Impeachment ftops the fpeaker's pow'rful breath,
And restless fire precipitates on death.
But, fcarce obferv'd, the knowing and the bold,
Fall in the gen'ral maffacre of gold;
Wide-wafting peft! that rages unconfin'd,
And crowds with crimes the records of mankind;
For gold his fword the hireling ruffian draws.
For gold the hireling judge diftorts the laws;
Wealth heap'd on wealth nor truth nor fafety buys;
The dangers gather as the treasures rife.
Let hift'ry tell, where rival kings command,
And dubious title fhakes the madded land,
When ftatutes glean the refufe of the fword,
How much more fafe the vaffal than the lord,
Low fculks the hind beneath the rage of pow'r,
And leaves the wealthy traitor in the Tow'r,
Untouch'd his cottage, and his flumbers found,
Though confifcation's vultures hover round.
The needy traveller, ferene and gay,
Walks the wild heath, and fings his toil away.
Does envy feize thee? crush th' upbraiding joy,
Increase his riches, and his peace destroy,
New fears in dire viciffitude invade,
The ruftling brake alarms, and quiv'ring fhade,
Nor light nor darknefs bring his pain relief,
One fhews the plunder, and one hides the thief.
Yet ftill one general cry the skies affails,
And gain and grandeur load the tainted gales;
Few know the toiling ftatefman's fear or care,
Th' infidious rival and the gaping heir.
Once more, Democritus, arife on earth,
With chearful wifdom and inftructive mirth,
See motly life in modern trappings drefs'd,
And feed with varied fools th' eternal jeft:
Thou who could't laugh where want enchain'd caprice,
Toil crush'd conceit, and man was of a piece;
Where wealth unlov'd without a mourner dy'd ;
And scarce a fycophant was fed by pride;
Where ne'er was known the form of mock debate,
Or feen a new-made mayor's unwieldy state;
Where change of fav'rites made no change of laws,
And fenates heard before they judg'd a caufe;
How wouldst thou fhake at Britain's modifh tribe,
Dart the quick taunt, and edge the piercing gibe?
Attentive,truth, and nature to decry,
And pierce each scene with philofophic eye.
To thee were folemn toys or empty fhew,
The robes of pleasure and the vails of woe:
All aid the farce, and all thy mirth maintain,
Whofe joys are caufelefs, and whofe griefs are vain.
Such was the fcorn that fill'd the fage's mind,
Renew'd at every glance on humankind;
How just that fcorn 'ere yet thy voice declare,
Search every state, and canvas every prayer.
Unnumber'd fuppliants crowd Preferment's gite,
Athirst for wealth, and burning to be great;
Delufive Fortune hears th' inceffant call,
They mount, they fhine, evaporate, and fall.
On every stage the foes of peace attend,
Hate dogs their flight, and infult mocks their end.
Love ends with hope, the finking statesman's door
Pours in the morning worthipper no more;
For growing names the weekly fcribbler lies,
To growing wealth the dedicator flies;
From every room defcends the painted face,
That hung the bright Palladium of the place,
And fmoak'd in kitchens, or in auctions fold,
To better features yields the frame of gold;
For now no more we trace in every line
Heroic worth, benevolence divine:
The form diftorted juftifies the fall,
And deteftation rids th' indignant wall.
But will not Britain hear the last appeal,
Sign her foes doom, or guard her fav'rite's zeal;
Through Freedom's fons no more remonstrance rings,
Degrading nobles, and controling kings;
Our fupple tribes reprefs their patriot throats,
And afk no queftions but the price of votes ;
With weekly libels and feptennial ale,
Their wish is full to riot and to rail.
In full-blown dignity, fee Wolfey ftand,
Law in his voice, and fortune in his hand:
To him the church, the realm, their pow'rs confign, Through him the rays of regal bounty fhine;
Still to new heights his reftlefs wishes tow'r,
Claim leads to claim, and pow'r advances pow'r;
'Till conqueft unrefifted ceas'd to please,
And rights fubmitted, left him none to feize.
At length his fov'reign frowns-the train of ftate.
Mark the keen glance, and watch the fign to hate.
Where e'er he turns he meets a stranger's eye,
His fuppliants fcorn him, and his followers fly;
At once is loft the pride of aweful state,
The golden canopy, the glitt'ring plate,
The regal palace, the luxurious board,
The liv'ried army, and the menial lord.
With age, with cares, with maladies oppress'd,
He feeks the refuge of monaftic reft.
Grief aids disease, remember'd folly ftings,
And his laft fighs reproach the faith of kings.
Speak thou, whofe thoughts at humble peace repine,
Shall Wolfey's wealth with Wolfey's end be thine?
Or liv'st thou now, with fafer pride content,
The wifeft juftice on the banks of Trent?
For why did Wolfey near the fteeps of fate,
On weak foundations raife th' enormous weight?
Why but to fink beneath misfortune's blow,
With louder ruin to the gulphs below?
What gave great Villiers to th' affaffin's knife,
And fix'd difeafe on Harley's † clofing life?
What murder'd Wentworth 1, and what exil'd Hydell,
By kings protected, and to kings ally'd?
What but their wifh indulg'd in courts to fhine,
And pow'r too great to keep, or to refign?
When firft the college rolls receive his name,
The young enthufiaft quits his eafe for fame;
Through all his veins the fever of renown
Spreads from the ftrong contagion of the gown;
O'er Bodley's dome his future labours spread,
And § Bacon's manfion trembles o'er his head.
George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, ftabbed by Felton.
Edward Harley, the first earl of Oxford.
Thomas Wentworth, earl of Stafford, beheaded roth May, 1641.
Edward Hyde, lord Clarendon, lord chancellor of England.
There is a tradition, that the ftudy of friar Bacon, built on an arch
over the bridge, will fall, when a man greater than Bacon thall pafs under it.
Are thefe thy views? proceed, illuftrious youth,
And Virtue guard thee to the throne of Truth!
Yet fhould thy foul indulge the gen'rous heat,
'Till captive Science yields her laft retreat;
Should Reafon guide thee with her brightest ray,
And pour on mifty doubt refiftless day;
Should no falfe Kindness lure to loofe delight,
Nor Praise relax, nor Difficulty fright;
Should tempting Novelty thy cell refrain,
And Sloth effufe her opiate fumes in vain ;
Should beauty blunt on fops her fatal dart,
Nor claim the triumph of a letter'd heart;
Should no Difeafe thy torpid veins invade,
Nor Melancholy's phantoms haunt thy fhade;
Yet hope not life from grief or danger free,
Nor think the doom of man revers'd for thee;
Deign on the paffing world to turn thine eyes,
And paufe awhile from letters, to be wife;
There mark what ills the scholar's life affail,
Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.
See nations flowly wife, and meanly just,
To buried merit raife the tardy buft.
If dreams yet flatter, once again attend,
Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's † end.
A very learned divine and mathematician, fellow of New College, Oxford, and rector of Okerton, near Banbury. He wrote, among many others, a Latin treatife, De Natura Cali, and in which he attacked the fentiments of Scaliger and Ariftotle; not bearing to hear it urged that fome things are true in philofophy and falfe in divinity. He made above fix hundred fermons on the harmony of the evangelifts. Being unfuc cessful in publishing his works, he lay in the prison of Bocardo at Oxford, and the King's Bench, until Bishop Ufher, Dr. Laud, Sir William Bofwell, and Dr. Pink, releafed him, by paying his debts. He petitioned. king Charles I. to be fent into Ethiopia, to procure MSS. Having fpoke in favour of monarchy and bifhops, he was plundered by the parliament forces, and twice carried away prifoner from his rectory, and afterwards had not a fhirt to thift him in three months unless he borrowed it. He died very poor in 1646.
Galileo, the inventor of the telefcope, born February 19, 1564, and died January 8, 1642, N. S. For afferting the truth of the Copernican fyftem he was perfecuted by the Jefuits, and confined fome years in the Inquifition. By unremitted attention to aftronomical purfuits, he impaired his eyefight, and paffed the three concluding years of his life in a state of
Nor deem, when learning her last prize bestows,
The glitt'ring eminence exempt from woes;
See when the vulgar 'fcape, defpis'd or aw'd,
Rebellion's vengeful talons feize on Laud.
For meaner minds, though fmaller fines content
The plunder'd palace, or fequefter'd rent :
Mark'd out by dangerous parts he meets the fhock;
And fatal learning leads him to the block:
Around his tomb let art and genius weep;
But hear his death, ye blockheads, hear and fleep.
The fetal blazes, the triumphal show,
The ravish'd standard and the captive foe,
The fenate's thanks, the gazette's pompous tale,
With force refiftlefs o'er the brave prevail.
Such bribes the rapid Greek o'er Afia whirl'd,
For fuch the steady Romans hook the world;
For fuch in diftant lands the Britons fhine,
And ftain with blood the Danube or the Rhine;
This pow'r has praife, that virtue fcaree can warm,
'Till fame fupplies the univerfal charm.
Yet reafon frowns on war's unequal game.
Where waited nations raise a single name,
And mortgag'd ftates their grandfires wreaths regret,
From age to age in everlasting debt;
Wreaths which at laft the dear-bought right convey
To ruft on medals, or on ftones decay.
On what foundation ftands the warrior's pride,
How just his hopes let Swedish Charles decide *;
A frame of adamant, a foul of fire,
No dangers fright him, and no labours tire;
O'er love, o'er fear, extends his wide domain,
Unconquer'd lord of pleafure and of pain;
No joys to him pacific fcepters yield,'
War founds the trump, he rushes to the field;
Behold furrounding kings their pow'r combine,
And one capitulate, and one refign;
Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms in vain ; Think nothing gain'd he cries, 'til nought remain, "On Mofcow's walls till Gothic ftandards fly,
"And all be mine beneath the polar sky."
Charles the X1th, king of Sweden.
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