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Ye pow'rs who rule the tongue, if such there are,
And make colloquial happiness your care,
Preserve me from the thing I dread and hate,
A duel in the form of a debate.

The clash of arguments and jar of words,
Worse than the mortal brunt of rival swords,
Decide no question with their tedious length,
For opposition gives opinion strength,
Divert the champions prodigal of breath,
And put the peaceably-dispos'd to death.
O thwart me not, sir Soph, at ev'ry turn,
Nor carp at ev'ry flaw you may discern;
Though syllogisms hang not on my tongue,
I am not surely always in the wrong;
Tis hard if all is false, that I advance,

A fool must now and then be right by chance.
Not that all freedom of dissent I blame;
No-there I grant the privilege I claim.

A disputable point is no man's ground;
Rove where you please, 'tis common all around.
Discourse may want an animated—No,

To brush the surface, and to make it flow;
But still remember, if you mean to please,
press your point with modesty and ease.

Το

The mark, at which my juster aim I take,

Is contradiction for it's own dear sake.
Set your opinion at whatever pitch,

Knots and impediments make something hitch;
Adopt his own, 'tis equally in vain,
Your thread of argument is snapp'd again;

The wrangler, rather than accord with you,
Will judge himself deceiv'd, and prove it too,
Vociferated logic kills me quite,

A noisy man is always in the right,

I twirl my thumbs, fall back into my chair,
Fix on the wainscot a distressful stare,
And, when I hope his blunders are all out,
Reply discreetly-To be sure-no doubt!
DUBIUS is such a scrupulous good man-
Yes-you may catch him tripping, if you can.
He would not, with a peremptory tone,
Assert the nose upon his face his own;
With hesitation admirably slow,

He humbly hopes-presumes-it may be so.
His evidence, if he were call'd by law
To swear to some enormity he saw,

For want of prominence and just relief,

Would hang an honest man, and save a thief.

Through constant dread of giving truth offence,

He ties all his hearers in suspense;

up

Knows what he knows, as if he knew it not;

What he remembers seems to have forgot;
His sole opinion, whatsoe'er befall,
Centring at last in having none at all.

Yet, though he tease and balk your list❜ning ear,
He makes one useful point exceeding clear;
Howe'er ingenious on his darling theme

A sceptic in philosophy may seem,
Reduc'd to practice, his beloved rule
Would only prove him a consummate fool;
Useless in him alike both brain and speech,
Fate having plac'd all truth above his reach,
His ambiguities his total sum,

He might as well be blind, and deaf, and dumb.
Where men of judgment creep and feel their way,
The positive pronounce without dismay;
Their want of light and intellect supplied
By sparks absurdity strikes out of pride.

Without the means of knowing right from wrong,
They always are decisive, clear, and strong;
Where others toil with philosophic force,

Their nimble nonsense takes a shorter course;

Flings at your head conviction in the lump,
And gains remote conclusions at a jump:
Their own defect, invisible to them,

Seen in another, they at once condemn;
And, though self-idoliz'd in ev'ry case,
Hate their own likeness in a brother's face.
The cause is plain, and not to be denied,
The proud are always most provok'd by pride,
Few competitions but engender spite;
And those the most, where neither has a right.

The point of honour has been deem'd of use, To teach good manners, and to curb abuse; Admit it true, the consequence is clear,

Our polish'd manners are a mask we wear,
And, at the bottom barb'rous still and rude,
We are restrain'd indeed, but not subdu'd.
The very remedy, however sure,
Springs from the mischief it intends to cure,
And savage in it's principle appears,
Tried, as it should be, by the fruit it bears.
"Tis hard indeed, if nothing will defend
Mankind from quarrels but their fatal end;
That now and then a hero must decease,
That the surviving world may live in peace.

Perhaps at last close scrutiny may show
The practice dastardly, and mean, and low;
That men engage in it compell'd by force,
And fear, not courage, is it's proper source.
The fear of tyrant custom, and the fear

Lest fops should censure us, and fools should sneer.
At least to trample on our Maker's laws,
And hazard life for any or no cause,
To rush into a fix'd eternal state

Out of the very flames of rage and hate,
Or send another shiv'ring to the bar
With all the guilt of such unnatʼral war,
Whatever Use may urge, or Honour plead,
On Reason's verdict is a madman's deed.
Am I to set my life upon a throw,
Because a bear is rude and surly? No-
A moral, sensible, and well bred man
Will not affront me; and no other can.
Were I empow'r'd to regulate the lists,
They should encounter with well-loaded fists;
A Trojan combat would be something new,
Let DARES beat ENTELLUS black and blue;
Then each might show, to his admiring friends,
In honourable bumps his rich amends,

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