CEASE, tempting Siren, cease thy flattering ftrain,
Sweet is thy charming fong, but fung in vain :
When the winds blow, and loud the tempefts roar,
What fool would truft the waves, and quit the
fhore?

Early, and vain, into the world I came,
Big with falfe hopes, and eager after fame;
Till looking round me, ere the race began,
Madmen, and giddy fools, were all that ran;
Reclaim'd betimes, I from the lists retire,
And thank the gods, who my retreat inspire.
In happier times our ancestors were bred,
When virtue was the only path to tread :
Give me, ye gods! but the fame road to fame.
Whate'er my fathers dar'd, I dare the same.
Chang'd is the fcene, fome baneful planet rules
An impious world, contriv'd for knaves and fools.
Look now around, and with impartial eyes
Confider, and examine all who rise;

power?

Hug when you ftab, and fmile when you devour?
Be bloody, false, flatter, forfwear, and lie,
Turn pander, pathic, parafite, or spy ;

Such thriving arts may your wish'd purpose bring,
A minister at least, perhaps a king.

Fortune, we moft unjustly partial call,
A mistress free, who bids alike to all;
But on fuch terms as only fuit the base,
Honour denies and fhuns the foul embrace.
The honest man, who ftarves and is undone,
Not fortune, but his virtue keeps him down.
Had Cato bent beneath the conquering cause,
He might have liv'd to give new senates laws;
But on vile terms difdaining to be great,'
He perish'd by his choice, and not his fate.
Honours and life, th' ufurper bids, and all
That vain mistaken men good-fortune call,
Virtue forbids, and fets before his eyes
An honeft death, which he accepts, and dies:
O glorious refolution Noble pride!
More honour'd, than the tyrant liv'd, he dy'd;
More lov'd, more prais'd, more envy'd in his
doom,

Than Cæfar trampling on the rights of Rome.
The virtuous nothing fear, but fe with fhame,
And death's a pleasant road that leads to fame.

On bones, and fcraps of dogs let me be fed,
My limbs uncover'd, and expos'd my head
To bleakest colds, a kennel be my bed.
This, and all other martyrdom for thee,
Seems glorious, all, thrice beauteous honesty!
Judge me, ye powers! let fortune tempt or frown
I ftand prepar'd, my honour is my own.

Ye great difturbers, who in endless noife, In blood and rapine feek unnatural joys; For what is all this bustle but to fhun Those thoughts with which you dare not be alone? As men in mifery, oppreft with care, Seek in the rage of wine to drown defpair. Let others fight, and eat their bread in blood, Regardless if the cause be bad or good; Or cringe in courts, depending on the nods Of strutting pigmies who would pass for gods. For me, unpractis'd in the courtiers-fchool, Who loathe a knave, and tremble at a fool; Who honour generous Wycherley oppreft, Poffeft of little, worthy of the best, Rich in himself, in virtue that outshines All but the fame of his immortal lines, More than the wealthiest lord, who helps to drain The famish'd land, and rolls in impious gain: What can I hope in courts? Or how fucceed? Tygers and wolves fhall in the ocean breed, The whale and dolphin fatten on the mead; And every element exchange its kind, Ere thriving honefty in courts we find.

Happy the man, of mortals happiest he, Whofe quiet mind from vain defires is free;

Whom neither hopes deceive, nor fears torment,
But lives at peace, within himself content,
In thought, or act, accountable to none,
But to himself, and to the gods alone :
O fweetness of content! feraphic joy!
Which nothing wants, and nothing can deftroy.
Where dwells this peace, this freedom of the
mind!

Where, but in fhades remote from human kind; In flowery vales, where nymphs and fhepherds meet,

But never comes within the palace gate.
Farewell then cities, courts, and camps, farewell,
Welcome, ye groves, here let me ever dwell,
From cares,
from business, and mankind remove,,
All but the muses, and inspiring love :
How sweet the morn! How gentle is the night!
How calm the evening! And the day how bright!
From hence, as from a hill, I view below
The crowded world, a mighty wood in fhow,
Where feveral wanderers travel day and night,
By different paths, and none are in the right.

SONG.

LOVE is by fancy led about

From hope to fear, from joy to doubt;
Whom we now an angel call,
Divinely grac'd in every feature,
Straight's a deform'd, a perjur'd creatures
Love and hate are fancy all,
'Tis but as fancy fhall present
Objects of grief, or of content,

That the lover's bleft, or dies:
Vifions of mighty pain, or pleasure,
Imagin'd want, imagin'd treasure,
All in powerful fancy lies.

BEAUTY AND LAW.

A POETICAL PLEADING.

King Charles II. having made a grant of the reverfion of an office in the court of King's-Bench, to his fon the Duke of Grafton; the Lord Chief Juftice laying claim to it, as a perquifite legally belonging to his office, the caufe came to be heard before the House of Lords, between the Duchefs, relic of the faid Duke, and the Chief Juftice.

THE princes fat; beauty and law contend;
The queen of love will her own caufe defend:
Secure the looks, as certain none can fee
Such beauty plead, and not her captive be.
What need of words with fuch commanding eyes?
Must I then speak? O heav'ns! the charmer cries;
barbarous clime! where beauty borrows aid
From eloquence, to charm, or to perfuade!
Will difcord never leave with envious care
To raise debate? But difcord governs here
To Juno, Pallas, wifdom, fame, and power,
Long fince preferr'd, what trial needs there more

?

Confefs'd to fight, three goddeffes defcend
On Ida's hill, and for a prize contend;
Nobly they bid, and lavishly pursue
A gift, that only could be beauty's due:
Honours and wealth the generous judge denies,
And gives the triumph to the brightest eyes.
Such precedents are numberlefs, we draw
Our right from custom; custom is a law
As high as heaven, as wide as feas or land;
As ancient as the world is our command.
Mars an Alcides would this plea allow :
Beauty was ever absolute till now.
It is enough that I pronounce it mine,
And, right or wrong, he thould his claim refign
Not bears nor tygers fure so savage are,
As thefe ill-mainer'd monsters of the bar.

Loud || rumour has proclaim'd a nymph divine,
Whose matchlefs form, to counterbalance mine,
By dint of beauty fhall exort your grace:
Let her appear, this rival, face to face;
Let eyes to eyes oppos'd this ftrife decide;
Now, when I lighten, let her beams be try'd.
Was't a vain promife, and a gownman's he?
Or ftands fhe here, unmark'd, when I am by?
So heav'n was mock'd, and once all Elys round,
Another Jupiter was faid to found;
On brazen floors the royal actor tries
To ape the thunder rattling in the skies;
A brandish'd torch, with emulating blaze,
Affects the forky lightning's pointed rays:
Thus borne aloft, triumphantly he rode
Through crowds of worshippers, and acts the god.
The fire omnipotent prepares the brand,
By Vulcan wrought, and arms his potent hand;
Then flaming hurls it hiffing from above,

And in the vast abyss confounds the mimic Jove. Prefumptuous wretch! with mortal art to dare Immortal power, and brave the thunderer!

Caffiope, preferring with difdain,

Her daughter to the Nereids, they complain;
The daughter, for the mother's guilty fcorn,
Is doom'd to be devour'd; the mother's borne
Above the clouds, where, by immortal light,
Revers'd the fhines, expos'd to human fight,
And to a fhameful pofture is confin'd,
As an eternal terror to mankind.
Did thus the gods such private nymphs respect?
What vengeance might the queen of love expect?

But grant fuch arbitrary pleas are vain, Wav'd let them be; mere juftice shall obtain. Who to a husband juftlier can fucceed, Than the foft partner of his nuptial bed; Or to a father's right lay ftronger claim, Than the dear youth in whom furvives his name? Behold that youth, confider whence he springs, And in his royal veins refpect your kings: Immortal Jove, upon a mortal fhe, Begat his fire: Second from Jove is he.

Well did the father blindly fight your cause, Following the cry-of liberty and laws,

A report (pread of a beautiful young lady, niece to the Lord Chief Justice, who would appear at the bar of the Houfe of Lords, and eclipfe the charms of the Duchefs of Grafton: No fuch lady was feen there, nor perhaps even in any part of the world,

If by thofe laws, for which he loft his life *,
You spoil, ungratefully, the fon and wife.

What need I more? 'Tis reafon to dispute:
The grant was royal; that decides the fuit.
"Shall vulgar laws imperial power constrain?
Kings, and the gods, can never act in vain."
She finish'd here, the queen of every grace,
Disdain vermilioning her heavenly face:
Our hearts take fire, and all in tumult rife,
And one with sparkles in a thousand eyes.
O! might some champion finish these debates!
My fword fhall end, what now my pen relates.
Up rofe the Judge, on each fide bending low,
A crafty smile accompanies his bow;
Ulyffes like, a gentle pause he makes,
Then, raifing by degrees his voice, he speaks.

in you, my lords, who judge; and all who hear, Methinks I read your wilhes for the fair; Nor can I wonder, even I contend With inward pain, unwilling to offend; Unhappy! thus oblig'd to a defence, That may displease fuch heavenly excellence. Might we the laws on any terms abuse, So bright an influence were the beft excufe; Let + Niobe's just fate, the vile difgrace Of the || Propœtides' polluted race; Let death, or shame, or lunacy surprise, Who dare to match the luftre of those eyes! Aloud the fairest of the fex complain Of captives loft, and loves invok'd in vain; At her appearance all their glory ends, And not a star, but sets, when the afcends.

Where love prefides, ftill may fhe bear the prize;
But rigid law has neither ears nor eyes :
Charms, to which Mars and Hercules would bow,
Minos and § Rhadamanthus difavow.
Justice, by nothing bias'd, or inclin'd,
Deaf to perfuafion, to temptation blind,
Determines without favour, and the laws
O'erlook the parties, to decide the caufe.
What then avails it, that a beardlefs boy
Took a rash fancy for a female toy?

Th' infulted Argives, with a numerous hoft,
Burfue revenge, and feek the Dardan coast;
Though the gods built, and though the gods defend
Thofe lofty towers, the hoftile Grecks afcend;
Nor leave they, till the town in afhes lies,
And all the race of royal Priam dies:
The queen of ¶ Paphos, mixing in the fray,
Rallies the troops, and urges on the day;
In perfon, in the foremost ranks fhe ftands,
Provokes the charge, directs, affifts, commands;
Stern Diomed, advancing high in air,
His lofty javelin ftrikes the heavenly fair;
The vaulted fkies with her loud fhrieks refound,
And high Olympus trembles at the wound.

The Duke of Grafton, flain at the fiege of Cork in Ireland, about the beginning of the Revolution.

+ Nobe turned into a tone for prefuming to compare herself with Diana.

Propoetides, certain virgins, who, for affronting Venus, were condemned to open proftitution, and afterwards turned into ftone.

Minos and Rhadamanthus, famous legiflators, who for their ftrict adminiftration of juftice, were, after their deaths, made chief judges in the infernal regions. 1 Venus.

In causes juft, would all the gods oppofe,
'Twere honeft to difpute; fo Cato chose.
Difmifs that plea, and what shall blood avail?
If beauty is deny'd, fhall birth prevail?
Blood, and high deeds, in distant ages done,
Are our forefathers merit, not our own.
Might none a juft poffeffion be allow'd,
But who could bring defert, or boast of blood?
What numbers, even here, might be condemn'd,
Strip'd, and despoil'd of all, revil'd, contemn'd?
Take a juft view, how many may remark,
Who now's a peer, his grandfire was a clerk:
Some few remain, ennobled by the fword
In Gothic times: But now to be my lord,
Study the law; nor do thefe robes despise;

Honour the gown, from whence your honours rife
Those fam'd dictators, who fubdu'd the globe,
Gave the precedence to the peaceful robe;

The mighty Julius, pleading at the bar,
Was greater, than when thundering in the war
He conquer'd nations: 'Tis of more renown
To fave a client, than to ftorm a town.

How dear to Britain are her darling laws! What blood has the not lavish'd in their caufe! Kings are like common flaves to flaughter led, Or wander through the world to beg their bread. "When regal power afpires above the laws, "A private wrong becomes a public cause.”

He spoke. The nobles differ, and divide; Some join with law, and fome with beauty fide. Mordaunt, though once her flave, infults the fair, Whofe fetters 'twas his pride, in youth, to wear : So Lucifer revolting, brav'd the power Whom he was wont to worship and implore. Like impious is their rage, who have in chafe A new omnipotence in Grafton's face. But Rochefter, undaunted, juft, and wife, Afferts the goddess with the charming eyes; And O! may beauty never want reward For thee, her noble champion, and her guard. Beauty triumphs, and law fubmitting lies, The tyrant tam'd, aloud for mercy cries; Conqueft can never fail in radiant Grafton's eyes.

LADY HYDE *.

WHEN fam'd Apelles fought to frame
Some image of th' Idalian dame,
To furnish graces for the piece,

He fummon'd all the nymphs of Greece;
So many mortals were combin'd,
To fhow how one immortal fhin'd.
Had Hyde thus fat by proxy too,
As Venus then was faid to do,
Venus herfelf, and all the train
Of goddeffes had fummon'd been;
The painter muft have fearch'd the skies,
To match the luftre of her eyes.

Comparing then, while thus we view
The ancient Venus, and the new;
In her we many mortals fee,
As many goddeffes in thee.

Afterwards Counters of Clarendon and Rochefter,

SCARCE Could the general joy for Mohun appear,
But new attempts fhow other dangers near;
Beauty's attack'd in her imperial fort,
Where all her loves and graces kept their court;
In her chief refidence, befieg'd at last,
Laments to fee her faireft fields laid waste.

On things immortal, all attempts are vain ;
Tyrant difeafe, 'tis lofs of time and pain;
Glut thy wild rage, and load thee with rich prize
Torn from her cheeks, her fragrant lips, and eyes:
Let her but live; as much vermilion take,
As might an Helen, or a Venus make;
Like Thetis, fhe fhall fruftrate thy vain rape,
And in variety of charms efcape.

The twinkling stars drop numberless each night, Yet fhines the radiant firmament as bright; So from the ocean should we rivers drain, Still would enough to drown the world remain.

THE DUCHESS OF UNSEASONABLY SURPRISED IN THE EMBRACES OF HER LORD.

FREST Zelinda, cease to chide, or grieve;

blufh at joys that only you can give;

Who with bold eyes furvey'd thofe matchlefs charms,

Is punish'd, seeing in another's arms :
With greedy looks he views each naked part,
Joy feeds his eyes, but envy tears his heart.
So caught was Mars, and Mercury aloud
Proclaim'd his grief, that he was not the god;
So to be caught, was every god's defire :
Nor lefs than Venus, can Zelinda fire.
Forgive him then, thou more than heavenly fair,
Forgive his rafhnefs, punifh'd by defpair;
All that we know, which wretched mortals feel
In those fad regions where the tortur'd dwell,
Is, that they fce the raptures of the bless'd,
And view the joys which they must never taste.

TO FLAVIA.

WRITTEN ON HER GARDEN IN THE NORTH.

WHAT charm is this, that in the midft of fnow,

Love from her lips fpreads all his odours round,
But bears on ice, and springs from frozen ground.,
So cold the clime that can fuch wonders bear,
The garden feems an emblem of the fair.

TO THE SAME.

Her Gardens having escaped a Flood that had laid all the Country round under Water.

WHAT hands divine have planted and protect,
The torrent spares, and deluges refpect;
So when the waters o'er the world were fpread,
Covering each oak, and every mountain's head,
The chosen patriarch fail'd within his ark,
Nor might the waves o'erwhelm the facred bark,
The charming Flavia is no lefs, we find,
The favourite of Heaven, than of mankind;
The gods, like rivals, imitate our care,
And vie with mortals to oblige the fair;
These favours thus beftow'd on her alone,
Are but the homage which they send her down.
O Flavia may thy virtue from above
Be crown'd with bleffings, endless as my love.

TO MY FRIEND DR. GARTH.

IN HIS SICKNESS.

MACHAON fick, in every face we find,
His danger is the danger of mankind;
Whofe art protecting, nature could expire
But by a deluge, or the general fire.
More lives he faves, than perish in our wars,
And faster than a plague destroys, repairs.
The bold carouser, and advent'rous dame,
Nor fear the fever, nor refuse the flame;
Safe in his fkill, from all reftraints fet free,
But confcious fhame, remorse, or piety.

Sire + of all arts, defend thy darling fon;
O! Tave the man whofe life's fo much our own!
On whom, like Atlas, the whole world's reclin'd,
And by refloring Garth, preferve mankind.

To my dear Kinsman, CHARLES LORD LANSDOWNE,

Melons, on beds of ice are taught to bear,
And rangers to the fur, yet ripen here;
On frozen ground the fweeteft flowers arife,
Unfeen by any light, but Flavia's eyes;
Where'er fe treads, beneath the charmer's feet
The rofe, the jefs'mine, and the lilies meet;
Where'er flie looks, behold fome fudden birth
Adorns the trees, and fructifies the earth;
In midst of mountains, and unfruitful ground,
As rich an Eden as the first is found.
In this new paradife the goddess reigns,
In fovereign flate, and mocks the lover's pains;

Normandy, by the Englife Fleet.

THOUGH built by gods, confum'd by hostile flame,
Troy bury'd lies, yet lives the Trojan name;
And fo fhåll thine, though with these walls were
loft

All the records our ancestors could boat.
For Latium conquer'd, and for Turnus flain,
Aneas lives, though not one flone remain
Where he atofe: Nor art thou lefs renown'd
For thy lud triumphs on Hungarian ground.

† Apollo, ged of poetry and playfc.

Those farms which for nine centuries had brav'd

The wrath of time, on antique ftone engrav'd,
Now torn by mortars, ftand yet undefac'd
On nobler trophies, by thy valour rais'd:
Safe on thy | eagle's wings they foar above
The rage of war, or thunder to remove,
Borne by the bird of Cæfar, and of Jove.

LADY HYDE,

SITTING AT SIR GODFREY KNELLER'S FOR HER PICTURE.

WHILE Kneller, with inimitable art,
Attempts that face whofe print's on every heart,
The poet, with a pencil lefs confin'd,

Shall paint her virtues, and describe her mind,
Unlock the fhrine, and to the fight unfold
The secret gems, and all the inward gold.
Two only patterns do the mufes name,
Of perfe& beauty, but of guilty fame;

A Venus and an Helen have been seen,

Both perjur'd wives, the goddess and the queen:
In this the third, are reconcil'd at laft
Thofe jarring attributes of fair and chaste,
With graces that attract, but not enfnare,
Divinely good, as she's divinely fair;
With beauty, not affected, vain, nor proud;
With greatnefs, eafy, affable, and good:
Others by guilty artifice, and arts

Of promis'd kindness, practise on our hearts,
With expectation blow the passion up;
She fans the fire, without one gale of hope,
Like the chaste moon, the fhines to all mankind,
But to Endymion is her love confin'd.
What cruel destiny on beauty waits,
When on one face depend fo many fates!
Oblig'd by honour to relieve but one,
Unhappy men by thousands are undone.

TO MRS. GRANVILLE,

OP WOTTON IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE;

AFTERWARDS

LADY CONWAY.

Love, like a tyrant whom no laws conftrain,
Now for fome ages kept the world in pain;
Beauty, by vaft destructions got renown,
And lovers only by their rage were known:
But Granville, more aufpicious to mankind,
Conqu'ring the heart, as much inftructs the mind;
Bleft in the fate of her victorious eyes,
Seeing, we love; and hearing, we grow wife :
So Rome for wifdom, as for conqueft fam'd,
Improv'd with arts, whom the by armis had tam'd.
Above the clouds is plac'd this glorious light,
Nothing lies hid from her inquiring fight;

+ The Granville arms ftill remaining at that time on one of the gates of the town.

He was created a Count of the Empire, the family arms to be borne for ever upon the breaft of the imperial Spread eagle.

Now fly, difcretion, to my aid,

See haughty Myra, fair and bright,
In all the pomp of love array'd;

Ah! how I tremble at the fight!
She comes, she comes-before her all
Mankind does prostrate fall.

Love, a destroyer, fierce and young, Advent'rous, terrible, and strong. Cruel and rash, delighting still to vex, Sparing nor age nor fex,

Commands in chief; well fortify'd he lies,
And from her lips, her cheeks and eyes,
All opposition he defies.

Reafon, love's old inveterate foe,
Scarce ever reconcil'd till now,

Reafon affists her too.

A wife commander he, for council fit;
But nice and coy, nor has been feen to t
In modern fynod, nor appear'd of late
In courts, nor camps, nor in affairs of state;
Reafon proclaims them all his foes,
Who fuch refiftlefs charms oppofe.

My very bofom friends make war
Within my breast, and in her interefts are;
Efteem and judgment with strong fancy join
To court, and call the fair invader in
My darling favourite inclination too,
All, all confpiring with the foe.

Ah! whither fhall I fly to hide My weakness from the conqu'ror's pride? Now, now, difcretion be my guide. But fee, this mighty Archimedes too, Surrenders now.

Alexander and Caefar.