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Yet should thy soul indulge the gen'rous heat
Till captive Science yields her last retreat ;
Should reason guide thee with her brightest ray,
And pour on misty doubt resistless day;
Should no false kindness lure to loose delight,
Nor praise relax, nor difficulty fright;
Should tempting Novelty thy cell refrain,
And Sloth effuse her opiate fumes in vain ;
Should Beauty blunt on fops her fatal dart,
Nor claim the triumph of a letter'd heart;
Should no disease thy torpid veins invade,
Nor Melancholy's phantoms haunt thy shade;
Yet hope not life from grief or danger free,
Nor think the doom of man revers'd for thee:
Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes,
And pause awhile from letters to be wise;
There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,
Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.
See nations, slowly wise and meanly just,
To buried merit raise the tardy bust.
If dreams yet flatter, once again attend,
Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end 9. [stows,
Nor deem, when Learning her last prize be-
The glitt'ring eminence exempt from foes;
See, when the vulgar 'scapes, despis'd or aw'd,
Rebellion's vengeful talons seize on Laud.
From meaner minds, though smaller fines content
The plunder'd palace, or sequester'd rent:
Mark'd out by dang'rous parts, he meets the shock,
And fatal Learning leads him to the block:
Around his tomb let Art and Genius weep,
But hear his death, ye blockheads, hear and sleep.
10 The festal blazes, the triumphal show,
The ravish'd standard, and the captive foe,
The senate's thanks, the Gazette's pompous tale,
With force resistless o'er the brave prevail.
Such bribes the rapid Greek o'er Asia whirl'd,
For such the steady Roman shook the world;
For such in distant lands the Britons shine,
And stain with blood the Danube or the Rhine;
This pow'r has praise, that virtue scarce can

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Till fame supplies the, universal charm.
Yet reason frowns on war's unequal game,
Where wasted nations raise a single name; [gret,
And mortgag'd states their grandsires' wreathsre-
From age to age in everlasting debt; [vey
Wreaths which at last the dear-bought right con-
To rust on medals, or on stones decay.

11 On what foundation stands the warrior's
pride,

How just his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide;
A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,
No dangers fright him, and no labours tire;
O'er love, o'er fear, extends his wide domain,
Unconquer'd lord of pleasure and of pain;
No joys to him pacific sceptres yield,
War sounds the trump, he rushes to the field;
Behold surrounding kings their pow'rs combine,
And one capitulate, and one resign;" [in vain;
Peace courts his hand, but spreads her charms
"Think nothing gain'd," he cries, "till nought
remain,

Bacon, built on an arch over the bridge, will fail when a man greater than Bacon shall pass under it. To prevent so shocking an accident it was pulled down many years since.

9 See Gent. Mag. vol. lxviii. p. 951. 1027.
10 Ver. 133-146.
Ver. 147-167.

On Moscow's walls till Gothic standards fly,
And all be mine beneath the polar sky.”
The march begins in military state,
And nations on his eye suspended wait;
Stern Famine guards the solitary coast,
And Winter barricades the realms of Frost;
He comes, nor want nor cold his course delay ;-
Hide, blushing Glory, hide Pultowa's day:
The vanquish'd hero leaves his broken bands,
And shows 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 errour 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.

12 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 at 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 clainr'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 valleys with the gaudy foe;
Th' insulted sea with humbler thought he gains,
A single skiff to speed his flight remains;
Th' encumber'd oar scarce leaves the dreaded
coast

Through purple billows and a floating host.

The bold Bavarian, in a luckless hour,
Tries the dread summits of Cæsarean pow'r,
With unexpected legions bursts away,
And sees defenceless realms receive his sway;
Short sway! fair Austria spreads her mour..ful
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,
With all the sons of ravage crowd the war;
The baffled prince, in honour'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.

13" Enlarge my life with multitude of days!"
In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays:
Hides from himself its 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 fruit autumnal, and the vernal flow'r;
With listless eyes the dotard views the store,
He views, and wonders that they please no
more;

12 Ver. 168-187. 13 Ver. 188-288.

shall save,

Now pall the tasteless meats, and joyless wines, | What care, what rules, your heedless charms
And Luxury with sighs her slave resigns,
Approach, ye minstrels, try the soothing strain,
Diffuse the tuneful lenitives of pain:

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And scarce a legacy can bribe to hear;
The watchful guests still hint the last offence;
The daughter's petulance, the son's expense,
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 temp'rate prime
Bless with an age exempt from scorn or crime;
An age that melts with unperceiv'd decay,
And glides in modest innocence away;
Whose peaceful day benevolence endears,
Whose night congratulating conscience cheers;
The gen'ral fav'rite as the gen'ral friend :
Such age there is, and who shall 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 diff'rent views engage, Superfluous lags the vet'ran on the stage, Till pitying Nature signs the last release, And bids afflicted worth retire to peace.

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And Swift expires a driv'ler and a show.

14 The teeming mother, anxious for her race, Begs for each birth the fortune of a face; Yet Vane could tell what ils 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 frolic, and the dance by night; Who frown with vanity, who smile with art, And ask the latest fashion of the heart;

14 Ver. 289-345.

VOL. XVI.

[slave? Each nymph your rival, and each youth your Against your fame with fondness hate combines, The ival 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 pass defend, The barmless freedom, and the private friend. The guardians yield, by force superior ply'd: To Int'rest, Frudence; and to Flatt'ry, Pride. Here Beauty falls betray'd, despis'd, distress'd, And bissing Infamy proclaims the rest.

15 Where then shall Hope and Fear their ob. jects 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 invoke the mercies of the skies?
Inquirer, cease; petitions yet remain
Which Heav'n may hear, nor deem religion vain.
Still raise for good the supplicating voice,
But leave to Heav'n the measure and the choice.
Safe in his pow'r, whose eyes discern afar
The secret ambush of a specious pray'r;
Implore his aid, in his decisions rest,
Secure, whate'er he gives, he gives the best.
Yet, when the sense of sacred presence fires,
And strong devotion to the skies aspires,
Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind,
Obedient passions, and a will resign'd;
For love, which scarce collective man can fill ;
For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill;
For faith, that, panting for a happier seat,
Counts death kind Nature's signal of retreat:
These goods for man the laws of Heav'n ordain,
These goods he grants, who grants the pow'r to

gain;

With these celestial Wisdom calms the mind, And makes the happiness she does not find.

PROLOGUE,

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Cold Approbation gave the ling'ring bays,
For those, who durst not censure, scarce could
praise.

A mortal born, he met the gen'ral doom,
But left, like Egypt's kings, a lasting tomb.
The wits of Charles found easier ways to fame,
Nor wish'd for Jonson's art, or Shakspeare's
flame.

Themselves they studied, as they felt they writ;
Intrigue was plot, obscenity was wit.
Vice always found a sympathetic friend;
They pleas'd their age, and did not aim to mend.
Yet bards like these aspir'd to lasting praise,
And proudly hop'd to pimp in future days.
Their cause was gen'ral, their supports were
strong,
[long:
Their slaves were willing, and their reign was
Till Shame regain'd the post that Sense betray'd
And Virtue call'd Oblivion to her aid.

Then, crush'd by rules, and weaken'd as re-
fin'd,

For years the pow'r of Tragedy declin'd;
From bard to bard the frigid caution crept,
Till Declamation roar'd whilst Passion slept;
Yet still did Virtue deign the stage to tread,
Philosophy remain'd, though Nature fled.
But forc'd, at length, her antient reign to quit,
She saw great Faustus lay the ghost of Wit;
Exulting Folly hail'd the joyful day,
And Pantomime and Song confirm'd her sway.

But who the coming changes can presage,
And mark the future periods of the stage?
Perhaps, if skill could distant times explore,
New Behns, new Durfeys, yet remain in store;
Perhaps where Lear has rav'd, and Hamlet dy'd,
On flying cars new sorcerers may ride:
Perhaps (for who can guess th' effects of chance?)
Here Hunt may box, or Mahomet' may dance.

Hard is his lot that, here by Fortune plac'd, Must watch the wild vicissitudes of taste; With ev'ry meteor of caprice must play, And chase the new-blown bubbles of the day. Ah! let not Censure term our fate our choice, The stage but echoes back the public voice; The drama's laws, the drama's patrons give, For we that live to please, must please to live. Then prompt no more the follies you decry, As tyrants doom their tools of guilt to die; 'Tis yours, this night, to bid the reign com

mence

Of rescued Nature and reviving Sense;

From grov'ling business and superfinous care,
Ye sons of Avarice, a moment spare!
Vot'ries of Fame, and worshippers of Power,
Dismiss the pleasing phantoms for an hour!
Our daring bard, with spirit unconfin'd,
Spreads wide the mighty moral for mankind.
Learn here how Heav'n supports the virtuous
mind,
[sign'd,

Daring, though calm; and vig'rous, though re-
Learn here what anguish racks the guilty breast,
In pow'r dependent, in success deprest.
Learn here that peace from innocence must flow;
All else is empty sound and idle show.

If truths like these with pleasing language join:

Ennobled, yet unchang'd, if Nature shine;
If no wild draught depart from reason's rules,
Nor gods his heroes, nor his lovers fools:
Intriguing wits! his artless plot forgive;
And spare him, beauties! though his lovers live.
Be this at least his praise, be this his pride;
To force applause no modern arts are try❜d.
Should partial cat-calls all his hopes confound,
He bids no trumpet quell the fatal sound.
Should welcome sleep relieve the weary wit,
He rolls no thunders o'er the drowsy pit.
No snares to captivate the judgment spreads,
Nor bribes your eyes to prejudice your heads.
Unmov'd though witlings sneer and rivals rail;
Studious to please, yet not asham'd to fail.
He scorns the meek address, the suppliant strain,
With merit needless, and without it vain.
In reason, nature, truth, he dares to trust:
Ye fops, be silent: and ye wits, be just!

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To chase the charms of sound, the pomp of show, IRENE,
For useful mirth and salutary woe;

Bid scenic Virtue form the rising age,

And Truth diffuse her radiance from the stage.

IRENE;

A TRAGEDY.

PROLOGUE.

WOMEN.

Greek ladies,

Attendants on Irene.

ACT I.

SCENE I.

Mrs. Cibber. Mrs.Pritchard.

DEMETRIUS AND LEONTIUS, in Turkish habits.

LEONTIUS.

AND is it thus Demetrius meets his friend, Hid in the mean disguise of Turkish robes,

Ye glitt'ring train, whom lace and velvet bless, With servile secrecy to lurk in shades, Suspend the soft solicitudes of dress!

Hunt, a famous boxer on the stage; Mahomet, a rope-dancer, who had exhibited at Covent-Garden theatre the winter before, said to be a Turk.

And vent our suff'rings in clandestine groans?

DEMETRIUS.

Till breathless fury rested from destruction, These groans were fatal, these disguises vain; But now our Turkish conquerors have quench'd

Their rage, and pall'd their appetite of murder; | Each night, protected by the friendly darkness,
No more the glutted sabre thirsts for blood,
And weary cruelty remits her tortures.

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A thousand horrid prodigies foretold it.
A feeble government, eluded laws,
A factious populace, luxurious nobles,
And all the maladies of sinking states.
When public villany, too strong for justice,
Shows his bold front, the harbinger of ruin,
Can brave Leontius call for airy wonders,
Which cheats interpret, and which fools regard?
When some neglected fabric nods beneath
The weight of years, and totters to the tempest,
Must Heav'n dispatch the messengers of light,
Or wake the dead, to warn us of its fall?

LEONTIUS.

Well might the weakness of our empire sink Before such foes of more than human force; Some pow'r invisible, from Heav'n or Hell, Conducts their armies, and asserts their cause.

DEMETRIUS.

And yet, my friend, what miracles were wrought Beyond the pow'r of constancy and courage? Did unresisted lightning aid their cannon? Did roaring whirlwinds sweep us from the ramparts? [Leontius, 'Twas vice that shook our nerves, 'twas vice, That froze our veins, and wither'd all our pow'rs.

LEONTIUS.

Quitting my close retreat, I range the city,
And, weeping, kiss the venerable ruins :
With silent pangs I view the tow'ring domes,
Sacred to pray'r; and wander through the
streets,

Where commerce lavish'd unexhausted plenty,
And jollity maintain'd eternal revels.

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Whate'er our crimes, our woes demand com- Enough of unavailing tears, Demetrius:
I came obedient to thy friendly summons,

passion.

And hop'd to share thy counsels,not thy sorrows:
While thus we mourn the fortune of Aspasia,
To what are we reserv'd?

DEMETRIUS.

To what I know not: But hope, yet hope, to happiness and honour; If happiness can be without Aspasia.

LEONTIUS.

But whence this new-sprung hope?

DEMETRIUS.

From Cali Bassa,

The chief, whose wisdom guides the Turkish counsels.

He, tir'd of slavery, though the highest slave,
Projects at once our freedom and his own;
And bids us thus disguis'd await him here.

LEONTIUS.

Can he restore the state he could not save?
In vain, when Turkey's troops assail'd our walls,
His kind intelligence betray'd their measures;
Their arms prevail'd, though Cali was our friend.

DEMETRIUS.

When the tenth sun had set upon our sorrows,
At midnight's private hour, a voice unknown
Sounds in my sleeping]ear, "Awake, Demetrius,
Awake, and follow me to better fortunes."
Surpriz'd I start, and bless the happy dream;
Then, rousing, know the fiery chief Abdalla,
Whose quick impatience seiz'd my doubtful hand,
And led me to the shore where Cali stood,
Pensive and list'ning to the beating surge.
There, in soft hints and in ambiguous phrase,
With all the diffidence of long experience,
That oft' had practis'd fraud, and oft' detected,
The vet'ran courtier half reveal'd his project.
By his command, equipp'd for speedy flight,
Deep in a winding creek a galley lies,
Mann'd with the bravest of our fellow-captives,
Selected by my care, a hardy band,
That long to hail thee chief.

LEONTIUS.

But what avails So small a force? or why should Cali fly? Or how can Cali's flight restore our country?

DEMETRIUS.

Reserve these questions for a safer hour; Or hear himself, for see the Bassa comes.

SCENE II.

DEMETRIUS, LEONTIUS, CALI BASSA.

CALI.

Now summon all thy soul, illustrious Christian!
Awake each faculty that sleeps within thee,
The courtier's policy, the sage's firmness,
The warrior's ardour, and the patriot's zeal:
If, chasing past events with vain pursuit,
Or wand'ring in the wiids of future being,
A single thought now rove, recall it home.
But can thy friend sustain the glorious cause,
The cause of liberty, the cause of nations?

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Forgive an old man's weakness, And share the deepest secrets of my soul, My wrongs, my fears, my motives, my designs,When unsuccessful wars, and civil factions, Embroil'd the Turkish state, our sultan's father, Great Amurath, at my request, forsook The cloister's ease, resum'd the tott'ring throne, And snatch'd the reins of abdicated pow'r From giddy Mahomet's unskilful hand. This fir'd the youthful king's ambitious breast: He murmurs vengeance at the name of Cali, And dooms my rash fidelity to ruin.

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