Who pass, repafs, advance, and glide away ;
Hofts rais'd by fear, and phantoms of a day:
Aftrologers, that future fates foreshew,
Projectors, quacks, and lawyers not a few ;
And priests, and party-zealots, num'rous bands
With home-born lyes, or tales from foreign lands;
Each talk'd aloud, or in some secret place,
And wild impatience ftar'd in ev'ry face.
The flying rumours gather'd as they roll'd,
Scarce any tale was fooner heard than told;
And all who told it added fomething new,
And all who heard it, made enlargements too,
In ev'ry ear it spread, on ev'ry tongue it grew.
Thus Aying eaft and west, and north and south,
News travel'd with increase from mouth to mouth.
So from a fpark, that kindled first by chance, 475
With gath'ring force the quick'ning flames advance;
Till to the clouds their curling heads afpire,
And tow'rs and temples fink in floods of fire.
When thus ripe lyes are to perfection sprung,
Full grown, and fit to grace a mortal tongue,
Thro' thousand vents, impatient, forth they flow,
And rufh in millions on the world below.
Fame fits aloft, and points them out their course,
Their date determines, and prefcribes their force:
Some to remain, and fome to perish soon ;
Or wane and wax alternate like the moon.
Around, a thousand winged wonders fly,
Born by the trumpet's blaft, and scatter'd thro' the fky.
There, at one paffage, oft you might furvey
A lye and truth contending for the way ;
And long 'twas doubtful, both so closely pent,
Which firft fhould iffue thro' the narrow vent:
At laft agreed, together out they fly,
Infeparable now, the truth and lye;
The ftrict companions are for ever join'd,
And this or that unmix'd, no mortal e'er shall find.
While thus I ftood, intent to fee and hear,
One came, methought, and whisper'd in my ear:
What could thus high thy rash ambition raise ?
Art thou, fond youth, a candidate for praise ?
'Tis true, faid I, not void of hopes I came,
For who fo fond as youthful bards of Fame?
VER. 497. While thus I ftood, etc.] The hint is taken from a paffage in another part of the third book, but here more naturally made the conclufion, with the addition of a Meral to the whole. In Chaucer he only answers" he came to fee the place;" and the book ends abruptly, with his being furprized at the fight of a Man of great Authority, and awaking in a fright. P.
VER. 489. There, at one paffage, etc.]
And sometime I saw there at once,
A lefing and a fad footh faw
That gonnen at adventure draw
Out of a window forth to pace —
And no man, be he ever fo wrothe,
Shall have one of these two, but bothe, etc. P.
But few, alas! the cafual bleffing boast,
So hard to gain, so easy to be loft.
How vain that second life in others breath,
Th'eftate which wits inherit after death!
Ease, health, and life, for this they must refign,
(Unfure the tenure, but how vast the fine !)
The great man's curse, without the gains, endure,
Be envy'd, wretched, and be flatter'd, poor;
All lucklefs wits their enemies profest,
And all fuccessful, jealous friends at best.
Nor Fame I flight, nor for her favours call;
She comes unlook'd for, if she comes at all.
But if the purchase costs fo dear a price,
As foothing Folly, or exalting Vice:
Oh! if the Muse must flatter lawless sway,
And follow ftill where fortune leads the
Or if no bafis bear my rifing name,
But the fall'n ruins of another's fame;
Then teach me, heav'n! to scorn the guilty bays,
Drive from my breast that wretched luft of praise,
Unblemish'd let me live, or die unknown;
Oh grant an honest fame, or grant me none !
CHAUCER.
THERE liv'd in Lombardy, as authors write,
In days of old, a wife and worthy knight;
Of gentle manners, as of gen'rous race,
Bleft with much fenfe, more riches, and fome grace.
Yet led aftray by Venus' foft delights,
He fcarce could rule fome idle appetites:
For long ago, let Priests say what they cou'd,
Weak finful laymen were but flesh and blood.
But in due time, when fixty years were o'er,
He vow'd to lead this vitious life no more;
Whether pure holiness infpir'd his mind,
Or dotage turn'd his brain, is hard to find;
But his high courage prick'd him forth to wed,
And try the pleasures of a lawful bed.
JANUARY AND MAY.] This Tranflation was done at fixteen or feventeen years of Age. P.
Old as he was, and void of Eye-sight too, What coud alas! a helpless Husband do.
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