And ftudious of mutation ftill, difcard.
A real elegance, a little used,
For monftrous novelty and strange difguife..
We facrifice to drefs, till houfhold joj s
And comforts ceafe. Dress drains our cellar dry,,
And keeps our larder lean; puts out cur fires,
And introduces hunger, froft, and woe,
Where peace and hospitality might reign.
What man that lives, and that knows how to live,-
Would fail t'exhibit at the public shows
A form as fplendid as the proudeft there,
Though appetite raise outcries at the coft?
A man o' th' town dines late, but foon enough,
With reasonable forecast and dispatch,
T' insure a fide-box station at half price.
You think, perhaps, fo delicate his dress,
His.daily fare as delicate. Alas!
He picks clean teeth, and busy as he seems
With an old tavern quill, is hungry yet.
The rout is folly's circle, which he draws,
With magic wand. So potent is the spell,
That none, decoy'd into that fatal ring,
Unless by heaven's peculiar grace, escape.
There we grow early grey, but never wife,
There form connections, but acquire no friend -
Solicit pleasure hopelefs of fuccefs;
Waste youth in occupations only fit
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For fecond childhood, and devote old age
To fports which only childhood could excufe.
There they are happieft who diffemble beft
Their weariness; and they the most polite
Who fquander time and treasure with a smile,
Though at their own destruction. She that afks
Her dear five hundred friends, contemns them all,
And hates their coming. They, what can they
Make juft reprifals, and with cringe and fhrug,
And bow obfequious, hide their hate of her.
All catch the frenzy, downward from her Grace,
Whofe flambeaux flash against the morning fkies,
And gild our chamber ceilings as they pafs,
To her who frugal only that her thrift
May feed exceffes fhe can ill afford,
Is hackney'd home unlacquey'd. Who in hafte
Alighting, turns the key in her own door,
And at the watchman's lantern borrowing light,
Finds a cold bed her only comfort left.
Wives beggar hufbands, hufbands starve their wives,
On fortune's velvet altar off'ring up
Their last poor pittance. Fortune most severe
Of goddeffes yet known, and coftlier far
Than all that held their routs in Juno's heav'n-
So fare we in this prifon-house the world.
And 'tis a fearful spectacle to fee
So many maniacs dancing in their chains. They gaze upon the links that hold them faft, With eyes of anguish, execrate their lot,
Then shake them in despair, and dance again.. Now basket up the family of plagues
Of honour, perjury, corruption, frauds
By forgery, by fubterfuge of law,
By tricks and lies, as num'rous and as keen)
As the neceffities their authors feel ;
Then caft them clofely bundled, ev'ry brat.
At the right door. Profufion is the fire..
Profufion unrestrain'd, with all that's base
In character, has litter'd all the land,
And bred within the mem'ry of no few,
A priesthood fuch as Baal's was of old,
A people fuch as never was till now.
It is a hungry vice :-it eats up all
That gives fociety its beauty, ftrength,,
Convenience, and fecurity, and use:
Makes men mere vermin, worthy to be trapp'd i
And gibbeted as faft as catchpole claws
Can feize the flipp'ry prey. Unties the knot
Of union, and converts the facred band
That holds mankind together, to a scourge: .
Profufion deluging a ftate with lufts
Of groffeft nature and of worst effects,
Prepares it for its ruin. Hardens, blinds,
And warps the confciences of public men
Till they can laugh at virtue; mock the fools
That trust them; and, in th' end, disclose a face
That would have fhock'd credulity herself
Unmafk'd, vouchfafing this their fole excuse;
Since all alike are felfifh-why not they?
This does Profufion, and th' accursed cause
Of fuch deep mifchief, has itfelf a caufe.
In colleges and halls, in ancient days,
When learning, virtue, piety and truth
Were precious, and inculcated with care,
There dwelt a fage call'd Difcipline. His head
Not yet by time completely filver'd o'er,
Bespoke him past the bounds of freakish youth,
But strong for service still, and unimpair'd.
His eye was meek and gentle, and a smile
Play'd on his lips, and in his speech was heard
Paternal sweetness, dignity, and love.
The occupation deareft to his heart
Was to encourage goodness. He would stroke
The head of modeft and ingenuous worth
That blufh'd at its own praife; and prefs the youth
Close to his fide that pleas'd him. Learning grew
Beneath his care, a thriving vig'rous plant;
The mind was well inform'd, the paffions held
Subordinate, and diligence was choice.
If e'er it chanc'd, as fometimes chance it must,
That one among fo many overleap'd
The limits of controul, his gentle eye
Grew ftern, and darted a fevere rebuke;
His frown was full of terror, and his voice
Shook the delinquent with fuch fits of awe
As left him not, till penitence had won
Loft favour back again, and clos'd the breach.
But Discipline, a faithful servant long,
Declin'd at length into the vale of years;
A palfy ftruck his arm, his fparkling eye
Was quench'd in rheums of age, his voice un
Grew tremulous, and mov'd derifion more
Than rev'rence, in perverse rebellious youth.
So colleges and halls neglected much
Their good old friend, and Discipline at length
O'erlook'd and unemploy'd, fell fick and died.
Then ftudy languish'd, emulation flept,
And virtue fled. The fchools became a scene
Of folemn farce, where ignorance in ftilts,
His cap well lin❜d with logic not his own,
With parrot tongue perform'd the scholar's part,
Proceeding foon a graduated dunce.
Then compromife had place, and fcrutiny
Became ftone-blind, precedence went in truck,
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