Thus have I sought to grace a serious lay

With many a wild indeed but flow'ry spray,

In hopes to gain, what else I must have lost,

Th' attention pleasure has so much engross'd.

But if unhappily deceiv'd I dream,

And prove too weak for so divine a theme,

Let Charity forgive me a mistake,

That zeal, not vanity, has chanc'd to make,

And spare the poet for his subject's sake.

CONVERSATION.

Nam neque me tantum venientis sitilus austri,
Nee percussajuvantfluctu tarn litora, nee qua
Saiosas inter decwrruntjlumina valles.

Vmc. Eel. 4.

Though nature weigh our talents, and dispense

To evVy man his modicum of sense,

And Conversation in it's better part

May be esteem'd a gift, and not an art,

Yet much depends, as in the tiller's toil,

On culture, and the sowing of the soil.

Words learn'd by rote a parrot may rehearse,

But talking is not always to converse;

Not more distinct from harmony divine,

The constant creaking of a country sign.

As Alphabets in ivory employ,
Hour after hour, the yet unletter'd boy,
Sorting and puzzling with a deal of glee
Those seeds of science called his A B c;
So language in the mouths of the adult,
Witness it's insignificant result,
Too often proves an implement of play,
A toy to sport with, and pass time away.
Collect at ev'ning what the day brought forth,
Compress the sum into it's solid worth,
And if it weigh th' importance of a fly,
The scales are false, or algebra a lie.
Sacred interpreter of human thought,
How few respect or use thee as they ought!
But all shall give account of ev'ry wrong,
Who dare dishonour or defile the tongue;
Who prostitute it in the cause of vice,
Or sell their glory at a market-price;
Who vote for hire, or point it with lampoon,
The dear-bought placeman, and the cheap buf-
foon.
There is a prurience in the speech of some,
Wrath stays him, or else God would strike them
dumb:

His wise forbearance has their end in view,

They fill their measure, and receive their due.

The heathen law-givers of ancient days,

Names almost worthy of a Christian's praise,

Would drive them forth from the resort of men.

And shut up ev'ry satyr in his den.

O come not ye near innocence and truth,

Ye worms that eat into the bud of youth!

Infectious as impure, your blighting pow'r

Taints in it's rudiments the promis'd flow'r;

It's odour perish'd and it's charming hue,

Thenceforth 'tis hateful, for it smells of you.

Not ev'n the vigorous and headlong rage

Of adolescence, or a firmer age,

Affords a plea allowable or j ust

For making speech the pamperer of lust;

But when the breath of age commits the fault,

Tis nauseous as the vapour of a vault.

So wither'd stumps disgrace the sylvan scene,

No longer fruitful, and no longer green;

The sapless wood, divested of the bark,

Grows fungous, and takes fire at ev'ry spark.

Oaths terminate, as Paul observes, all strife— Some men have surely then a peaceful life;

Whatever subject occupy discourse, The feats of Vestris, or the naval force, Asseveration blust'ring in your face Makes contradiction such a hopeless case: In ev"ry tale they tell, or false or true, Well known, or such as no man ever knew, They fix attention, heedless of your pain, With oaths like rivets forc'd into the brain; And ev'n when sober truth prevails throughout, They swear it, till affirmance breeds a doubt. A Persian, humble servant of the sun, Who though devout, yet bigotry had none, Hearing a lawyer, grave in his address, With adjurations ev'ry word impress, Suppos'd the man a bishop, or at least, God's name so much upon his lips, a priest; N Bow'd at the close with all his graceful airs,

And begg'd an int'rest in his frequent prayr's.

Go, quit the rank to which ye stood preferr'd,
Henceforth associate in one common herd;
Religion, virtue, reason, common sense,
Pronounce your human form a false pretence;
A mere disguise, in which a devil lurks,
Who yet betrays his secret by his works.