Wit, undistinguishing, is apt to strike The guilty and not guilty both alike : I grant the sarcasm is too severe,
And we can readily refute it here';
While Alfred's name, the father of his age, And the Sixth Edward's grace th' historic page, A. Kings then at last have but the lot of all: By their own conduct they must stand or fall.
Ᏼ, True, While they live, the courtly laureat pays His quitrent ode, his peppercorn of praise; And many a dunce, whose fingers itch to write, Adds, as he can, his tributary mite:
A subject's 's faults a subject may proclaim, A monarch's errours are forbidden game! Thus free from censure, overaw'd by fear, And prais'd for virtues, that they scorn to wear, The fleeting forms of majesty engage Respect, while stalking o'er, life's narrow stage; Then leave their crimes for history to scan, And ask with busy scorn, Was this the man? I pity kings, whom Worship waits upon Obsequious from the cradle to the throne; Before whose infant eyes the flatt'rer bows, And binds a wreath about their baby brows; Whom Education stiffens into state,
And Death awakens from that dream too late. Oh! if Servility with supple knees,
Whose trade it is to smile, to crouch, to please;
If smooth Dissimulation, skill'd to gracen nrw OT A devil's purpose with an angel's face ed od A If smiling peeresses, and sunp'ring peers, djob of Encompassing his throne a few short year;ni bo A If the gilt carriage and the pamper'd steed, That wants no driving, and disdains the lead; If guards, mechanically form'd in ranks, Playing, at beat of drum, their martial pranks, ?! Should'ring and standing as if stuek to stone, M While condescending majesty looks on; vevswcH If monarchy consist in such base things,f) vyps H Sighing, I say again, I pity kings! (noma dT A
To be suspected, thwarted, and withstood, Ev'n when he labours for his country's goodia no To see a band, call'd patriot for no cause, qui312 But that they catch at popular applause, isto to Careless of all the anxiety he feels,y box starq bnÄ Hook disappointment on the public wheels With all their flippant fluency of tongue, Most confident, when palpably most wrongyl If this be kingly, then farewell for me w All kingship; and may I be poor and free Lossmont
To be the Table Talk of clubs up stairs, bloc To which th' unwash'd artificer repairs, tym vdT T' indulge his genius after long fatigue,dkad ufi By diving into cabinet intrigue; miri Prod (For what kings deem a toil, as well they may, To him is relaxation and mere play)
To win no praise when well-wrought plans prevail, But to be rudely censur'd when they fail ; To doubt the love his fav'rites may pretend, And in reality to find no friend;
If he indulge a cultivated taste, and His gall'ries with the works of art well grae'd, To hear it call'd extravagance and waste; If these attendants, and if such as these, Must follow royalty, then welcome ease; However humble and confin'd the sphere, Happy the state, that has not these to fear. A. Thus men, whose thoughts contemplative have Dodweltw
On situations, that they never felt,
Start up sagacious, cover'd with the dust
Of dreaming study and pedantic rust, 1**** And prate and preach about what others prove, As if the world and they were hand and glove. H Leave kingly backs to cope with kingly cares ; They have their weight to carry, subjects theirsg}^ Poets, of all men, ever least regretto ad aids N Increasing taxes and the nation's debt. pymal TA Could you contrive the payment, and rehearse T The mighty plan, oracular, in verse, do no dw c No bard, howe'er majestic, old or new, richer T Should claim my fix'd attention more than you. vâ
B. Not Brindley nor Bridgewater would essay To turn the course of Helicon that way; amit că
Nor would the Nine consent the sacred tide downl Should purl amidst the traffic of Cheapside,
g Or tinkle in 'Change Alley, to amuse 229 T The leathern ears of stockjobbers and Jews. d«W
A. Vouchsafe, at least, to pitch the key of rhyme To themes more pertinent, if less sublime 9,12 When ministers and ministerial arts; anal sid Patriots, who love good places at their hearts When admirals, extoll'd for standing still, Or doing nothing with a deal of skill; Gen'rals, who will not conquer when they may Firm friends to peace, to pleasure, and good pay SA When Freedom, wounded almost to despair, c Though Discontent alone can find out where ; 5lf When themes like these employ the poet's tongue I hear as mute as if a syren sung. ***** and of
Or tell me, if you can, what pow'r maintains 500 A Briton's scorn of arbitrary chains: That were a theme might animate the dead, arT And move the lips of poets cast in lead.
B. The cause, tho' worth the search, may yet elude Conjecture and remark, however shrewdnost oľ
They take perhaps a well-directed aim,
Who seek it in his climate and his frame.
Lib'ral in all things else, yet Nature here With stern severity deals out the year, and 9763) Winter invades the spring, and often pours via el A chilling flood on summer's drooping flow'rs jamk
Unwelcome vapours quench autumnal beams, Ungenial blasts attending curl the streams: The peasants urge their harvest, ply the fork With double toil, and shiver at their work; Thus with a rigour, for his good design'd She rears her fav'rite man of all mankind. His form robust and of elastic tone, Proportion'd well, half muscle and half bone, Supplies with warm activity and force
A mind well-lodg'd, and masculine of course. Hence Liberty, sweet Liberty inspires And keeps alive his fierce but noble fires. Patient of constitutional control,
He bears it with meek manliness of soul; But, if Authority grow wanton, wo To him that treads upon his free-born toe; One step beyond the bound'ry of the laws Fires him at once in Freedom's glorious cause. Thus proud Prerogative, not much rever'd,
Is seldom felt, though sometimes seen and heard; And in his cage, like parrot fine and gay, Is kept to strut, look big, and talk away. ***¿ Born in a climate softer far than ours, Not form'd like us, with such Herculean pow'rs, The Frenchinan, easy, debonair, and brisk, Give him his lass, his fiddle, and his frisk, Is always happy, reign whoever may,hsunt And laughs the sense of mis'ry far away.quulida &
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