Obrazy na stronie
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So coin grows smooth, in traffic current pass'd,

Till Cæsar's image is effac'd at last.

The breach, though small at first, soon opening wide,

In rushes folly with a full-moon tide.

Then welcome errors, of whatever size,
To justify it by a thousand lies.

As creeping ivy clings to wood or stone,
And hides the ruin that it feeds upon;
So sophistry cleaves close to, and protects
Sin's rotten trunk, concealing its defects.
Mortals, whose pleasures are their only care,
First wish to be impos'd on, and then are.
And lest the fulsome artifice should fail,
Themselves will hide its coarseness with a veil.
Not more industrious are the just and true,
To give to virtue what is virtue's due-
The praise of wisdom, comeliness, and worth;
And call her charms to public notice forth-
Than vice's mean and disingenuous race
To hide the shocking features of her face.
Her form with dress and lotion they repair;
Then kiss their idol, and pronounce her fair.

The sacred implement I now employ
Might prove a mischief, or at best a toy
A trifle, if it move but to amuse :
But, if to wrong the judgment and abuse,
Worse than a poniard in the basest hand,
It stabs at once the morals of a land.

;

Ye writers of what none with safety reads, Footing it in the dance that fancy leads; Ye novelists, who mar what ye would mend, Snivelling and drivelling folly without end; Whose corresponding misses fill the ream With sentimental frippery and dream, Caught in a delicate soft silken net, By some lewd earl, or rake-hell baronet ; Ye pimps, who under virtue's fair pretence Steal to the closet of young innocence, And teach her, unexperienc'd yet and green, To scribble as you scribbled at fifteen Who, kindling a combustion of desire, With some cold moral think to quench the fire; Though all your engineering proves in vain, The dribbling stream ne'er puts it out again: Oh that a verse had power, and could command Far, far away, these flesh-flies of the land; Who fasten, without mercy, on the fair, And suck, and leave a craving maggot there. Howe'er disguis'd th' inflammatory tale, And cover'd with a fine-spun specious veil ; Such writers, and such readers, owe the gust And relish of their pleasure all to lust.

But the muse, eagle-pinion'd, has in view A quarry more important still than you; Down, down the wind she swims, and sails away; Now stoops upon it, and now grasps the prey.

Petronius! all the muses weep for thee; But every tear shall scald thy memory: The graces, too, while virtue at their shrine Lay bleeding under that soft hand of thine, Felt each a mortal stab in her own breast, Abhor'd the sacrifice, and curs'd the priest. Thou polish'd and high-finish'd foe to truth, Gray-beard corrupter of our listening youth, To purge and skim away the filth of vice, That, so refin'd, it might the more entice, Then pour it on the morals of thy son, To taint his heart, was worthy of thine own! Now, while the poison all high life pervades, Write, if thou can'st, one letter from the shades; One, and one only, charg'd with deep-regret That thy worst part, thy principles, live yet ; One sad epistle thence may cure mankind Of the plague spread by bundles left behind.

'Tis granted, and no plainer truth appears, Our most important are our earliest years; The mind, impressible and soft, with ease Imbibes and copies what she hears and sees, And, through life's labyrinth holds fast the clue That education gives her, false or true. Plants rais'd with tenderness are seldom strong; Man's coltish disposition asks the thong; And, without discipline, the favorite child, Like a neglected forester, runs wild. But we, as if good qualities would grow Spontaneous, take but little pains to sow;

We give some Latin, and a smatch of Greek ;
Teach him to fence and figure twice a week;
And, having done, we think, the best we can,
Praise his proficiency, and dub him a man.

From school to Cam or Isis, and thence home; And thence, with all convenient speed, to Rome, With reverend tutor, clad in habit lay,

To tease for cash, and quarrel with all day;
With memorandum-book for every town,

And every post, and where the chaise broke down ;
His stock, a few French phrases got by heart;
With much to learn, but nothing to impart,
The youth obedient to his sire's commands,
Sets off a wanderer into foreign lands.
Surpris'd at all they meet, the gosling pair,
With awkward gait, stretch'd neck, and silly stare,
Discover huge cathedrals, built with stone,
And steeples towering high, much like our own;
But shew peculiar light by many a grin
At popish practices observ'd within.

Ere long, some bowing, smirking, smart abbé,
Remarks two loiterers that have lost their way;
And, being always prim'd with politesse
For men of their appearance and address,
With much compassion undertakes the task
To tell them more than they have wit to ask :
Points to inscriptions wheresoe'er they tread,
Such as, when legible, were never read,

But being canker'd now and half worn out,
Craze antiquarian brains with endless doubt;
Some headless hero, or some Cæsar shows-
Defective only in his Roman nose;
Exhibits elevations, drawings, plans,

Models of Herculanean pots and

pans; And sells them medals, which, if neither rare Nor ancient, will be so, preserv'd with care,

Strange the recital! from whatever cause His great improvement and new lights he draws, The squire, once bashful, is shamefac'd no more, But teems with powers he never felt before; Whether increas'd momentum, and the force With which from clime to clime he sped his course, (As axles sometimes kindle as they go)

Chaf'd him, and brought dull nature to a glow;

Or whether clearer skies and softer air,

That make Italian flowers so sweet and fair,
Freshening his lazy spirits as he ran,
Unfolded genially, and spread the man ;
Returning, he proclaims, by many a grace,
By shrugs, and strange contortions of his face,
How much a dunce, that has been sent to roam,
Excels a dunce that has been kept at home.

Accomplishments have taken virtue's place,
And wisdom falls before exterior grace;
We slight the precious kernal of the stone,
And toil to polish its rough coat alone,

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