Thus Virtue finks beneath unnumber'd woes, When Paffions, born her friends, revolt her foes. Hence Satire's power: 'Tis her corrective part, To calm the wild disorders of the heart. She points the arduous height where Glory lies, And teaches mad Ambition to be wife: In the dark bosom wakes the fair defire, Draws good from ill, a brighter flame from fire : Strips black Oppreffion of her gay difguife, And bids the Hag in native horror rife; Strikes towering Pride and lawless Rapine dead, And plants the wreath on Virtue's awful head.
Nor boafts the Muse a vain imagin'd Power, Though oft she mourns those ills she cannot cure. 100 The Worthy court her, and the Worthless fear;
Who shun her piercing eye, that eye revere.
Her awful voice the Vain and Vile obey, And every foe to Wisdom feels her sway.
Smarts, Pedants, as she smiles, no more are vain; 105
Desponding Fops resign the clouded cane: Hush'd at her voice, pert Folly's self is still,
And Dulness wonders while she drops her quill. Like the arm'd Bee, with art most subtly true, From poisonous Vice she draws a healing dew : 110 Weak are the ties that civil arts can find,
To quell the ferment of the tainted mind : Cunning evades, securely wrapt in wiles! And Force strong-finew'd rends th' unequal toils: The ftream of Vice impetuous drives along, Too deep for Policy, for Power too strong.
Ev'n fair Religion, Native of the skies, Scorn'd by the Crowd, seeks refuge with the Wife; The Crowd with laughter spurns her awful train,
And Mercy courts, and Justice frowns in vain,
But Satire's Shaft can pierce the harden'd breast: She plays a ruling Passion on the rest :
Undaunted storms the battery of his pride, And awes the Brave that Earth and Heaven defy'd.
When fell Corruption, by her vassals crown'd,
Derides fall'n Justice prostrate on the ground;
Swift to redress an injur'd People's groan,
Bold Satire shakes the Tyrant on her throne; Powerful as Death, defies the fordid train, And Slaves and Sycophants furround in vain.
But with the friends of Vice, the foes of Satire, All truth is Spleen; all just reproof, Ill-nature. Well may they dread the Muse's fatal skill; Well may they tremble when she draws her quill: Her magic quill, that, like Ithuriel's spear, Reveals the cloven hoof, or lengthen'd ear: Bids Vice and Folly take their natural shapes, Turns Dutchesses to strumpets, Beaux to apes; Drags the vile Whisperer from his dark abode, Till all the Dæmon starts up from the toad.
O fordid maxim, form'd to screen the vile, That true good-nature still must wear a smile! In frowns array'd her beauties stronger rise, When love of Virtue wakes her scorn of Vice: Where Juftice calls, 'tis Cruelty to save; And 'tis the Law's good-nature hangs the Knave,
Who combats Virtue's foe is Virtue's friend; Then judge of Satire's merit by her end : To Guilt alone her vengeance stands confin'd, The object of her love is all Mankind.
Scarce more the friend of Man, the wife must own, Ev'n Allen's bounteous hand, than Satire's frown : This to chastise, as That to bless was giv'n; Alike the faithful Ministers of Heaven.
Oft in unfeeling hearts the shaft is spent: Though ftrong th' example, weak the punishment. They least are pain'd, who merit Satire most :
Folly the Laureat's, Vice was Chartres' boaft: Then where 's the wrong, to gibbet high the name Of Fools and Knaves already dead to shame? Oft Satire acts the faithful Surgeon's part; Generous and kind, though painful, is her art: With caution bold, she only strikes to heal : Though folly raves to break the friendly steel. Then fure no fault impartial Satire knows, Kind ev'n in Vengeance, kind to Virtue's foes. Whose is the crime, the scandal too be theirs ; The Knave and Fool are their own Libellers.
ARE nobly then: But confcious of your truft, As ever warm and bold be ever just : Nor court applause in these degenerate days: The Villain's cenfure is extorted praife.
But chief, be steady in a noble end, And shew Mankind that Truth has yet a friend, 'Tis mean for empty praise of wit to write, As Foplings grin to shew their teeth are white : To brand a doubtful folly with a smile,
Or madly blaze unknown defects, is vile : 'Tis doubly vile, when, but to prove your art, You fix an arrow in a blameless heart.
O loft to honour's voice, O doom'd to shame, Thou Fiend accurst, thou Murderer of Fame!
Fell Ravisher, from innocence to tear
That name, than liberty, than life more dear! Where shall thy baseness meet its just return, Or what repay thy guilt, but endless scorn ? And know, immortal Truth shall mock thy toil: Immortal Truth shall bid the shaft recoil:
With rage retorted, wing the deadly dart; And empty all its poison in thy heart.
With caution next, the dangerous power apply;
An eagle's talon asks an eagle's eye :
Let Satire then her proper object know, And ere she strike, be sure she strike a foe.
Nor fondly deem the real fool confeft, Because blind Ridicule conceives a jest: Before whose altar Virtue oft hath bled, And oft a destin'd victim shall be led :
Lo Shaftesbury rears her high on Reason's throne, And loads the Slave with honours not her own :
Big-fwoln with folly, as her smiles provoke, Prophaneness spawns, pert Dunces nurse the joke! Come, let us join a while this tittering crew, And own the Ideot Guide for once is true; Deride our weak forefathers' musty rule, Who therefore smil'd, because they saw a Fool;
Sublimer logic now adorns our ifle,
We therefore fee a Fool, because we fmile. Truth in her gloomy cave why fondly feek? Lo, gay she fits in Laughter's dimpled cheek : Contemns each furly Academic foe, And courts the spruce Freethinker and the Beau. Dædalian arguments but few can trace, But all can read the language of grimace. Hence mighty Ridicule's all-conquering hand Shall work Herculean wonders through the Land: Bound in the magic of her cobweb chain, You, mighty Warburton, shall rage in vain, In vain the trackless maze of Truth you scan, And lend th' informing Clue to erring Man : No more shall Reason boast her power divine, Her Base eternal shook by Folly's mine! Truth's facred Fort th' exploded laugh shall win; And Coxcombs vanquish Berkeley by a grin.
« PreviousContinue » |