And bears aloft, with terrors hung,
The Honours of the Vulgar Tongue.

Here, STENTOR, always heard with awe,
In thund'ring accents deals out Law.
Twelve Furlongs off each dreadful word
Was plainly and diftinctly heard,
And ev'ry neighbour hill around
Return'd, and fwell'd the mighty found.
The loudeft Virgin of the ftream,
Compar'd with him, would filent feem;
THAMES (who, enrag'd to find his course
Oppos'd, rolls down with double force,
Against the Bridge indignant roars,
And lashes the refounding fhores)
Compar'd with him, at loweft Tide,
In fofteft whispers feems to glide.

Hither directed by the noise,
Swell'd with the hope of future joys,
Thro' too much zeal and hafte made lame,
The Rev'rend flave of DULLMAN came.

STENTOR

- with fuch a serious air,

With fuch a face of folemn care,

As might import him to contain

A Nation's welfare in his brain-
STENTOR cries CRAPE

I'm hither fent

On business of moft high intent,
Great DULLMAN's orders to convey;
DULLMAN commands, and I obey.
Big with those throes which Patriots feel,
And lab'ring for the commonweal,
Some fecret, which forbids him reft,
Tumbles and Toffes in his breaft,
Tumbles and Toffes to get free;

And thus the Chief commands by Me:

To

To-morrow

if the Day appear

Likely to turn out fair and clear-
Proclaim a Grand Proceffionade
Be all the City Pomp difplay'd
Our Citizens to Council call-

Let All meeti'tis the Caufe of All.

It is indeed a difficult Tafk to speak critically of Friend or Foe. Our opinions, in either cafe, will naturally incur the fufpicion of Partiality. But, if familiar Eafe and manly Strength, a happy Invention and rich Expreffion, fine Satire and delicate Panegyric, uniting in the fame Poem, can infure Success, the approbation of friendship will receive its fanction from the concurrence of the Public. Satire, tho' the worst-natur'd of the Mufes, claims all our Author's attention: To her he bows, nor is afraid to declare his refolution.

Hated by many, lov'd by few,

Above each little private view,
Honeft, tho' poor, and who fhall dare
To disappoint my boasting there?
Hardy and refolute, tho' weak,

The dictates of my heart to speak,
Willing I bend at SATIRE's throne;
What power I have, be all her own.

Nor fhall yon Lawyer's fpecious Art, Conscious of a corrupted Heart,

Create imaginary Fear

To damp us in our bold Career.

Why should we fear? and What?the Laws?

They all are armed in Virtue's caufe.

And aiming at the felf-fame End,

Satire is always Virtue's Friend.

In

In the course of this Poem, there are many inftances of claffical Burlesque imitation, as in the description of the golden-headed cane, and the account of the Prodigies at the found of FAME's trumpet, when

CONFUSION thro' the City past,

And FEAR beftrode the dreadful Blaft.

Those fragrant Currents which we meet
Diftilling foft thro' ev'ry street,
Affrighted from their usual course,
Ran murmuring upwards to their fource;
Statues wept Tears of blood, as faft
As when a CESAR breath'd his laft;
Horfes, which always us'd to go
A foot-pace in my Lord Mayor's Show,
Impetuous from their stable broke,
And ALDERMEN, and OXEN fpoke.

HALLS felt the force, Tow'rs fhook around,
And Steeples nodded to the ground:

St. PAUL, himself (ftrange fight) was seen
To bow as humbly as the Dean.
The Manfion-house, for ever plac'd
A Monument of City Tafte,
Trembled, and feem'd aloud to groan,
Thro' all that hideous weight of stone.

To ftill the found, or ftop her ears, Remove the caufe or fenfe of fears, PHYSIC, in College feated high, Would any thing but Med'cine try:

No more in PEWT'RER'S-HALL was heard

The proper force of ev'ry word,

Those feats were defolate become,
And hapless ELOCUTION dumb.

VOL. I.

H

FORM

FORM, City-born, and City-bred,

By ftrict Decorum ever led,

Who threescore years had known the grace
Of one, dull, fiff, unvaried pace;
TERROR prevailing over PRIDE,
Was seen to take a larger ftride;
Worn to the bone, and cloath'd in rags,
See AV'RICE closer hug his bags;
With her own weight unwieldy grown,
See CREDIT totter on her Throne;
VIRTUE alone, had She been there,
The mighty found, unmov'd, could bear.

Thefe kind of allufions, will not perhaps relifh with the Tafte of this fimple Age, which prefers a dull Parody, from oftentimes an infipid Antient, to the ftrongest efforts of Genius in an unfortunate Modern. However, minute Observers will not be entirely disappointed in this Work; by the help of Critical fpectacles, in the courfe of thirteen hundred Verfes, or more, they may be able to difcover a weak line, and fometimes perhaps a harsh one. Such now and then negligences, incidental to all Poems of length, will nevertheless meet with that indulgence from the Public, which none but the most faftidious reader would deny. It is probable too, that our Author will be charged with the borrowing a Simile from a brother Satirift, the Earl of DORSET. The Reader will not be displeased at seeing the parallel Paffages; and the Author of the Ghoft will not be injured by the comparison. This Simile, which is happily introduced, and elegantly fupported, is as follows:

Who, Champion sworn in Virtue's cause, 'Gainft Vice his tiny bodkin draws,

But to no part of Prudence ftranger,

First blunts the point for fear of Danger.

So

So Nurfes fage, as Caution works,

When Children first use knives and forks,
For fear of mischief, it is known,
To other's fingers, or their own,
To take the edge off, wifely chufe,

Tho' the fame stroke takes off the Ufe.

And the Earl of Dorfet, in his Poem to Mr. Howard, expreffes himself thus,

"Carry great burthens, till your fhoulders fhrink, "But curst be He, that gives thee Pen and Ink; "Such dangerous weapons fhould be kept from fools, "As Nurses from their children keep edge tools."

In fome parts of this Poem, it were to be wished the Personal attacks were lefs violent. But Wits, like Potentates, will fometimes go to battle for mere trifles ; and a paper war is the cause of as much inkfhed, and as detrimental to both Parties, as a Chancery Suit. From being unwilling to allow our rival all the Merit he fancies himfelf poffefled of, we are difpofed to grant him none at all; and the names of Dunce, Fool, and Blockhead, are liberally bandied about from one to the other, with perhaps very little reafon on either fide.

Εισι γαρ εν Μεσησιν Εριννυες.

"Warm Paffions (fays the learned Editor of the "Life of ERASMUS) and a lively imagination, difpose "men to Panegyric and Satire; but nimium nec "laudare, nec lædere, that is, neither to deify, nor duncify, feems to be no bad rule for those who would wish to act confiftently, and live quietly.