Heedle's, thoughtless what they do,
Save the pleasures of the world,

Vicious courfes they'il parfue
While our realm to ruin's hurl'd.
X.

But my feeble verfe difdans
Midnight revels of the gay,
And to rural woods and plains
I'll renew my ruftic lay.

XI.

Verdant lawns, and flow'ry vales,
Tufted groves, and meadows wide,
Gardens grottos, dafied dales,
Ale my dearett, greatest pride.
XII.

But their beauties now recede,
Nothing chears me in the morn,
(As I wander o'er the mead)
Save the huntsman's early horn.
XIII.

Blissful banks whereon I lay,
Balking in the harvest hear,
Now are moisten'd into clay,

And have loft their odours sweet.
XVI.

Limpid lakes, and gurgling rills,
Fragrant bow'rs, gladfome glades,
Cowflip dales, and primrofe hills.

Verdant walks, and woodbine fhades,
XV.

All have loft their charms to please,
Milty fogs expand around,
Banish'd is each balmy breeze!
Songsters filent and profound.

XVI.

Winter comes with fable train,

View him from the north appear,
And ufurps his rude domain
Over kingdoms far and near.
XVII.

Then to fome poor fhepherd's cot,
Let me, Oh! ye powers. fly,
There contented with my lot
'Till I view a brighter sky.

XVIII.

Their I'll penfive be the while, Nor of Sylvan fcenes I'll fing, 'Till again all nature smile,

At the fweet return of spring.

Would't thou fing of the plain or the grove,
Or lament tome unfortunate maid,
The mutes, fair daughters of Jove,

With raptures would readily aid.
What tho' they at firft may feem coy,
'Tis but to be closer purfu'd;
They like other nymphs will comply
When once they are heartily woo'd.
III.

Will nought thy ambition fuffice,
But the laurel thy temples to grace.
If fill thou refolve to defpife

All but the fuperlative place :
Yet think how the critics in town
Misjudge of poetical fire;

From the fkies Thould Apollo come down,
They'd carp at his heavenly lyre.

So fang he to (when other ways were vain) Eliza's felf, her pa ronage to gain.

But, oh! forgive me, if in other lays
i mean, fair ifabel. to fing thy praise :
If not in flatt'y's form, or cringing verle,
I dare thy beauties e'er to thee rehearse :
But if in humble ftrains I tain wou'd af
Acceptance of my little arduous task :
Will y u receive it without looks levere ?
Will you perufe it with a can-id ear!
Say but you will, a with fincere l'il add,
Tender as honor, in foft friendship clad.
May thy young mind that's yet in vite
fair,

That knows no ats nor cunning to enfner;
May is improve each morning that you rik,
To cherish goodness for a lovely prize:
May it by ttrength of knowledge ftand co-
feit,

The nobl it patros of great virtue's teft ; May it be fraught with wi dom's choc store,

Be vers'd in innocence and heavenly lore;
Free from all pride, from aff: ¿tation worn,
Pitying all thofe by fad misfortunes torn
So hall you be an h nour to your fex,
Unknown to follies. which shall them perplex:
Your friends for you will ev'ry aid employ,
And own you are bright Virtue's daring joy,
But above all, ah ! think what pleasures will,
With anxious hopes, your parents bolems fil;
When they behold their only child fo biet,
Go where they will, to find thee there careff :
Oh! 'tis '00 fure their aged hearts will pour
Of tears in greatful thanks a plenteous (kost.

T.&

PROLOGUE to the TIMES.
Spoken by Mr. KING.

To glow with ardour, and a:tempt with

The reformation of the public weal,
Is the high duy of the Comic Mute;
And tho keen Attic falt allow'd to ufe,
To fafon precept, and with art to tickle
The fores the means to wash with sharpdi
pickle:

Yet not the rofy, pu'pired Divine,

Nor lank hair'd Methodist, with rueful whine, is more intent to root out vice and folly, And make ye all lead lives difcreet and bely. Yet why to clear the field were all ther toil,

If weeds o'erfpread not the luxuriant foil? Congreve or Wefly, Whitfield or Moliere,

"G

as an ADDRESS, with a Poem.

O little work thyself prefent To all that's fair and excellent." So fang the bard, whofe alegoric train * Shone forth admir'd in lov'd Eliza's reign, Queen Elizabeth.

• Spencer's

Loofe as the buxom air, the youth from college Comes fraught with all Newmarket's hopeful knowledge;

In hafte to fpend the eftate, not yet his own, Completes his ruin ere his beard is grown ; And when to foreign climes he fpreads the fail, 'I'is not to enlarge his mind, but 'fcape a jail. Then bleft the Poet, happy the Diving. When folly gives the ron from fashion's thrine! But whilst the priest and fatirift reprove Thofe vices which provoke the wrath of Jove, Our author, like a patient angler fitting,

For one whofe heart could never feel.
'Tis cafy to be wife;
who, in a fellow-creature's woe,
Could never fympathize.

But who would with to be poffefs'd
Of fuch a flinry heart?-
Better be feelingly alive
To forrow's keeneft imart.

663

A. Z.

hearts,

We merrier folks, with fpirits blithe and jolly, Just perch upon fome little fprig of folly; For, in this age, fo pious, chafte, and grave, To rail at vice muft furely be to rave!

Yet thanks to here and there a modish fool, The Comic Mufe may glean fome ridicule, Jews will be Jews, if dup s can yet be found, And if one frail one's left on English ground, She'll find a phaeton and pair of ponies To elope for all men are not macaronies: Those precious dears, at leaft, would make her wait

'Twould be fo vulgar not to be too late. Our fex-but fhall I charge the weaker

kind?

on his CRITIC, &c. &c. &a

When Pope was engaged by an host of foes.
The Dunciad then, like, now, The Critic refe..

T

ANON.

O curb the follies of a vicious age,
To mend, improve, and to reform the

stage;

T'expofe the ans that little villains ufe *,
And even to chear our drooping Comic Mufe;
Harmonious numbers, and a tear-fraught
To add to plaintive poetry's fweet train,
To raife, if poffible, our Garrick's name,
train +;

Ranked like thee into the lifts of fame;
To check the ways that rank impoftor's find
T'abuse the goodness of the human mind ‡ ;
To dare e'en critics thund'ring in thy ear
Revenge! which they themselves alone de
fear;
Alike w'expofe the stabs of Scandal's aim ),

And fink its manners into lasting shame :
For this, all this, thou Sheridan arofe,
To lafh the age, and fcourge all Virtue's foes:
For this, I'll prophecy, the mufe will raife
A lafting tribute to thy memory's praite.

Exert thy pen as thou hast well began. And dare its honor 'gainst the Critic's plan; 'Till thy great mind by flights fuperior borne, Shali quit this earth and all its hopes forlorn ; 'Till nought remains of this our carthly fphere. Laving behind a fame immortal here, Queen Street.

T. B―s.

By plenty cloy'd, and difficult of choice,
Fame gives, reluctant, her allenting voice.
The Tragic Mufe demands no common
drefs,

And excellence ftill borders on excess.
If unaffectedly the language flows,
How eafy to exclaim," mere vulgar profe;"
Or fwear the dull, uninteresting theme,
Luils like the murmurs of a purling ftream.
If the bold numbers, like a torrent's course,
Roll with impetuous, ov rwhelming force;
If paffion make the broken mea'ures pant,
Who but condems it, as unmeaning rant :
Or if the quick, the fpirited reply,
The paufe, the start, the forrow-breathing figh,
And every varied gefture, which, imprefs'd
By nature, rifes from the feeling breast
The feene embellish, these we may reject
As the meer pantomime of ftage effeét.
If brooding o'e diftrefs, in thought refin'd,
The poet trace the workings of the mind;
If funk in abject grief the wretched groan,
Or make in fond complaint their forrows
known,

Here pride difdains the forrows plaintive flow,
And there derides the fophiftry of woe.
Not more the thapes, by changeful Proteus
worn,

Than wit faftidious takes, to shew its scorn;
With nobler purpose has our bard employ'd
His utmost ftrength, your cenfure to avoid :
Confcious of failings, ftudious of applause,
To your tribunal he submits his caufe.
Here wifdom judges each attempt to please ;
Here mercy tempers all your juft decrees.
This night presents an Oriental Tale,
Where customs, different as the clime, pre-
vail;

Where paffions, fir'd by nearer funs, impart
A glow more ardent to th' expanding heart;
And language brilliant as their beams, dif-
plays

Its darling flight in more aspiring phrase. These to pourtray in colours bold, yet true, As nature gives them in those climes to view, Our author aims; but while th' approaching hour

Decides his fate, from your acknowledg'd

Secure, and bleft, in this aufpicious ifle
Ye little think, in Afia's fultry foil,
Ye favour'd fair! to what a wretched ftate
Woman is doom'd by unrelenting fate;
Give me your ear then, while I lay before ye,
Our different lot, in plan of artless story:
For custom here, whose magic fetters bind,
In every clime, the fubjugated mind,

The wrongs of beauty amply has redrefs &;
And fix'd her empire in each willing breast.
Tho' thro' the Eaft proud man, with lawless
fway,

Defpotic rules, while women must obey,
Reverse the medal, and we here can fhew
More abject vaffals in each captive beau.
'Tis true, in Turkey, each three-tail'd Bathaw
Can keep a dozen miftreffes in awe ;
But in our ifle a dozen Lords will find
'Tis paft their pow'r to keep one true, or kind.
With them 'tis held, our fex no foul inherit,
But British women are all foul and spirit.
What, tho' in Asia each unhappy fair
Denied the birthright of her fex to fhare,
Wedded, or fingle, is a flave for life,
The palm is ours, while every modish wife
Can laugh in England at all tyes design'd,
In fweet restraint, to hold the enamour'
mind,

And rove at will, unfettered as the wind.
Let lynx-eyed Jealousy there ceafeless wake
To trap the fair, if one falfe ftep she make,
With us, thank heav'n! its tyranny is o'er,
We may provide us lovers by the score.
But fhould our spouse prove cruel, or the
fashion

Demand th' indulgence of a second passion,
The Commons foon can rid us of a pain,
Sign our divorce, and make us maids again.
But jeft apart, tho' cuftom here has giv'n
Our fex fuch pow'r as make the balance ev'.
One honest truth I boldly will maintain,
And may the glory ever yours remain.
If it alone in Britain can be faid,
Such gen'rous homage to our fex is paid,
As manly dignity with pride may give,
Or free born dames with honour can receive,
Envy herself, reluctantly must own
Whate'er our foibles, no where can be thewa,
More beauty, virtue, modefty, or fenfe,
To merit and adorn pre-eminence.
May then that pow'r which, arm'd in Mercy's
caufe,

Ever enfnares obedience to its laws,
Be kindly now exerted to befriend
The Poet's labours, and his fame defend.
Our Baid, I know, will deem your favʼring
fmile

An ample retribution for his toil,
Let but his orphan find a guardian here,
And though an orphan, she has nought to

fear;

ZORAIDA, once adopted for your own, May icorn the fplendor of an caftern throne.

FOREIGN

A NEW SON

The Words by a young LADY, fet to Mufic by Mr. HUDSON.