Possess'd of posts and power at home, And leave Old England weeping? 'Twas-truth to say-because afraid, Had others gone, or had he staid, He was not sure of keeping. This slipp❜ry tenure calls him forth, At mighty feasts, of mighty things, Not Gallic plots, for Gallia now, By his superior knowledge; Alas! in politics how mad! And yet no blockhead when a lad At Westminster, or College. a fire in it :" presently after I said, "I'll not stay here, this room has been washed to day." I believe we made him take a double dose of Gascoign's Powder when he went home. For these high meals his foreign praise, My lady, too, as well as he, Must go in triumph over sea, To set the world a gazing. Happy, if their own private store, These projects only troubled; But ours, they'll measure by his sense, Compute our wealth by his expense, And then our tribute's doubled. New treaties from these feasts shall spring, New Princes gain'd, perhaps a king, More schemes for Europe's quiet; Hence daily new demands may rise, Thus the young 'squire his wealth bestows On home-spun feasts and tawdry clothes, On horses, hounds and harlot; Until mamma to mend his taste Sends him to cross the Alps in haste Thus tutor❜d, Numps grows worse and worse, And, on his new refinements bent, AN ODE: INSCRIBED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE VISCOUNT LONSDALE;* May 1743. I. TH' impartial and by-standing Muse, Nor links herself with faction; Inspir'd by Truth, she tells her thoughts, And judges still by action. * Henry, the last Viscount Lonsdale, of the first creation, was made constable of the Tower, and Lord Privy Seal, which he resigned without going into opposition: he was of very conscientious and disinterested honour; a great disputer, a great refiner, and a great genius.-W. II. The wav'ring Patriot's foul disgrace, As the court wretch, who now depriv'd III. Be but uninfluenc'd, she will raise, From death she will preserve ye; Like Doddington* and Hervey.† * Mr. Cumberland observes, when on a visit at Fulham, in the adjoining parish of Hammersmith lived Mr. Doddington in a splendid Villa, which, by the rule of contraries, he was pleased to call La Trappe; and his inmates and + Lord Hervey was Vice-Chamberlain and Lord Privy Seal to George II., well known by his eloquence, writings, and duel with Mr. Pultney, and the satires of Pope.-W. |