Page:The genuine remains in verse and prose of Mr. Samuel Butler (1759), volume 1.djvu/132

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SATYR.

Great famous Wit, whose rich and easy Vein,
Free, and unus'd to Drudgery and Pain,
Has all Apollo's Treasure at command,
And, how good Verse is coin'd, dost understand;
5 In all Wit's Combats Master of Defence,
Tell me, how dost thou pass on Rhime and Sense?
'Tis said th'apply to thee, and in thy Verse
Do freely range themselves as Volunteers;
And without Pain, or pumping for a Word,
10 Place themselves fitly of their own Accord.
I, whom a lewd Caprich (for some great Crime
I have committed) has condemn'd to rhime,
With slavish Obstinacy vex my Brain
To reconcile 'em, but, alass! in vain.
15 Sometimes I set my Wits upon the Rack,
And, when I would say white, the Verse says black,