I know your day-dreams, and I know the snare Hid in your flow'ry path, and cry "Beware." Thoughtless of ill, and to the future blind, A sudden couplet rushes on your mind; Here you may nameless print your idle rhymes, And read your first-born work a thousand times; 450 Th' infection spreads, your couplet grows apace-- Stanzas to Delia's dog or Celia's face; You take a name: Philander's odes are seen, Printed, and praised, in every magazine; Diarian sages greet their brother sage, And your dark pages please th' enlighten'd age.-- Alas! what years you thus consume in vain, Ruled by this wretched bias of the brain! Go! to your desks and counters all return; Your sonnets scatter, your acrostics burn; 460 Trade, and be rich; or, should your careful sires Bequeath you wealth, indulge the nobler fires; Should love of fame your youthful heart betray, } Pursue fair fame, but in a glorious way, } Nor in the idle scenes of Fancy's painting stray. } Of all the good that mortal men pursue, The Muse has least to give, and gives to few; Like some coquettish fair, she leads us on, With smiles and hopes, till youth and peace are gone; Then, wed for life, the restless wrangling pair 470 Forget how constant one, and one how fair: Meanwhile, Ambition, like a blooming bride, Brings power and wealth to grace her lover's side; And, though she smiles not with such flattering charms, The brave will sooner win her to their arms. Then wed to her, if Virtue tie the bands, Go spread your country's fame in hostile lands; Her court, her senate, or her arms adorn, And let her foes lament that you were born: Or weigh her laws, their ancient rights defend, 480 Though hosts oppose, be theirs and Reason's friend; Arm'd with strong powers, in their defence engage, And rise the Thurlow of the future age! NOTES TO THE NEWSPAPER. [18] Note 1, page 144, line 97. _When thousand starving minds such manna seek._ The Manna of the Day. _Green's Spleen._ [19] Note 2, page 145, line 111. _So the Sibylline leaves were blown about._ . . . . . . . in foliis descripsit carmina Virgo;-- . . . . . . . et [teneras] turbavit janua frondes. _Virg. Æneid._ lib. iii. [vv. 445, 447.] [20] Note 3, page 147, lines 220-2. _As many words as make an even line; As many lines as fill a row complete; As many rows as furnish up a sheet._ How many hours bring about the day; How many days will furnish up the year; How many years a mortal man may live. &c. _Shakspeare's Henry VI._ [Part III. Act II. Sc. 5.] THE PARISH REGISTER. _IN THREE PARTS._ INTRODUCTION.