l, sacred power! my glory and my guide!
Fair source of mental peace, whate'er betide! 230
Safe in thy shelter, let disaster roll
Eternal hurricanes around my soul:
My soul serene amidst the storms shall reign,
And smile to see their fury burst in vain!

FRIEND.

Too coy to flatter, and too proud to serve,
Thine be the joyless dignity to starve.

POET.

No;--thanks to discord, war shall be my friend;
And mortal rage heroic courage lend
To pierce the gleaming squadron of the foe,
And win renown by some distinguish'd blow. 240

FRIEND.

Renown! ay, do--unkennel the whole pack
Of military cowards on thy back.
What difference, say, 'twixt him who bravely stood,
And him who sought the bosom of the wood?[12]
Envenom'd calumny the first shall brand;
The last enjoy a ribbon and command.

POET.

If such be life, its wretches I deplore,
And long to quit the inhospitable shore.

[Footnote 1: 'Cope': a general famous for an expeditious retreat,
though not quite so deliberate as that of the ten thousand Greeks from
Persia; having unfortunately forgot to bring his army along with him.]

[Footnote 2: 'Newcastle:' alluding to the philosophical contempt which
this great personage manifested for the sensual delights of
the stomach.]

[Footnote 3: 'Grafton': this noble peer, remarkable for sublimity of
parts, by virtue of his office (Lord Chamberlain) conferred the
laureate on Colley Cibber, Esq., a delectable bard, whose character
has already employed, together with his own, the greatest pens of
the age.]

[Footnote 4: 'Granville and Bath': two noblemen famous in their day
for nothing more than their fortitude in bearing the scorn and
reproach of their country.]

[Footnote 5: 'Prolific hum': this alludes to a phenomenon, not more
strange than true,--the person here meant having actually laid upwards
of forty eggs, as several physicians and fellows of the Royal Society
can attest: one of whom, we hear, has undertaken the incubation, and
will no doubt favour the world with an account of his success.]

[Footnote 6: 'Drum': this is a riotous assembly of fashionable people,
of both sexes, at a private house, consisting of some hundreds: not
unaptly styled a drum, from the noise and emptiness of the
entertainment. There are also drum-major, rout, tempest, and
hurricane, differing only in degrees of multitude and uproar, as the
significant name