And I not sing, lest, haply, Scotch Reviews Should dub me scribbler, and denounce my Muse? *IMITATION. "Semper ego auditor tantum? nunquamne reponam "Vexatus toties rauci Theseide Codri? JUVENAL, SATIRE 1. Mr. FITZGERALD, facetiously termed by COBBETT the "Small Beer Poet," inflicts his annual tribute of verse on the " Literary Fund;" not content with writing, he spouts in person after the company have imbibed a reasonable quantity of bad port, to enable them to sustain the operation. A Prepare for rhyme I'll publish, right or wrong: Fools are my theme, let satire be my song. Oh! Nature's noblest gift-my grey goose quill! .10: Slave of my thoughts, obedient to my will, 20 Our task complete, like Hamet's* shall be free; When Vice triumphant holds her sov'reign sway, And men through life her willing slaves obey; When folly,frequent harbinger of crime, Unfolds her motley store to suit the time; 30 When Knaves and Fools combined o'er all prevail, When Justice halts, and Right begins to fail, E'en then the boldest start from public sneers, Afraid of Shame, unknown to other fears, pen in CID HAMET BENENGELI promises repose to his the last chapter of DON QUIXOTE. Oh! that our voluminous gentry would follow the example of CID HAMET BENENGELI. A 2 More darkly sin, by Satire kept in awe, And shrink from Ridicule though not from Law. Such is the force of Wit! but not belong To me the arrows of satiric song; The royal vices of our age demand A keener weapon, and a mightier hand. 40 Still there are follies, e'en for me to chase, I, too, can crawl, and once upon a time I poured along the town a flood of rhyme, 50 |