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And shews his miseries in distant lands;
Condemn'd a needy supplicant to wait,
While ladies interpose, and slaves debate.
But did not Chance at length her error mend
Did no subverted empire mark his end?
Did rival monarchs give the fatal wound?
Or hostile millions press him to the ground?
His fall was destin'd to a barren strand,
A petty fortress, and a dubious hand;

He left the name at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale.

All times their scenes of pompous woes afford,
From Persia's tyrant to Bavaria's lord.
In gay hostility, and barb'rous pride,
With half mankind embattled on his side,
Great Xerxes comes to seize the certain prey,
And starves exhausted regions in his way;
Attendant Flatt'ry counts his myriads o'er,
Till counted myriads sooth his pride no more;
Fresh praise is try'd till madness fires his mind,
The waves he lashes, and enchains the wind;
New pow'rs are claim'd, new pow'rs are still bestow'd,
Till rude resistance lops the spreading god ;
The daring Greeks deride the martial show,

And heap their vallies with the gaudy foe;
Th' insulted sea with humbler thoughts he gains,
A single skiff to speed his flight remains ;

Th' incumber'd oar scarce leaves the dreaded coast
Through purple billows and a floating host.

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The bold Bavarian in a luckless hour,

Tries the dread summits of Caesarean pow'r,
With unexpected legions bursts away,

And sees defenceless realms receive his sway;

Short sway! fair Austria spreads her mournful
charms,

The queen, the beauty, sets the world in arms;
From hill to hill the beacon's rousing blaze
Spreads wide the hope of plunder and of praise;
The fierce Croatian, and the wild Hussar,

And all the sons of ravage crowd the war;
The baffled prince in honor's flatt'ring bloom
Of hasty greatness finds the fatal doom,

His foes derision, and his subjects blame,
And steals to death from anguish and from shame.

Enlarge my life with multitude of days,
In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays;
Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know,
That life protracted is protracted woe.
Time hovers o'er, impatient to destroy,
And shuts up all the passages of joy :

In vain their gifts the bounteous seasons pour,
The fruits autumnal, and the vernal flow'r;
With listless eyes the dotard views the store,
He views, and wonders that they please no more;
Now pall the tasteless meats, and joyless wines,
And Luxury with sighs her slave resigns.
Approach, ye minstrels, try the soothing strain,
And yield the tuneful lenitives of pain:

No sounds, alas! would touch th' impervious ear,
Though dancing mountains witness Orpheus near,
Nor lute nor lyre his feeble pow'rs attend,
Nor sweeter music of a virtuous friend,
But everlasting dictates crowd his tongue,
Perversely grave or positively wrong.

The still returning tale, and lingʼring jest,
Perplex the fawning niece and pamper'd guest,
While growing hopes scarce awe the gathʼring sneer,
And scarce a legacy can bribe to hear;

The watchful guests still hint the last offence,
The daughter's petulance, the son's expence,
Improve his heady rage with treach'rous skill,
And mould his passions till they make his will.

Unnumber'd maladies his joints invade,
Lay siege to life, and press the dire blockade ;
But unextinguish'd Av'rice still remains,
And dreaded losses aggravate his pains;

He turns, with anxious heart and crippled hands,
His bonds of debt, and mortgages of lands;
Or views his coffers with suspicious eyes,
Unlocks his gold, and counts it till he dies.

But grant, the virtues of a tempʼrate prime
Bless with an age exempt from scorn or crime:
An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay,

And glides in modest innocence away;
Whose peaceful day Benevolence endears,
Whose night congratulating Conscience chears;

The genʼral fav'rite, as the gen❜ral friend;
Such age there is; and who could wish its end?

Yet ev❜n on this her load Misfortune flings,
To press the weary minutes' flagging wings:
New sorrow rises as the day returns,

A sister sickens, or a daughter mourns.
Now kindred merit fills the sable bier,
Now lacerated friendship claims a tear.
Year chases year, decay pursues decay,
Still drops some joy from with'ring life away;
New forms arise, and different views engage,
Superfluous lags the vet'ran on the stage;
Till pitying Nature signs the last release,
And bids afflicted worth retire to peace.

But few there are whom hours like these await, Who set unclouded in the gulphs of Fate. From Lydia's monarch should the search descend, By Solon caution'd to regard his end,

In life's last scene what prodigies surprise,

Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise?
From Marlb'rough's eyes the streams of dotage flow,
And Swift expires a driv❜ler and a show.

The teeming mother, anxious for her race,
Begs for each birth the fortune of a face :
Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring;
And Sedley curs'd the form that pleas'd a king.

Ye nymphs of rosy lips and radiant eyes,
Whom Pleasure keeps too busy to be wise,
Whom Joys with soft varieties invite

By day the frolick, and the dance by night,
Who frown with vanity, who smile with art,
And ask the latent fashion of the heart,

What care, what rules your heedless charms shall save,
Each nymph your rival, and each youth your slave?
Against your fame with fondness hate combines,
The rival batters, and the lover mines.
With distant voice neglected Virtue calls,

Less heard and less, the faint remonstrance falls;
Tir'd with contempt, she quits the slipp'ry reign,
And Pride and Prudence take her seat in vain.
In crowd at once, where none the past defend,
The harmless Freedom, and the private Friend.
The guardians yield, by force superior ply'd :
By Int'rest, Prudence; and by Flatt'ry, Pride,
Now beauty falls betray'd, despis'd, distrest,
And hissing infamy proclaims the rest.

Where then shall Hope and Fear their objects find! Must dull Suspence corrupt the stagnant mind? Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate,

Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?

Must no dislike alarm, no wishes rise,

No cries attempt the mercies of the skies?
Enquirer, cease, petitions yet remain,

Which Heav'n may hear; nor deem religion vain.

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