PITT.

Enough, my friends-break off your tuneful sport, 'Tis levee day, and I must dress for Court; Which hath more boldly or expertly lied,

Not mine th' important contest to decide.
Take thou this MITRE, Doctor, which before
A greater hypocrite sure never wore;
And if to services rewards be due,

105

Dear BANKS, this CORONET belongs to you:
Each from that Government deserves a prize,
Which thrives by shuffling, and subsists by lies.

110

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 104. Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites.
Ver. 105. Et vitulà tu dignus et hic.

MARGARET NICHOLSON.

ARGUMENT.

Mr. WILKES and Lord HAWKESBURY alternately congratu late each other on his Majesty's late happy Escape. The one describes the Joy which pervades the Country: the other sings the Dangers from which our Constitution has been preserved. Though in the following Eclogue our Author has not selected any single one of Virgil for a close and exact Parody, he seems to have had his Eye principally upon the Vth, or the DAPHNIS, which contains the Elegy and APOTHEOSIS of Julius Cæsar.

THE Session up: the INDIA-BENCH appeas'd,

5

The LANSDOWNES satisfied, the LOWTHERS pleas'd,
Each job dispatch'd:-the Treasury boys depart,
As various fancy prompts each youthful heart;
PITT, in chaste kisses seeking virtuous joy,
Begs Lady CHATHAM's blessing on her boy;
While MORNINGTON, as vicious as he can,
To fair R-L-N in vain affects the man:
With Lordly BUCKINGHAM retir'd at STOWE,
GRENVILLE, whose plodding brains no respite know, 10
To prove next year, how our finances thrive,
Schemes new reports, that two and two make five.

To plans of Eastern justice hies DUNDAS;

And comley VILLARS to his votive glass;

To embryo.tax bills ROSE; to dalliance STEELE; 15 And hungry hirelings to their hard-earn'd meal.

A faithful pair, in mutual friendship tied, Once keen in hate, as now in love allied (This, o'er admiring mobs in triumph rode, Libell'd his monarch and blasphem'd his God; That, the, mean drudge of tyranny and BUTE, At once his practis'd pimp and prostitute), Adscomb's proud roof receives, whose dark recess And empty vaults, its owner's mind express, While block'd-up windows to the world display How much he loves a tax, how much invites the day. Here the dire chance that god-like GEORGE befel, How sick in spirit, yet in health how well;

What Mayors by dozens, at the tale affrighted,

20

25

Got drunk, address'd, got laugh'd at, and got knighted; 30 They read, with mingled horror and surprise,

In London's pure Gazette, that never lies.

Ye Tory bands, who, taught by conscious fears,

35

Have wisely check'd your tongues, and sav'd your ears,→→ Hear, ere hard fate forbids-what heavenly strains Flow'd from the lips of these melodious swains. Alternate was the song; but first began,

With hands uplifted, the regenerate man.

WILKES..

Bless'd be the beef-fed guard, whose vigorous twist Wrench'd the rais'd weapon from the murderer's fist, 40 Him Lords in waiting shall with awe behold

In red tremendous, and hirsute in gold.

On him, great monarch, let thy bounty shine, What meed can match a life so dear as thine?

Well was that bounty measured, all must own,
That gave him half of what he saved-a crown.
Bless'd the dull edge, for treason's views unfit,
Harmless as SYDNEY's rage, or BEARCROFT's wit.
Blush, clumsy patriots, for degenerate zeal,
WILKES had not guided thus the faithless steel!

Round your sad mistress flock, ye maids elect,
Whose charms severe your chastity protect';;
Scar'd by whose glance, despairing love descries,
That virtue steals no triumph from your eyes.

Round your bold master flock, ye mitred hive,
With anathems on Whigs his soul revive!
Saints whom the sight of human blood appals,
Save when to please the Royal will it falls.

He breathes he lives! the vestal choir advance,
Each takes a bishop, and leads up the dance,
Nor dreads to break her long respected vow,
For chaste-ah strange to tell!-are bishops now:
Saturnian times return!-the age of truth,
And-long foretold-is come the virgin youth.

45

50

55

60

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 59. Ergo alacris sylvas et cetera rura voluptas,
Panaque pastoresque tenet, Dryadasque puellas.

Ver. 61. Nec lupus insidias pecori, &c.

Ver. 63. Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna,

NOTES.

Ver. 46. half a crown! Literally so.

Ver. 63, 64. It is remarkable that these are the only lines which our Poet has imitated from the IVth Eclogue (or the Pollio) of Virgil. Perhaps the direct and obvious application of that whole Eclogue appeared to our author to be an undertaking too easy for the exercise of his superior talents; or perhaps he felt himself too well anticipated by a similar imitation of Pope's

Now sage professors, for their learning's curse,

Die of their duty in remorseless verse :

Now sentimental Aldermen expire

65

In prose half flaming with the Muse's fire;
Their's-while rich dainties swim on every plate-
Their's the glad toil to feast for Britain's fate;
Nor mean the gift the Royal grace affords,

All shall be knights-but those that shall be lords.
Fountain of Honour, that art never dry,

Touch'd with whose drops of grace no thief can die,
Still with new titles soak the delug'd land,

70

75

Still may we all be safe from KETCH's menac'd hand!

JENKINSON.

Oh wond'rous man, with a more wond'rous Muse!

O'er my lank limbs thy strains a sleep diffuse,

Sweet as when PITT with words, disdaining end,

Toils to explain, yet scorns to comprehend.
Ah! whither had we fled, had that foul day
Torn him untimely from our arms away?

80

What ills had mark'd the age, had that dire thrust
Pierc'd his soft heart, and bow'd his bob to dust?
Gods! to my labouring sight what phantoms rise! 85
Here Juries triumph, and there droops Excise!

IMITATIONS.

Ver. 78. Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine Poeta,
Quale sopor sessis in gramine.

NOTES.

Messiah, which was inserted some time since in one of the public papers. If the author will favour us with a corrected copy, adapted rather to the Pollio than the Messiah, we shall be happy to give it a place in our subsequent editions, of which we doubt not the good taste of the town will demand as many as of the rest of our celebrated bard's immortal compositions.