Whilft from below the trap-door Dæmons rife,
And from above the dangling deities;
And fhall I mix in this unhallow'd crew?
May rofin'd lightning blaft me, if I do!
No-I will act, I'll vindicate the stage:
Shakspeare himself fhall feel my tragic rage.
Off! off! vile trappings! a new paffion reigns!
The madd'ning monarch revels in my veins.
Oh! for a Richard's voice to catch the theme:
Give me another horfe! bind up my wounds !-soft
-'twas but a dream.

Aye, 'twas but a dream, for now there's no retreating,
If I ceafe Harlequin, I ceafe from eating.

'Twas thus that fop's ftag, a creature blameless, Yet fomething vain, like one that fhall be nameless, Once on the margin of a fountain stood,

And cavill'd at his image in the flood.

"The deuce confound," he cries, "these drumstick "fhanks,

"They never have my gratitude nor thanks;
"They're perfectly difgraceful! ftrike me dead!
"But for a head, yes, yes, I have a head.

"How piercing is that eye! how fleek that brow!

My horns! I'm told horns are the fafhion now." Whilft thus he spoke, aftonish'd! to his view,

Near, and more near, the hounds and huntsmen drew. Hoicks! hark forward! came thund'ring from be

hind,

He bounds aloft, outfirips the fleeting wind:

He

He quits the woods, and tries the beaten ways;
He starts, he pants, he takes the circling maze.
At length his filly head, fo priz'd before,
Is taught his former folly to deplore;
Whilft his ftrong limbs confpire to set him free,
And at one bound he faves himself, like me.

[Taking a jump through the stage-door.

THE

THE

LOGICIANS REFUTED.

IN

IMITATION OF DEAN SWIFT.

LOGICIANS have but ill defin'd
As rational the human mind;
Reason, they fay, belongs to man,
But let them prove it if they can.
Wife Aristotle and Smiglefius,

By Ratiocinations fpecious,

Have ftrove to prove with great precifion,

With definiton and division,

Homo eft ratione preditum;

But for my foul I cannot credit 'em.
And must in spite of them maintain,

That man and all his ways are vain ;
And that this boafted lord of nature
Is both a weak and erring creature.
That inftinct is a furer guide,
Than reafon, boafting mortals' pride;

And

And that brute beafts are far before 'em,

Deus eft anima brutorum.

Whoever knew an honeft brute,

At law his neighbour profecute,
Bring action for affault and battery,
Or friend beguile with lies and flattery.
O'er plains they ramble unconfin'd,
No politics difturb their mind;

They eat their meals, and take their sport,
Nor know who's in or out at court;

They never to the levee go

To treat as dearest friend, a foe:
They never importune his Grace,,
Nor ever cringe to men in place:
Nor undertake a dirty job,
Nor draw the quill to write for Bob:
Fraught with invective they ne'er go,
To folks at Pater-Nofter Row:
No judges, fidlers, dancing masters,
No pickpockets, or poetafters,
Are known to honeft quadrupeeds,
No fingle brute his fellows leads.
Brutes never meet in bloody fray,
Nor cut each others throats for pay.
Of beafts, it is confefs'd, the ape
Comes nearest us in human fhape,
Like man he imitates each fashion,
And malice is his ruling paffion :
But both in malice and grimaces,
A courtier any ape furpaffes.

Behold

Behold him humbly cringing wait
Upon the minifter of state :

View him foon after to inferiors
Aping the conduct of fuperiors :
He promises with equal air,
And to perform takes equal care.
He in his turn finds imitators,

At court, the porters, lacquies, waiters,
Their mafter's manners ftill contract,
And footmen, lords and dukes can act.
Thus at the court, both great and small,

Behave alike, for all

ape

all.

STANZAS