And live there men who flight immortal Fame? · Who then with incenfe fhall adore our name?
But, mortals! know, 'tis ftill our greatest pride
• To blaze those virtues which the good would hide.
Rife, Muses, rife! add all your tuneful breath;
• These must not sleep in darkness and in death.’
She faid; in air the trembling mufick floats,
And on the winds triumphant fwell the notes:
So foft, tho' high, fo loud, and yet fo clear,
E'en lift'ning angels lean'd from heav'n to hear;
To fartheft shores th' ambrofial spirit flies,
Sweet to the world, and grateful to the skies.
Next these a youthful train their vows express'd,
With feathers crown'd, with gay embroid'ry drefs'd:
Hither,' they ery'd, direct your eyes, and fee
• The men of pleasure, dress, and gallantry:
• Ours is the place at banquets, balls, and plays;
• Sprightly our nights, polite are all our days;
• Courts we frequent, where 'tis our pleafing care
• To pay due visits, and address the fair;
In fact, 'tis true, no nymph we could perfuade,
But ftill in fancy vanquish'd every maid;
• Of unknown ducheffes lewd tales we tell,
Yet would the world believe us all were well.
The joy let others have, and we the name,
• And what we want in pleasure grant in Fame.'
The queen affents; the trumpet rends the skies,
And at each blast a lady's honour dies.
Pleas'd with the ftrange fuccefs, vaft numbers prefs'd
Around the fhrine, and made the fame requeft:
What, you!' fhe cry'd, unlearn'd in arts to please,
Slaves to yourselves, and e'en fatigu'd with eafe,
Who lose a length of undeferving days,
Would you ufurp the lover's dear-bought praife?
To just contempt, ye vain pretenders! fall,
The people's fable, and the fcorn of all.
Straight the black clarion fends a horrid found,
Loud laughs burst out, and bitter fcoffs fly round;
Whispers are heard, with taunts reviling loud,
And fcornful hiffes run thro' all the crowd.
Laft, those who boast of mighty mifchiefs done,
Enslave their country, or ufurp a throne;
Or who their glory's dire foundation laid
On fov'reigns ruin'd, or on friends betray'd;
Calm-thinking villains, whom no faith could fix,
Of crooked counsels and dark politicks;
Of these a gloomy tribe surround the throne,
And beg to make th' immortal treasons known.
The trumpet roars, long flaky flames expire,
With sparks that feem'd to fet the world on fire.
At the dread found pale mortals ftood aghaft,
And ftartled Nature trembled with the blast.
This having heard and seen, fome power unknown Straight chang'd the fcene, and fnatch'd me from the throne. Before my view appear'd a ftructure fair,
It's fite uncertain, if in earth or air;
With rapid motion turn'd the mansion round;
With ceaseless noise the ringing walls refound:
Not lefs in number were the spacious doors,
Than leaves on trees, or fands upon the fhores ;
Which still unfolded ftand by night, by day,
Pervious to winds, and open ev'ry way.
As flames by nature to the skies afcend;
As weighty bodies to the centre tend;
As to the fea returning rivers roll,
And the touch'd needle trembles to the pole;
Hither, as to their proper place, arise
All various founds from earth, and feas, and skies,
Or fpoke aloud, or whisper'd in the ear;
Nor ever filence, reft, or peace, is here.
As on the fmooth expanse of chrystal lakes
The finking stone at first a circle makes;
The trembling furface, by the motion stirr'd,
Spreads in a second circle, then a third;
Wide and more wide the floating rings advance,
Fill all the wat'ry plain, and to the margin dance:
Thus ev'ry voice and found, when firft they break,
On neighb'ring air a soft impression make;
Another ambient circle then they move,
That in it's turn impels the next above;
Thro' undulating air the sounds are sent,
And spread o'er all the fluid element.
There various news I heard of love and ftrife,
Of peace and war, health, fickness, death, and life;
Of loss and gain, of famine, and of store,
Of ftorms at fea, and travels on the fhore,
Of prodigies and portents feen in air,
Of fires and plagues, and stars with blazing hair,
Of turns of fortune, changes in the state,
The falls of fav'rites, projects of the great,
Of old mifmanagements, taxations new:
All neither wholly falfe, nor wholly true.
Above, below, without, within, around,
Confus'd, unnumber'd multitudes are found,
Who pass, repass, advance, and glide away,
Hofts rais'd by fear, and phantoms of a day:
Aftrologers that future fates forefhew,
Projectors, quacks, and lawyers not a few;
And priests, and party zealots, numerous bands,
With home-born lyes, or tales from foreign lands;
Each talk'd aloud, or in fome fecret place,
And wild impatience ftar'd in ev'ry face.
The flying rumours gather'd as they roll'd,
Scarce any tale was fooner heard than told;
And all who told it added fomething new,
And all who heard it made enlargements too;
In ev'ry ear it spread, on ev'ry tongue it grew.
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Thus, flying eaft and weft, and north and fouth,
News travell'd with increafe from mouth to mouth:
So from a spark, that kindled first by chance,
With gath'ring force the quick'ning flames advance;
Till to the clouds their curling heads afpire,
And tow'rs and temples fink in floods of fire,
When thus ripe lyes are to perfection sprung,
Full grown, and fit to grace a mortal tongue,
Thro' thousand vents, impatient, forth they flow,
And rush in millions on the world below.
Fame fits aloft, and points them out their course,
Their date determines, and prescribes their force:
Some to remain, and fome to perish foon;
Or wane and wax alternate, like the moon.
Around a thousand winged wonders fly,
Borne by the trumpet's blaft, and scatter'd thro' the sky.
There, at one paffage, oft you might furvey
A lye and truth contending for the way;
And long 'twas doubful, both so closely pent,
Which first should iffue through the narrow vent:
At laft agreed, together out they fly,
Infeparable now the truth and lye;
The ftrict companions are for ever join'd,
And this, or that, unmix'd, no mortal e'er fhall find.
While thus I ftood, intent to see and hear,
One came, methought, and whisper'd in my ear:
• What could thus high thy rash ambition raise?
Art thou, fond youth! a candidate for praise ?”
'Tis true,' faid I, not void of hopes I came,
For who fo fond as youthful bards of Fame?
But few, alas! the casual bleffing boast,
So hard to gain, so easy to be loft.
How vain that fecond life in others breath,
Th' eftate which wits inherit after death!
Eafe, health, and life, for this they must refign,
(Unfure the tenure, but how vaft the fine!)
The great man's curfe, without the gains, endure;
Be envy'd wretched, and be flatter'd poor:
• All lucklefs wits their enemies profefs'd,
• And all fuccefsful jealous friends at best.
• Nor Fame I flight, nor for her favours call;
• She comes unlook'd-for if she comes at all.
• But if the purchase costs so dear a price,
As foothing folly, or exalting vice;
• Oh! if the Muse must flatter lawless sway,
• And follow ftill where Fortune leads the way;
• Or if no bafis bear my rifing name,
But the fall'n ruins of another's Fame;
• Then teach me, Heav'n! to fcorn the guilty bays,
• Drive from my breast that wretched luft of praise:
• Unblemish'd let me live, or die unknown;
• Oh! grant an honeft Fame, or grant me none !'
BY SIR JOHN MORE.
HILDREN of affluence, hear a poor man's prayʼr!
O hafte, and free me from this dungeon's gloom!
Let not the hand of comfortless Despair
Sink my grey hairs with forrow to the tomb!
Unus'd Compaffion's tribute to demand,
With clamorous din wake Charity's dull ear; Wring the flow aid from Pity's loitering hand, Weave the feign'd tale, or drop the ready tear.
Far different thoughts employ'd my early hours,
To views of blifs, to scenes of affluence born; The hand of Pleasure ftrew'd my path with flow'rs, And ev'ry bleffing hail'd my youthful morn.
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