(A Poem, in Imitation of the third Satire of Juvenal, 1738.)

1) Though grief and fondness in my breast rebel
When injur'd Thales bids the town farewel,
Yet still my calmer thoughts his choice commend,
I praise the hermit, but regret the friend,
Resolv'd at length, from vice and LONDON far,
To breathe in distant fields a purer air,
And, fix'd on Cambria's solitary shore,

Give to St. David *) one true Briton more.

For who wou'd leave, unbrib'd, Hibernia's land, Or change the rocks of Scotland for the Strand **)?,

2) There none are swept by sudden fate away, But all whom hunger spares, with age decay: liere malice, rapine, accident, conspire,

JU V. SAT. III.

1) Quamvis digressu veteris confusus amici,
Laudo tamen, vacuis quod sedem figere Cumis
Destinet, atque unum civem donare Sibyllæ.
2) Ego vel Prochytam præpono Suburræ,
Nam quid tam miserum, tam solum vidimus, ut non
Deterius credas horrere incendia, lapsus
Tectorum assiduos, et mille pericula svæ,
Urbis, et Augusto recitantes mense poetas?

*) St. David, der Schutzpatron von Wales (wie St. An drew von Schottland, St. Patrick von Irland und St. George für England), wohin sich des Dichters Freund Savage, der mit dem Namen Thales bezeichnet wird, begab.

**) Bekanntlich eine der schönsten Strafsen London's.

And now a rabble rages, now a fire;
Their ambush here relentless ruffians lay,
And here the fell attorney prowls for prey;
Here falling houses thunder on your head,
And here a female atheist talks you dead.

While Thales waits the wherry that contains,
Of dissipated wealth the small remains,

On Thames's banks, in silent thought we stood,
Where Greenwich smiles upon the silver flood:
Struck with the seat that gave Eliza *) birth,
We kneel, and kiss the consecrated earth;
In pleasing dreams the blissful age renew,
And call Britannia's glorics back to view;
Behold her cross **) triumphant on the main,
The guard of commerce, and the dread of Spain,
Ere masquerades debauch'd, excise oppress'd,
Or English honour grew a standing jest.

A transient calm the happy scenes bestow,
And for a moment lull the sense of woe.
At length awaking, with contemptuous frown,
Indignant Thales eyes the neighb'ring town.

Since worth, he cries, in these degen'rate days
Wants ev'n the cheap reward of empty praise;
In those curs'd walls, devote to vice and gain,.
Since unrewarded science toils in vain;
Since hope but sooths to double my distress,
And ev'ry moment leaves my little less;
While yet my steady steps no staff 5) sustains,
And life still vig'rous revels in my veins;

3) Sed, dum tota domus rhedâ componitur unâ, Substitit ad veteres arcus.

4) Hic tune Umbricius: Quando artibus, inquit, honestis Nullus in urbe locus, nulla emolumenta laborum,

Res hodie minor est, heri quam fuit, atque eadem cras
Deteret exiguis aliquid: proponimus illuc

Ire, fatigatas ubi Dædalus exuit alas;

⚫) Queen Elizabeth, born at Greenwich.

Auf der Flagge der Engländer ist ein Kreuz abgebildet.

3r

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Grant me, kind heaven, to find some happier place,
Where honesty and sense are no disgrace;

Some pleasing bank where verdant osiers play,
Some peaceful vale with nature's paintings gay;
Where once the harrass'd Briton found repose,
And safe in poverty defy'd his foes;

Some secret cell, ye pow'rs, indulgent give,
Let live here, for has learn'd to live..
6) Here let those reign, whom pensions can incite
To vote a patriot black, a courtier white;
Explain their country's dear-bought rights away,
And plead for pirates in the face of day *);
With slavish tenets taint our poison'd youth,
And lend a lie the confidence of truth.

Let such raise palaces, and manors buy,
Collect a tax, or form a lottery;

With warbling eunuchs fill a licens'd **) stage,
And lull to servitude a thoughtless age.

Heroes, proceed! what bounds your pride shall hold?
What check restrain your thirst of pow'r and gold?
Behold rebellious virtue quite o'erthrown,
Behold our fame, our wealth, our lives your own.
To such, the plunder of a land is giv'n,

When public crimes inflame the wrath of heav'n:
8) But what, my friend, what hope remains for me,
Who start at theft, and blush at perjury?
Who scarce forbear, though Britain's court he sing,
To pluck a titled poet's borrow'd wing;

A statesman's logic unconvinc'd can hear,
And dare to slumber o'er the Gazetteer ***);

6) Cedamus patria: vivant Arturius istic

Et Catulus: maneant qui nigrum in candida vertunt.
2) Queis facile est ædem conducere, flumina, portus,
Siccandam eluviem, portandum ad busta cadaver.
Munera nunc edunt.

*) Quid Romæ faciam? mentiri nescio: librum,
Si malus est, nequeo laudare et poscere.

*) The invasions of the Spaniards were defended in the hou ses of parliament. ** The licensing act was then lately made. *** The paper which at that time contained apologies for the

court.

10)

Despise a fool in half his pension dress'd,
And strive in vain to laugh at Clodio's jest.

Others with softer smiles; and subtler art,
Can sap the principles, or taint the heart;
With more address a lover's note convey,
Or bribe a virgin's innocence away.

Well may they rise, while I, whose rustic tongue
Ne'er knew to puzzle right, or varnish wrong,
Spurn'd as a beggar, dreaded as a spy,
Live unregarded, unlamented die.

For what but social guilt the friend endears?
Who shares Orgilio's crimes, his fortune shares.
But hou, should tempting villany present
All Marlb'rough hoarded, or all Villiers spent,
Turn from the glitt'ring bribe thy scornful eye,
Nor sell for gold, what gold could never buy,
The peaceful slumber, self- approving day,
Unsullied fame, and conscience ever gay.

The cheated nation's happy fav'rites, see!
Mark whom the great caress, who frown on me!
LONDON! the needy villain's gen'ral home,
The common-sewer of Paris, and of Rome,
With eager thirst, by folly or by fate,
Sucks in the dregs of each corrupted state.
Forgive my transports on a theme like this,
12) I cannot bear a French metropolis.

13)

Illustrious Edward! from the realms of day,

Ferre ad nuptas, que mittit adulter,

Que mandat, norint alii; me nemo ministro
Fur erit, atque ideo nulli comes exeo.

10) Quis nunc diligitur, nisi conscius?

Carus erit Verri, qui Ve:rem tempore, quo vult

Accusare potest.

Tanta tibi non sit opaci

Omnis arena Tagi, quodque in mare volvitur aurum,
Ut somno careas.

11) Quæ nunc divitibus gens acceptissima nostris,
Et quos præcipue fugiam, properabo fateri,

13) Kusticus ille tuus sumit trechedipna, Quireni, Et ceromatico fert niciteria collo.

The land of heroes and of saints survey;
Nor hope the British lineaments to trace,
The rustic grandeur, or the surly grace,
But lost in thoughtless ease, and empty show,
Behold the warrior dwindled to a beau;
Sense, freedom, piety, refin'd away,

Of France the mimic, and of Spain the prey.

All that at home no more can beg or steal,
Or like, a gibbet better than a wheel;

Hiss'd from the stage, or hooted from the court, 14) Their air, their dress, their politics import; Obsequious, artful, voluble and gay,

On Britain's fond credulity they prey.

15) No gainful trade their industry can 'scape,
They sing, they dance, clean shoes, or cure a clap:
All sciences a fasting Monsieur knows,
And bid him go to hell, to hell he goes.

Ah! what avails it, that, from slav'ry far,

I drew the breath of life in English air;
Was early taught a Briton's right to prize,
And lisp the tale of Henry's victories;
16) If the gull'd conqueror receives the chain,
And flattery subdues when arms are vain?

Studious to please, and ready to submit,

The supple Gaul was born a parasite:
Still to his int'rest true, where'er he goes,
Wit, brav'ry, worth, his lavish tongue bestows;
In ev'ry face a thousand graces shine,

From ev'ry tongue flows harmony divine.
17) These arts in vain our rugged patives try,
Strain out with fault'ring diffidence a lie,
And gain a kick for awkward flattery.

14) Ingenium velox, audacia perdita, sermo
Promptus

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15) Augur, schoenobates, medicus, magus, omnia novit,
Græculus esuriens, in cœlum, jusseris, ibir.

Usque adeo nihil est, quod nostra infantia cœlum
Hausit Aventini?

16) Quid quod adulandi gens prudentissima, laudat
Sermonem indocti, faciem deformis amici?
17) Hæc eadem licet et nobis laudare: sed illis
Creditur.