Her welfare always is preferr'd,
And my neglected voice unheard:
Examples numerous I cou'd mention,
A peace! bad as the old convention;
Money reduc'd to three per cent,
No pity on the poor who lents
Armies that muft for ever ftand,
And still three fhillings laid on land.
5. Suppofe now, Madam, I was willing
For once to bate this grievous fhilling,
To humour you-I know 'tis wrong,
But you have fuch a curfed tongue.
MADAM POPULARITY.
6. Why then, tho' rough as winds or feas, You fcorn all little arts to please,
Yet thou art honeft, faith, and I
With thee alone will live and die.
NORINNA, in the country bred,
Harbour'd ftrange notions in her head,
Notions in town quite out of fashion;
Such as that love's a dangerous passion,
That virtue is the maiden's jewel,
And to be fafe, fhe must be cruel.
Thus arm'd she'ad long fecur'd her honour
From all affaults yet made upon her,
Had fcratch'd th' impetuous Captain's hand,
Had torn the Lawyer's gown and band,
And gold refus'd from Knights and Squires,
To bribe her to her own defires:
For, to fay truth, she thought it hard,
To be of pleafures thus debarr'd,
She faw by others freely tafted,
So pouted, pin'd, grew pale, and wasted:
Yet, notwithstanding her condition,
Continu'à firm in oppofition.
At length a troop of horfe came down,
And quarter'd in a neighb'ring town;
The Cornet he was tall and young,
And had a most bewitching tongue.
They faw and lik'd: the fiege begun:
Each hour he fome advantage won.
He ogled firft;-fshe turn'd away;-
But met his eyes the following day:
Then her reluctant hand he seizes,
That foon fhe gives him, when he pleases:
Her ruby lips he next attacks :-
She ftruggles ;-in a while fhe fmacks;
Her fnowy breast he then invades ;—
That yields too after fome parades;
And of that fortrefs once poffeft,
He quickly mafters all the rest.
No longer now, a dupe to fame,
She fmothers or refifts her flame,
But loves without or fear or shame.
So have I seen the Tory race
Long in the pouts for want of place,
Never in humour, never well,
Wishing for what they dar'd not tell,
Their heads with country-notions fraught,
Notions in town not worth a groat,
Thefe tenets all reluctant quit,
And step by step at laft fubmit
To reafon, eloquence, and PITT.
At first to Hanover a Plum
Was fent ;-They faid-A trivial sum,
But if he went one tittle further,
They vow'd and fwore they'd cry out murder;
Ere long a larger fum is wanted;
They pifh'd and frown'd—but still they granted;
He push'd for more, and more agen-
Well-Money's better fent, than Men:
Here virtue made another stand.—
No-not a man fhall leave the land.
What?—not one regiment to Embden?
They ftart-but now they're fairly hem'd in:
These foon, and many more are fent ;-
They're filen:-Silence gives confent.
Our troops, they now can plainly fee,
May Britain guard in Germany;
Hanoverians, Heffians, Pruffians
Are paid, t'oppofe the French and Ruffians;
Nor fcruple they with truth to fay,
They're fighting for America:
No more they make a fiddle-faddle
About an Heffian horfe or faddle;
No more of continental measures,
No more of wafting British treasures;
Ten millions and a vote of credit.-
'Tis right-He can't be wrong, who did it:
They're fairly fous'd o'er head and ears,
And cur'd of all their ruftic fears.
A PASSAGE IN OSSIAN VERSIFIED.
HE deeds of ancient days fhall be my theme;
O Lora, the foft murmurs of thy ftream, Thy trees, Garmallar, ruftling in the wind, Recall thofe days with pleasure to my mind.
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