I die unpitied and forgot, And on some dunghill left to rot.
ALL-ruling tyrant of the earth, To vilest slaves I owe my birth.' How is the greatest monarch blest, When in my gaudy livery drest! No haughty nymph has power to run From me; or my embraces shun. Stabbed to the heart, condemn'd to flame, My constancy is still the same. The favourite messenger of Jove, And Lemnian god, consulting strove To make me glorious to the sight Of mortals, and the gods delight. Soon would their altars' flame expire, If I refus'd to lend them fire.
By fate exalted high in place, Lo, here I stand with double face: Superior none on earth I find; But see below me all mankind. Yet, as it oft attends the great, I almost sink with my own weight. At every motion undertook, The vulgar all consult my look. I sometimes give advice in writing, But never of my own inditing.
I am a courtier in my way; For those who rais'd me, I betray; And some give out that I entice To lust, to luxury, and dice. Who punishments on me inflict, Because they find their pockets pickt. By riding post, I lose my health; And only to get others wealth.
BECAUSE I am by nature blind, I wisely choose to walk behind ; However to avoid disgrace,
I let no creature see my face.
My words are few, but spoke with sense; And yet my speaking gives offence:
Or, if to whisper I presume,
The company will fly the room.
By all the world I am opprest:
And my oppression gives them rest.
Through me, though sore against my will, Instructors every art instil.
By thousands I am sold and bought, Who neither get nor lose a groat; For none, alas! by me can gain, But those who give me greatest pain. Shall man presume to be my master, Who's but my caterer and taster? Yet, though I always have my will, I'm but a mere depender still: An humble hanger-on at best; Of whom all people make a jest.
In me detractors seek to find Two vices of a different kind : I'm too profuse, some censurers cry, And all I get, I let it fly :
While others give me many a curse, Because too close I hold my purse. But this I know, in either case They dare not charge me to my face. 'Tis true, indeed, sometimes I save, Sometimes run out of all I have: But, when the year is at an end, Computing what I get and spend, My goings-out, and comings-in, I cannot find I lose or win; And therefore all that know me say, I justly keep the middle way. I'm always by my betters led; I last get up, and first a-bed; Though, if I rise before my time, The learn'd in sciences sublime Consult the stars, and thence foretel Good luck to those with whom I dwell.
THE joy of man, the pride of brutes, Domestic subject for disputes, Of plenty thou the emblem fair, Adorn'd by nymphs with all their care! I saw thee rais'd to high renown, Supporting half the British crown; And often have I seen thee grace The chaste Diana's infant face;
And whensoe'er you please to shine, Less useful is her light than thine: Thy numerous fingers know their way, And oft in Celia's tresses play.
To place thee in another view,
I'll show the world strange things and true; What lords and dames of high degree May justly claim their birth from thee! The soul of man with spleen you vex: Of spleen you cure the female sex. Thee for a gift the courtier sends With pleasure to his special friends: He gives, and with a generous pride, Contrives all means the gift to hide : Nor oft can the receiver know, Whether he has the gift or no. On airy wings you take your flight, And fly unseen both day and night; Conceal your form with various tricks; And few know how or where you fix: Yet some, who ne'er bestow'd thee, boast That they to others give thee most. Meantime, the wise a question start, If thou a real being art;
Or but a creature of the brain, That gives imaginary pain?
But the sly giver better knows thee; Who feels true joys when he bestows thee,
THOUGH I, alas, a prisoner be, My trade is prisoners to set free.
No slave his lord's commands obeys With such insinuating ways.
My genius piercing, sharp, and bright, Wherein the men of wit delight. The clergy keep me for their ease, And turn and wind me as they please. A new and wond'rous art I show Of raising spirits from below; In scarlet some, and some in white; They rise, walk round, yet never fright. In at each mouth the spirits pass, Distinctly seen as through a glass : O'er head and body make a rout, And drive at last all secrets out: And still, the more I show my art, The more they open every heart. A greater chemist none than I, Who, from materials hard and dry, Have taught men to extract with skill More precious juice than from a still. Although I'm often out of case, I'm not asham'd to show my face. Though at the tables of the great I near the sideboard take my seat; Yet the plain 'squire, when dinner's done, Is never pleas'd till I make one : He kindly bids me near him stand; And often takes me by the hand. I twice a-day a-hunting go; Nor ever fail to seize my foe; And when I have him by the poll, I drag him upward from his hole; Though some are of so stubborn kind, I'm forc'd to leave a limb behind. I hourly wait some fatal end; For I can break, but scorn to bend.
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