To be successful try thy utmost force,
And virtue follows as a thing of course.
Hirco, who knows not Hirco? stains the bed Of that kind master who first gave him bread; Scatters the seeds of discord through the land, Breaks every public, every private band; Beholds with joy a trusting friend undone ; Betrays a brother, and would cheat a son: What mortal in his senses can endure The name of Hirco? for the wretch is poor! "Let him hang, drown, starve, on a dunghill rot, By all detested live, and die forgot;
Let him, a poor return, in every breath
Feel all death's pains, yet be whole years in death," Is now the general cry we all pursue;
Let fortune change, and Prudence changes too; Supple and pliant, a new system feels,
Throws up her сар, and spaniels at his heels, Long live great Hirco, cries, by interest taught, And let his foes, though I prove one, be nought. C. Peace to such men, if such men can have
Let their possessions, let their state, increase;
Let their base services in courts strike root,
And in the season bring forth golden fruit,
I envy not; let those who have the will,
And, with so little spirit, so much skill,
With such vile instruments their fortunes carve; Rogues may grow fat, an honest man dares
L. These stale conceits thrown off, let us ad
For once to real life, and quit romance.
Starve! pretty talking! but I fain would view
That man, that honest man, would do it too. 84
Hence to yon mountain which outbraves the sky,
And dart from pole to pole thy strengthen'd eye,
Through all that space you shall not view one man,
Not one, who dares to act on such a plan.
Cowards in calms will say what in a storm
The brave will tremble at, and not perform.
Thine be the proof, and, spite of all you've said,
You'd give your honour for a crust of bread.
C. What proof might do, what hunger might
What famish'd Nature, looking with neglect
On all she once held dear, what fear, at strife 95
With fainting virtue for the means of life,
Might make this coward flesh, in love with breath,
Shuddering at pain, and shrinking back from
death,
In treason to my soul, descend to bear,
Trusting to fate, I neither know nor care.
Once, at this hour those wounds afresh I feel, Which nor prosperity nor time can heal, Those wounds, which, fate severely hath decreed, Mention'd or thought of, must for ever bleed; Those wounds, which humbled all that pride of
Which brings such mighty aid to virtue's plan;
Once, awed by fortune's most oppressive frown,
By legal rapine to the earth bow'd down,
My credit at last gasp, my state undone,
Trembling to meet the shock I could not shun,
Virtue gave ground, and blank despair prevail'd
Sinking beneath the storm, my spirits fail'd,
Like Peter's faith, till one, a friend indeed,
May all distress find such in time of need,
One kind good man, in act, in word, in thought,
By virtue guided, and by wisdom taught,
Image of him whom christians should adore,
Stretch'd forth his hand, and brought me safe to
shore.
Since, by good fortune into notice raised, And for some little merit largely praised, Indulged in swerving from prudential rules, Hated by rogues, and not beloved by fools; Placed above want, shall abject thirst of wealth, So fiercely war 'gainst my soul's dearest health, That, as a boon, I should base shackles crave, And, born to freedom, make myself a slave? That I should in the train of those appear Whom honour cannot love, nor manhood fear?
118 Churchill, having imprudently involved himself, previous to the publication of the Rosciad, in debts beyond his ability to discharge, was threatened with all the horrors of a jail; from this apprehension he was relieved by the friendly interposition of Dr. Peirson Lloyd, second master of Westminster school, who effected a compromise with our author's creditors, and advanced a part of the sum required for carry. ing it into effect.
That I no longer skulk from street to street,
Afraid lest duns assail, and bailiffs meet;
That I from place to place this carcase bear;
Walk forth at large, and wander free as air;
That I no longer dread the awkward friend,
Whose very obligations must offend;
Nor, all too froward, with impatience burn
At suffering favours which I can't return.
That from dependance and from pride secure,
I am not placed so high to scorn the poor,
Nor yet so low, that I my Lord should fear,
Or hesitate to give him sneer for sneer;
That, whilst sage Prudence my pursuits confirms,
I can enjoy the world on equal terms;
That, kind to others, to myself most true,
Feeling no want, I comfort those who do,
And with the will have power to aid distress:
These, and what other blessings I possess,
From the indulgence of the public rise,
All private patronage my soul defies.
By candour more inclined to save, than damn,
A generous public made me what I am.
All that I have, they gave; just memory bears
145 The extensive sale of our Author's Poems, and his rapidity of composition, produced him no inconsiderable revenue; and to his credit it should be remembered, that his first earnings were appropriated first to the full discharge of every demand upon him, to which, by the terms of the compromise with his creditors, he was not legally liable, and then to the essential and permanent relief of his friend Robert Lloyd, the son of his benefactor.
The grateful stamp, and what I am, is theirs.
L. To feign a red-hot zeal for freedom's cause.
To mouth aloud for liberties and laws,
For public good to bellow all abroad,
Serves well the purposes of private fraud.
Prudence, by public good intends her own;
If you mean otherwise, you stand alone.
What do we mean by country and by court?
What is it to oppose? what to support?
Mere words of course; and what is more absurd
Than to pay homage to an empty word?
Majors and minors differ but in name;
Patriots and ministers are much the same;
The only difference, after all their rout,
Is, that the one is in, the other out.
Explore the dark recesses of the mind,
In the soul's honest volume read mankind,
And own, in wise and simple, great and small,
The same grand leading principle in all.
Whate'er we talk of wisdom to the wise,
Of goodness to the good, of public ties
Which to our country link, of private bands
Which claim most dear attention at our hands,
For parent and for child, for wife and friend,
Our first great mover, and our last great end
Is one, and, by whatever name we call
The ruling tyrant, self is all in all.
This, which unwilling faction shall admit,
Guided in different ways a Bute and Pitt,
Made tyrants break, made kings observe the law,
And gave the world a Stuart and Nassau.
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