Sing then, O Muse, a more pathetic strain, To lure my gentle NYKY back again. For, sure as Thames resembles Tyber's tide, Shall Macaronis soon possess Cheapside; As petty-jury-men in judgment sit, And ev'ry Corydon, with NYK, acquit. Yes by this knife, this useful[14] knife, I swear, Which for my lov'd B----TTI's sake I wear; This knife, whose haft, at Stratford Jubilee, For ever left its parent mulberry tree; For thence it grew, tho', tipt with steel so fine, It now will serve to stab with, or to dine; That tree, which late on Avon's border grew; By Shakespeare planted; Warwick lads say true; IMITATIONS. Ducite ab urbe domum mea carmina ducite Daphnim. All' ek toi ereô, kai epi megan horkon omoumai, Nai ma tode skêptron, to men oupote phylla kai ozous Physei, epeidê prôta tomên en oressi leloipen, Oud' anathêlêsei. HOM. Ut sceptrum hoc (sceptrum dextrâ nam fortè gerebat) Nunquam fronde levi fundet virgulta nec umbras; Cùm semel in sylvis imo de stirpe recisum, Matre caret posuitque comas et brachia ferro Olim arbos, nunc artificis manus ære decoro. Inclusit patribusque dedit gestare Latinis. VIRG. NOTES. [14] See the utility of this knife in a late Sessions-paper. By this most precious relick, here I pledge Myself to save him from the halter's edge: And not myself alone, but ev'ry friend Shall all his interest and assistance lend. Quaint B----, beholding the rude mob with scorn, Shall tell how Irish bards are gentle born; Next I, to captivate the learned bench, Will strait affirm that NYKY writes good French;[15] Thy timid nature JOHNSON shall maintain,[16] In words no dictionary can explain. Goldsmith, good-natur'd man, shall next defend, His foster-brother,[17] countryman, and friend: Shall prove the humbler passions, now and then, Are incidental to us little men; IMITATIONS. Hanc ego magnanimi spolium Didymaonis hastam, Ut semel est avulsa jugis à matre perempta, Quæ neque jam frondes virides neque proferet umbras, Fida ministeria et duras obit horrida pugnas Testor. VAL. FLAC. NOTES. [15] See the Sessions-paper; in which this admirable plea is made use of by ROSCIUS to exculpate a culprit accused of murder. [16] See the same; in which this pompous pseudo-philosopher affects to suppose cowardice incompatible with the character of an Italian bravo. [17] So called from having not long since made one in a poetical triumvirate, which gave occasion to the following verses in imitation of Dryden's famous epigram on Milton; "Three poets in three distant ages born," &c. And that the part our gentle NYKY play'd Was but philosophy in masquerade.[18] Let me no longer, then, my loss deplore, But to his ROSCIUS, Muse, my NYK restore. IMITATIONS. Ducite ab urbe domum mea carmina ducite Daphnim. NOTES.