To Dr. Delany, occafioned by his Epifle to
bis Excellency John Lord Carteret.
Written in the Year 1729.
ELUDED mortals, whom the great
Chuse for companions tete à tete;
Who at their dinners, en famille,
Get leave to fit whene'er you will;
Then boasting tell us where
And, how his lordship was so kind;
How many pleasant things he spoke,
And, how you laugh’d at ev'ry joke :
Swear he's a most facetious man;
That
you
and he are cup and cann :
You travel with a heavy load,
And quite mistake preferment's road.
Vol. VII. K
Suppose
Suppose my lord and you alone, Hint the least int’rest of your own; His visage drops, he knits his brow, He cannot talk of bus'nefs now : Or mention but a vacant post, He'll turn it off with, name your toast : Nor could the nicest artist paint A countenance with more constraint.
For, as their appetites to quench
Lords keep a pimp to bring a wench;
So men of wit are but a kind
Of pandars to a vicious mind;
Who proper objects must provide
To gratify their lust of pride,
When, weary'd with intrigues of state,
They find an idle hour to prate.
Then shall you dare to ask a place,
You forseit all your patron's grace,
And disappoint the sole design,
For which he summon'd you to dine.
Thus Congreve spent in writing plays, And one poor office, half his days : While Montague, * who claim'd the station To be Mecænas of the nation,
For poets open table kept,
But ne'er consider'd where they slept :
Himself as rich as fifty Jere's,
Was easy, though they wanted shoes ;
And crazy Congreve scarce could spare
A shilling to discharge his chair :
'Till prudence taught him to appeal
From Pean's fire to party zeal;
Not owing to his happy vein
The fortunes of his later scene,
Took proper principles to thrive;
And so might ev'ry dunce alive.
Thus Steele, who own’d what others writ, And Aourish’d by imputed wit, From perils of a hundred jails Withdrew to starve, and die in Wales.
Thus Gay, the I hare with many friends, Twice feven long years the court attends : Who under tales conveying truth, To virtue form’d a princely 3 youth: Who paid his courtship with the croud As far as modes pride allow’d;
I see his fables.
duke of Cumberland, fecond His royal highness William fon 'of George II. K 2
Rejects
Rejects a servile user's place,
And leaves St. James's in disgrace*
Thus Addison, by lords carest,
Was left in foreign lands distrest;
Forgot at home, became for hire
A trav’ling tutor to a 'squire :
but wisely left the muses hill,
To bus’ness shap'd the poet's quill,
Let all his barren laurels fade,
Took up himself the courtier's trade,
And, grown a minister of state,
Saw poets at his levee wait.
Hail, happy Pope! whose gen'rous mind Deteting all the statesman kind, Contemning courts, at courts unseen, Rcfuisd the visits of a queen. A foul with ev'ry virtue fraught, By Jages, priests, or poets taught ; Whefe filial piety excels Whatever Grecion Pory tells; A genius for all stations fit, Whose inearresi talent is his wit ;
His heart too great, though fortune little,
To lick a rascal statesman's spittle ;
Appealing to the nation's taste,
Above the reach of want is plac’d:
By Homer dead was taught to thrive,
Which Homer never could alive;
And fits aloft on Pindus' head,
Despising saves that cringe for bread.
True politicians only pay
For solid work, but not for play ;
Nor ever chuse to work with tools
Forg’d up in colleges and schools.
Consider how much more is due
To all their journey-in2n than
At table you can Horace quote;
They at a pinch can bribe a vote :
You shew your skill in Greciar ftory;
But they can manage whig and iory :
You, as a critick, are so curious
To find a verse in Virgil fpurious;
But they can smoke the deep delivos,
When Bolingbroke with Pueldney dines.
Besides, your patron may upbraid ye, That
you have got a place already ;
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