Thro' all degrees, in every age and nation,

Smiles dwell on hope, and friends on expectation;

But fignal services themselves defeat,

And prove, tho' good, the agent indiscreet.

In triple ratio as the debt encreases,

Expectance grows and obligation ceases;

Affert your claims, 'tis plain to every dunce,
That damns your fame and cancels them at once:
And not unfrequently among the great,

The path of honour is the road to hate;

This he experienced, but was wife too late.

'Twas now the work of enmity began,

And for his merit all deteft the man;

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Some thought he might speak true, and others doubted; Some gave the lie direct, and numbers flouted;

Some conftrued it a perfonal affront,

And swore, if not prevented, they had don't;

The thing was plain; they knew it to a peg-
On this the man, prepar'd, produc'd an egg;
He had of envy and detraction heard,
And opportunely ftood upon his guard.
6 My lords! great latitude of felf-defence

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" Appears not in the log-book of my sense;
"How fhould an uncouth tar, bred up in ftorms,
* Frame his rude speech by your scholaftic forms?

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• Expos'd

'Expofed to fhoals, from which no craft's exempt, 'I foon fhould founder in the vain attempt;

6 Suppose then, ferious bufinefs we fufpend,

And fet the egg, a far-fetch'd game, on end.'
At his request each took it into hand,
But not a Don of them could make it ftand;
Oft and again alternately they toil'd,

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Tried every way, and every way were foil'd;
Then in a peevish, fupercilious tone

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Declare unanimous, 'twas not to be done :

He fmil'd, and taking it, the end he crack'd,

And so to their confufion prov'd the fact.

Shrewd was the bait, and credit thus maintain'd;

But fecret malice is not fo reftrain'd;

His deftiny to work his fall confpires,

And for his foes accomplish'd their defires.
A rival started in the great defign,

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Of fame ambitious, born a Florentine;

The way prepar'd, with happier omens fraught,

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He stemm'd the flood, and proud advantage caught.

The king in honour's feat the minion plac'd,
And fovereign beauty with her favour grac'd;
His recent decds obfcur'd the other's fame,
And one keen hit immortaliz'd his name.
But hard indeed the first adventurer's lot,
Rack'd with the wounds of man remembering not.

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Ye

Ye connoifeurs! who boaft mechanic skill,
Artists! or amateurs! or what you will!
Who furnish fuel juft to feed contention,
And, lacking genius, thrive by circumvention;
You! who, all talents but your own decrying,
Are fuch adepts, in theory, at flying!

No doubt, if fortune favour, a balloon

Conftructed properly might scale the moon ;

The journey certes would enhance your glory,
Maugre friend WILKINS who went there before ye:
Yet, in the name of juftice, let me beg,

Since you've been told the secret of the egg,
With modefty your high pretenfions veil,
And, ere you rafhly judge, apply the tale;

To merit ever give the credit due,

And honour truth, left truth dishonour you.

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EPIGRAM.

DICK! hold thy vain protesting tongue!

I'm not fo raw a gull

'Tis but the flourish of a drum,

Great cry and little wool.

THE

ADDRESSED TO THE MAYOR OF LIVERPOOL,

SUNDAY, JULY XXIXTH, MDCCLXXXVII.

IN early youth o'er MERSEY's tide

By wayward fortune trick'd, While fleep my weary eyelids clos'd, I got my pockets pick'd.

Twice fifteen years elaps'd, again
The skippers mock'd my care;
For tho' I kept a good look-out,
They robb'd me in the fare.

The ferry much improv'd I found,
The port, the docks, the ftreets;
But, O! curft thirft of lucre ! ftill
Difgrac'd with rogues and cheats.

Yet partial to this goodly town,

It flatters native pride,

That though I fuffer'd and was vex'd,

'Twas from the farther fide.

Nor

Tho' born in ftorms, to objects loath'd,*

And ftorms in life inur'd,

Even at his aspect I recoil'd,

And fearce his fight endur'd.

I tread the ground, where, blithe and free
In thoughtlefs years I ftray'd,

And trace the haunts, to memory dear,

Where oft my childhood play'd.

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