[3] "Things unattempted yet in prose or rhime." MILTON. [4] CANTO I. _The_ HUMOURS _of an_ ELECTION ENTERTAINMENT. Oh, born our wonder to engage! HOGARTH, thou mirror of the age! Permit a Bard, though screen'd his name, To court the sanction of your fame; Pursue your genius, taste, and art, And knowledge of the human heart: Just as your pencil, could my pen But trace the various ways of men; Express the tokens of the mind, The humours, follies, of mankind; Then might Thyself this verse regard, Nor deem beneath the task the bard: Yet, though unfit, perhaps unknown, I supplicate thy aid alone: Let others all the Nine inspire, Do Thou, O _Hogarth_, tune my lyre! Let o'er my thoughts thy spirit shine, And thy vast fancy waken mine: I feel the genuine influence now! It glows!--my great _Apollo_ Thou! The Writs are issued:--to the Town The future Members hasten down; The merry bells their welcome sound, And mirth and jollity abound, The gay retinue now comes in, The crouds, with emulative din, Proclaim th' arrival, rend the sky, And _Court_ and _Country's_ all the cry. Each joyous house, of free access, For patriot plebeians, more or less, Is now reveal'd, in printed bills; So quacks contrive to vend their pills. So _Bayes_ makes Earth, and Sun, and Moon, Discourse melodiously in tune; And, full of wit and complaisance, Cry, "First of all we'll have a dance!" So at Elections 'tis discreet Still first of all to have a treat; The pulse of every man to try, And learn what votes they needs must _buy_; No freeman well can tell his side, Unless his belly's satisfied.