With trifles to contest and vary; And make the Ration represent, 905 And serve for us, in Parliament Cut out more work than can be done. In <f> PLATO'S year, but finish none; Unless it be the Bulls of LENTHAL, That always pass'd for fundamental; 910 Can set up grandee against grandee, To squander time away, and bandy; Make Lords and Commoners lay sieges To one another's privileges, And, rather than compound the quarrel, 915 Engage to th' inevitable peril Of both their ruins; th' only scope And consolation of our hope; Who though we do not play the game, Assist as much by giving aim: 920 Can introduce our ancient arts, For heads of factions t' act their parts; Know what a leading voice is worth, A seconding, a third, or fourth How much a casting voice comes to, 925 That turns up trump, of ay, or no; And, by adjusting all at th' end, Share ev'ry one his dividend An art that so much study cost, And now's in danger to be lost, 930 Unless our ancient virtuosos, That found it out, get into th' Houses. These are the courses that we took To carry things by hook or crook; And practis'd down from forty-four, 935 Until they turn'd us out of door Besides the herds of Boutefeus We set on work without the House; When ev'ry knight and citizen Kept legislative journeymen, 940 To bring them in intelligence From all points of the rabble's sense, And fill the lobbies of both Houses With politick important buzzes: Set committees of cabals, 945 To pack designs without the walls; Examine, and draw up all news, And fit it to our present use. Agree upon the plot o' th' farce, And ev'ry one his part rehearse, 950 Make Q's of answers, to way-lay What th' other pasties like to say What repartees, and smart reflections, Shall be return'd to all objections; And who shall break the master-jest, 955 And what, and how, upon the rest Held pamphlets out, with safe editions, Of proper slanders and seditions; And treason for a token send, By Letter to a Country Friend; 960 Disperse lampoons, the only wit That men, like burglary, commit; Wit falser than a padder's face, That all its owner does betrays; Who therefore dares not trust it when 965 He's in his calling to be seen; Disperse the dung on barren earth, To bring new weeds of discord forth; Be sure to keep up congregations, In spight of laws and proclamations: 970 For Charlatans can do no good Until they're mounted in a crowd; And when they're punish'd, all the hurt Is but to fare the better for't; As long as confessors are sure 975 Of double pay for all th' endure; And what they earn in persecution,