Page:The Poetical Works of Elijah Fenton (1779).djvu/71

Should the rough homicide unsheath his pen,
And in heroics only murder men; 205
Should the soft fop forsake the lady's charms,
To face the foe with inoffensive arms,
Each would variety of acts afford,
Fit for some new Cervantes to record.
"Whither," you cry, "tends all this dry discourse?
"To prove, like Hudibras, a man's no horse? 211
"I look'd for sparkling lines, and something gay,
"To frisk my fancy with; but, sooth to say!
"From her Apollo now the Muse elopes,
"And trades in syllogisms more than tropes." 215
Faith, Sir, I see you nod, but can't forbear;
When a friend reads, in honour you must hear:
For all enthusiasts, when the fit is strong,
Indulge a volubility of tongue:
Their fury triumphs o'er the men of phlegm, 220
And, council-proof, will never baulk a theme;
So Burgess on his tripod rav'd the more
When round him half the saints began to snore.
To lead us safe th'ro' error's thorny maze
Reason exerts her pure ethereal rays; 225
But that bright daughter of eternal day
Holds in our mortal frame a dubious sway.
Tho' no lethargic fumes the brain invest,
And opiate all her active pow'rs to rest;
Tho' on that magazine no fevers seize, 230
To calcine all her beauteous images;