Oh, save it but from ridicule, How blest the state, to be a fool! The bedlam-king in triumph shares And rules in realms of fancied slaves. In her soft brain, with madness warm, Thus airy throngs of lovers swarm. She takes her glass; before her eyes Imaginary beauties rise; Stranger till now, a vivid ray Illumes each glance and beams like day; Till furbish'd every charm anew, An angel steps abroad to view; She swells her pride, assumes her power, And bids the vassal world adore. Indulge thy dream. The pictured joy No ruder breath should dare destroy ; No tongue should hint, the lover's mind Was ne'er of virtuoso-kind, Through all antiquity to roam For what much fairer springs at home. No wish should blast thy proud design; The bliss of vanity e thine. But while the subject world obey, With slander what hadst thou to do? What demon glibb'd thy tongue with lies? Go, sink unnoticed and unseen, Forgot, as though thou ne'er hadst been. Oblivion's long projected shade In clouds hangs dismal o'er thy head. CHARACTERS. WEALTH, Wealth, Wealth! our being's end Gold, houses, chattels, lands! whate'er thy name; Explore the waste, or dive the dang'rous mine, So reason'd Harpax. Was this reasoning well? Can wealth give merit? Curio, thou canst tell. This poem is a fragment of a Moral Essay in the manner of Pope. Sundry other characters were inserted, chiefly of persons then in public life, and drawn with such traits and allusions, as would have at once directed the application. Some of them, as Pope expresses it, grave," "Have walk'd the world in credit to the and all are now off the stage. No part of the Essay was ever before published. |