SPEAK, goddess fince 'tis thou that beft canft tell,
How ancient leagues to modern difcord fell;
And why phyficians were fo cautious grown
Of others' lives, and lavish of their own;
How by a journey to th' Elyfian plain
Peace triumph'd, and old time return'd again.
Not far from that most celebrated place,
Where angry * justice shews her awful face;
Where little villains muft fubmit to fate,
That great ones may enjoy the world in state;
There ftands at dome, majeftic to the fight,
And fumptuous arches bear its oval height;
A golden globe, plac'd high with artful skill,
Seems, to the diftant fight, a gilded pill
This pile was, by the pious patron's aim,
Rais'd for a ufe as noble as its frame;
Nor did the learn'd fociety decline
The propagation of that great defign;
In all her mazes, nature's face they view'd,
And, as she disappear'd, their fearch purfued. (a)
Wrapt in the shade of night the goddess lies,
Yet to the learn'd unveils her dark disguise,
But fhuns the grofs access of vulgar eyes.

Now the unfolds the faint and dawning ftrife
Of infant atoms kindling into life;
How ductile matter new meanders takes,
And flender trains of twisting fibres makes;
And how the viscous feeks a closer tone,
By just degrees to harden into bone;
While the more loofe flow from the vital urn,
And in full tides of purple ftreams return;
How lambent flames from life's bright lamps arife,
And dart in emanations through the eyes;
How from each fluice a gentle torrent pours,
To flake a feverish heat with ambient showers;

Whence their mechanic powers the fpirits claim ;
How great their force, how delicate their frame;
How the fame nerves are fashion'd to fuftain
The greatest pleasure and the greatest pain;
Why bilious juice a golden light puts on,
And floods of chyle in filver currents run;
How the dim fpeck of entity began
T'extend its recent form, and stretch to man ;
To how minute an origin we owe
Young Ammon, Cæfar, and the great Nassau ;
Why paler looks impetuous rage proclaim,
And why chill virgins redden into flame;
Why envy oft' transforms with wan difguife,
And why gay mirth fits filing in the eyes;
All ice why Lucrece; or Sempronia, fire;
Why Scarfdale rages to furvive defire;
When Milo's vigeur at th' Olympick's fhown,
Whence tropes to Finch, or impudence to Sloane; (b)
How matter, by the vary'd fhape of pores,

Or ideots frames, or folemn fenators.

Hence 'tis we wait the wondrous caufe to
find,

How body acts upon impaffive mind;
How fumes of wine the thinking part can fire,
Paft hopes revive, and prefent joys infpire;
Why our complexions oft' our foul declare,
And how the paffions in the feature are;
How touch and harmony arise between
Corporeal figure, and a form unfeen;
How quick their faculties the limbs fulfil,
And act at every fummons of the will;
With mighty truths, myfterious to defcry,
Which in the womb of diftant caufes lie.

But now no grand inquiries are defcry'd, Mean faction reigns where knowledge should prefide,

Feuds are increaf'd, and learning laid afide.

VARIATIONS.

(6) Why Atticus polite, Brutus fevere, Why Methwin muddy, Montague why clear.

Thus fynods oft' concern for faith conceal,
And for important nothings hew a zeal:
The drooping fciences neglected pine,

And Pæan's beams with fading luftre shine.
No readers here with hectic looks are found,
Nor eyes in rheum, through midnight-watching,
drown'd;

The lonely edifice in fweats complains
That nothing there but fullen filence reigns.
This place, fo fit for undisturb'd repose,
The god of loth for his afylum chose;
Upon a couch of down in these abodes,
Supine with folded arms he thoughtless rinds;
Indulging dreams his godhead lull to ease,
With murmurs of soft rills, and whispering trees:
The poppy and each numbing plant dispense
Their crowzy virtue, and dull indolence;
No paffions interrupt his eafy reign,
No problems puzzle his lethargic brain;
But dark oblivion guards his peaceful bed,
And lazy fogs hang lingering o'er his head,

*

As at full length the pamper'd monarch lay,
Battening in ease, and flumbering life away;
A fpiteful noife his downy chains unties,
Haftes forward, and increases as it flies.
First, fome to cleave the ftubborn flint engage,
Till, urg'd by blows, it fparkles into rage:
Some temper lute, fome fpacious veffels move
move;
These furnaces erect, and thofe approve;
Here phials in nice difcipline are fet,
There gallipots are rang'd in alphabet.
In this place, magazines of pills you spy:
In that, like forage, herbs in bundles lie;
While lifted pefties, brandish'd in the air,
Defcend in peals, and civil wars declare. [rend,
Loud ftrokes, with pounding fpice, the fabric
And aromatic clouds in fpires afcend.

So when the Cyclops o'er their anvils fweat,
And fwelling finews echoir g blows repeat;
From the volcanos grofs eruptions rife,
And curling theets of fmoke cbfcure the fkics.

The flumbering God, amaz'd at this new din, Thrice ftrove to nife, and thrice funk down again, Liftlefs he ftretch'd, and gaping rubb'd his eyes, Then falter'd thus betwixt half words and fighs: How impotent a deity am !!

With godhead born, but curs'd, that cannot die!
Through my indulgence, mortal, hourly share
A grateful negligence, and cafe from care.
Lull'd in my arms, how long have I with-held
The northern monarchs from the duty field!
How I have kept the Britif fleet at cafe,
From tempting the rough dangers of the fcas!
Hibernia owns the mildorfs of my reign,
And my divinity's ador'd in Spain.
I fwains to fylvan folitudes convey,
Where, ftretch'd on moffy beds, they wafle away
In gentle joys the night in vows the day.
What marks of wondrous elemency I've shown,
Some reverend worthies of the gown can own :
Triumphant plenty, with a cheerful grace,
Bafks in their eyes, and fparkles in their face.
How fleek their locks, how goodly is their mien,
When big they ftrut behind a double chin!

* The building of the difpenfary,

}

Each faculty in blandishments they lull,
Afpiring to he venerably dull;/
No learn'd debates moleft their downy trance,
Or discompose their pompous ignorance
But, undisturb'd, they liter life away,
so wither green, and bloffom in decay;
Deep funk in down, they, by my gentle care,
Avoid th' inclemencies of morning air, [prayer.
And leave to tatter'd crape the drudgery of,

Urim was civil, and not void of sense,
Had humour, and a courteous confidence :
So fpruce he moves, fo gracefully he cocks,
The hallow'd rose declares him orthodox:
He pass'd his easy hours, instead of prayer,
In madrigals, and phillyfing the fair;
Conftant at feafts, and each decorum knew,
And, foon as the defert appear'd, withdrew;
Always obliging, and without offence,
And fancy'd, for his gay impertinence.
But fee how ill-miftaken parts succeed;
He threw off my dominion, and would read;
Engag'd in controverfy, wrangled well!
In convocation larguage could excel;
In volumes prov'd the church without defence,
By nothing guarded but by Providence;
How grace and moderation disagree;
And violence advances charity.

Thus writ till none would read, becoming foon A wretched fcribbler, of a rare buffoon.

Mankind my fond propitious power has try'd, Too oft' to own, too much to be deny❜d. And all I afk are shades and filent bowers, To pafs in foft forgetfulness my hours. Oft' have my fears fome distant villa chose, 'er their quietus where fat judges dofe, And lull their cough and conscience to repose: Or, if some cloister's refuge I implore, (c) Where holy drones o'er dying tapers fnore, The peals of Naffau's arms thefe eyes unclofe, Mine he molefts, to give the world repose. That ease I offer with contempt he flies, His couch a trench, his canopy the skies. Nor climes nor feasons his refolves controul, Th' equator has no heat, no ice the pole. With arms refiftlefs o'er the globe he flies, And leaves to Jove the empire of the fkies.

But, as the flothful god to yawn begun, He hook off the dull mift, and thus went on:

VARIATIONS.

(c) Sometimes among the Cafpian cliffs 1 creep,
Where folitary bats and swallows fleep;
Or, if fome cloitter's refuge implore,
Where holy drones o'er dying tapers fnore,
Still Naffau' armis a foft repofe deny,

Keep me awake, and follow where I fly,

Since he has blets'd the weary world with peace, And with a nod has bid Bellona ceafe;

I fought the covert of fome peaceful cell,
Where filent fhades in harmless raptures dwell;
That ich might paft tranquillity restore,
Ant. mortal never interiupt me more.

'Twas in this reverend dome I fought repose, These walls were that afylum I had chose. (d) Here have I rul'd long undisturb'd with broils, And laugh'd at heroes, and their glorious toils. My annals are in mouldy mildews wrought, With easy infignificance of thought. But now fome bufy, enterprising brain Invents new fancies to renew my pain, And labours to diffolve my easy reign.

With that, the god his darling phantom calls, And from his faltering lips this meffage falls:

Since mortals will difpute my power, I'll try
Who has the greatest empire, they or I.
Find envy out, fome prince's court attend,
Most likely there you'll meet the famifh'd
fiend; (e)

Or where dull critics authors' fate foretell;
Or where stale maids, or meagre eunuchs, dwell;
Tell the bleak fury what new projects reign
Among the homicides of Warwick-lane ;
And what th' event, unless fhe ftrait inclines
To blast their hopes, and baffle their defigns.
More he had fpoke, but sudden vapours rife,
And with their filken cords tie down his eyes.

VARIATIONS.

(d) Nought underneath this roof but damps are found,

Nought heard but drowsy beetles buzzing round, Spread cobwebs hide the walls, and duft the floors, And midnight filence guards the noiseless doors.

VARIATIONS.

(e) Or in cabals, or camps, or at the bar, Or where ill poets pennyless confer, Or in the fenate-house at Westminster.

Soon as the evening veil'd the mountains heads
And winds lay hush'd in fubterranean beds;
Whilft fickening flowers drink up the filver dew,
And beaux for fomé affembly dress anew;
The city faints to prayers and play-house hafte;
The rich to dinner, and the poor to rest:
Th' officious phantom then prepar'd with care
To flide on tender pinions through the air.
Oft' he attempts the fummit of a rock,
And oft' the hollow of fome blafted oak;
At length approaching where bleak envy lay;
The hilling of her fnakes proclaim'd the way.
Beneath the gloomy covert of an yew,
That taints the grass with fickly sweats of dew;
No verdant beauty entertains the fight,
But baneful hemlock, and cold aconite;
In a dark grot thẻ baleful haggard lay,
Breathing black vengeance, and infecting day.
But how deform'd, and worn with fpiteful woes,
When Accius has applaufe, Dorfennus fhews.
The cheerful blood her meagre cheeks forfook,
And bafilifks fate brooding in her look;

A bald and bloated toad-stool raif'd her head;
The plumes of boding ravens were her bed :
From her chapp'd noftrils fcalding torrents fall,
And her funk eyes boil o'er in floods of gall.
Volcanos labour thus with inward pains,
While feas of melted ore lay wafte the plains.
Around the fiend in hideous order fate
Foul bawling infamy, and bold debate;
Gruff difcontent, through ignorance misled,
And clamorous faction at her party's head;
Reftlefs fedition ftill diffembling fear,
And fly hypocrify with pious leer.

Glouting with fullen fpite the fury shook Her clotted locks, and blasted with each look; Then tore with canker'd teeth the pregnant fcrolls, Where fame the acts of demi-gods enrols; And, as the rent-records in pieces fell, Each scrap did fome immortal action tell.

This fhow'd, how fix'd as fate Torquatus ftood, That, the fam'd paffage of the Granic flood; The Julian eagles, here, their wings display, And there, like fetting stars, the Decii lay; This does Camillus as a god extol, That points at Manlius in the capitol; How Cocles did the Tiber's furges brave, How Curtius plung'd into the gaping grave. Great Cyrus, here, the Medes and Perfians join, And, there, th' immortal battle of the Boyne. As the light messenger the fury spy'd, Awhile his curdling blood forgot to glide: Confufion on his fainting vitals hung, And faltering accents flutter'd on his tongue: At length, affuming courage, he convey'd His errand, then he fhrunk into a fhade.

The hag lay long revolving what might be The bleft event of fuch an embaffy: Then blaz ns in dread fmiles her hideous form; So lightning gilds the unrelenting storm. (ƒ)

VARIATIONS.

(ƒ) Then she: Alas how long in vain have I
Aim'd at thefe noble ills the fates deny?
Within this ifle for ever mut I find
Difafters to diftract my reflefs mind?

Thus fhe-Mankind are bleft, they riot ftill
Unbounded in exorbitance of ill.

By devaflation the rough warrior gains,
And farmers fatten moft when famine reigns;
For fickly feafous the phyficians wait,
And politicians thrive in broils of state;
The lover's easy when the fair-one fighs,
And gods fubfift not but by facrifice.

Each other being fome indulgence knows:
Few are my joys, but infinite my woes.
My prefent pain Britannia's genius wills,
And thus the fates record my future ills.

A heroine fhall Albion's fceptre bear,

With arms fhall vanquish earth, and heaven with prayer.

She on the world her clemency shall shower,
And only to preferve exert her power.
Tyrants fhall then their impious aims forbear,
And Blenheim's thunder more than Ætna's fear.
Since by no arts I therefore can defeat
The happy enterprises of the great,
I'll calmly stoop to more inferior things,
And try if my lov'd fnakes have teeth or ftings.
She said; and ftraight shrill Colon's perfon
cook,

In morals loofe, but most precife in look.
Black-friars annals lately pleas'd to call
Him warden of apothecaries-hall;
And, when so dignify'd, did not forbear
That operation which the learn'd declare
Gives colics eafe, and makes the ladies fair.
In trifling fhow his tinfel talent lies;
And form the want of intellects fupplies.
In aspect grand and goodly he appears,
Rever'd as patriarchs in primæval years.
Hourly his learn'd impertinence affords
A barren fuperfluity of words; (g)

VARIATIONS.

Good Tenifon's celeftial piety

At laft has rais'd him to the facred fee.
Somers does fickening equity restore,

And helpless orphans are opprefs'd no more.
Pembroke to Britain endless bleffings brings.
He spoke; and peace clapp'd her triumphant wings.
Great Ormond fhines illustriously bright
With blazes of hereditary right.
The noble ardour of a royal fire
Inspires the generous breast of Devonshire.
And Macclesfield is active to defend

His country with the zeal he loves his friend.
Like Leda's radiant fons divinely clear,
Portland and Jersey deck'd in rays appear,
To gild by turns the Gallic hemisphere.
Worth in diftrefs is rais'd by Montague;
Auguftus liftens if Mecenas fue;

And Vernon's vigilance no flumber takes,
Whilft faction pceps abroad, and anarchy awakes.

(g) In hafte he strides along, to recompenfe The want of business with its vain pretence,

Lec, an apothecary.

The patient's ears remorfelefs he affails,
Murders with jargon where his medicine fails,
The fury thus affuming Colon's grace,
So flung her arms, fo fhuff'd in her pace.
Onward the haftens to the fam'd abodes,
Where Horoscope * invokes th' infernal gods;
And reach'd the manfion where the vulgar run,
For ruin throng, and pay to be undone.

This vifionary various projects tries,
And knows that to be rich is to be wife.
By useful obfervations he can tell

The facred charms that in true fterling dwell;
How gold makes a patrician of a flave,
A dwarf an Atlas, a Therfites brave.
It cancels all defects, and in their place

Finds fenfe in Brownlow, charms in Lady Grace;
It guides the fancy, and directs the mind;
No bankrupt ever found a fair-one kind.

So truly Horoscope its virtues knows,
To this lov'd idol 'tis, alone, he bows;
And fancies fuch bright heraldry can prove,
The vile plebeian but the third from Jove.

Long has he been of that amphibious fry,
Bold to prescribe, and busy to apply.
His fhop the gazing vulgar's eyes employs
With foreign trinkets, and domeftic toys.
Here mummies lay most reverendly ftale
Y
And there the tortoise hang her coat of mail;
Not far from fome huge fhark's devouring head
The flying fish their finny pinions spread;
Aloft in rows large poppy-heads were ftrung,
And near, a fcaly alligator hung;

In this place, drugs in mufty heaps decay'd;
In that, dry'd bladders and drawn teeth were laid.
An inner room receives the numerous fhoals
Of fuch as pay to be reputed fools.
Globes ftand by globes, volumes on volumes lie,
And planetary schemes amuse the eye.
The lage, in velvet chair, here lolls at ease,
To promife future health for present fees;
Then, as from tripod, folemn fhame reveals,
And what the stars know nothing of, foretels.
One asks how foon Panthea may be won,
And longs to feel the marriage-fetters on:
Others, convinc'd by melancholy proof,
Inquire when courteous fates will strike them off.
Some, by what means they may redrefs their

wrong,

When fathers the poffeffion keep too long.
And some would know the iffue of their caufe,
And whether gold can folder up its flaws.
Poor pregnant Lais his advice would have,
To lofe by art what fruitful nature gave;
And Portia, old in expectation grown,
Laments her barren curfe, and begs a fon :
Whilft Iris his cosmetic wash would try,
To make her bloom revive, and lovers dic.
Some ask for charms, and others philters choofe,
To gain Corinna, and their quartans lofe.
Young Hylas, botch'd with stains too foul to name,
In cradle here renews his youthful frame;
Cloy'd with defire, and surfeited with charms,
A hot-house he prefers to Julia's arms.

* Dr. Barnard,

And old Lucullus would th' arcanum prove,
Of kindling in cold veins the sparks of love,
Bleak envy thefe dull frauds with pleafure
fees,

And wonders at the fenfeless mysteries.
In Colon's voice fhe thus calls out aloud
On Horoscope environ'd by the crowd:

Forbear, forbear, thy vain amusements cease,
Thy woodcocks from their gins awhile release ;
And to that dire misfortune liften well,
Which thou should'st fear to know, or I to tell.
l'is true, thou ever waft efteem'd by me
The great Alcides of our company.
When we with noble fcorn refolv'd to eafe
Ourfelves from all parochial offices;
And to our wealthier patients left the care
And draggled dignity of fcavenger;
Such zeal in that affair thou didst express,
Nought could be equal, but the great fuccefs.
Now call to mind thy generous prowess past,

Be what thou thould't, by thinking what thou waft :

The faculty of Warwick-lane design,

It not to ftorm, at least to undermine.

Their gates each day ten thousand night-caps crowd,

And mortars utter their attempts aloud.
If they fhould once unmafk our mystery,
Each nurse, ere long, would be as learn'd as we;
Our art expos'd to every vulgar eye;
And none, in complaifance to us, would die.
What if we claim their right t'affaffinate,
Must they needs turn apothecaries ftraight?
Prevent it, gods all ftratagems we try,

To crowd with new inhabitants your sky.

So glow-worms may compare with Titan's beams,
And Hare-court pump with Aganippe's ftreams.
Our mannfactures now they meanly fell,
And their true value treacherously tell;
Nay, they discover too, their fpite is fuch,
That health, that crowns more valued, cofts not

much;

Whilst we must fteer our conduct by these rules,
To cheat as tradefmen, or to ftarve as fools. (a)
At this fami'd Horofcope turn'd pale, and
ftraight

In filence tumbled from his chair of ftate:
The crowd in great confufion fought the door,
And left the magus fainting on the floor;
Whilft in his breast the fury breath'd a ftorm,
Then fought her cell. and re-affum'd her form.
Thus from the fore although the infect flies,
It leaves a brood of maggots in difgufe.

Officious Squirt * in hafte forfook his shop,
To fuccour the expiring Horofcope.
Oft' he effay'd the magus to restore,
By falt of fuccinum's prevailing power;
Yet ftill fupine the folid lumber lay,
An image of fcar ce-animated clay;
Till fates, indulgent when disasters call,
By Squirt's nice hand apply'd a urinal.
The wight no fooner did the stream receive,
But rouz'd, and bless'd the stale restorative.
The fprings of life their former vigour feel;
Such zeal he had for that vile utenfil.

So when the great Pelides Thetis found, He knew the fea-weed fcent, and th' azure goddefs own'd.

VARIATIONS.

(a) Whilft we, at our expence, muft perfevere, And for another world, be ruin'd here.

* Dr. Barnard's man.

ALL night the fage in penfive tumults lay,
Complaining of the flow approach of day;
Oft' turn'd him round, and trove to think no

more

Of what thrill Colon faid the day before.
Cowflips and poppies o'er his eyes he spread,
And Salmon's works he laid beneath his head.
But those bless'd opiates still in vain he tries,
Sleep's gentle image his embraces flies :
Tumultuous cares lay rolling in his breast,
And thus his anxious thoughts the fage exprest.
Oft has this planet roll'd around the fun,
Since to confult the skies I first begun :

Such my applaufe, fo mighty my fuccefs,
Some granted my predictions more than guefs.
But, doubtful as I am, I'll entertain
This faith, there can be no mistake in gain.
For the dull world must honour pay to those,
Who on their understanding moft impofe.
First man creates, and then he fears the elf;
Thus others cheat him not, but he himfelf;
He lothes the fubflance, and he loves the
fhow;

You'll ne'er convince a fool, himself is fo:
He hates realities, and hugs the cheat,
And still the only pleafure's the deceit.