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Yet future times to thy fufficient store
Shall ne'er prefume to add one letter more.

Thee will I fing in comely wainscot bound,
And golden verge enclosing thee around,
The faithful Horn before from age to age
Preferving thy invaluable page;

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Behind thy patron faint in armour fhines
With fword and lance to guard thy facred lines;
Beneath his courfer's feet the dragon lies
Transfia'd; his blood thy fcarlet cover dies;
Th' inftructive handle is at the bottom fixt,
Left wrangling criticks should pervert the text.
Or if to gingerbread thou shalt descend,
And liq'rifh learning to thy babes extend,
Or fugar'd plane o'erspread with beaten gold
Does the fweet treafure of thy letters hold,
Thou ftill fhalt be my fong.-Apollo's choir
I fcorn t' invoke; Cadmus! my verfe inspire:
'Twas Cadmus who the firft materials brought
Of all the learning which has fince been taught,
Soon made complete! for mortals ne'er shall know 25
More than contain'd of old the Chrift-crofs row;
What masters dictate or what doctors preach
Wife natrons hence e'en to our children teach.
But as the name of ev'ry plant and flow'r

(So common that each peasant knows its pow'r) 30 Physicians in mysterious cant express

T'amufe the patient and enhance their fees,

So from the letters of our native tongue.
Put in Greek fcrawls a myft'ry too is sprung;
Schools are erected, puzzling grammars made,
And artful men ftrike out a gainful trade;
Strange characters adorn the learned gate,
And heedlefs youth catch at the fhining bait,
The pregnant boys the noify charms declare,
And Taus and Deltas* make their mothers flare;
Th' uncommon founds amaze the vulgar ear,

And what is uncommon never coûts too dear;

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Yet in all tongues the Hornbook is the fame, Taught by the Grecian master or the English dame.

But how fhall I thy endless virtues tell

In which thou dost all other books excel?

No greafy thumbs thy spotless leaf can foil,

Nor crooked dogfears thy fmooth corners spoil;
In idle pages no errata stand

To tell the blunders of the printer's hand;

No fulfone dedication here is writ,

Nor flatt'ring verfe to praise the author's wit;
The margin with no tedious notes is vext
Nor various readings to confound the text;

All parties in thy literal fense agree,
Thou perfect centre of concordancy!
Search we the records of an ancient date,
Or read what modern hiftories relate,
They all proclaim what wonders have been done
By the plain letters taken as they run:

* The Greek letters T, A.

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***Too high the floods of paffion us'd to roll,
"And rend the Roman youth's impatient foul;
"His hafty anger furnish'd scenes of blood,
"And frequent deaths of worthy men enfu'd;
"In vain were all the weaker methods try'd,
"None could fuffice to ftem the furious tide;

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Thy facred line he did but once repeat, "And laid the ftorm and cool'd the raging heat." Thy heav'nly notes like angels' mufick cheer Departing fouls and footh the dying ear.

An aged peafant on his latest bcd

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Wifh'd for a friend fome godly book to read;
The pious grandson thy known handle takes,
And (eyes lift up) this fav'ry lecture makes.
Great A he gravely read; th' important found
The empty walls and hollow roof rebound:
Th' expiring ancient rear'd his drooping head,
And thank'd his ftars that Hodge had learn'd to read.
Great B, the yonker bauls; "O heav'nly breath!
"What ghostly comforts in the hour of death!
"What hopes I feel!" Great C, pronounc'd the boy;
The grandfire dies with ecftafy of joy.

Yet in fome lands fuch ignorance abounds
Whole parishes fcarce know thy useful founds:

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*The advice given to Auguftus by the Stoick phi ofopher Athenodorus, who defired the emperour neither to say nor do any thing till he had first faid over the alphabet, as the obfervance of this rule would moderate his paffion, ånd prevent rath words and actions.

Of Effex Hundreds Fame gives this report,

But Fame I ween fays many things in sport:

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Scarce lives the man to whom thou 'rt quite unknown, 'Tho' few th' extent of thy vaft empire own. Whatever wonders.magick spells can do

On earth, in air, in fea, in fhades below,

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What words profound and dark wife Mah'met spoke
When his old cow an angel's figure took,
What ftrong enchantments fage Canidia knew,
Or Horace fung fierce monsters to subdue,
O mighty Book! are all contain'd in you:
All human arts and ev'ry science mect
Within the limits of thy fingle sheet:
From thy vaft root all Learning's branches grow,
And all her ftreams from thy deep fountain flow.
And lo! while thus thy wonders I indite
Infpir'd I feel the pow'r of which I write ;
The gentler gout his former rage forgets,
Lefs frequent now and lefs fevere the fits;

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Loofe grow the chains which bound my useless feet, Stiffness and pain from ev'ry joint retreat,

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Surprising ftrength comes ev'ry moment on;

I ftand, I step, I walk, and now I run.

Here let me ceafe, my hobbling numbers stop,
And at thy handle * hang my crutches up.
Votiva Tabula. Hor.

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On Queen Caroline's rebuilding the Lodgings of the BLACK PRINCE AND HENRY V.

AT QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.

WHERE bold and graceful foars, fecure of fame,
The pile now worthy great Philippa's name
Mark that old Ruin, Gothick and uncouth,
Where the Black Edward pass'd his beardless youth,
And the fifth Henry for his first renown
Outstripp'd each rival in a student's gown.

In that coarse age were princes fond to dwell
With meagre monks and haunt the filent cell.
Sent from the Monarch's to the Mufe's court

Their meals were frugal and their fleeps were fhort;
To couch at curfeu time they thought no fcorn, II
And froze at matins ev'ry winter morn;

They read an early book, the starry frame,
And lifp'd each constellation by its name,
Art after art ftill dawning to their view,
And their mind op'ning as their ftature grew.

Yet whofe ripe manhood spread our fame so far, Sages in peace and demigods in war!

Who ftern in fight made echoing Creffy ring,
And mild in conqueft ferv'd his captive king;
Who gain'd at Agincourt the victor's bays,
Nor took himself but gave good Heav'n the praise.

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