A PERSIAN TAL E.

MDCCLXXI.

AN humble Dervise liv'd of yore;

No treasures he poffefs'd;

Yet was his mind, with wisdom's store,
And heaven's protection bleft.
Full fourscore well-spent, holy years,
A pilgrim's life he led:

Serenely gay the faint appears;

For angels gave him bread.

His copious locks, like feather'd snow,
The peace of God befpeak;

His eyes with warmth celestial glow;
With rofy health, his cheek.
At MECCA, he had often been,:

And every holy place;

The blefs'd ELIAS oft had seen

Corporeal face to face.

It happen'd once, at BAIRAM's feast,

To fair SPAHOUN he came :

A RAJA claim'd him for his gueft,

In honour of his fame.

The

The pious pilgrim blefs'd the board,

With coftly viands crown'd,
Regardless of the fplendid hoard,
That glitter'd all around.

A pot of sweetmeats near him stood;
On this he caft an eye;

Seem'd quite forgetful of his food,
And drown'd in revery.

But gushing tears, at length, betray'd
The anguish of his breast;

And heavy fighs their paffage made,

That show'd a heart oppress'd. 'O! fons of pomp and vanity!' The prudent fage began,

• In this small veffel you may fee 'The hiftory of man.

This pot an emblem true conveys

Of earth and all its joys;

And fhows the thousand various ways,

'How man himself deftroys——

'Behold the bufy, anxious flies,

'That hover round these sweets,

'See! how, like us, each infect vies, ''Till each his ruin meets.

Some on the borders gently tread,

And fip with cautious touch,

While others eagerly are led

To plunge, and take too much.

• The

The firft, from danger foon are freed,

By no ftrong tie detain'd;

'The fecond, juftly are decreed

The death their rafhness gain'd.

6 Hence, mortals! wifely learn to fhun
False pleasure's fatal cup:
'Drink lightly; or you'll be undone,
• Inthral'd and swallow'd up.

← You, like the one, who gently taste,
When AZIEL calls aloud,

'To blefs'd abodes, with joy shall hafte, 'And quit the giddy crowd:

But if by paffions blindly led,

'That no true medium know,

With quick deftruction on your head,

You'll fink to endless woe.'

OR, AN EASY WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS:

CONVENIENTLY ADOPTED BY CERTAIN PLAUSIBLE DECLAIMERS,
ACCORDING TO A FAVOURITE MORAL MAXIM EXHIBITED
IN PRIOR'S EPIGRAM.

I OWED to JOHN great obligation;

But JOHN, unhappily, thought fit

To publish it to all the nation;

Sure JOHN and I are more than quit.

THE ANSWER.

MAT with my purfe bought food and raiment;

But MAT, my claim to quash, Tenders a scrap of wit in payment ;

I wish it had been cafh.

ANOTHER, BY R. N. ESQ.

WITH gratitude no longer glow,

Since friendship's laws I fo forget;

Yet fure the equivalent you owe,

Renounce the friend-but pay the debt.

THE

THE

MERCHANT'S

TALE.

AN affair having occurred in the box-room of the theatre

royal, on Monday evening laft, in confequence of an unprovoked attack on my perfon; and a malicious mifrepresentation of that affair having appeared in fome public papers, I feel myfelf impelled, however reluctantly, to trespass on the public attention, by a fimple narrative of facts.—I am equally stimulated to this by what I conceive a proper refpect for the rank of a citizen, which, in a political point of view, I do not confider the object of infult from any profeffion, however distinguished by the King's commiffion, supported by the people for their PROTECTION, and not for their DESTRUCTION.

On Monday, the 21st of December, I went with two friends to the box-room of the theatre-royal, and paid for my admiffion ; we were shown by the box-keeper into a box, in which were three gentlemen, two of them in regimentals, and three ladies; one of the gentlemen told us, the box was engaged to him and his party, to which he was politely answered, that, the moment his company came, we would withdraw, with which he appeared fatisfied.—Soon after came a third officer, and one of the other gentlemen went out. After fitting fome time the laft mentioned officer went out; and after the play, my two friends also retired to another part of the theatre. The officer foon after returned, and fat himself down by me in a manner fo abrupt as to push me backward off the feat, which I conceived

I i