JOHN Lord CARTERET.
To Dr. Delany, occafioned by his Epifle to his Excellency John Lord Carteret.
Written in the Year 1729.
ELUDED mortals, whom the great
Chufe for companions tete à tete;
Who at their dinners, en famille,
Get leave to fit whene'er you will;
Then boafting tell us where you din'd,
And, how his lordship was fo kind;
How many pleasant things he spoke,
And, how you laugh'd at ev'ry joke:
Swear he's a moft facetious man;
That you and he are cup and cann :
You travel with a heavy load,
And quite mistake preferment's road.
Suppofe
Suppofe my lord and
you alone,
Hint the leaft int'reft of your own;
His vifage 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 toaft:
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 luft of pride,
When, weary'd with intrigues of state,
They find an idle hour to prate.
Then fhall you dare to ask a place,
You forfeit all your patron's grace,
And difappoint the fole defign,
For which he fummon'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 Mecanas of the nation,
For poets open table kept,
But ne'er confider'd where they flept:
Himself as rich as fifty Jews,
Was eafy, though they wanted fhoes ;
And crazy Congreve fcarce could fpare
A fhilling 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 fcene,
Took proper principles to thrive;
And fo might ev'ry dunce alive.
Thus Steele, who own'd what others writ, And flourish'd by imputed wit, From perils of a hundred jails Withdrew to starve, and die in Wales.
Thus Gay, the bare with many friends,. Twice feven long years the court attends : Who under tales conveying truth, To virtue form'd a princely § youth: Who paid his courtship with the croud As far as modeft pride allow'd;
See his fables.
His royal highnefs William
K 2
duke of Cumberland, fecond fon of George II.
Rejects a fervile ufher's place,
And leaves St. James's in difgrace*.
Thus Addifon, by lords careft,
Was left in foreign lands diftreft;
Forgot at home, became for hire
A trav'ling tutor to a 'quire:
But wifely left the mufes hill,
To bus'ness fhap'd the poet's quill,
Let all his barren laurels fade,
Took up himself the courtier's trade,
And, grown a minifter of ftate,
Saw poets at his levee wait.
Hail, happy Pope whofe gen'rous mind Detefling all the ftatesman kind, Contemning courts, at courts unfeen, Refus'd the vifits of a queen. A foul with ev'ry virtue fraught, By fages, priefts, or poets taught; Whole filial piety excels Whatever Grecian ftory tells; A genius for all ftations fit, Whofe meanest talent is his wit;
*For fome account of this, fee Pope's works publifbed by Mr. Warburton, Vel. 11. Let
ter XXVI. See alfo verfes to Mr. Gay in the fubfequent part of this volume.
His heart too great, though fortune little,
To lick a rafcal statefman's fpittle;
Appealing to the nation's tafte,
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,
Defpifing slaves that cringe for bread.
True politicians only pay
For folid work, but not for play;
Nor ever chufe to work with tools
Forg'd up in colleges and fchools.
Confider how much more is due
To all their journey-men than you :
At table you can Horace quote;
They at a pinch can bribe a vote :
You fhew your fkill in Grecian ftory;
But they can manage whig and tory:
You, as a critick, are fo curious
To find a verse in Virgil fpurious;
But they can smoke the deep defigns,
When Bolingbroke with Pultney dines.
Befides, your patron may upbraid ye, That you have got a place already;
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