The regal palace, the luxurious board,

The liv'ried army, and the menial lord.
With age, with cares, with maladies oppress'd,
He feeks the refuge of monaftick reft.
Grief aids difeafe, remember'd folly ftings,
And his laft fighs reproach the faith of kings.

Speak thou, whofe thoughts at humble peace repine,
Shall Wolfey's wealth, with Wolfey's end, be thine?
Or liv'ft thou now, with fafer pride content,
The wifeft justice on the banks of Trent?
For why did Wolfey near the steeps of Fate,
On weak foundations raife th' enormous weight?
Why, but to fink beneath Misfortune's blow,
With louder ruin to the gulphs below?
What gave great Villiers to th' affaffin's knife,
And fix'd disease on Harley's closing life?
What murder'd Wentworth, and what exil'd Hyde,
By kings protected, and to kings ally'd?
What, but their wish indulg'd in courts to shine,
And pow'r too great to keep, or to refign?
When first the college rolls receive his name,
The young enthufiaft quits his ease for fame;
Thro' all his veins the fever of renown
Spreads from the ftrong contagion of the gown;
O'er Bodley's dome his future labours spread,
And Bacon's manfion trembles o'er his head *.
Are these thy views? proceed, illuftrious youth,
And Virtue guard thee to the throne of Truth!
Yet should thy foul indulge the gen'rous heat,
Till captive Science yields her last retreat;
Should Reafon guide thee with her brighteft ray,
And pour on mifty Doubt refiftless day;

There is a tradition, that the ftudy of Friar Bacon, built on an arch over the bridge, will fall, when a man greater than Bacon fhall pass under it.

Should

Should no falfe Kindness lure to loose delight,
Nor Praise relax, nor Difficulty fright;
Should tempting Novelty thy cell refrain,
And Sloth effuse her opiate fumes in vain ;
Should Beauty blunt on fops her fatal dart,
Nor claim the triumph of a letter'd heart;
Should no Difeafe thy torpid veins invade,
Nor Melancholy's phantoms haunt thy fhade;
Yet hope not life from grief or danger free,
Nor think the doom of man revers'd for thee:
Deign on the paffing world to turn thine eyes,
And pause awhile from letters, to be wife;
There mark what ills the scholar's life affail,
Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.
See nations flowly wife, and meanly just,
To buried merit raise the tardy buft.
If dreams yet flatter, once again attend,
Here Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end.

Nor deem, when Learning her laft prize beftows,
The glitt❜ring eminence exempt from woes ;
See, when the vulgar 'fcape, defpis'd or aw'd,
Rebellion's vengeful talons feize on Laud.
From meaner minds, tho' fmaller fines content,
The plunder'd palace or fequefter'd rent;
Mark'd out by dangerous parts he meets the fhock,
And fatal Learning leads him to the block:
Around his tomb let Art and Genius weep,
But hear his death, ye blockheads-hear, and fleep"
The feftal blazes, the triumphal fhow,

The ravish'd ftandard, and the captive foe,
The fenate's thanks, the Gazette's pompous tale,
With force refiftlefs o'er the brave prevail.
Such bribes the rapid Greek o'er Afia whirl'd,
For fuch the fteady Romans fhook the world;
For fuch in diftant lands the Britons fhine,

And ftain with blood the Danube or the Rhine:

This pow'r has praise, that Virtue scarce can warm,
Till Fame fupplies the univerfal charm.

Yet Reafon frowns on War's unequal game,
Where wasted nations raise a single name,

And morgag'd states their grandfires wreaths regret,
From age to age in everlasting debt;,

Wreaths which at laft the dear-bought right convey
To ruft on medals, or on stones decay.

On what foundation stands the warrior's pride,
How juft his hopes let Swedish Charles decide.
A frame of adamant, a foul of fire,

No dangers fright him, and no labours tire;
O'er love, o'er fear, extends his wide domain,
Unconquer'd lord of pleasure and of pain:

No joys to him pacifick fceptres yield,

War founds the trump, he rushes to the field.
Behold furrounding kings their pow'r combine,
And one capitulate, and one refign;

Peace courts his hand, but fpreads her charms in vain ; Think nothing gain'd,' he cries, till nought remain, 'On Moscow's walls till Gothick standards fly,

And all be mine beneath the polar sky.'

The march begins in military state,

And nations on his eye fufpended wait;

Stern Famine guards the folitary coaft,

And Winter barricades the realm of Froft.
He comes; not want and cold his course delay-
Hide, blushing Glory; hide Pultowa's day :
The vanquish'd hero leaves his broken bands,
And fhews his miferies in diftant lands;
Condemn'd a needy fupplicant to wait,
While ladies interpofe, and flaves debate.
But did not Chance at length her error mend?
Did no fubverted empire mark his end?

Did rival monarchs give the fatal wound,

Or hoftile millions prefs him to the ground?

His fall was deftin'd to a barren ftrand,

A petty fortrefs, and a dubious hand;

He left the name, at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale.

All times their scenes of pompous woes afford,
From Perfia's tyrant to Bavaria's lord.
In gay hoftility, and barb'rous pride,
With half mankind embattled at his fide,
Great Xerxes comes to feize the certain prey,
And ftarves exhausted regions in his way :
Attendant Flatt'ry counts his myriads o'er,
Till counted myriads foothe his pride no more;
Fresh praise is try'd, till madness firés his mind,
The waves he lashes, and enchains the wind;
New pow'rs are claim'd, new pow'rs are still beftow'd,
Till rude refiftance lops the spreading god.

The daring Greeks deride the martial show,
And heap their vallies with the gaudy foe:
Th' infulted fea with humbler thoughts he gains,
A fingle skiff to speed his flight remains;

Th' incumber'd oar scarce leaves the dreaded coast,
Thro' purple billows, and a floating hoft.

The bold Bavarian, in a luckless hour,
Tries the dread fummits of Cefarean pow'r;
With unexpected legions bursts away,

And fees defenceless realms receive his fway.

Short fway! fair Auftria spreads her mournful charms,
The queen, the beauty, fets the world in arms;

From hill to hill the beacons rouzing blaze

Spreads wide the hope of plunder and of praise.
The fierce Croatian, and the wild Huffar,

And all the fons of ravage croud the war ;
The baffled prince, in honour's flatt'ring bloom,
Of hafty greatness finds the fatal doom,

His foes derifion, and his fubjects blame,

And steals to death, from anguish and from shame. 2 M

Enlarge

Enlarge my life with multitude of days!
In health, in fickness, thus the fuppliant prays;
Hides from himself his ftate, and fhuns to know,
That life protracted, is protracted woe.
Time hovers o'er, impatient to destroy,
And fhuts up all the paffages of joy:

In vain their gifts the bounteous feasons pour,
The fruit autumnal, and the vernal flow'r ;
With liftless eyes the dotard views the ftore,
He views, and wonders that they please no more.
Now pall the tasteless meats, and joyless wines,
And Luxury with fighs her flave refigns.
Approach, ye minstrels, try the foothing ftrain,
And yield the tuneful lenitives of pain:
No founds, alas! would touch th' impervious ear,
Tho' dancing mountains witness Orpheus near;
Nor lute nor lyre his feeble pow'rs attend,
Nor fweeter mufick of a virtuous friend;
But everlasting dictates croud his tongue,
Perversely grave, or pofitively wrong.
The still-returning tale, and ling'ring jeft,
Perplex the fawning niece and pamper'd gueft,
While growing hopes fcarce awe the gath'ring sneer,
And scarce a legacy can bribe to hear :
The watchful guests still hint the last offence,
The daughter's petulance, the fon's expence ;
Improve his heady rage with treach'rous skill,
And mould his paffions till they make his will.
Unnumber'd maladies his joints invade,
Lay fiege to life, and prefs the dire blockade ;
But unextinguish'd Av'rice ftill remains,
And dreaded loffes aggravate his pains :

He turns, with anxious heart and crippled hands,
His bonds of debt, and mortgages of lands;
Or views his coffers with fufpicious eyes,
Unlocks his gold, and counts it-till he dies.