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Whofe correfponding miffes fill the ream
With fentimental frippery and dream,

green,

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Caught in a delicate foft filken net.
By fome lew'd Earl, or rakehell Baronet;
Ye pimps, who under virtue's fair pretence,
Steal to the closet of young innocence,
And teach her, unexperienc'd yet and
To fcribble as you fcribbl'd at fifteen ;
Who kindling a combuftion of defire,
With fome cold moral think to quench the fire,
Though all your engineering proves in vain,
The dribbling ftream ne'er puts it out again.
Oh that a verfe had pow'r, and could command
Far, far away, thefe flefh-flies of the land,
Who fasten without mercy on the fair,

And fuck, and leave a craving maggot there.
Howe'er difguis'd th' inflammatory tale,
And covered with a fine fpun fpecious veil,
Such writers and fuch readers owe the guft

And relish of their pleasure all to luft.

But

But the mufe, eagle-pinion'd, has in view
A quarry more important ftill than you;
Down down the wind fhe fwims and fails away,
Now stoops upon it, and now grafps the prey.
Petronius! all the mufes weep for thee,

But ev'ry tear fhall fcald thy memory.
The graces too, while virtue at their shrine
Lay bleeding under that foft hand of thine,
Felt each a mortal ftab in her own breast,
Abhorr'd the facrifice, and curs'd the priest.
Thou polish'd and high-finish'd foe to truth,
Gray beard corrupter of our lift'ning youth,
To purge and skim away the filth of vice,
That fo refin'd it might the more entice,
Then pour it on the morals of thy fon
To taint his heart, was worthy of thine own.
Now while the poifon all high life pervades,
Write if thou can't one letter from the fhades,
One, and one only, charg'd with deep regret,
That thy worst part, thy principles live yet;

One

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One fad epiftle thence, may cure mankind,
Of the plague spread by bundles left behind.
'Tis granted, and no plainer truth appears,

Our most important are our earliest years;
The mind impreffible and foft, with ease
Imbibes and copies what the hears and fees,
And through life's labyrinth holds faft the clue
That education gives her, falfe or true.

Plants rais'd with tenderness are seldom ftrong,
Man's coltifh difpofition afks the thong,
And without difcipline the fav'rite child,
Like a neglected forefter runs wild.

But we, as if good qualities would grow
Spontaneous, take but little pains to fow;
We give fome latin and a smatch of greek,
Teach him to fence and figure twice a week,
And having done we think, the best we can,
Praise his proficiency and dub him man.

From school to Cam or Ifis, and thence home, And thence with all convenient speed to Rome,

With rev'rend tutor clad in habit lay,

To teaze for cash and quarrel with all day;
With memorandum-book for ev'ry town,

And ev'ry poft, and where the chaife broke down :
His stock, a few French phrafes got by heart,
With much to learn, but nothing to impart,
The youth obedient to his fire's commands
Sets off a wand'rer into foreign lands:
Surpriz'd at all they meet, the gofling pair

With awkward gait, ftretch'd neck, and filly ftare,
Discover huge cathedrals built with ftone,

And fteeples tow'ring high much like our own;
But fhow peculiar light by many a grin
At popish practices obferv'd within.

Ere long, fome bowing, fmirking, fmart Abbé,
Remarks two loit'rers that have loft their way,
And being always prim'd with politeffe

For men of their appearance and addrefs,
With much compaffion undertakes the task,
To tell them more than they have wit to afk;

Points to infcriptions wherefoe'er they tread,
Such as when legible were never read,
But being canker'd now and half worn out,
Craze antiquarian brains with endlefs doubt:
Some headless hero, or fome Cæfar fhows-
Defective only in his Roman nofe;
Exhibits elevations, drawings, plans,
Models of Herculanean pots and pans,
And fells them medals, which if neither rare
Nor ancient, will be fo, preferv'd with care.

Strange the recital! from whatever cause

His great improvement and new lights he draws,
The Squire, once bashful, is fhame-fac'd no more,
But teems with pow'rs he never felt before:
Whether increas'd momentum, and the force
With which from clime to clime he fped his course,
As axles fometimes kindle as they go,

Chaf'd him and brought dull nature to a glow;
Or whether clearer fkies and fofter air

That make Italian flow'rs fo fweet and fair,

Fresh'ning

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