It was not written! Many a year shall roll,
If aught th' infpiring Mufe aright prefage,
Of blameless intercourse from foul to foul,
And friendship well matur'd from youth to age.

EL EGY VI.

TO ANOTHER FRIEND.

B

WRITTEN AT ROME, MDCCLVI.

BY THE SAME.

EHOLD, my friend, to this fmall orb* confin'd,

The genuine features of Aurelius' face;

The father, friend, and lover of his kind,

Shrunk to a narrow coin's contracted space.

Not fo his fame; for erft did Heaven ordain,

Whilft feas fhould waft us, and whilft funs fhould warm,
On tongues of men, the friend of man should reign,
And in the arts he lov'd the patron charm.

Oft, as amidst the mould'ring spoils of age,
His mofs-grown monuments my fteps pursue;
Oft, as my eye revolves th' historick page,
Where pass his generous acts in fair review:

Imagination grafps at mighty things,

Which men, which angels, might with rapture see;
Then turns to humbler scenes it's safer wings,
And, blush not whilft I speak it, thinks on thee.

The medal of Marcus Aurelius.

With

With all that firm benevolence of mind

Which pities whilst it blames th' unfeeling vain;
With all that active zeal to serve mankind,
That tender fuffering for another's pain;

Why wert not thou to thrones imperial rais'd?
Did heedless Fortune flumber at thy birth;
Or on thy virtues with indulgence gaz'd,
And gave her grandeurs to her fons of earth?

Happy for thee, whofe lefs diftinguish'd sphere
Now chears in private the delighted eye;
For calm Content, and fmiling Eafe are there,
And Heaven's divineft gift, fweet Liberty.

Happy for me, on life's ferener flood

Who fail, by talents as by choice restrain'd;
Elfe had I only fhar'd the general good,
And loft the friend the universe had gain'd.

OXANA from the court retiring late,

Sigh'd her foft forrows at St. James's gate.

Such heavy thoughts lay brooding in her breast,
Not her own chairmen with more weight opprefs'd;
They groan the cruel load they're doom'd to bear;
She in these gentle founds exprefs'd her care.

< Was

Was it for this, that I these roses wear, For this new-fet the jewels for my hair?

Ah, princefs! with what zeal have I purfu'd! • Almoft forgot the duty of a prude.

Thinking I never could attend too foon,

• I've mifs'd my prayers, to get me drefs'd by noon.

For thee, ah! what for thee did I refign?

My pleasures, paffions, all that e'er was mine. • I facrific'd both modefty and ease;

Left operas, and went to filthy plays: • Double entendres fhock'd my tender ear, 'Yet even this, for thee, I chose to bear. In glowing youth, when nature bids be gay, • And every joy of life before me lay,

By honour prompted, and by pride restrain'd, • The pleasures of the young my foul disdain'd: • Sermons I fought, and with a mien severe

Cenfur'd my neighbours, and faid daily pray❜r.
Alas, how chang'd! with the fame fermon-mien
• That once I pray'd, the What-d'ye-call't I've seen.
Ah, cruel princess! for thy fake I've loft

• That reputation which so dear had cost:

I, who avoided every publick place,

• When bloom and beauty bade me fhow my face;

• Now near thee conftant ev'ry night abide

• With never-failing duty by thy fide,
• Myself and daughters ftanding on a row,
To all the foreigners a goodly show!

• Oft had your drawing-room been sadly thin,
• And merchants' wives close by the chair been seens
• Had not I amply fill'd the empty space,

And fav'd your highness from the dire difgrace.
Yet Coquetilla's artifice prevails,

• When all my merit and my duty fails:

That Coquetilla, whofe deluding airs

Corrupts our virgins, and our youth enfnares;

• So

• So funk her character, fo loft her fame,
• Scarce vifited before your highness came:
• Yet for the bed-chamber 'tis her you chufe,
• When Zeal, and Fame, and Virtue, you refuse.
Ah, worthy choice! not one of all your train
• Whom cenfure blafts not, and dishonours ftain.
• Let the nice hind now fuckle dirty pigs,

And the proud pea-hen hatch the cuckow's eggs!
• Let Iris leave her paint, and own her age;

And grave Suffolka wed a giddy page!

• A greater miracle is daily view'd,

• A virtuous princess, with a court fo lewd.

I know thee, Court! with all thy treach'rous wiles,
• Thy false careffes and undoing smiles!

Ah, princess! learn'd in all the courtly arts,
• To cheat our hopes, and yet to gain our hearts!
Large lovely bribes are the great ftatefman's aim;
• And the neglected patriot follows fame :
The prince is ogled; fome the king pursue;

• But your Roxana only follows you.
• Defpis'd Roxana, ceafe; and try to find.

• Some other, fince the princefs proves unkind!

Perhaps it is not hard to find at court,

If not a greater, a more firm support.'

TUESDAY.

ΤΗ

Wond'rous to tell, and hard to be believ'd,
Oh! H-d, to my lays attention lend,
Hear how two lovers boaftingly contend:
Like thee fuccessful, fuch their bloomy youth,
Renown'd alike for gallantry and truth.

St. James's bell had toll'd fome wretches in,
(As tatter'd riding-hoods alone could fin)
The happier finners now their charms put out,
And to their mantuas their complexions fuit ;
The opera queens had finished half their faces,
And city-dames already taken places;
Fops of all kinds, to fee the Lion, run;
The beauties ftay till the first act's begun,

And beaux step home to put fresh linen on.
No well-drefs'd youth in coffee-houfe remain'd,
But penfive Patch, who on the window lean'd ;
And Silliander, that, alert and gay,

First pick'd his teeth, and then began to say.

SILLIANDER.

Why all these fighs? ah! why fo penfive grown?

Some cause there is why thus you fit alone.
Does hapless paffion all this forrow move?
Or doft thou envy where the ladies love?

PATCH.

If, whom they love, my envy must pursue, 'Tis true, at least, I never envy you.

"A a

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SILLIAN