And while her num'rous beads she told,
Her blinking eyes lascivious rolld,
For she was amorous, tho' ald,
And thought of coxcombs while she prajd.
.. LIII...... ..
Each rising morn, the courtly beaux,
With flaxen wig--and birth-day cloaths,
And borrow'd teeth in ivory rows,.
She strove to charm--what pious knavery!
Her eye-brows artfully were plac'd,
Her wither'd cheeks bedaub'd with taste,
Her wrinkles well fill'd up with paste,
And scents she us’d for smells unsavory.
LIV. ;. .. She cast her eye on Gotham's Pride, And envied much his lovely Bride, ... And Satan's blackest arts she tried
To win him from her constant arms; And many a pow'rful magic spelli The belldam knew, and practis'd well, And Gotham's Prince untimely fell
A victim to her fiendlike charms.
His court a scene of vice became,..
And crimes too horrible to name
In GOTHAM's land were held no shame,
In male or female, prince or peer;
The grey Seducer, curst of God,
Receiv'd the Prince's smile and nod, ...
He held a white official rod, ........
And poison'd oft' the monarch's ear. ?
LVI.. .
Husbands would prostitute their wires,
To live like courtiers all their lives,
(When folly rules, injustice thrives,
For one's base interest is the other's:)
FITZHECAT reign'd.with one accord
O'er mistress, people, prince, and lord,
Supreme procuress, queen, and bawd,
And sons were found to sell their mothers.
. : LVII. :
The Laws, which GOTHAM's bulwark stood
For which she'd shed her bravest blood,
Attorneys vile betray'd in court; ľ. Her judges, truth and wisdom lack’d, Her juries all were basely pack’d, . .
And oaths, and verdicts held in sport. ..
( 28 )..
.,
LVIII.
Poor scribbling rogues (there hangs a tale)
Were banish'd to some distant jail,..
Because they told plain truths, call'd libels!.
And plund'rers, of no small dimensions
Were granted sinecures and pensions,
And plays" were more in vogue than bibles.
LIX.
Yet not FitzheCAT's charms: alone
Detach'd the MONARCH from his throne,
For him no virgin loos'd her zone,
. But view'd the profligate with heavings
And GOTHAM's PRINCE in life's last stage, -
To satisfy his amorous rage,
Took up with ugliness and uge
His servants' worn out loathsome leavings.
LXI.
There was a portli, nymph of sin,
Whose stomach almost reach'd her chin; .
Calld LADY ROUNDABOUT MʻFLINN
Of figure, face, and bulk, uncommon;
- A graceless harlot run to seed,
Whom ev'ry one that saw, agreed, :
Was surely of the monster breed,
More a hermaphrodite, than woman;" ;
The Prince her husband's brows ť adorni
Had planted there a golden horn,
And plac'd his lordship in the palace;
Where well-bred cuckolds, pimps, and peers,
And letchers, old in sin, and years,
Kept sinking Gotham in arrears,
Defying all the shafts of malice.
EXIT.
Her credit sunk, her taxes rose,
She saw her sons borne down with woes,
Herself encompass’d by her foes,
Who brav'd her threats, her strength defied;
And GOTIAM, who triumphant bore
Her arms to ev'ry distant shorë,
No longer heard her cannóns roar,
Or saw her ships the ocean ride.
LXIII.
Her armies, fam’d for valor's meed,
She súw a weak commander lead,
Who ne'er achiev'd one warlike deed,
, Or gave his country's foes a trimming;
A swaggering, proud, unwieldy lubber,
Well known for cowardice, and blubber,
And only fit to play a rubber
With simp’ring chiefs, or bilk the women.
C : in ( 25 )
Thus have I told in faithfül rhymes; i.
( A warning to the present times)
How GOTHAM was debas'd by crimes.
Of men, who held the highest stations;
And let no future bard proclaim :
The direful story of her shame,'
But may her lost, degraded name
Be blotted from the list of nations.
LXV,
Thrice happy BRITAIN! favor'd żsle, ! ;
Where justice, peace, and plenty smile, ....
Thy praise demands my votive song:
Art thou, like Gotham, fall’n, accurst,
Plagu'd by a monarch deem'd the worst?
Ah no! thy Prince by virtue nurs’d, s , ... Abhors the mean, and vicious throng,
LXVI. .
Thy court, for merit passing rare,
No gamesters, cuckolds, pimps, are there,
But gentie lords, and ladies fair,
Sipping their coffee, wine, and sherbet ; .
There's Y ca m-th's lord, who from his birth :
Has prov'd a miracle of worth, :"...;
And H d , fairest nymph on earth, : :
Except that matchless star, Fitzherbert...
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