None ever can without admirers live, 10 15 Falfe Fame cries-Athens; honest Truth-Moorfields. Some venal pens fo proftitute the bays, To form great works, puts Fate itself to pain; 20 25 30 With earthquakes towering Pindar's birth begun; 35 And an eclipfe produc'd Alcmena's fon. The fire of Gods o'er Phoebus caft a fhade; No No bard for bribes should prostitute his vein ; 40 45 I hate fuch mercenaries, and would try From this reproach to rescue poetry. Apollo's fons fhould fcorn the fervile art, And to court-preachers leave the fulsome part. What then-You'll fay, Muft no true fterling pafs, Because impure allays fome coin debase ? Yes, praife, if justly offer'd, I'll allow ; And, when I meet with merit, fcribble too. The man who's honeft, open, and a friend, Glad to oblige, uneafy to offend ; Forgiving others, to himself fevere; 50 Though earnest, eafy; civil, yet fincere ; Who feldom but through great good-nature errs; 55 Detefting fraud as much as flatterers ; 'Tis he my Mufe's homage fhould receive; 60 But, when new-gathering ftreams enlarge his course, 65* And wealth on nations, as he runs, beftows. Direc Direct me, Clare, to name fome nobler Mufe, That for her theme thy late recefs may choose ; Such bright defcriptions fhall the fubject dress, Such vary'd fcenes, fuch pleafing images, 70 That fwains fhall leave their lawns, and nymphs their bowers, And quit Arcadia for a feat like yours. 75 But fay, who fhall attempt th' adventurous part And all the bright Horizon smiling round. In times of old, when Britifh nymphs were known To love no foreign fashions like their own; 85 When drefs was monftrous, and fig-leaves the mode, 90 And quality put on no paint but woad; Cf Spanish red unheard was then the name (For cheeks were only taught to blush by fhame); No beauty, to incrcafe her crowd of flaves, Rofe out of wafh, as Venus out of waves; yet lead-comb was on the toilet plac'd; 95 No No fhape-fmith fet up shop, and drove a trade The men appear'd a rough, undaunted race, Honour was plac'd in probity alone; For villains had no titles but their own. And humble, friends grew haughty ministers; Of oaks, with heads unfhorn, a folemn wood, 125 The The naturalists are puzzled to explain, How trees did first this stranger entertain; Whether the bufy birds ingraft it there; Or else fome deity's myfterious care, 13。 As Druids thought; for, when the blasted oak 'By lightning falls, this plant efcapes the ftroke. So, when the Gauls the towers of Rome defac'd, So facred was the manfion of a God. Shades honour'd by this plant the Druids chofe, 135 145 Parent of arts, and patron of the wise. Good rules in mild perfuafions they convey'd; Their lives confirming what their lectures faid. Yet had few laws, but will and appetite. The people's peace they studied, and profest Hard was their lodging, homely was their food; No mitre'd prieft did then with princes vie, 150 Nor o'er his mafter claim fupremacy; Nor were the rules of faith allow'd more pure, None loft their fortunes, forfeited their blood, For not believing what none understood. 155 Nor fimony, nor fine-cure, were known; Nor would the Bee work honey for the Drone. |