Yet Tullius, tis decreed, must lose the crown,
For faults, that were his council's, not his own.
He now in vain commands ev'n those he pay'd,
By darling troops deferted and betray'd,
By creatures which his generous warmth had made.
Of these a captain of the guards was worst,
Whose memory to this day stands accurst.
This rogue, advanc'd to military truft
By his own whoredom, and his fister's luft,
Forsook his master, after dreadful vows,
And plotted to betray him to his foes;
The kindest master to the vilest slave,
As free to give, as he was fure to crave.
His haughty female, who, as books declare,
Did always toss wide nostrils in the air,
Was to the younger Tullia governess,
And did attend her, when, in borrow'd dress,
She fled by night from Tullius in distress.
This wretch, by letters, did invite his foes,
And us'd all arts her father to depose;
A father, always generously bent,
So kind, that ev'n her wishes he'd prevent.
'Twas now high time for Tullius to retreat,
When ev'n his daughter hasten'd his defeat;
When faith and duty vanish'd, and no more
The name of father and of king he bore :
A king, whose right his foes could ne'er dispute;
So mild, that mercy was his attribute;
Affable, kind, and easy of accefs;
Swift to relieve, unwilling to opprefs;
Rich without taxes, yet in payment just;
So honeft, that he hardly could diftruft;
His active foul from labours ne'er did cease,
Valiant in war, and vigilant in peace;
Studious with traffick to enrich the land;
Strong to protect, and skilful to command;
Liberal and splendid, yet without excess ;
Prone to relieve, unwilling to distress;
In fum, how godlike must his nature be,
Whose only fault was too much piety!
This king remov'd, th' afsembled states thought fit
That Tarquin in the vacant throne should fit;
Voted him regent in their fenate-house,
And with an empty name endow'd his spouse,
The elder Tullia, who, some authors feign,
Drove o'er her father's corpse a rumbling wain:
But the more guilty numerous wains did drive
To crush her father and her king alive;
And in remembrance of his haften'd fall,
Resolv'd to institute a weekly ball.
The jolly glutton grew in bulk and chin,
Feasted on rapine, and enjoy'd her fin;
With luxury she did weak reason force,
Debauch'd good-nature, and cram'd down remorse;
Yet when she drank cold tea in liberal fups,
The fobbing dame was maudling in her cups.
But brutal Tarquin never did relent,
Too hard to melt, too wicked to repent;
Cruel in deeds, more merciless in will,
And bleft with natural delight in ill.
From a wife guardian he receiv'd his doom
To walk the Change, and not to govern Rome.
He swore his native honours to disown,
And did by perjury afcend the throne.
Oh! had that oath his swelling pride represt,
Rome had been then with peace and plenty blest.
But Tarquin, guided by destructive fate,
The country wasted, and embroil'd the state,
Transported to their foes the Roman pelf,
And by their ruin hop'd to fave himself.
Innumerable woes oppress'd the land,
When it fubmitted to his curs'd command.
So just was heaven, that 'twas hard to tell,
Whether its guilt or losses did excell.
Men that renounc'd their God for dearer trade,
Were then the guardians of religion made.
Rebels were fainted, foreigners did reign,
Outlaws return'd, preferment to obtain,
With frogs, and toads, and all their croaking train.
No native knew their features nor their birth,
They feem'd the greasy offspring of the earth..
The trade was funk, the fleet and army spent;
Devouring taxes swallow'd lesser rent;
Taxes impos'd by no authority;
Each lewd collection was a robbery.
Bold felf-creating men did statutes draw,
Skill'd to establish villainy by law;
Fanatic drivers, whose unjust careers
Produc'd new ills exceeding former fears.
Yet authors here except a faithful band,
Which the prevailing faction did withstand;
And fome, who bravely stood in the defence
Of baffled justice and their exil'd prince.
These shine to after-times, each facred name
Stands still recorded in the rolls of fame.
WHEN lawlefs men their neighbours difpoffefs,
The tenants they extirpate or opprefs;
And make rude havock in the fruitful foil,
Which the right owners plough'd with careful toil.
The fame proportion does in kingdoms hold,
A new prince breaks the fences of the old!
And will o'er carcafes and deferts reign,
Unless the land its rightful lord regain.
He gripes the faithless owners of the place,
And buys a foreign army to deface
The fear'd and hated remnant of their race.
He starves their forces, and obstructs their trade;
Vaft fums are given, and yet no native paid.
The church itself he labours to affail,
And keeps fit tools to break the facred pale.
Of those let him the guilty roll commence,
Who has betray'd a master and a prince;
A man, feditious, lewd, and impudent;
An engine always mischievously bent;
One who from all the bands of duty swerves;
No tye can hold but that which he deferves;
VOL. I.
An author dwindled to a pamphleteer;
Skilful to forge, and always infincere;
Careless exploded practices to mend;
Bold to attack, yet feeble to defend.
Fate's blindfold reign the atheist loudly owns,
And Providence blafphemoufly dethrones.
In vain the leering actor strains his tongue
To cheat, with tears and empty noise, the throng,
Since all men know, whate'er he says or writes,
Revenge or stronger interest indites,
And that the wretch employs his venal wit
How to confute what formerly he writ.
Next him the grave Socinian claims a place,
Endow'd with reason, though bereft of grace;
A preaching pagan of furpaffing fame :
No regifter records his borrow'd name.
Oh, had the child more happily been bred,
A radiant mitre would have grac'd his head :
But now unfit, the most he should expect,
Is to be enter'd of T F's sect.
To him fucceeds, with looks demurely fad,
A gloomy foul, with revelation mad;
False to his friend, and careless of his word;
A dreaming prophet, and a griping lord;
He fells the livings which he can't poffess,
And farms that fine-cure his diocese.
Unthinking man! to quit thy barren see,
And vain endeavours in chronology,
For the more fruitless care of royal charity.
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