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ODE XV. BOOK III.

TO A FADED BEAUTY.

“Uxor pauperis Ibyci."

DEAR Chloris, at an age like thine
To dance, coquet, and dress so fine,
And ape such youthful airs,

Might shock a taste not over nice,
So prithee take a friend's advice,
Repent, and say thy pray'rs.

Give o'er thy light fantastic tricks,
For coquetry at fifty-six,
Credulity disarms!

Forswear the company of beaux,

Nor thus to ridicule expose

The winter of thy charms.

No beauty thou hast left to boast, Though twenty years a reigning toast,

By coxcombs pledg'd aloud;

Retreat in time, give others room,

No nostrum can restore thy bloom; Haste, Chloris! nor defraud the tomb, Death courts thee for a shroud.

What sprightly Phoebe, frank and free,
So well becomes, sits ill on thee,
Thou folly's doting tool;

Leave off thy pert affected prate,
Thy childish lisp, thy mincing gait,
And blush that vanity, so late,

Should make thee play the fool.

Ah! roll no more the leering eye
At ev'ry fop that flutters by,

Thy ogling days are past:

And mark the moral of my strain,
That beauty, though she proudly reign,

Must be dethron'd at last.

THE TIMES;

OR,

THE PROPHECY.

Nunquam libertas gratior exstat

Quam sub Rege pio."

FIRST PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1811.

FOURTH EDITION.

THE TIMES.

BOLD is the man who, with satiric rage,
Aims to reform a weak and vicious age;
Who, flush'd with honest anger, dare complain,
And shew he holds its vices in disdain:
For when corruption bears unbridled sway,
When tyrants rule, and willing slaves obey,
Some hireling, black apostate, lost to shame,
Will swear reproof and libel are the same;
And gravely preach, with other wondrous things,
That sin is no disgrace in Lords and Kings.

Hail useful Satire! whose inspiring strain Shall lash the world, when parsons preach in vain! When justice sleeps, and sets the villain free, Expiring Virtue calls for aid to thee!

Yet say what crimes, in this regen'rate age,
Demand thy censure and provoke thy rage,
What need of Satire to reform the times,
So great our virtues, and so small our crimes?

What contemplative mind but now deplores Once favor'd Israel's desolated shores?

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