Where ancient Authors hint at things obfcene,
The Scholiaft speaks out broadly what they mean.
Difclofing each dark vice, well loft to fame,
And adding fuel to redundant flame,
He, fober pimp to lechery, explains
What Caprea's Ifle, or V's Alcove contains:
Why Paulus, for his fordid temper known,
Was lavish, to his father's wife alone:
Why thofe fond female vifits duly paid
To tuneful Incuba; and what her trade:
How modern love has made fo many martyrs,
And which keeps ofteneft, Lady C*, or Chartres.
But who their various follies can explain?
The tale is infinite, the task were vain.
'Twere to read new-year odes in search of thought; To fum the libels Pryn or Withers wrote;
To guefs, ere one epiftle saw the light,
How many dunces met, and club'd their mite;
To vouch for truth what Welfted prints of Pope,
Or from the brother-boobies steal a trope.
That be the part of perfevering Wasse,
With pen of lead; or, Arnall, thine of brass;
V. 209. See a Poem published fome time ago under that title, faid to be the production of several ingenious and prolific heads; one contributing a fimile, another a character, and a certain gentleman four fhrewd lines wholly made up of afterisks.
V. 213. See the Preface to his edition of Salluft; and read, if you are able, the Scholia of fixteen annotators by him collected, befides his own.
A text for Henley, or a glofs for Hearne,
Who loves to teach, what no man cares to learn.
How little, knowledge reaps from toils like thefe!
Too doubtful to direct, too poor to please.
Yet, Critics, would your tribe deserve a name,
And, fairly useful, rife to honest fame ;
First, from the head, a load of lumber move,
And, from the volume, all yourselves approve:
For patch'd and pilfer'd fragments, give us fenfe,
Or learning, clear from learn'd impertinence,
Where moral meaning, or where tafte prefides,
And wit enlivens but what reafon guides:
Great without fwelling, without meannefs praise,
Serious, not filly; fportive, but not vain;
On trifles flight, on things of use profound,
In quoting fober, and in judging found.
PRESENTED TO THE PRINCE OF ORANGE, ON HIS
ECEIVE, lov'd prince, the tribute of our praise,
This hafty welcome, in unfinish'd lays.
At best, the pomp of fong, the paint of art,
Difplay the genius, but not speak the heart;
And oft, as ornament must truth supply,
Are but the fplendid colouring of a lie.
These need not here; for to a foul like thine,
Truth, plain and fimple, will more lovely shine.
The truly good but wifh the verse fincere :
They court no flattery, who no cenfure fear.
Such Naffau is, the faireft, gentlest mind,
In blooming youth the Titus of mankind,
Crouds, who to hail thy wish'd appearance ran,
Forgot the prince, to praise and love the man.
Such fense with sweetness, grandeur mix'd with ease!
Our nobler youth will learn of thee to please:
Thy bright example fhall our world adorn,
And charm, in gracious princes, yet unborn.
Nor deem this verfe from venal art proceeds,
That vice of courts, the foil for baneful weeds.
Here candor dwells; here honeft truths are taught,
To guide and govern, not disguise, the thought.
See thefe enlighten'd Sages, who prefide
O'er learning's empire; fee the youth they guide :
Behold, all faces are in transport drest!
But those most wonder, who discern thee best.
At fight of thee, each free-born heart receives
A joy, the fight of princes rarely gives;
From tyrants fprung, and oft themselves design'd,
By Fate, the future Neroes of their kind :
But though thy blood, we know, tranfmitted springs
From laurel'd heroes, and from warrior-kings,
Through that high feries, we, delighted, trace
The friends of liberty, and human race!
Oh, born to glad and animate our Isle!
For thee, our heavens look pleas'd, our feafons fmile: For thee, late object of our tender fears,
When thy life droop'd, and Britain was in tears,
All-chearing Health, the goddess rofy-fair,
Attended by foft suns, and vernal air,
Sought thofe fam'd fprings, where, each afflictive hour,
Difeafe, and age, and pain, invoke her power:
She came; and, while to thee the current flows,
Pour'd all herself, and in thy cup arose.
Hence, to thy cheek, that inftant bloom deriv'd:
Hence, with thy health, the weeping world reviv'd!
Proceed to emulate thy race divine:
A life of action, and of praise, be thine.
Affert the titles genuine to thy blood,
By Nature, daring; but by reafon, good.
So great, fo glorious thy forefathers shone,
No fon of theirs must hope to live unknown :
Their deeds will place thy virtue full in fight;
Thy vice, if vice thou haft, in ftronger light.
If to thy fair beginnings nobly true,
Think what the world may claim, and thou must do:
The honours, that already grace thy name,
Have fix'd thy choice, and force thee into fame.
Ev'n fhe, bright Anna, whom thy worth has won,
Inspires thee what to seek and what to shun :
Rich in all outward grace, th' exalted fair
Makes the foul's beauty her peculiar care.
O, be your nuptials crown'd with glad encrease
Of fons, in war renown'd, and great in peace ;
Of daughters, fair and faithful, to fupply
The patriot-race, till Nature's felf shall die!
PART OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN.
N times long paft, ere Wealth was Learning's foe,
And dar'd despise the worth he would not know; Ere mitred pride, which arts alone had rais'd, Thofe very arts, in others faw, unprais'd;
Friend to mankind, a prelate, good and great,
The Mufes courted to this safe retreat :
Fix'd each fair virgin, decent, in her cell,
With learned leifure, and with peace to dwell.
The fabric finish'd, to the + fovereign's fame,
His own neglecting, he transferr'd his claim.
Here, by fucceffive worthies, well was taught
Whate'er enlightens, or exalts the thought.
With labour planted, and improv'd with care,
The various tree of knowledge flourish'd fair:
Soft and ferene the kindly feafons roll'd,
And Science long enjoy'd her age of gold.
Now, dire reverfe! impair'd by lapfe of years,
A falling wafte the Mufes' feat appears.
O'er her gray roofs, with baneful ivy bound,
Time, fure deftroyer, walks his hoftile round:
Silent, and flow, and ceaseless in his toil,
He mines each wall, he moulders every pile!
Calling it King's College, in compliment to James II.
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