Till me that Tyrant Man espy'd,
And dragg'd me from my Mother's Side :
No Wonder now I look so thin;
The Tyrant ftript me to the Skin :
My Skin he fay'd, my Hair he cropt;
;
At Head and Foot my Body lopt :
And then, with Heart more hard than Stone,
He pickt my Marrow from the Bone.
To vex me more he took a Freak,
To sit my Tongue, and make me speak :
But, that which wonderful appears,
I speak to Eyes and not to Ears.
He oft employs me in Disguise,
And makes me tell a thousand Lyệs ;
To me he chiefly gives in Trust
To please his Malice, or his Luft.
From me no Secret he can hide ;
I see his Vanity and Pride:
And my Delight is to expose
His Follies to his greatest Foes.
All Languages I can command,
Yet not a Word I understand.
Without my Aid, the best Divine
In Learning would not know a Line:
The Lawyer must forget his Pleading,
The Scholar could not shew his Reading.
Nay; Man, my Master, is my Slave :
I give Command to kill or fave.
Can grant ten thousand Pounds a Year,
And make a Beggar's Brat a Peer.
But, while I thus my Life relate, I only haften on my Fate. My Tongue is black, my Mouth is furr’d, I hardly now can force a Word. I die unpity'd and forgot ; And on some Dunghill left to rot.
LL-ruling Tyrant of the Earth,
To vileft Slaves I owe my Birth. How is the greatest Monarch bleft, When in my gaudy Liv'ry drest! No haughty Nymph has Pow'r to run From me; or my Embraces shun. Stabb’d to the Heart, condemn'd to Flame, My Constancy is still the same. The fav’rite Messenger of yove, And * Lemnian God consulting strove, To make me glorious to the Sight Of Mortals, and the Gods Delight.
Soon would their Altars Flame expire,
If I refus'd to lend them Fire.
Y Fate exalted bigh in Place ;
Lo, here I stand with double Face;
Superior none on Earth I find ;
But fee below me all Mankind.
Yet, as it oft attends the Great,
I almost sink with my own Weight ;
At every Motion undertook,
The Vulgar all consult my Look.
I sometimes give Advice in Writing,
But never of my own Inditing.
I AM a Courtier in my Way;
For those who rais’d me, I betray;
And some give out, that I entice
To Luft, and Luxury, and Dice;
Who Punishments on me inflict,
Because they find their Pockets pickt.
By riding Post I lose my Health ;
And only to get others Wealth,
ECAUSE I am by Nature blind,
I wisely chuse to walk behind ;
However, to avoid Disgrace,
I let no Creature fee
my
Face.
My Words are few, but spoke with Sense :
And yet my Speaking gives Offence :
Or, if to whisper I presume,
The Company will Ay the Room,
By all the World I am opprest,
And my Oppression gives them Rest.
Through me, though fore against my Will
Instructors ev'ry Art instill,
By Thousands I am sold and bought,
Who neither get, nor lose a Groat ;
For none, alas, by me can gain,
But those who give me greatest Pain.
Shall Man presumne to be my Master,
,
Who's but my Caterer and Tafter ?
Yet, though I always have my Will
I'm but a meer Depender still:
An humble Hanger-on at best;
Of whoin all People make a Jeft,
In me, Detractors seek to find
Two Vices of a diff'rent Kind :
I'm too profuse some Cens'rers cry,
And all I get, I let it fly :
While others give me many a Curse,
Because too close I hold my Purse.
But this I know, in either Case
They dare not charge me to my Face,
'Tis true, indeed, sometimes I save,
Sometimes run out of all I have
23
But when the Year is at an End,
Computing what I get and spend,
My Goings out, and Comings in,
I cannot find I lose, or win,
And therefore, all that know me, say,
I justly keep the middle Way.
I'm always by my Betters led ;
I last get up, am first a-bed.
Though, if I rise before my Time,
The Learn'd in Sciences sublime,
Consult the Stars, and thence foretell
Good Luck to those, with whom I dwell:
HE Joy of Man, the Pride of Brutes,
Domestick Subject for Disputes, Of Plenty, thou the Emblem fair, Adorn'd by Nymphs with all their Care:
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