 | Poems on several occasions |  |
V.—NOSCE TEIPSUM: TO THE KNIGHT.
I
Discourteous and adventurous knight,'Tis your old custom, wrong or right,
To call each foe “a Jacobite.”
II
That ugly, saucy word keep in;For 'tis mere vice correcting sin,
Cethegus blamed by Catiline.
III
From the same charge yourself defend:And, if that silly way you mend,
You've cause to thank me as a friend.
IV
The Preston tale need not be told,—How rebels' lives you fairly sold,
Who had their purchase for their gold:
622
V
Nor yet how, wonderfully good,For father Francis once you stood,
When Sandys was panting for his blood:
VI
Nor yet what hints from Mar you took:Nor how most manfully you spoke
“For the good lord of Bolingbroke.”
VII
Nor yet your worth shall we accuseOf vile and treasonable views,
For spending nights with Mrs. Hughes.
VIII
But still some faults will foes espy;And fools ask questions by-the-by,
To which your wisdom won't reply.
IX
They ask, (and well it might amazeThose who can wonder at your ways,)
What schemes you laid with madam Hayes:
X
Since plots with ease you make appear,Though deep as hell, why don't you clear,
Who sent to Rome your cousin Layer?
623
XI
Did ever those whom you miscallBestow preferment, great or small,
On Benedictine-general?
XII
Did wicked Tories suffer hereJesuits those children to be near
Whom once their parents durst not rear?
XIII
Did ever Romish priest maintainThe English orders in their reign,
And lose a pension for his pain?
XIV
Did e'er their persecuting furySo drop an honest man, to curry
Favour with cardinal De Fleury?
XV
What makes old Jacobites surpriseThe world by praising to the skies
Your steps, as honest and as wise?
XVI
Whence your respect to Waldegrave shown?What makes him represent the throne?—
His kindred's virtues, or his own?
624
XVII
To George why does your conduct raiseMore foes in half a twelvemonth's space,
Than Will or Harry all their days?
| Poems on several occasions | |