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TABLE TALK.

Si te fortè meæ gravis uret sarcina charta,

Abjicito.

-HOR, Lib. 1. Epift. 13.

A. You told me, I remember, glory, built
On felfish principles, is fhame and guilt;
The deeds, that men admire as half divine,
Stark naught, because corrupt in their defign.
Strange doctrine this! that without fcruple tears
The laurel, that the very lightning spares;
Brings down the warrior's trophy to the duft,
And eats into his bloody fword like rust.

B. I grant that, men continuing what they are,
Fierce, avaricious, proud, there must be war.
And never meant the rule should be applied
To him, that fights with justice on his fide.

Let laurels, drench'd in pure Parnaffian dews, Reward his mem'ry, dear to every muse,

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Who, with a courage of unfhaken root,
In honour's field advancing his firm foot,
Plants it upon the line that juftice draws,
And will prevail or perish in her cause.

'Tis to the virtues of fuch men, man owes

His portion in the good, that heaven bestows.
And when recording history displays

Feats of renown, though wrought in ancient days,
Tells of a few ftout hearts, that fought and died
Where duty placed them, at their country's fide;
The man, that is not moved with what he reads,
That takes not fire at their heroic deeds,
Unworthy of the bleffings of the brave,
Is bafe in kind, and born to be a slave.
But let eternal infamy pursue

The wretch to nought but his ambition true,
Who, for the fake of filling with one blaft
The poft-horns of all Europe, lays her wafte,
Think yourself ftationed on a towering rock,
To fee a people fcattered like a flock,

Some royal maftiff panting at their heels,
With all the favage thirst a tyger feels;
Then view him felf-proclaimed in a gazette
Chief monfter that has plagued the nations yet.
The globe and fceptre in fuch hands misplaced,
Thofe enfigns of dominion, how difgraced!

The glass, that bids man mark the fleeting hour,
And death's own fcythe would better speak his power;
Then grace the bony phantom in their stead
With the king's fhoulder-knot and gay cockade;
Clothe the twin brethren in each other's drefs,
The fame their occupation and fuccefs.

A. 'Tis your belief the world was made for man;
Kings do but reason on the self-same plan :
Maintaining your's, you cannot their's condemn,
Who think, or seem to think, man made for them.
B. Seldom, alas! the power of logic reigns
With much fufficiency in royal brains ;

Such reafoning falls like an inverted cone,
Wanting it's proper base to stand upon.
Man made for kings! thofe optics are but dim,
That tell you fo-say, rather, they for him.
That were indeed a king-ennobling thought,
Could they, or would they, reason as they ought.
The diadem, with mighty projects lined
To catch renown by ruining mankind,

Is worth, with all its gold and glittering store,
Juft what the toy will fell for, and no more.
Oh! bright occafions of difpenfing good,
How feldom ufed, how little understood!
To pour in virtue's lap her juft reward,
Keep vice reftrained behind a double guard;

To quell the faction, that affronts the throne,
By filent magnanimity alone;

To nurfe with tender care the thriving arts,
"Watch ev'ry beam philosophy imparts;
To give religion her unbridled scope,
Nor judge by ftatute a believer's hope;
With close fidelity and love unfeign'd
To keep the matrimonial bond unftain'd;
Covetous only of a virtuous praise;
His life a leffon to the land he fways;
To touch the fword with confcientious awe,
Nor draw it but when duty bids him draw;
To fheath it in the peace-reftoring close
With joy beyond what victory bestows;
Bleft country, where these kingly glories fhine
Bleft England, if this happinet's be thine!

A. Guard what you fay; the patriotic tribe

Will fneer and charge you with a bribe.-B. A bribe? The worth of his three kingdoms I defy,

To lure me to the bafenefs of a lie.

And, of all lies, (be that one poet's boast)

The lie that flatters I abhor the moft.

Thofe arts be their's, who hate his gentle reign,
But he that loves him has no need to feign.

4. Your smooth eulogium to one crown addrefs'd, Seems to imply a cenfure on the reft.

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