 | A Collection of Poems on Various Subjects |  |
When the Diseases of the Mind grow rife,
And the Prophane, and dissolute of Life,
Diffuse contagious Vice in fatal Sport,
O'erspread the People, and infect the Court,
In their great Strength the Criminals confide,
And mock Tribunals with unpunish'd Pride.
Inferior Rulers they with Numbers awe,
Rulers, who oft, obnoxious to the Law,
With an ill Grace th' Offender must arraign
For Faults, which equal their own Manners stain.
Will they inflam'd with Wine Excess condemn?
Censure vain Oaths, while they themselves blaspheme?
Will they th' Adulterer punish, when at once
They must his Sentence, and their own pronounce?
Hence Vice triumphant reers her hateful Head,
And do's her Poison unobstructed spread;
While modest Virtue seeks some lonely Place,
And friendless walks with melancholy Pace,
Veils her sad Looks, and ignominious Face.
And the Prophane, and dissolute of Life,
Diffuse contagious Vice in fatal Sport,
O'erspread the People, and infect the Court,
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And mock Tribunals with unpunish'd Pride.
Inferior Rulers they with Numbers awe,
Rulers, who oft, obnoxious to the Law,
With an ill Grace th' Offender must arraign
For Faults, which equal their own Manners stain.
Will they inflam'd with Wine Excess condemn?
Censure vain Oaths, while they themselves blaspheme?
Will they th' Adulterer punish, when at once
They must his Sentence, and their own pronounce?
Hence Vice triumphant reers her hateful Head,
And do's her Poison unobstructed spread;
While modest Virtue seeks some lonely Place,
And friendless walks with melancholy Pace,
Veils her sad Looks, and ignominious Face.
| A Collection of Poems on Various Subjects | |