Nor ftoops to take the ftaff *, nor lays it down,
Juft as the rabble please to smile or frown.

Virtue, to crown her favourites, loves to try
Some new unbeaten paffage to the sky;
Where Jove a feat among the gods will give
To those who die, for meriting to live.

Next faithful Silence hath a fure reward;
Within our breaft be every fecret barr'd!
He, who betrays his friend, fhall never be
Under one roof, or in one fhip, with me.
For who with traitors would his fafety truf
Left with the wicked, heaven involve the jull
And, though the villain 'fcape a while, he feels
Slow vengeance, like a blood-hound, at his heels.

PHYLLIS;

OR,

THE PROGRESS OF LOVE. 1716.

DESPONDING Phyllis was endued

With every talent of a prude:

She trembled when a man drew near;
Salute her, and the turn'd her ear;
If o'er against her you were plac'd,
She durft not look above

your waift:
She'd rather take you to her bed,
Than let you fee her dress her head:

• The enfign of the lord treasurer's office.

In

In church

you

hear her, through the crowd, Repeat the abfolution loud:

In church, fecure behind her fan,
She durft behold that monfter man :
There practis'd how to place her head,
And bit her lips to make them red;
Or, on the mat devoutly kneeling,
Would lift her eyes up to the cieling,
And heave her bofom unaware,
For neighbouring beaux to fee it bare.
At length a lucky lover came,
And found admittance to the dame.
Suppose all parties now agreed,
The writings drawn, the lawyer fee'd,
The vicar and the ring bespoke :

Guefs, how could fuch a match be broke?
See then what mortals place their bliss in!
Next morn betimes the bride was miffing:
The mother scream'd, the father chid;
Where can this idle wench be hid?
No news of Phyt! the bridegroom came,
And thought his bride had skulk'd for fhame;
Because her father us'd to fay,

The girl had fuch a bafhful way!

Now John the butler must be sent To learn the road that Phyllis went ; The groom was wish'd to faddle Crop; For John must neither light nor ftop, But find her, wherefoe'er fhe fled, And bring her back, alive or dead.

See here again the devil to do! For truly John was miffing too: L 2

The

The horse and pillion both were gone!
Phyllis, it feems, was fled with John.

Old Madam, who went up to find
What papers Phyl had left behind,
A letter on the toilet fees,

To

my much-honour'd father---these--('Tis always done, romances tell us, When daughters run away with fellows) Fill'd with the choiceft common-places, By others us'd in the like cafes. "That long ago a fortune-teller "Exactly faid what now befel her; "And in a glass had made her fee "A ferving-man of low degree. "It was her fate, must be forgiven; "For marriages were made in heaven: "His pardon begg'd: but, to be plain, "She'd do't if 'twere to do again : "Thank'd God, 'twas neither fhame nor fin; "For John was come of honest kin. "Love never thinks of rich and poor: "She'd beg with John from door to door. "Forgive her, if it be a crime; "She'll never do't another time. "She ne'er before in all her life "Once disobey'd him, maid nor wife. "One argument fhe fumm'd up all in, "The thing was done, and paft recalling; "And therefore hop'd the fhould recover "His favour, when his paffion's over. "She valued not what others thought her, "And was---his most obedient daughter."

Fair maidens, all attend the Muse,
Who now the wandering pair pursues:
Away they rode in homely fort,
Their journey long, their money fhort;
The loving couple well bemir'd;
The horse and both the riders tir'd:
Their victuals bad, their lodging worse;
Phyl cry'd! and John began to curse:
Phyl wish'd that she had strain'd a limb,
When first the ventur'd out with him;
John wifh'd, that he had broke a leg,
When first for her he quitted Peg.

But what adventures more befel them,
The Muse has now no time to tell them;
How Johnny wheedled, threaten'd, fawn'd,
Till Phyllis all her trinkets pawn'd ;
How oft' fhe broke her marriage vows
In kindness to maintain her spouse,
Till fwains unwholesome spoil'd the trade;
For now the furgeons must be paid,
To whom those perquifites are gone,
In Christian justice due to John.

When food and raiment now grew scarce,
Fate put a period to the farce,
And with exact poetic juftice;

For John was landlord, Phyllis hostess;
They keep, at Staines, the Old Blue Boar,
Are cat and dog, and rogue and whore.

AD AMICUM ERUDITUM
THOMAM SHERIDAN. 1717.

DELICIE Sheridan Mufarum, dulcis amice,
Sic tibi propitius Permeffi ad flumen Apolla
Occurrat, feu te mimum convivia rident,
Equivocofque fales fpargis, feu ludere verfu
Malles; dic, Sheridan, quifnam fuit ille deorum,
Quæ melior natura orto tibi tradidit artem
Rimandi genium puerorum, atque ima cerebri
Scrutandi? Tibi nafcenti ad cunabula Pallas
Aftitit; & dixit, mentis præfaga futuræ,
Heu, puer infelix! noftro fub fidere natus;
Nam tu pectus eris fine corpore, corporis umbra;
Sed levitate umbram superabis, voce cicadam :
Mufca femur, palmas tibi mus dedit, ardea crura.
Corpore fed tenui tibi quod natura negavit,
Hoc animi dotes fupplebunt; teque docente,
Nec longum tempus, furget tibi docta juventus,
Artibus egregiis animas instructa novellas.
Grex hinc Pæonius venit, ecce, falutifer orbi ;
Aft, illi caufas orant; his infula vifa eft
Divinam capiti nodo conftringere mitram.
Natalis te horæ non fallunt figna, fed ufque
Confcius, expedias puero feu lætus Apollo
Nafcenti arrifit; five illum frigidus horror
Saturni premit, aut feptem inflavere triones.

Quin tu altè penitufque latentia femina cernis,
Quæque diu obtundendo olim fub luminis auras
Erumpent, promis; quo ritu fæpè puella
Sub cinere hefterno fopitos fufcitat ignes.

Te