVA's beggar'd fons
The MELKSHAM weavers! Here in ev'ry nook
Their wefts they spun; here revell'd uncontroul'd,
ndent, here their fluttering textures wav'd.
, fo adorn'd, the cell I mean to fing!
ever fqualid! where the fneerful maid
not fatigue her hand! broom never comes,
comes to all! o'er whofe quiefcent walls
CHNE'S unmolefted care has drawn
ains fubfufk, and fave th' expence of art.
rvey thofe walls, in fady texture clad,
ere wand'ring fnails in many a flimy path,
unreftrain'd, their various journeys crawl;
grinations ftrange, and labyrinths
fus'd inextricable! fuch the clue
Cretan ARIADNE ne'er explain'd!
oks! angles! crooks! and involutions wild!
an time, thus filver'd with meanders gay
nimic pride the fnail-wrought tiffue fhines,
chance of tabby, or of aretine,
till expreffive! fuch the pow'r of fnails!
Behold his chair, whofe fractur'd feat infirm
aged cushion hides! replete with dust
e foliag'd velvet; pleafing to the eye
great ELIZA's reign, but now the fnare
weary guest that on the specious bed
is down confiding. Ah! difaftrous wight!
evil hour and rafhly dost thou trust
he fraudful couch! for tho' in velvet cas'd,
hy fated thigh shall kiss the dusty floor.
he trav❜ler thus, that o'er Hibernian plains
3
Hath shap'd his way; on beds profufe of flow'rs,
Cowflip, or primrose, or the circ'lar eye
Of daifie fair, decrees to bask supine.
And fee! delighted, down he drops, secure
Of sweet refreshment, eafe without annoy,
Or lufcious noon-day nap. Ah much deceiv'd,
Much fuff'ring pilgrim! thou nor noon-day nap,
Nor fweet repofe fhalt find; the falfe morafs
In quiv'ring undulations yields beneath
Thy burden, in the miry gulph enclos'd!
And who would truft appearance? caft thine eye
Where 'mid machines of het'rogeneous form
His coat depends; alas! his only coat,
Eldeft of things! and naplefs, as an heath
Of small extent by fleecy myriads graz'd.
Not diff'rent have I feen in dreary vault
Difplay'd, a coffin; on each fable fide
The texture unmolefted feems entire.
Fraudful, when touch'd it glides to duft away!
And leaves the wond'ring fwain to gape, to ftare,
And with expreffive fhrug, and piteous figh,
Declare the fatal force of rolling years,
Or dire extent of frail mortality.
This aged vefture, fcorn of gazing beaux,
And formal cits, (themselves too haply scorn'd)
Both on its fleeve and on its fkirt, retains
Full many a pin wide-sparkling: for, if e'er
Their well-known creft met his delighted eye,
Tho' wrapt in thought, commercing with the sky,
He, gently stooping, scorn'd not to upraise,
And on each sleeve, as conscious of their use,
Indenting fix them; nor, when arm'd with these,
The cure of rents and feparations dire,
And chafms enormous, did he view dismay'd
Hedge, bramble, thicket, bufh, portending fate
To breeches, coat and hofe! had any wight
Of vulgar skill, the tender texture own'd;
gave his mind to form a fonnet quaint
Of SILVIA'S fhoe-ftring, or of CLOE's fan,
Or fweetly-fashion'd tip of CELIA's ear.
Alas! by frequent ufe decays the force
Of mortal art! the refractory robe
Eludes the taylor's art, eludes his own;
How potent once, in union quaint conjoin'd!
See near his bed (his bed too falfely call'd
The place of reft, while it a bard fuftains;
Pale, meagre, mufe-rid wight! who reads in vain
Narcotic volumes o'er) his candlestick,
Radiant machine, when from the plastic hand
Of MULCIBER, the may'r of Birmingham,
The engine iffu'd; now alas difguis'd
By many an unctuous tide, that wand'ring down
Its fides congeal; what he, perhaps, effays
With humour forc'd, and ill-diffembled smile,
Idly to liken to the poplar's trunk
When o'er its bark the lucid amber, wound
In many a pleasing fold, incrufts the tree.
Or fuits him more the winter's candy'd thorn,
When from each branch, anneal'd, the works of frost
Pervafive, radiant ificles depend?
How fhall I fing the various ill that waits
The careful fonneteer? or who can paint
The shifts enormous, that in vain he forms
To patch his panelefs window; to cement
His batter'd tea pot, ill-retentive vase ?
To war with ruin? anxious to conceal
Want's fell appearance, of the real ill
Nor foe, nor fearful. Ruin unforeseen
Invades his chattles; ruin will invade;
Will claim his whole invention to repair,
Nor, of the gift, for tuneful ends defign'd,
Allow one part to decorate his fong.
While ridicule, with ever-pointing hand
Conscious of ev'ry fhift, of ev'ry shift
Indicative, his inmost plot betrays,
Points to the nook, which he his study deems
Pompous and vain! for thus he might esteem
His cheft, a wardrobe; purse, a treasury;
And fhews, to crown her full display, himself.
One whom the powr's above, in place of health,
And wonted vigour; of paternal cot,
Or little farm; of bag, or fcrip, or staff,
Cup, dish, spoon, plate, or worldly utenfil,
A poet fram'd; yet
; yet fram'd not to repine,
And with the cobler's loftieft fite his own;
Nor, partial as they feem, upbraid the fates,
Who to the humbler mechanism, join'd
|