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 |
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| II. |
AN ODE:
INSCRIBED TO THE
RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE
VISCOUNT LONSDALE;
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| III. |
 | The Works of the Right Honourable Sir Chas. Hanbury Williams |  |
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AN ODE: INSCRIBED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE VISCOUNT LONSDALE;
May 1743.
I
TH' impartial and by-standing Muse,A narrow party scorns to chuse,
Nor links herself with faction;
Inspir'd by Truth, she tells her thoughts,
She sees men's virtues and their faults,
And judges still by action.
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II
The wav'ring Patriot's foul disgrace,Who chang'd his principles for place,
As willing she discloses,
As the court wretch, who now depriv'd
Of Post (and smiles by which he liv'd),
From that one cause opposes.
III
Be but uninfluenc'd, she will raise,Eternal trophies to your praise,
From death she will preserve ye;
But if you're guilty, dread her pen,
Oh, dread to live the scorn of men,
Like Doddington and Hervey.
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IV
They by her fav'rite prostrate lie;Now guilt prevails and vice runs high,
Why sleep'st thou, Pope, awake;
As Rome of Brutus did before,
Redress of thee, we now implore,
Write for thy country's sake.
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V
All principles by passion sway'd,Gold and ambition are obey'd,
Or disappointment guides;
These motives ev'ry change discover,
Hence, Bath and Cart'ret are come over;
Hence, Hervey has chang'd sides.
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VI
That Hervey, who by favour grac'd,Of late in high employment plac'd,
Despis'd each earthly thing,
But pow'r and courts; who ne'er was blest,
But when by smiling Queens carest,
Or whisper'd by a king;
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VII
In halting verse, in jingling prose,Their praises he rehears'd, and rose
By flattery's fruitful showers;
Each speech he made, each word he said,
Wove chaplets for the royal head,
And deck'd it out with flowers.
VIII
By Walpole in the palace set,He felt the warmth, enjoy'd the heat,
And in the sunshine grew;
Till clouds that all our sky o'erspread,
Burst down on Walpole's fated head,
And crush'd this sapling too.
IX
At once bereft of all he lov'd,Of place depriv'd, from court remov'd;
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Forgetting all he'as done or said,
All pamphlets wrote all speeches made,
He joins the Opposition.
X
Hervey, in vain you strive t' inflame,In vain 'gainst ministers declaim,
With well-feign'd warmth and zeal;
Since ev'n the dullest peer must see,
The court had easily kept thee,
Could'st thou have kept the seal.
XI
How different from this wretch is heWhose only view is to be free,
Careless of all beside;
Nor in his most unguarded hour,
Courts popularity or power,
Thro' vanity or pride.
XII
Such is the man, so just, so brave,Neither the king's nor people's slave,
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Do thou, O Pope, this praise rehearse,
To him I dedicate this verse,
For, Lonsdaie, 'tis thy due.
| The Works of the Right Honourable Sir Chas. Hanbury Williams | |