And, with a kind of fuperftitious awe,
Deem Magna Charta ftill a facred law.

i But, if because the government was best
Of old in FRANCE, when freedom fhe poffeft,
In the fame scale refolv'd to weigh our own,
ENGLAND'S we judge was fo, who then had none;
Into moft ftrange abfurdities we fall,
Unworthy to be reason'd with at all.

k
* Brought to perfection in these days we fee
All arts, and their great parent Liberty;

'With skill profound we fing, eat, dress, and dance,
And in each goût polite, excel ev'n FRANCE.

"If age of minifters is then the test,

And, as of wines, the oldest are the best,

Let's try and fix fome æra, if we can,

When good ones were extinct, and bad began:

Are they all wicked fince ELIZA's days?

35

40

45

Did none in CHARLES', or JAMES's merit praise? 50

Or are they knaves but fince the Revolution?

If none of these are facts then all's confufion;

And by the self-fame rule one cannot fail,
• To pluck each hair out fingly from the tail.

Qui redit ad faftos, & virtutem eftimat annis,
Miraturque nihil nifi quod Libitina sacravit.

Ennius, & fapiens, & fortis, & alter Homerus, Ut critici dicunt, leviter curare videtur

Quo promiffa cadant, & fomnia Pythagorea.

Nævius in manibus non eft, & mentibus hæret
Pene recens: adeo fanctum eft vetus omne poema,
Ambigitur quoties uter utro fit prior, aufert
Pacuvius docti famam fenis, Accius alti :
Dicitur Afrani toga conveniffe Menandro ;
Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi;
⚫ Vincere Cæcilius gravitate, Terentius arte,
Hos edifcit, & hos arcto ftipata theatro
Spectat Roma potens: habet hos numeratque poetas
Ad noftrum tempus, Livî fcriptoris ab ævo,
Interdum vulgus rectum videt; eft ubi peccat,

▾ Si veteres ita miratur laudatque poetas,
Ut nihil anteferat, nihil illis comparet, errat ;

Wife CECIL, lov'd by people and by prince, 55 As often broke his word as any fince:

↑ Of ARTHUR's days we almost nothing know,

Yet fing their praise, because they're long ago.

Oft as 'tis doubted in their several ways
Which of paft orators beft merit praise,
We find it to decide extremely hard,

If HARLEY'S head deferv'd the most regard,

Or WINDHAM's tongue, or JEKYL's patriot heart, • Old SHIPPEN's gravity, or WALPOLE's art.

60

• These were ador'd by all with whom they voted, 65 And in the fulleft houfes ftill are quoted;

These have been fam'd from ANNA's days till ours,

When PELHAM has improv'd, with unknown pow'rs, The art of minifterial eloquence,

By adding honest truth to nervous sense.

"Oft are the vulgar wrong, yet sometimes right;
The late rebellion in the trueft light

By chance they faw; but were not once fo wife,
Unknown, unheard, in damning the excise;
▾ If former reigns they fancy had no fault,
I think their judgment is not worth a groat:

70

75

* But

* Si quædam nimis antique, fi pleraque dure
Dicere credit eos, ignave multa fatetur,
Et fapit, & mecum facit, & Jove judicat æquo.

Non equidem infector, delendave carmina Livî
Effe reor, memini quæ plagofum mihi parvo
Orbilium dictitare; fed emendata videri,
Pulchraque, & exactis minimum diftantia, miror.
• Inter quæ verbum emicuit fi forte decorum, &
Si verfus paulos concinnior unus & alter,

Injuftum totum ducit venditque poema.

Indignor quicquam reprehendi, non qui crassè Compofitum illepidève putetur, fed quia nuper ; Nec veniam antiquis, fed honorem & præmia posci. Rectè necne crocum florefque perambulat Atta Fabula fi dubitem, clamant periiffe pudorem Cuncti pene patres; ea cum reprendere coner Quæ gravis Æfopus, quæ doctus Roscius egit: Vel quia nil rectum, nifi quod placuit fibi, ducunt; Vel quia turpe putant parere minoribus, & quæ Imberbis didicere, fenes perdenda fateri.

Jam

* But if they frankly own their politics,

Like ours, might have some blunders, and some tricks, With fuch impartial fentiments I join,

And their opinions tally just with mine.

y I would by no means church or king destroy, And yet the doctrines, taught me when a boy

By CRAB the curate, now feem wond'rous odd, That either came immediately from God:

80

• In all the writings of thofe high-flown ages

85

You meet with now and then fome fcatter'd pages

Wrote with some spirit and with sense enough;
These fell the book, the rest is wretched ftuff:
I'm quite provok'd, when principles, tho' true,
Must stand impeach'd by fools, because they're new.
• Should I but queftion, only for a joke,

If all was flow'rs, when pompous HANMER spoke,
If things went right, when ST. JOHN trod the stage,
How the old Tories all would ftorm and rage!
They fhun conviction, or because a truth
Confefs'd in age implies they err'd in youth;

Or that they scorn to learn of junior wits:
What! to be taught by LYTTELTONS and PITTS.

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95

• When