Durgen Or, A Plain Satyr upon a Pompous Satyrist. Amicably Inscrib'd, by the Author, to those Worthy and Ingenious Gentlemen misrepresented in a late invective Poem, call'd, The Dunciad [by Edward Ward] |
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Since unexpected Changes thus attend
The Sons of Fortune, that on Fame depend,
And e'ery Wit, solicitous of Praise,
Be sav'd or damn'd by what the Publick says,
The Poet, above all, should have a care,
How he calumniates, or provokes too far;
For one unguarded Satyr may encrease
A formidable croud of Enemies;
Such as, perhaps, may find a thousand ways,
To low'r his Pride and strip him of his Bays;
For Friends, in our behalf, are seldom warm,
But Foes are boiling hot to do us harm;
The first but calmly move in our defense,
The last, with fury their ill turns dispense,
Ascribe to others what our selves have wrote,
Or make us father what we ne'er begot.
So Prior, in the Mouse, took all the pains,
But M**ntag**e made hold with Prior's Brains,
Rais'd himself high, by what the other pen'd,
Not only Honour, but Preferment gain'd,
And to the care of Fortune left his starving Friend.
The Sons of Fortune, that on Fame depend,
And e'ery Wit, solicitous of Praise,
Be sav'd or damn'd by what the Publick says,
The Poet, above all, should have a care,
How he calumniates, or provokes too far;
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A formidable croud of Enemies;
Such as, perhaps, may find a thousand ways,
To low'r his Pride and strip him of his Bays;
For Friends, in our behalf, are seldom warm,
But Foes are boiling hot to do us harm;
The first but calmly move in our defense,
The last, with fury their ill turns dispense,
Ascribe to others what our selves have wrote,
Or make us father what we ne'er begot.
So Prior, in the Mouse, took all the pains,
But M**ntag**e made hold with Prior's Brains,
Rais'd himself high, by what the other pen'd,
Not only Honour, but Preferment gain'd,
And to the care of Fortune left his starving Friend.
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