The Works of the Right Honourable Sir Chas. Hanbury Williams ... From the Originals in the Possession of His Grandson The Right Hon. The Earl of Essex and Others: With Notes by Horace Walpole ... In Three Volumes, with Portraits |
I. |
TO THE
EARL OF BATH;
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II. |
III. |
The Works of the Right Honourable Sir Chas. Hanbury Williams | ||
176
TO THE EARL OF BATH;
IMITATED FROM CATULLUS.
SAY, Earl of Bath, can you your friends deceive,
And them, tho' true, without reluctance leave?
Tell me, perfidious man, thou Lordling say,
Can you your friends forsake, and then betray?
Have not the pangs of guilt your bosom seized?
Think not with impious acts the Gods are pleased.
But these are thoughts which never plagued thy breast,
Who basely left us, and when much distrest.
What can we do against a race unjust,
Where find a man who's faithful to his trust?
Our friendship you by false pretensions gain'd,
As if no danger in your breast remained;
But now a traitor to the social tie,
Your actions give your former vows the lie;
Nor words nor deeds retracted longer bind,
Your words retracted, and your deeds are wind;
You may forget and live a wretch abhorr'd,
But know the Gods remember and record;
Faith well remembers, reverend Deity,
And will exact due penitence from thee.
And them, tho' true, without reluctance leave?
Tell me, perfidious man, thou Lordling say,
Can you your friends forsake, and then betray?
Have not the pangs of guilt your bosom seized?
Think not with impious acts the Gods are pleased.
But these are thoughts which never plagued thy breast,
Who basely left us, and when much distrest.
What can we do against a race unjust,
Where find a man who's faithful to his trust?
Our friendship you by false pretensions gain'd,
As if no danger in your breast remained;
177
Your actions give your former vows the lie;
Nor words nor deeds retracted longer bind,
Your words retracted, and your deeds are wind;
You may forget and live a wretch abhorr'd,
But know the Gods remember and record;
Faith well remembers, reverend Deity,
And will exact due penitence from thee.
(Written on the Earl of Bath's door in Piccadilly.)
Here dead to fame, lives patriot Will,His grave a lordly seat;
His title proves his Epitaph,
His robes his winding-sheet.
The Works of the Right Honourable Sir Chas. Hanbury Williams | ||