Till me that Tyrant Man espy'd,
And dragg'd me from my Mother's Side:
No Wonder now I look fo thin;
The Tyrant ftript me to the Skin:
My Skin he flay'd, my Hair he cropt;
At Head and Foot my Body lopt:
And then, with Heart more hard than Stone,
He pickt my Marrow from the Bone.
To vex me more he took a Freak,
To flit my Tongue, and make me speak:
But, that which wonderful appears,
I speak to Eyes and not to Ears.
He oft employs me in Disguise,
And makes me tell a thousand Lyos:
To me he chiefly gives in Trust
To please his Malice, or his Luft.
From me no Secret he can hide ;
I fee his Vanity and Pride:
And my Delight is to expose
His Follies to his greatest Foes.
ALL Languages I can command,
Yet not a Word I understand.
Without my Aid, the best Divine
In Learning would not know a Line:
The Lawyer muft forget his Pleading,
The Scholar could not fhew his Reading.
Nay; Man, my Master, is
my Slave:
I give Command to kill or fave.
Can grant ten thousand Pounds a Year,
And make a Beggar's Brat a Peer.
BUT, while I thus my Life relate,
I only haften on my Fate.
My Tongue is black, my Mouth is furr'd,
I hardly now can force a Word.
I die unpity'd and forgot;
And on fome Dunghill left to rot.
ALL-ruling Tyrant of the Earth,
To vileft Slaves I owe my Birth.
How is the greatest Monarch bleft,
When in my gaudy Liv'ry dreft!
No haughty Nymph has Pow'r to run
From me; or my Embraces fhun.
Stabb'd to the Heart, condemn'd to Flame,
My Conftancy is ftill the fame.
The fav'rite Meffenger of Jove,
And Lemnian God confulting ftrove,
To make me glorious to the Sight
Of Mortals, and the Gods Delight.
Soon would their Altars Flame expire,
If I refus'd to lend them Fire.
Y Fate exalted high in Place;
Lo, here I ftand with double Face;
Superior none on Earth I find;
But fee below me all Mankind.
Yet, as it oft' attends the Great,
I almost fink with my own Weight;
At every Motion undertook,
The Vulgar all confult my Look.
I fometimes give Advice in Writing,
But never of my own Inditing.
I AM a Courtier in my Way;
For those who rais'd me, I betray;
And fome give out, that I entice
To Luft, and Luxury, and Dice;
Who Punishments on me inflict,
Because they find their Pockets pickt.
By riding Post I lofe my Health; And only to get others Wealth.
ECAUSE I am by Nature blind,
I wifely chufe to walk behind;
However, to avoid Disgrace,
I let no Creature fee my Face.
My Words are few, but fpoke with Sense:
And yet my speaking gives Offence:
Or, if to whisper I prefume,
The Company will fly the Room,
By all the World I am opprest,
And my Oppreffion gives them Reft.
THROUGH me, though fore against my Will Inftructors ev'ry Art inftill,
By Thousands I am fold and bought,
Who neither get, nor lofe a Groat;
For none, alas, by me can gain,
But those who give me greatest Pain.
Shall Man presume to be my Mafter,
Who's but my Caterer and Tafter?
Yet, though I always have my Will
I'm but a meer Depender still:
An humble Hanger-on at best;
Of whom all People make a Jest.
IN me, Detractors feek to find
Two Vices of a diff'rent Kind:
I'm too profufe fome Cens'rers cry,
And all I get, I let it fly:
While others give me many a Curse,
Because too close I hold my Purse.
But this I know, in either Cafe
They dare not charge me to my Face,
'Tis true, indeed, fometimes I fave,
Sometimes run out of all I have ;
But when the Year is at an End,
Computing what I get and spend,
My Goings out, and Comings in,
I cannot find I lofe, or win,
And therefore, all that know me, fay,
I jufly keep the middle Way.
I'm always by my Betters led;
I laft get up, am first a-bed.
Though, if I rife before my Time,
The Learn'd in Sciences fublime,
Confult the Stars, and thence foretell
Good Luck to thofe, with whom I dwell.
HE Joy of Man, the Pride of Brutes,
Domestick Subject for Disputes,
Of Plenty, thou the Emblem fair,
Adorn'd by Nymphs with all their Care:
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