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TABLE TALK.

Si te fortè meæ gravis uret farcina charte,

Abjicito

HOR. Lib. I. Epist. 13.

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You told me, I remember, glory, built

On selfish principles, is fhame and guilt;
The deeds, that men admire as half divine,
Stark naught, because corrupt in their defign.
Strange doctrine this! that without fcruple tears
The laurel that the very lightning fpares;

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Brings down the warrior's trophy to the dust,
And eats into his bloody fword like rust.

B. I grant that, men continuing what they are, Fierce, avaricious, proud, there must be war.

And never meant the rule should be applied
To him that fights with justice on his fide.
Let laurels, drench'd in pure Parnaffian dews,
Reward his mem'ry, dear to ev'ry muse,
Who, with a courage of unshaken root,
In honour's field advancing his firm foot,
Plants it upon the line that juftice draws,
And will prevail or perish in her cause.
'Tis to the virtues of fuch men, man owes
His portion in the good that heav'n bestows.
And, when recording hiftory difplays

Feats of renown, though wrought in ancient days;
Tells of a few ftout hearts that fought and died
Where duty plac'd them, at their country's fide;
The man that is not mov'd with what he reads,
That takes not fire at their heroic deeds,

Unworthy of the bleffings of the brave,

Is base in kind, and born to be a slave.
But let eternal infamy pursue

The wretch to nought but his ambition true,
Who, for the fake of filling with one blast
The post-horns of all Europe, lays her waste.
Think yourself station'd on a tow'ring rock,
To see a people scatter'd like a flock,

Some royal mastiff panting at their heels,
With all the favage thirft a tyger feels;
Then view him, felf-proclaim'd in a gazette
Chief monster that has plagu'd the nations yet:
The globe and fceptre in fuch hands misplac'd,
Those enfigns of dominion, how difgrac'd!

The glass that bids man mark the fleeting hour,
And death's own fcythe, would better fpeak his pow'r;
Then grace the bony phantom in their stead

With the king's fhoulder-knot and gay cockade;
Clothe the twin brethren in each other's drefs,

The fame their occupation and fuccefs.

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