ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY EIGHT. FR. NOT DIALOGUE I OT twice a twelvemonth you appear in Print, And when it comes, the Court fee nothing in't. You grow correct, that once with Rapture writ, And are, befides, too Moral for a Wit. Decay of Parts, alas! we all must feel Why now, this moment, don't I fee you steal? 'Tis all from Horace; Horace long before ye, Said, Tories call'd him Whig, and Whigs a Tory; And taught his Romans, in much better metre, To laugh at Fools who put their trust in Peter. But Horace, Sir, was delicate, was nice; Bubo obferves, he lash'd no fort of Vice; A 2 10 Horace Horace would fay, Sir Billy ferv'd the Crown, And own, the Spaniard did a waggish thing, Who cropt our Ears, and sent them to the King. Could please at Court, and make AUGUSTUS fmile: His Friend and Shame, and was a kind of Screen.t But 'faith your very Friends will foon be fore; Patriots there are, who wish you'd jest no more — 15 21 And where's the Glory? 'twill be only thought 25 Go fee Sir ROBERT P. See Sir ROBERT ! -hum And never laugh-for all my life to come? Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico 30 PERS. F. Why F. Why yes: with Scripture ftill you may be free; A Horfe-laugh, if you pleafe, at Honesty; A Joke on JEKYL, or fome odd Old Whig 40 Whom all Lord Chamberlains allow the Stage: 50 If any ask you, "Who's the Man, so near "His Prince, that writes in Verfe, and has his ear? Why anfwer LYTTELTON, and I'll engage The worthy Youth shall ne'er be in a rage: But were his Verfes vile, his Whisper base, You'd quickly find him in Lord Fanny's cafe. Sejanus, Wolfey, hurt not honeft FLEURY, But well may put fome Statesmen in a fury, Laugh then at any, but at Fooks, or Foes; These you but anger, and amend not those. 53 Laugh at your Friends, and if your Friends are fore, So much the better, you may laugh the more. To Vice and Folly to confine the jeft, Sets half the world, God knows, against the reft; 6a P. Dear Sir, forgive the Prejudice of Youth: 65 Adieu Diftinction, Satire, Warmth, and Truth! Come harmless Characters that no one hit, Come Henley's Oratory, Ofborn's Wit! |