Page:The Poetical Works of Elijah Fenton (1779).djvu/74

Nor fail her fulsome arts to sooth our pride,
Tho' praise to venom turns if wrong apply'd.
Me thus she whispers while I write to you: 290
"Draw forth a banner'd host in fair review;
"Then ev'ry Muse invoke thy voice to raise,
"Arms and the man to sing in lofty lays,
"Whose active bloom heroic deeds employ,
"Such as the son of Thetis^[1] sung at Troy, 295
"When his high-sounding lyre his valour rais'd
“To emulate the demi-gods he prais’d.
"Like him the Briton, warm at honour's call,
"At fam'd Blaragnia quell'd the bleeding Gaul;
"By France the genius of the fight confest, 300
"For which our patron saint adorns his breast."—
Is this my friend who sits in full content,
Jovial, and joking with his men of Kent,
And never any scene of slaughter saw,
But those who fell by physic or the law? 305
Why is he for exploits in war renown'd,
Deck'd with a star, with bloody laurels crown'd?
O often prov'd, and ever sound sincere!
Too honest is thy heart, thy sense too clear,
On these encomiums to vouchsafe a smile, 310
Which only can belong to great Argyle.
$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$But most among the brethren of the bays
The dear enchantress all her charms displays,
In the sly commerce of alternate praise.

1. Iliad ix.