But if the rogue have gone a cup too far,
Left out his linchpin, or forgot, his tar,

It suffers interruption and delay,

And meets with hindrance in the smoothest way.
When some hypothesis absurd and vain

Has fill'd with all it's fumes a critic's brain,
The text, that sorts not with his darling whim,
Though plain to others, is obscure to him.
The will made subject to a lawless force,
All is irregular and out of course;

And Judgment drunk, and brib'd to lose his way,
Winks hard, and talks of darkness at noonday.
A critic on the sacred book should be
Candid and learn'd, dispassionate and free:
Free from the wayward bias bigots feel,
From fancy's influence, and intemp'rate zeal :
But above all, (or let the wretch refrain,
Nor touch the page he cannot but profane)
Free from the domineering pow'r of lust;
A lewd interpreter is never just.

How shall I speak thee, or thy pow'r address, Thou god of our idolatry, the Press ?

By thee religion, liberty, and laws,

Exert their influence, and advance their cause;
By thee worse plagues than Pharaoh's land befel,
Diffus'd, make Earth the vestibule of Hell;
Thou fountain, at which drink the good and wise;
Thou ever-bubbling spring of endless lies;

Like Eden's dread probationary tree,
2216 sdt sousH
Knowledge of good and evil is from thee! 1qsam al

No wild enthusiast ever yet could rest, odds-
Till half mankind were like himself possess d. H
Philosophers, who darken and put out - *967208, 37
Eternal truth by everlasting doubt;^44 pod ozoć
Church quacks, with passions under no command,
Who fill the world with doctrines contraband, U
Discov❜rers of they know not what, confin'd soW
Within no bounds the blind that lead the-blind,
To streams of popular opinion drawn, 903 iis dzW
Deposit in those shallows all their spawn. »ximbA
The wriggling fry soon fill the creeks around W
Pois'ning the waters where their swarms abound.
bol
Scorn'd by the nobler tenants of the flood,
⚫ Minnows and gudgeons gorge th' unwholesome food.
The propagated myriads spread so fast,
Ev'n Lewenhoeck himself would stand aghast, of
Employ'd to calculate th' enormous sum. D
And own his crab-computing pow'rs o'ercome. 11⁄2
Is this hyperbole? The world well known, o
Your sober thoughts will hardly find it one. à 10

Fresh confidence the speculatist takes th From ev'ry hair-brain'd proselyte he makes;" soT And therefore prints. Himself but half deceiv'd Till others have the soothing tale believasulov at Hence comment after comment spun as finevoie 38 As bloated spiders draw the flimsy line, al culoa

Hence the same word, that bids our lusts obey,
Is misapplied to sanctify their sway,

If stubborn Greek refuse to be his friend,
Hebrew or Syriac shall be forc'd to bend :
If languages and copies all cry, No-
Somebody prov'd it centuries ago.

Like trout pursued, the critic in despair
Darts to the mud, and finds his safety there:
Woman, whom custom has forbid to fly
The scholar's pitch, (the scholar best knows why)
With all the simple and unletter'd poor,

Admire his learning, and almost adore.
Whoever errs, the priest can ne'er be wrong,
With such fine words familiar to his tongue.
Ye ladies! (for indiff'rent in your cause,
I should deserve to forfeit all applause)
Whatever shocks or gives the least offence
To virtue, delicacy, truth, or sense,
(Try the criterion, 'tis a faithful guide)
Nor has, nor can have, Scripture on it's side.
None but an author knows an author's cares,
Or Fancy's fondness for the child she bears.
Committed once into the public arms,
The baby seems to smile with added charms.
Like something precious ventur❜d far from shore,
"Tis valued for the danger's sake the more.
He views it with complacency supreme,
Solicits kind attention to his dream;

And daily more enamour'd of the cheat,arus T

Kneels, and asks Heav'n to bless the dear deceit.

So one, whose story serves at least to show
Men lov'd their own productions long ago,
Woo'd an unfeeling statue for his wifem aur I
Nor rested till the gods had giv'n it life,

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If some mere driv❜ller suck the sugar'd fib,
One that still needs his leading string and bib
And praise his genius, he is soon repaido patieH
In praise applied to the same part--his head: -~`
For 'tis a rule, that holds for ever true, bár vort
Grant me discernment, and I grant it you, ung?
Patient of contradiction as a child, nineT

Affable, humble, diffident, and mild;

Such was sir Isaac, and such Boyle and Locke afr
Your blund'rer is as sturdy as a rock as
The creature is so sure to kick and bite,
A muleteer's the man to set him right.
First Appetite enlists him Truth's sworn foe,
Then obstinate Self-will confirms him so be
Tell him he wanders; that his errour leads ar
To fatal ills; that, though the path he treads
Be flow'ry, and he see no cause of fear, we p
Death and the pains of Hell attend him there :
In vain; the slave of arrogance and pride,
He has no hearing on the prudent side. Jan”
His still refuted quirks he still repeats;

New rais'd objections with new quibbles meets;

Till, sinking in the quicksand he defends,
He diés disputing, and the contest ends→
But not the mischiefs; they, still left behind
Like thistle-seeds, are sown by ev'ry wind.

Thus men go wrong with an ingenious skill; Bend the straight rule to their own crooked will ; And with a clear and shining lamp supplied, First put it out, then take it for a guide. Halting on crutches of unequal size, One leg by truth supported, one by lies They sidle to the goal with awkward pace, Secure of nothing but to lose the race.

Faults in the life breed errours in the brain} And these reciprocally those again.

The mind and conduct mutually imprint '
And stamp their image in each other's mint :
Each, sire and dam, of an infernal race,
Begetting and conceiving all that's base.

'None sends his arrow to the mark in view,
Whose hand is feeble, or his aim untrue.
For though, ere yet the shaft is on the wing,
Or when it first forsakes the elastic string,
It err but little from th' intended line,
It falls at last far wide of his design :-
So he, who seeks a mansion in the sky,
Must watch his purpose with a stedfast eye;
That prize belongs to none but the sincere,
The least obliquity is fatal here.

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