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No spies were paid, no special juries known,
Blest age! but ah! how diff'rent from our own!
Much could I add-but see the boat at hand,

The tide retiring, calls me from the land:
Farewel!-When youth, and health, and fortune
spent,

Thou fly'st for refuge to the wilds of Kent;
And tir'd like me with follies and with crimes,
In angry numbers warn'st succeeding times,
Then shall thy friend, nor thou refuse his aid,
Still foe to vice, forsake his Cambrian shade;
In virtue's cause once more exert his rage,
Thy satire point, and animate thy page.

THE

VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES,

IN IMITATION OF THE TENTH SATIRE OF

JUVENAL.

LET observation with extensive view, Survey mankind, from China to Peru; Remark each anxious toil, each eager strife,

And watch the busy scenes of crowded life;

Then say how hope and fear, desire end hate,
O'erspread with snares the clouded maze of fate.
Where wav'ring man, betray'd by vent❜rous pride,
To tread the dreary paths without a guide;
As treach❜rous phantoms in the mist delude,
Shuns fancied ills, or chases airy good.

How rarely reason guides the stubborn choice,
Rules the bold hand, or prompts the suppliant voice.
How nations sink, by darling schemes oppress'd,
When Vengeance listens to the fool's request.
Fate wings with ev'ry wish th' afflictive dart,
Each gift of nature, and each grace of art,
With fatal heat impetuous courage glows,
With fatal sweetness elocution flows,
Impeachment stops the speaker's pow'rful breath,
And restless fire precipitates on death.

But scarce observed, the knowing and the bold,
Fall in the gen❜ral massacre of gold;
Wide-wasting pest! that rages unconfin'd,

And crowds with crimes the records of mankind;
For gold his sword the hireling ruffian draws,
For gold the hireling judge distorts the laws;
Wealth heap'd on wealth, nor truth nor safety buys,.
The dangers gather as the treasures rise.
Let hist❜ry tell where rival kings command,
And dubious title shakes the madded land,

When statutes glean the refuse of the sword,
How much more safe the vassal than the lord:
Low skulks the hind beneath the reach of pow'r,
And leaves the wealthy traitor in the Tow'r,
Untouch'd his cottage, and his slumbers sound,
Though confiscation's vultures hover round.
The needy traveller, serene and gay,

Walks the wild heath, and sings his toil away.
Does envy seize thee? crush th' upbraiding joy,
Increase his riches and his peace destroy,
Now fears in dire viccissitude invade,

The rustling brake alarms, and quiv'ring shade,
Nor light nor darkness brings his pain relief,
One shows the plunder, and one hides the thief.
Yet still one genʼral cry the skies assails,

And gain and grandeur load the tainted gales ;
Few know the toiling statesman's fear or care,
Th' insidious rival and the gaping heir.

Once more, Democritus, arise on earth,
With cheerful wisdom and instructive mirth,
See motley life in modern trappings dress'd,
And feed with varied fools th' eternal jest:

Thou who couldst laugh where want enchain'd caprice,

Toil, crush'd conceit, and man was of a piece;
Where wealth unlov'd without a mourner dy'd;
And scarce a sycophant was fed by pride;

Where ne'er was known the form of mock debate,
Or seen a new-made mayor's unweildy state;
Where change of fav'rites made no change of laws,
And senates heard before they judg’d a cause ;
How wouldst thou shake at Britain's modish tribe,
Dart the quick taunt, and edge the piercing gibe?
Attentive truth and nature to descry,

And pierce each scene with philosophic eye,
To thee were solemn toys or empty show,
The robes of pleasure, and the veils of woe:
All aid the farce, and all thy mirth maintain,
Whose joys are causeless, or whose griefs are vain.
Such was the scorn that fill'd the sage's mind,
Renew'd at every glance on human kind;
How just that scorn e'er yet thy voice declare,
Search every state, and canvass ev'ry pray'r.
Unnumber'd suppliants crowd preferment's gate,
Athirst for wealth, and burning to be great;
Delusive fortune hears the incessant call,
They mount, they shine, evaporate, and fall.
On ev'ry stage the foes of peace attend,
Hate dogs their flight, and insult mocks their end.
Love ends with hope, the sinking statesman's door
Pours in the morning worshipper no more;
For growing names the weekly scribbler lies,

To growing wealth the dedicator flies;

From ev'ry room descend the painted face,
That hung the bright palladium of the place;
And smok'd in kitchens or in auctions sold,
To better features yields the frame of gold;
For now no more we trace in ev'ry line,
Heroic worth, benevolence divine :
The form distorted justifies the fall,
And detestation rids th' indignant wall.

But will not Britain hear the last appeal,
Sign her foes doom, or guard her fav'rites' zeal ?
Through freedom's sons no more remonstrance rings,
Degrading nobles, and controlling kings;

Our supple tribes repress their patriot throats,
And ask no question but the price of votes ;
With weekly libels and septennial ale,
Their wish is full to riot and to rail

In full-blown dignity see Wolsey stand,
Law in his voice, and fortune in his hand;

To him the church, the realm, their powers consign,
Through him the rays of regal bounty shine;
Turn'd by his nod the stream of honour flows,

His smile alone security bestows:

Still to new heights his restless wishes tour;
Claim leads to claim, and pow'r advances pow'r ;
Till conquest unresisted ceas'd to please,

And rights submitted, left him none to seize,

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