O N F U L VIA, THE WIFE OF ANTHONY. FROM THE LATIN OF AUGUSTUS CÆSAR. WHILE from his confort false Antonius flies, And doats on Glaphyra's far brighter eyes, Repair in crowds to me, when fcorn'd at home! HUDIBRAS IMITATED. WRITTEN IN 1710. Bleffed time of reformation, That's now beginning through the nation! The Jacks bawl loud for church triumphant, And fwear all whigs fhall kifs the rump on't. See See how they draw the beastly rabble They ftretch their throats with hideous fhout. Church-privilege"-for "mending kettle." The mouse-trap men lay fave-alls by, And fome, for "brooms, old boots, and fhoes," And And fome for "old fuits, cloaks, or coats," Blue- apron whores, that fit with furmety, Rail at Inftead of "cucumbers to pickle," To build the church," would ftarve their spouses, Bawds, ftrumpets, and religion-haters, Pimps, pandars, atheifts, fornicators, Rogues, that, like Falstaff, fcarce know whether Yet join the parfons and the people, To cry "the church," but mean "the steeple." If, holy mother, fuch you'll own For your true fons, and fuch alone, Then Heaven have mercy upon you, But the de'il take your beastly crew! AN Qui mare & terras variifque mundum "Unde nil majus generatur ipfo, "Nec viget quicquam fimile aut fecundum." HORAT. TO THE FOLLOWING O D E. THAT the praises of the Author of Nature, which is the fitteft fubject for the fublime way of writing, was the most ancient use of Poetry, cannot be learn'd from a more proper inftance (next to examples of holy writ) than from the Greek fragments of Orpheus; a relique of great antiquity: they contain feveral verfes concerning God, and his making and governing the univerfe; which, though imperfect, have many noble hints and lofty expreffions. Yet whether these verfes were indeed written by that celebrated Father of Poetry and Mufick, who preceded Homer, or by Onomacritus who lived about the time of Pififtratus, and only contain fome of the doctrines of Orpheus, is a queftion of little ufe or importance. A large paraphrase of these in French verfe has been prefixed to the translation of Phocylides, but in a flat ftile, much inferior to the defign. The following Ode, with many alterations and additions proper to a modern poem, is attempted upon the fame model, in a language which, having ftronger finews than the French, is, by the confeffion of their best critick Rapin, more capable of fuftaining great subjects. |