Their tale to Minos would they glibly tell;
Minos the MANSFIELD, or Chief Judge, of Hell. ‡
Nor need my NYKY fear a London jury
Will e'er be influenc'd with a female fury.
Can they who let a prov'd affaffin 'scape
Hang up poor NYKY for a friendly rape?
If in the dark to stab, be thought no crime,
What may'nt be hop'd from jurymen in time?
Soon Southern modes, no doubt, they'll reconcile
With the plain manners of our Northern isle ;
And e'en new-married citizens be brought
To reckon Sy a venial fault:

When if G---GE B-LL-S,* cruel and unkind,
Blast not their loves, with rude tempeftuous wind,
In common-council Corydon may burn,
And Corydons for Corydon in turn,

Till every alderman about the chair
Find his Alexis in a new lord-mayor.

IMITATION S.

Ex illo Corydon, Corydon eft tempore nobis.

NOTE S...

Minos is reported by the poets to have been raised to this high office for his impartiality in the administration of Justice here on earth: what a pity that office is not foon to become vacant; as it might be moft luckily filled by as worthy a fucceffor..

* A boisterous mock-patriot, fuppofed to be defcended from Eolus and Amphitrite, being famous for his mackarel expeditions, his musical knowledge of the fundamental base and public performances on the baffoon.

Sign

Sing then, O Muse, a more pathetic strain,
To lure my gentle NYKY back again.
For, fure as Thames resembles Tyber's tide,
Shall Macaronis foon poffefs Cheapfide;
As petty-jury-men in judgment fit,
And ev'ry Corydon, with NYк, acquit.*
Yes by this knife, this useful + knife, I swear,
Which for my lov'd BTTI's fake I wear ;
This knife, whose haft, at Stratford Jubilee,
For ever left its parent mulberry tree;

For thence it grew, tho', tipt with steel so fine,
It now will ferve to ftab with, or to dine;
That tree, which late on Avon's border grew;
By Shakespeare planted; Warwick lads say true;

IMITATIONS.

Ducite ab urbe domum mea carmina ducite Daphnim.

Αλλ ̓ ἔκ τοι ἐρέω, καὶ ἐπὶ μὲγαν ὅρκον ἐμᾶμαι,

Ναὶ μὰ τόδε (κῆπ ρον, τὸ μὲν ἔποζε φύλλα καὶ ὄζες

Φύσει, ἐπειδὴ πρῶτα τομὴν ἐν ὄρεσσι λελοιπεν,

Οὐδ ̓ ἀναθηλήσει.

HOM.

Ut fceptrum hoc (sceptrum dextrâ nam fortè gerebat)
Nunquam fronde levi fundet virgulta nec umbras;
Cùm femel in fylvis imo de ftirpe recifum,
Matre caret pofuitque comas et brachia ferro
Olim arbos, nunc artificis manus ære decoro.
Inclufit patribufque dedit geftare Latinis.

NOTE S.

VIRG.

* The poet seems here to be a falfe prophet; a Corydon having lately been capitally convicted.

See the utility of this knife in a late Seffions-paper.

By

By this most precious relick, here I pledge
Myself to save him from the halter's edge:
And not myself alone, but ev'ry friend

Shall all his intereft and affiftance lend.

Quaint B―, beholding the rude mob with scorn,
Shall tell how Irish bards are gentle born;

Next I, to captivate the learned bench,

Will ftrait affirm that NYKY writes good French;
Thy timid nature JOHNSON fhall maintain,‍†
In words no dictionary can explain.

Goldsmith, good-natur'd man, shall next defend,
His fofter-brother, ‡ countryman, and friend :
Shall prove the humbler paffions, now and then,
Are incidental to us little men ;

*

And

IMITATIONS.

Hanc ego magnanimi fpolium Didymaonis haftam,
Ut femel eft avulfa jugis à matre perempta,

Quæ neque jam frondes virides neque proferet umbras,
Fida minifteria et duras obit horrida pugnas

Teftor.

VAL. FLAC.

NOTE S.

* See the Seffions-paper; in which this admirableplea is made use of by Roscius to exculpate a culprit accufed of murder.

See the fame in which this pompous pfeudo-philofopher affects to fuppofe cowardice incompatible with the character of an Italian bravo.

So called from having not long fince made one in a poetical triumvirate, which gave occafion to the following verfes in imitation of Dryden's famous epigram on Milton;

"Three poets in three diftant ages born," &c.
C

Po

And that the part our gentle NYKY play'd
Was but philofophy in masquerade. §
Let me no longer, then, my lofs deplore,
But to his RoscIUS, Mufe, my NYк reftore.

IMITATION S.

Ducite ab urbe domum mea carmina ducite Daphnim.

NOTE S.

Poor Dryden! what a theme hadst thou,·
Compar'd to that which offers now?
What are your Britons, Romans, Grecians,
Compar'd with thorough-bred Milefians?
Step into Griffin's fhop, he'll tell ye
Of Goldfmith, Bickerstaff, and Kelly,
Three poets of one age and nation,
Whofe more than mortal reputation,
Mounting in trio to the fkies

O'er Milton's fame and Virgil's flics.

Nay, take one Irish evidence for t'other,

Ev'n Homer's felf is but their fofter-brother.

For

§ It feems indeed to be growing into fashion for philofophy to go in masquerade, if there be any truth in the fubject of the following; which lately appeared in the public prints.

To Doctor GOLDSMITH, on feeing his name in the lift of the
mummers at the late mafquerade.

"Say fhould the philofophic mind difdain'

"That good which makes each humbler bofom vain;
"Let foncol-taught pride didemble all it can,
"Such little things are great to little man."

GOLDSMITH.

How widely different, Goldfinith, are the ways
Of doctors now, and thofe of ancient days!
Theirs taught the truth in academic shades,
Ours haunt lewd hops, and midnight mafquerades!
So chang'd the times! fay philofophic fage,
Whofe genius fuits fo well this tasteful age,
Is the Pantheon, late a fink obfcene,

Become the fountain of chafte Hippocrene?
Or do thy moral numbers quaintly flow
Infpir'd by th' Aganippe of Soho ?

Do

For who like him will patch and pilfer plays,
Yielding to me the profit and the praise?

Tho' cheap in French tranflations MURPHY deals;
For cheap he well may vend the goods he fteals;
Tho' modeft CRADDOC fcorns to fell his play,
But gives the good-for-nothing thing away ;
What tho' the courtly CUMBERLAND fucceeds
In writing stuff no man of letters reads;

Tho' fenfe and language are expell'd the stage;
For nonfenfe pleases best a senselefs age;
What tho' the author of the New Bath Guide
Up to the fkies my talents late hath cried ;+

NOTES.

Do wifdom's fons gorge cates and vermicelli
Like beastly Bickerstaff or bothering Kelly?
Or art thou tir'd of th' undeferv'd applaufe
Beftow'd on bards affecting virtue's caufe?
Wouldst thou, like Sterne,refolv'd at length to thrive,
Turn pimp and die cock-bawd at fixty-five,
Is this the good that makes the humble vain,
The good philofophy fhould not difdain

If je, let pride diffemble all it can,

A modern fage is fill much less than man.

MORNING CHRONICLE.

+ The compliments paffed between these celebrated geniufes indeed were mutual; Mr. A. commending Roscius for his fine acting, and Roscius in return Mr. A. for his fine writing. The panegyric on both fides was equally modeft and juit;, and yet fome fnarling epigrammatift could not forbear throwing out the following ill-natured jeu d'efprit on the occafion.

On the poetical compliments lately paffed between Meff. G. and A.
When mincing masters, met with miles,

Pay mutual compliments for kiffes;
Mifs Polly fings no doubt divinely,
And mafter Jacky spouts as finely.
But how I hate fuch odious greeting,
When two old fagers have a meeting.
Fob! out upon the filthy pother!
What! men beflobber one another!

Tho'