 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
255
The TRIPLE ALLIANCE.
As
Phœbus seated on high Pindus' Brow,
Beam'd forth his blessings on the world below;
While round his Throne the tuneful Sisters play,
And Wit and Music hail the God of Day,
Folly with grinning Face, and vacant Head,
And Vice, to Joy and Feeling ever dead,
With black Hypocrisy, their fav'rite Child,
(By some the Spleen, some Superstition stil'd)
Cringing approach'd the Throne, and thus they spoke:—
“Your Justice, mighty Phœbus, we invoke;
“Shall Satire, Wit, and Humor—menial Things!
“Who can't like Us, a lineage boast from Kings,
“Shall They from the curst Stage their Arrows send,
“And True Religion impiously offend?
“Say is it fitting We shou'd bend the knee
“And dread Thalia and Melpomene?
“The Stage destroy'd, we shou'd no more complain,
“But Mankind own our Universal Reign.”
Beam'd forth his blessings on the world below;
While round his Throne the tuneful Sisters play,
And Wit and Music hail the God of Day,
Folly with grinning Face, and vacant Head,
And Vice, to Joy and Feeling ever dead,
With black Hypocrisy, their fav'rite Child,
(By some the Spleen, some Superstition stil'd)
Cringing approach'd the Throne, and thus they spoke:—
“Your Justice, mighty Phœbus, we invoke;
“Shall Satire, Wit, and Humor—menial Things!
“Who can't like Us, a lineage boast from Kings,
“Shall They from the curst Stage their Arrows send,
“And True Religion impiously offend?
“Say is it fitting We shou'd bend the knee
“And dread Thalia and Melpomene?
“The Stage destroy'd, we shou'd no more complain,
“But Mankind own our Universal Reign.”
With brow contracted, and disdainful eye,
Melpomene advanc'd to make reply,
When with a sprightly archness in her look,
Thalia thus the kindred Pests bespoke;
“Sweet Madam Vice, from whom we pluck the veil,
“And shew the World what you wou'd fain conceal;
“And goodman Folly, whose chaotic rule,
“Mankind wou'd own, but for my Ridicule;
“And Thou, Hypocrisy, of Sense the shame,
“Who impiously usurp'st Religion's name,
“Tho' differing wide, as Guinea's sooty train
“From those fair Nymphs who grace Britannia's Plain;
“The Muses' Looking-glass shall show ye bare,
“Not as Ye wou'd appear, but as Ye are;
“Stript of disguise, your souls we will display,
“And hunt ye as the wildest beasts of prey;
“And tho', while Men have Passions, so says Fate,
“We can't a certain lasting Cure create,
“We'll still, with Virtue's aid, your pow'r assail,
“And make ye feel the force of Tickle-Tail.”
Melpomene advanc'd to make reply,
When with a sprightly archness in her look,
Thalia thus the kindred Pests bespoke;
“Sweet Madam Vice, from whom we pluck the veil,
“And shew the World what you wou'd fain conceal;
“And goodman Folly, whose chaotic rule,
“Mankind wou'd own, but for my Ridicule;
256
“Who impiously usurp'st Religion's name,
“Tho' differing wide, as Guinea's sooty train
“From those fair Nymphs who grace Britannia's Plain;
“The Muses' Looking-glass shall show ye bare,
“Not as Ye wou'd appear, but as Ye are;
“Stript of disguise, your souls we will display,
“And hunt ye as the wildest beasts of prey;
“And tho', while Men have Passions, so says Fate,
“We can't a certain lasting Cure create,
“We'll still, with Virtue's aid, your pow'r assail,
“And make ye feel the force of Tickle-Tail.”
So said, her Lash she rear'd, and at the sight,
The Fiends, trembling with rage and venom'd spite,
Vanish'd like Fiends, conceal'd in shades of Night.
The Fiends, trembling with rage and venom'd spite,
Vanish'd like Fiends, conceal'd in shades of Night.
Let bloated Envy gnaw the bloody File,
The Muses and their Priests at Envy smile;
Unwounded still the Instrument remains,
'Tis Envy's blood the crimson'd File distains.
The Muses and their Priests at Envy smile;
Unwounded still the Instrument remains,
'Tis Envy's blood the crimson'd File distains.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |