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See thronging Millions to the Pagod run,
And offer Country, Parent, Wife, or Son!

Hear her black Trumpet thro' the Land proclaim,
That NOT TO BE CORRUPTED IS THE SHAME. 160
In Soldier, Churchman, Patriot, Man in Pow`r,
'Tis Av❜rice all, Ambition is no more!
See, all our Nobles begging to be Slaves!

See, all our Fools afpiring to be Knaves!

The Wit of Cheats, the Courage of a Whore, 165
Are what ten thousand envy and adore:
All, all look up, with reverential Awe,

At Crimes that 'fcape, or triumph o'er the Law:
While Truth, Worth, Wisdom, daily they decry-
Nothing is Sacred now but Villainy."

64

Yet may this Verfe (if fuch a Verse remain) Show, there was one who held it in difdain.

170

VER. 165. The Wit of Cheats, the Courage of a Whore,-Are bat ten thousand envy and adore:] And no wonder, for the it of Cheats being the evafion of Juftice, and the Courage of a Whore the contempt for reputation; these emancipate men from the two tyrannical reftraints upon free spirits, fear of punishment, and dread of frame.

EPILOGUE

TO THE

SATIRE S.

Written in MDCCXXXVIII.

DIALOGUE II.

Fr.

"T

IS all a Libel-Paxton (Sir) will fay
P. Not yet, my Friend! to morrow 'faith

it may;

And for that very cause I print to day.
How should I fret to mangle ev'ry line,
In rev'rence to the Sins of Thirty nine!
Vice with fuch Giant ftrides comes on amain,
Invention strives to be before in vain ;

Feign what I will, and paint it e'er so strong,
Some rifing Genius fins up to my Song.

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F. Yet none but you by name the guilty lash: 10 Ev'n Guthry faves half Newgate by a Dash. Spare then the Perfon, and expose the Vice.

16

P. How, Sir! not damn the Sharper, but the Dice?
Come on then, Satire! gen'ral, unconfin'd,
Spread thy broad wing, and fouce on all the kind.
Ye Statesmen, Priefts, of one Religion all!
Ye Tradesmen, vile, in Army, Court, or Hall;
Ye Rev'rend Atheists. F. Scandal! name them, Who?
P. Why that's the thing you bid me not to do.
Who ftarv'd a Sifter, who forfwore a Debt,
I never nam'd; the Town's enquiring yet.
The pois'ning Dame-F. You mean-P. I don't.
F. You do.

20

P. See, now I keep the Secret, and not you! The bribing Statesman-F. Hold, too high you go. P. The brib'd Elector-F. There you ftoop too low.

25

P. I fain would pleafe you, if I knew with what; Tell me, which Knave is lawful Game, which not?

VER. 11. Ev'n Guthry.] The Ordinary of Newgate, who publishes the memoirs of the Malefactors, and is often prevailed upon to be fo tender of their reputation, as to fet down no more than the initials of their name.

VER. 13. How, Sir! not damn the Sharper, but the Dice?} The liveliness of the reply may excufe the bad reasoning; otherwife the dice, tho' they rhyme to vice, can never stand for it, which his argument requires they fhould do. For the dice are only the inftruments of fraud; but the question is not, whether the inftrument, but whether the act committed by it, should be expofed, instead of the perfon.

Muft great Offenders, once escap'd the Crown,
Like Royal Harts, be never more run down ?
Admit your Law to fpare the Knight requires,
As Beafts of Nature may we hunt the Squires?
Suppose I cenfure-you know what I mean-
To fave a Bishop, may I name a Dean?

F. A Dean, Sir? no: his Fortune is not made, You hurt a man that's rifing in the Trade.

30

35

P. If not the Tradesman who fet up to day, Much lefs the 'Prentice who to morrow may. Down, down, proud Satire! tho' a Realm be spoil'd, Arraign no mightier Thief than wretched Wild; Or, if a Court or Country's made a job, Go drench a Pick-pocket, and join the Mob. But, Sir, I beg you (for the Love of Vice!) The matter's weighty, pray confider twice; Have you lefs pity for the needy Cheat,

40

The poor and friendless Villain, than the Great? 45

VER. 29. like Royal Harts, etc.] Alluding to the old Gamelaws, when our Kings spent all the time they could spare from human flaughter, in Woods and Forefts.

VER. 35. You burt a man that's rifing in the Trade.] For, as the reasonable De la Bruyere obferves, "Qui ne fait être un ERASME, doit penser à être Evêque.”

VER. 39. wretched Wild,] Jonathan Wild, a famous Thief, and Thief-Impeacher, who was at laft caught in his own train and hanged.

VER. 42. for the love of Vice] We must confider the Poet as here directing his discourse to a follower of the new fyftem of Politics, That private vices are publick benefits. SCRIBL.

Alas! the fmall Difcredit of a Bribe

Scarce hurts the Lawyer, but undoes the Scribe. Then better sure it Charity becomes

To tax Directors, who (thank God) have Plums;
Still better, Minifters; or, if the thing

May pinch ev'n there-why lay it on a King.
F. Stop! top!

50

P. Muft Satire, then, nor rife nor fall? Speak out, and bid me blame no Rogues at all. F. Yes, ftrike that Wild, I'll juftify the blow. P. Strike? why the man was hang'd ten years ago: Who now that obfolete Example fears? Ev'n Peter trembles only for his Ears.

56

F. What always Peter? Peter thinks you mad, You make men defp'rate, if they once are bad: Elfe might he take to Virtue fome years hence-60 P. As S---k, if he lives, will love the PRINCE. F. Strange fpleen to S---k!

P. Do I wrong the Man? God knows, I praise a Courtier where I can. When I confefs, there is who feels for Fame, And melts to Goodness, need I SCARB'ROW name? 65

VER. 51. why lay it on a King.] He is serious in the foregoing fubjects of fatire; but ironical here, and only alludes to the common practice of Minifters, in laying their own miscarriages on their mafters.

VER. 57. Ev'n Peter trembles only for bis ears.] Peter had, the year before this, narrowly escaped the Pillory for forgery: and got off with a fevere rebuke only from the bench.

VER. 65. Starb'row] Earl of, and Knight of the Garter,

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