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When Heav'n was nam'd, they loos'd their hold | No more a lover, but a mortal foe,

again,

Then fprung fhe forth, they follow'd her amain.
Not far behind, a knight of fwarthy face,
High on a coal-black fteed purfu'd the chace;
With flashing flames his ardent eyes were fill'd,
And in his hand a naked fword he held:
He cheer'd the dogs to follow her who fled,
And vow'd revenge on her devoted head.

As Theodore was born of noble kind,
The brutal action rous'd his manly mind;
Mov'd with unworthy ufage of the maid,
He, tho' unarm'd, refolv'd to give her aid.
A faplin pine he wrench'd from out the ground,
The readieft weapon that his fury found.
Thus furnish'd for offence, he cross'd the way
Betwixt the graceless villain and his prey.
The knight came thund'ring on, but, from afar,
Thus, in imperious tone, forbad the war:
Ceafe, Theodore, to proffer vain relief,
Nor stop the vengeance of fo juft a grief;
But give me leave to feize my deftin'd prey,
And let eternal justice take the way:
I but revenge my fate, difdain'd, betray'd,
And fuff'ring death for this ungrateful maid.
He faid, at once difmounting from the teed;
For now the hell-hounds, with fuperior speed,
Had reach'd the dame, and, faft'ning on her fide,
The ground with iffuing ftreams of purple dy'd;
Stood Theodore furpris'd in deadly fright,
With chatt'ring teeth, and bristling hair upright;
Yet arm'd with inborn worth, Whate'er, faid he,
Thou art, who know'ft me better than I thee;
Or prove thy rightful caufe, or be defied.
The spectre, fiercely staring, thus reply'd:

Know, Theodore, thy ancestry I claim,
And Guido Cavalcanti was my name:
One common fire our fathers did beget,
My name and story some remember
yet:
Thee, then a boy, within my arms I laid,
When for my fins I lov'd this haughty maid;
Not lefs ador'd in life, nor ferv'd by me,
Than proud Honoria now is lov'd by thee.
What did I not her stubborn heart to gain?
But all my vows were anfwer'd with disdain:
She fcorn'd my forrows, and defpis'd my pain.
Long time I dragg'd my days in fruitlefs care;
Then, loathing life, and plung'd in deep despair,
To finish my unhappy life, I fell

:}|

On this sharp fword, and now am damn'd in hell.
Short was her joy; for foon th' infulting maid
By heav'n's decree in this cold grave was laid :
And as in unrepented fin she dy'd,

Doom'd to the fame bad place is punish'd for her
pride:

Because the deem'd I well deferv'd to die,
And made a merit of her cruelty.

I feek her life (for love is none below):
As often as my dogs with better speed
Arreft her flight, is the to death decreed:
Then with this fatal fword, on which I dy'd,
I pierce her open back, or tender fide,
And tear that harden'd heart from out her
breaft,

Which, with her entrails, makes my hungry
hounds a fealt.

}

Nor lies the long, but, as the fates ordain,
Springs up to life, and, freth to fecond pain,
Is fav'd to-day, to-morrow to be flain.
This, vers'd in death, th' infernal knight re-
lates,"

And then for proof fulfill'd the common fates;
Her heart and bowels thro' her back he drew,
And fed the hounds that help'd him to purfue.
Stern look'd the fiend, as fruftrate of his will,
Not half fuffic'd, and greedy yet to kill.
And now the foul, expiring through the wound,
Had left the body breathlefs on the ground,
When thus the grifly spectre spoke again :
Behold the fruit of ill-rewarded pain:
As many months as I fuftain'd her hate,
So many years is the condemn'd by fate
To daily death; and ev'ry feveral place,
Confcious of her difdain and my difgrace,
Muft witnefs her juft punishment; and be
A fcene of triumph and revenge to me!
As in this grove I took my lait farewel,
As on this very fpot of earth I fell,
As Friday faw me die, fo the my prey
Becomes ev'n here, on this revolving day.

Thus, while he spoke, the virgin from the
ground

Upstarted fresh, already clos'd the wound,
And, unconcern'd for all the felt before,
Precipitates her flight along the fhore:

The hell-hounds, as ungorg'd with flesh and
blood,

Purfue their prey, and feek their wonted food:
The fiend remounts his courfer, mends his pace;
And all the vifion vanish'd from the place.

Long ftood the noble youth opprefs'd with awe,
And stupid at the wondrous things he faw,
Surpaffing common faith, tranfgrefling nature's
law:

He would have been afleep, and wish'd to wake,
But dreams, he knew, no long impreffion make,
Though ftrong at firft; if vifion, to what end,
But fuch as muft his future ftate portend?
His love the damfel, and himself the fiend.
But yet, reflecting that it could not be
From heaven, which cannot impious acts decree,
Refolv'd within himself to fhun the fnare,
Which hell for his destruction did prepare;

There, then, we met; both try'd, and both were And, as his better genius fhould direct,

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From an ill caufe to draw a good effect.
Infpir'd from heaven he homeward took his

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They came, and, ufual falutations paid, With words premeditated, thus he said: What you have often counfell'd, to remove My vain purfuit of unregarded love; By thrift my finking fortune to repair, Tho' late yet is at last become my care: My heart fhall be my own; my vast expence Reduc'd to bounds, by timely providence ; T This only I require; invite for me

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Honoria, with her father's family,

Her friends, and mine; the caufe I fhall difplay,
On Friday next; for that's th' appointed day.
Well pleas'd were all his friends, the task was
light,

The father, mother, daughter, they invite ;
Hardly the dame was drawn to this repast ;
But yet refolv'd, because it was the laft.
The day was come, the guests invited came,
And, with the reft, th' inexorable dame :
A feaft prepar'd with riotous expence,
Much coft, more care, and moft magnificence.
The place ordain'd was in that haunted grove,
Where the revenging ghost purfu'd his love.
The tables in a proud pavilion spread,
With flowers below, and tiffue overhead:
The reft in rank, Honoria chief in place,
Was artfully contriv'd to fet her face
To front the thicket, and behold the chace.
The feaft was ferv'd, the time fo well forecast,
That juft when the deffert and fruits were plac'd,
The fiend's alarm began; the hollow found
Sung in the leaves, the foreft fhook around,
Air blacken'd, roll'd the thunder, groan'd the
ground.

Nor long before the loud laments arise
Of one diftrefs'd, and maftiffs' mingled cries;
And first the dame came rufhing thro' the wood,
And next the famish'd hounds that fought their
food,
[in blood.

And grip'd her flanks, and oft effay'd their jaws
Laft came the felon, on his fable steed,
Arm'd with his naked fword, and urg'd his dogs

to speed.

She ran, and cry'd, her flight directly bent (A gueft unbidden) to the fatal tent, The icene of death, and place defign'd for punishment.

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At this the former tale again he told,
With thund'ring tone, and dreadful to behold:
Sunk were their hearts with horror of the crime,
Nor needed to be warn'd a fecond time,
But bore each other back: fome knew the face,
And all had heard the much-lamented cafe

And now th' infernal minifter advanc'd, Seiz'd the due victim and with fury lanc'd Her back, and, piercing through her inmost heart, Drew backward, as before, th' offending part. The reeking entrails next he tore away, And to his meagre mastiffs made a prey. The pale afliftants on each other star'd, With gaping mouths for issuing words prepar'd; The ftill-born founds upon the palate hung, And dy'd imperfect on the falt'ring tongue. The fright was general; but the female band (A helpless train) in more confufion stand: With horror fhudd'ring, on a heap they run, Sick at the fight of hateful juftice done; For confcience rung th' alarm, and made the cafe their own.

}

So fpread upon a lake, with upward eye, A plump of fowl behold their foe on high; They clofe their trembling troop; and all attend On whom the fowfing eagle will defcend.

}

But moft the proud Honoria fear'd th' event,
And thought to her alone the vifion fent.
Her guilt presents to her distracted mind
Heav'n's juftice, Theodore's revengeful kind,
And the fame fate to the fame fin affign'd:
Already fees herfelf the monfter's prey,
And feels her heart and entrails torn away.
'Twas a mute fcene of forrow, mix'd with fear;
Still on the table lay th' unfinish'd cheer:
The knight and hungry mastiffs stood around,
The mangled dame lay breathless on the ground;
When on a fudden, re-infpir'd with breath,
Again the rofe, again to fuffer death;
Nor ftaid the hell-hounds, nor the hurter ftaid,
But follow'd, as before, the flying maid:
Th' avenger took from earth th' avenging fword,
And mounting light as air his fable feed he
fpurr'd:

The clouds difpell'd, the sky refum'd the light,
And nature ftood recover'd of her fright.
But fear, the last of ills, remain'd behind,
And horror heavy fat on ev'ry mind.
Nor Theodore encourag'd more the feast,
But fternly look'd as hatching in his breast
Some deep defigns; which when Honoria view'd,
The fresh impulfe her former fright renew'd;
She thought herself the trembling dame who fled,
And him the grilly ghost that spurr'd th' infernal
fteed:

The more difmay'd, for when the guests with-"

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}

Home as they went, the fad difcourfe renew'd,
Of the relentlefs dame to death purfu'd,
And of the fight obfcene fo lately view'd.
None durft arraign the righteous doom the bore,
Ev'n they who pity'd moft, yet blam'd her more:
The parallel they needed not to name,
But in the dead they damn'd the living dame.
At ev'ry little noise she look'd behind,
For ftill the knight was prefent to her mind :
And anxious oft the (tarted on the way,
And thought the horfeman-ghoft came thund'ring
for his prey.

Return'd, fhe took her bed with little reft,
But in fhort flumbers dreamt the fun'ral feaft:
Awak'd the turn'd her fide, and slept again;
The fame black vapours mounted in her brain,
And the fame dreams return'd with double

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game,

And her purfue, or Theodore be slain,
And two ghofts join their packs to hunt her o'er
the plain.

This dreadful image fo poffefs'd her mind,
That, defperate any fuccour elfe to find,
She ceas'd all farther hope; and now began
To make reflection on th' unhappy man,
Rich, brave, and young, who past expreffion lov'd,
Proof to difdain, and not to be remov'd:
Of all the men respected and admir'd,
Of all the dames, except herfelf, defir'd:
Why not of her? preferr'd above the reft
By him with knightly deeds, and open love
profefs'd?
[drefs'd.

So had another been, where he his vows ad-.
This quell'd her pride, yet other doubts remain'd,
That, once difdaining, the might be difdain'd.
The fear was juft, but greater fear prevail'd,
Fear of her life by hellish hounds affail'd:
He took a low'ring leave; but who can tell
What outward hate might inward love conceal?
Her fex's arts fhe knew; and why not, then,
Might deep diffembling have a place in men?
Here hope began to dawn; refolv'd to try,
She fix'd on this her utmost remedy:
Death was behind, but hard it was to die.
"Twas time enough at laft on death to call,
The precipice in fight: a fhrub was all, [fall.
That kindly ftood betwixt to break the fatal
One maid fhe had, belov'd above the reft:
Secure of her, the fecret fhe confefs'd;
And now the cheerful light her fears difpell'd,
She with no winding tuins the truth conceal'd,
But put the woman off, and food reveal'd:

}

}

With faults confefs'd commiffion'd her to go,
If pity yet had place, and reconcile her foe:
The welcome meffage made, was foon receiv'd;
'Twas to be with'd, and hop'd, but fcarce believ'd;
Fate feem'd a fair occafion to prefent;
He knew the fex, and fear'd fhe might repent,
Should he delay the moment of confent.
There yet remain'd to gain her friends (a care
The modefty of maidens well might fpare);
But fhe with fuch a zeal the caufe embrac'd,
(As women, where they will, are all in haste)
The father, mother, and the kin befide,
Were overborne by fury of the tide;
With full confent of all the chang'd her state;
Refiftlefs in her love, as in her hate.
By her example warn'd, the reft beware;
More eafy, lefs imperious, were the fair;
And that one hunting, which the devil defign'd
For one fair female, loft him half the kind.

R

34. The Rofciad. CHURCHILL. OSCIUS deceas'd, each high afpiring play'r Push'd all his int'reft for the vacant chair. The bufkin'd heroes of the mimic stage No longer whine in love, and rant in rage; The monarch quits his throne, and condescends Humbly to court the favour of his friends; For pity's fake telis undeferv'd mishaps, And, their applaufe to gain, recounts his claps. Thus the victorious chiefs of ancient Rome, To win the mob, a fuppliant's form affume, In pompous ftrain fight o'er th' extinguish'd war, And fhew where honour bled in ev'ry fear. But though bare merit might in Rome appear The ftrongeft plea for favour, 'tis not here; We form our judgment in another way; And they will best succeed, who beft can pay : Thofe, who would gain the votes of British tribes, Muft add to force of merit force of bribes.

What can an actor give? In ev'ry age Cafh hath been rudely banish'd from the stage; Monarchs themselves, to grief of ev'ry play'r, Appear as often as their image there: They can't, like candidate for other feat, Pour feas of wine, and mountains raife of meat. Wine! they could bribe you with the world as foon,

more,

And of roast beef, they only know the tune:
But what they have they give; could Clive do
[four?
Though for each million he had brought hoine
Shuter keeps open house at Southwark fair,
And hopes the friends of humour will be there;
In Smithfield, Yates prepares the rival treat
For those who laughter love, inftead of meat;
Foote, at Old Houfe, for even Foote will be,
In felf-conceit, an actor, bribes with tea;
Which Wilkinfon at fecond-hand receives,
And at the New, pours water on the leaves.

The town divided, each runs fev'ral ways,
A's paffion, humour, int'reft, party fways.
Things of no moment, colour of the hair,
Shape of a leg, complexion brown or fair,

A drefs

A dress well chofen, or a patch misplac'd,
Conciliate favour, or create diftafte.

From galleries loud peals of laughter roll, And thunder Shuter's praifes-he's fo droll. Embox'd, the ladies must have fomething fmart, Palmer! Oh! Palmer tops the janty part. Seated in pit, the dwarf, with aching eyes, Looks up, and vows that Barry 's out of fize; Whilft to fix feet the vig'rous ftripling grown, Declares that Garrick is another Coan.

When place of judgment is by whim fupply'd, And our opinions have their rife in pride; When, in difcourfing on each mimic elf, We praife and cenfure with an eye to self; All muft meet friends, and Ackman bids as fair In fuch a court, as Garrick, for the chair.

At length agreed, all fquabbles to decide, By fome one judge the caufe was to be try'd; But this their fquabbles did afresh renew, Who fhould be judge in fuch a trial:-Who?

For Johnfon fome, but Johnfon, it was fear'd, Would be too grave; and Sterne too gay appear'd: Others for Francklin voted; but 't was known, He ficken'd at all triumphs but his own: For Colman many, but the peevish tongue Of prudent Age found out that he was young: For Murphy fome few pilf'ring wits declar'd, Whilft Folly clapp'd her hands, and Wisdom star'd. To mifchief train'd, e'en from his mother's womb,

Grown old in fraud, tho' yet in manhood's bloom, Adopting arts, by which gay villains rife, And reach the heights which honeft men defpife; Mute at the bar, and in the fenate loud, Dull 'mongst the dulleft, proudest of the proud; A pert, prim prater of the northern race, Guilt in his heart, and famine in his face, Stood forth;-and thrice he wav'd his lily handAnd thrice he twirl'd his tye-thrice ftrok'd his band[aim, "At Friendship's call (thus oft with trait'rous Men void of faith ufurp faith's facred name) "At Friendship's call I come, by Murphy fent, Who thus by me develops his intent.

But left, transfus'd, the spirit fhould be loft,
That fpirit which in ftorms of Rhet'ric toft,
Bounces about, and flies like bottled beer,
In his own words his own intentions hear.
"Thanks to my friends-But to vile fortunes
born,

No robes of fur these shoulders must adorn.
Vain your applaufe, no aid from thence I draw;
Vain all my wit, for what is wit in law?
Twice (curs'd remembrance!) twice I ftrove to
gain

Admittance 'mongst the law-inftructed train,
Who, in the Temple and Gray's-Inn, prepare
For clients' wretched feet the legal fnare:
Dead to thofe arts, which polish and refine,
Deaf to all worth, because that worth was mine,

Twice did thofe blockheads ftartle at my name
And foul rejection gave me up to fhame.
To laws and lawyers then I bade adieu,
And plans of far more lib'ral note pursue.
Who will may be a judge-my kindling breaft
Burns for that chair which Roicius once poffefs'd.
Here give your votes, your int'reft here exert,
And let fuccefs for once attend defert."

With fleek appearance, and with ambling pace,
And, type of vacant head, with vacant face,
The Proteus Hill put in his modeft plea,-

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Let favour fpeak for others, worth for me."-
For who, like him, his various powers could call
Into fo many fhapes, and fhine in all ?
| Who could fo nobly grace the motley list,
Actor, inspector, doctor, botanift?

Knows any one fo well-fure no one knows,→
At once to play, prefcribe, compound, compose?
Who can-But Woodward came,-Hill flipp'd

away,

Melting, like ghofts, before the rifing day.

With that low cunning, which in fools fup-
And amply too, the place of being wife, [plies,
Which Nature, kind, indulgent parent, gave
To qualify the blockhead for a knave;
With that fimooth falfehood, whofe appearance
charms,

And reafon of each wholfome doubt difarms,
Which to the lowest depths of guile defcends,
By vileft means purfues the vileft ends,
Wears friendship's mafk for purposes of spite,
Fawns in the day, and butchers in the night;
With that malignant envy, which turns pale,
And fickens, even if a friend prevail,
Which merit and fuccefs purfues with hate,
And damns the worth it cannot imitate;
With the cold caution of a coward's fpleen,
Which fears not guilt, but always feeks a screen;
Which keeps this maxim ever in her view-
What's bafely done, should be done safely too;
With that dull, rooted, callous impudence,
Which, dead to fhame, and ev'ry nicer fenfe,
Ne'er bluth'd, unless, in fpreading Vice's snares,
She blunder'd on fome virtue unawares ;
With all these bleffings, which we feldom find
Lavish'd by nature on one happy mind,
A motley figure, of the Fribble tribe,
Which heart can fcarce conceive, or pen defcribe,
Came fimp'ring on; to ascertain whose sex
Twelve fage impanell'd matrons would perplex.
Nor male, nor female; neither, and yet both;
Of neuter gender, tho' of Irish growth;
A fix-foot fuckling, mincing in its gait;
Affected, peevish, prim, and delicate;
Fearful it feem'd, tho' of athletic make,
Left brutal breezes fhould too roughly fhake
Its tender form, and favage motion spread,
O'er its pale cheeks, the horrid manly red.

Much did it talk, in its own pretty phrafe,
Of genius and of taste, of play'rs and plays;

This fevere character was intended for Mr. Fitzpatrick, a perfon who had rendered himself remarkable by his activity in the playhouse riots of 1763, relative to the taking half prices. He was the hero of Garrick's Fribbleriad.

Much

Much too of writings, which itself had wrote,
Of special merit, tho' of little note;
For Fate, in a strange humour, had decreed
That what it wrote, none but itself should read;
Much too it chatter'd of dramatic laws,
Misjudging critics, and mifplac'd applaufe;
Then, with a felf-complacent jutting air,
It fmil'd, it fmirk'd, it wriggled to the chair;
And, with an awkward brifknefs not its own,
Looking around, and perking on the throne,
Triumphant feem'd, when that ftrange favage
dame,

Known but to few, or only known by name,
Plain common fenfe appear'd, by nature there
Appointed, with plain truth, to guard the chair.
The pageant faw, and, blafted with her frown,
To its firft ftate of nothing melted down.

Nor fhall the mufe (for even there the pride
Of this vain nothing fhall be mortified)
Nor fhall the mufe (fhould fate ordain her rhymes,
Fond, pleafing thought! to live in after-times)
With fach a trifler's name her pages blot;
Known be the character, the thing forgot ;
Let it, to difappoint each future aim,
Live without fex, and die without a name !
Cold-blooded critics, by enervate fires
Scarce hammer'd out, when Nature's feeble fires
Glimmer'd their laft; whofe fluggith blood, half
froze,
[glows
Creeps lab'ring thro' the veins; whofe heart ne'er
With fancy-kindled heat;—a fervile race,
Who in mere want of fault, all merit place;
Who blind obedience pay to ancient fchools,
Bigots to Greece, and slaves to musty rules;
With folemn confequence declar'd that none
Could judge that cause but Sophocles alone.
Dupes to their fancied excellence, the crowd,
Obfequious to the facred dictate, bow'd. [forth,
When, from amidst the throng, a youth ftood
Unknown his person, not unknown his worth;
His look bespoke applaufe; alone he flood,
Alone he stemm'd the mighty critic flood.
He talk'd of ancients, as the man became
Who priz'd our own, but envied not their fame;
With noble rev'rence spoke of Greece and Rome,
And scorn'd to tear the laurel from the tomb.

"But more than just to other countries grown,
Muft we turn bafe apoftates to our own?
Where do these words of Greece and Rome excel,
That England may not please the ear as well?
What mighty magic 's in the place or air,
That all perfection needs must centre there?
In ftates, let ftrangers blindly be preferr'd;
In state of letters, merit fhould be heard.
Genius is of no country, her pure ray
Spreads all abroad, as gen'ral as the day;
Foe to restraint, from place to place the flies,
And may hereafter e'en in Holland rise.
May not (to give a pleasing fancy scope,
And cheer a patriot heart with patriot hope)
May not fome great extenfive Genius raife
The name of Britain 'bove Athenian praise ;

And, whilft brave thirst of fame his bofom warms,
Make England great in letters as in arms ?
There may there hath-and Shakespeare's mufe
afpires

Beyond the reach of Greece: with native fires
Mounting aloft, he wings his daring flight,
Whilft Sophocles below ftands trembling at his
height.

wrote.

Why should we then abroad for judges roam,
When abler judges we may find at home?
Happy in tragic and in comic pow'rs,
Have we not Shakespeare:-Is not Jonfon ours?
For them, your nat'ral judges, Britons, vote;
They'll judge like Britons, who like Britons
[fway,
He faid, and conquer'd-Senfe refum'd her
And difappointed pedants stalk'd away.
Shakespeare and Jonfon, with deferv'd applause,
Joint-judges were ordain'd to try the caule.
Mean-time the ftranger ev'ry voice employ'd,
To afk or tell his name-Who is it?-Lloyd.
Thus, when the aged friends of Job stood mute,
And, tamely prudent, gave up the difpute,
Elihu, with the decent warmth of youth,
Boldly ftood forth the advocate of truth;
Confuted falfehood, and difabled pride,
Whilft baffled age ftood fnarling at his fide.

The day of trial's fix'd, nor any fear
Left day of trial should be put off here.
Caufes but feldom for delay can call

In courts where forms are few, fees none at all.
The morning came, nor find I that the fun,
As he on other great events hath done,
Put on a brighter robe than what he wore
To go his journey in the day before.

Full in the centre of a fpacious plain,
On plan entirely new, where nothing vain,
Nothing magnificent appear'd, but Art
With decent modefty perform'd her part,
Rofe a tribunal: from no other court
It borrow'd ornament, or fought support:
No juries here were pack'd to kill or clear,
No bribes were taken, nor oaths broken here;
No gownfinen, partial to a client's cause,
To their own purpose turn'd the pliant laws.
Each Judge was true and steady to his trust,
As Mansfield wife, and as old Foster * just.

In the first feat, in robe of various dyes,
A ncble wildnefs flathing from his eyes,
Sat Shakespeare In one hand a wand he bore,
For mighty wonders fam'd in days of yore;
The other held a globe, which to his will
Obedient turn'd, and own'd the master's skill:
Things of the nobleft kind his genius drew,
And look'd thro' nature at a fingle view:
A loose he gave to his unbounded foul;
And taught new lands to rife, new feas to roll;
Call'd into being scenes unknown before,
And, paffing nature's bounds, was something

more.

Next Jonfon fat, in ancient learning train'd, His rigid judgment fancy's flights restrain'd,

* Sir Michael Fofter, one of the Judges of the King's Bench.

Correctly

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