BENEVOLENCE. An ODE.

Inscribed to my Friends.

By James Woodhouse, a Journeyman Shoemaker.

L

ET others boaft Palladian skill
The sculptur'd dome to raise;
To scoop the vale, to fwell the hill,
Or lead the fmooth, meand'ring rill,
In ever-varying maze;
To ftrike the lyre

With Homer's fire,

Or Sappho's tender art;

Or Handel's notes with sweeter ftrains inspire:
O'er Phidias' chiffel to prefide,

Or Titian's glowing pencil guide

Through every living part.

Ah! what avails it thus to fhine,
By every art refin'd;
Except BENEVOLENCE Combine
To humanize the mind;
The Parian floor,

Or vivid cieling, fresco'd o'er,

With glaring charms the gazing eye may fire;
Yet may their lords, like ftatues cold,

Devoid of fympathy, behold

Fair worth with penury depress'd,
Or indigence, expire;

Nor ever know the nobleft ufe of gold.
'Tis your's, with fympathetic breast,

To ftop the rifing figh,

And wipe the tearful eye,

Nor let repining merit fue unbleft;

This is a more applausive taste

Than fpending wealth

In gorgeous wafte,

Or with dire luxury destroying health;

It sweetens life with ev'ry virtuous joy,

And wings the confcious hours with gladness as they fly.

SE

PROLOGUE to the AUTHOR.

EVERE their task, who in this critic age,
With fresh materials furnish out the stage!
Not that our fathers drain'd the comic ftore;
Fresh characters fpring up as heretofore-
Nature with novelty does ftill abound;
On every fide fresh follies may be found.
But then the taste of every guest to hit,
To please at once the gall'ry, box, and pit,
Requires, at leaft-no common share of wit.
Those who adorn the higher orb of life,
Demand the lively rake, or modish wife ;
Whilft they, who in a lower circle move,
Yawn at their wit, and flumber at their love.
If light, how mirth employs the comic scene,
Such mirth as drives from vulgar minds the spleen;
The polifh'd critic damns the wretched stuff,

And cries," "Twill please the gall'ries well enough."
Such jarring judgments who can reconcile,
Since fops will frown, where humble traders fmile?
To dash the poet's ineffectual claim,

And quench his thirst for univerfal fame,
The Grecian fabulift, in moral lay,

Has thus addrefs'd the writers of this day.

Once on a time, a fon and fire, we're told,

The ftripling tender, and the father old,
Purchas'd a jack-afs at a country fair,

To ease their limbs, and hawk about their ware:

But as the fluggish animal was weak,

They fear'd, if both should mount, his back would break ;

Up gets the boy; the father leads the afs,

And through the gazing crowd attempt to pafs.

Forth from the throng the grey-beards hobble out,

And hail the cavalcade with feeble shout:

"This the refpect to reverend age you shew?
And this the duty you to parents owe?
He beats the hoof; and you are fet aftride;
Sirrah! get down, and let your father ride."
As Grecian lads were feldom void of
grace,
The decent, duteous youth refign'd his place:
Then a fresh murmur through the rabble ran;
Boys, girls, wives, widows, all attack the man.
"Sure never was brute beaft so void of nature !
Have you no pity for the pretty creature?

To

To your own baby can you be unkind?
Here-Suke, Bill, Betty-put the child behind."
Old Dapple next the clowns compaffion claim'd;
"'Tis wonderment, them boobies ben't afham'd.
Two at a time upon a poor dumb beast !
They might as well have carry'd he at least."
The pair, ftill pliant to the partial voice,
Difmount and bear the afs-Then what a noife!-
Huzzas loud laughs, low gibe, and bitter joke,
From the yet filent fire thefe words provoke ;
"Proceed, my boy, nor heed their farther call,
Vain his attempt, who strives to please them all.”

A Madame De La Condamine, le Lendemain de ses Noces.

'Aurore et de Titon vous connoiffez l'Hiftoire ?
Nôtre Hymen en rappelle aujourd'hui la Memoire ;

R 3

Mais

Mais de mon fort Titon feroit jaloux,

Que fes Liens font differens dès nôtres !
L'Aurore entre fes bras vit vieiller fon Epoux,
Et je rajeunis dans les vôtres.

M. DE LA CONDAMINE,

IMITATED.

M. De La Condamine to his Lady, the Morning after their Wedding.

HUS match'd of old, Tithonus and Aurora;

Tland Tithonus both old fellows;

His wife like mine, more beautiful than Flora,
Yet I should make Tithonus jealous.

Though ftrong his love, though great her charms,

Their union was lefs bleft than ours:

Aurora's spouse grew older in her arms,

You make me young again in yours.

Sir WILLIAM YOUNG to his Lady, on having one of his eyes beat oui,

OW vain are all the joys of man,

HOW

By nature born to certain forrow;
Since none, not even the wifeft, can
Infure the pleasures of to-morrow!

Thefe eyes, fo late my envied boast,
By Celia priz'd above all other,
See one, alas! for ever loft,

Its fellow weeping for its brother.

Yet ftill I'm bleft while one remains,
For viewing lovely Celia's beauty,

Her looks ftill ease acutest pains,

With tendereft love, and cheerful duty.

Had I for her in battle ftrove,

The fatal blow I'd borne with pleasure ;
And ftill, to prove my constant love,
With joy I'd lose my single treasure.

Even

Even then the beauties of her mind
Would amply bless her faithful lover;
He must be deaf as well as blind,

Who can't my Celia's charms discover.

Even then I'd find one folid blifs,

Which heaven to me alone difpenfes ; Tho' deaf and blind, her balmy kifs Would ravish the remaining senses.

Epitaph de REGNIER. Fait par lui même.

AI vefcu fans nul penfement,
Me laiffant aller doucement

A la bonne loy naturelle;
Et je m'eftonne fort pourquoy
La mort ofa fonger à moy,
Qui ne fongeay jamais en elle.

REGNIER's Epitaph made by himself.

G

And spent my little life without a thought; And am amaz'd that death, that tyrant grim, Should think of me, who never thought of him.

A

Lines stuck on the Temple Gate.

S by the Templars holds you go,
The horse and lamb, difplay'd

In emblematic figures, fhew

The merits of their trade.

That clients may infer from thence
How juft is their profeffion,
The lamb fets forth their innocence,
The horse their expedition.

O happy Britons! happy isle!
Let foreign nations fay,

Where you get juftice without guile,

And law without delay.

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