One hour, as just, those counsels they embrace, And spurn, the next, as pitiful and base. Thee, too, my child, those fools as Cunning fly, Who on thy counsel and thy craft rely; That worthy craft in others they condemn, But 'tis their prudence, while conducting them. "Be FLATTERY, then, thy happy infant's name, Let Honour scorn her and let Wit defame; Let all be true that Envy dooms, yet all, Not on herself, but on her name, shall fall; While she thy fortune and her own shall raise, And decent Truth be call'd, and loved as, modest Praise. "O happy child! the glorious day shall shine, When every ear shall to thy speech incline, Thy words alluring and thy voice divine: The sullen pedant and the sprightly wit, To hear thy soothing eloquence shall sit; And both, abjuring Flattery, will agree That Truth inspires, and they must honour thee. "Envy himself shall to thy accents bend, Force a faint smile, and sullenly attend, When thou shalt call him Virtue's jealous friend, Whose bosom glows with generous rage to find How fools and knaves are flatter'd by mankind. "The sage retired, who spends alone his days, And flies th' obstreperous voice of public praise; The vain, the vulgar cry,--shall gladly meet, And bid thee welcome to his still retreat; Much will he wonder, how thou cam'st to find A man to glory dead, to peace consign'd. O Fame! he'll cry (for he will call thee Fame), From thee I fly, from thee conceal my name; But thou shalt say, though Genius takes his night, He leaves behind a glorious train of light, And hides in vain: --yet prudent he that flies The flatterer's art, and for himself is wise. "Yes, happy child! I mark th'approaching day, When warring natures will confess thy sway; When thou shalt Saturn's golden reign restore, And vice and folly shall be known no more. "Pride shall not then in human-kind have place, Changed by thy skill, to Dignity and Grace; While Shame, who now betrays the inward sense Of secret ill, shall be thy Diffidence; Avarice shall thenceforth prudent Forecast be, And bloody Vengeance, Magnanimity; The lavish tongue shall honest truths impart, The lavish hand shall show the generous heart, And Indiscretion be, contempt of art; Folly and Vice shall then, no longer known, Be, this as Virtue, that as Wisdom, shown. "Then shall the Robber, as the Hero, rise To seize the good that churlish law denies; Throughout the world shall rove the generous band, And deal the gifts of Heaven from hand to hand. In thy blest days no tyrant shall be seen, Thy gracious king shall rule contented men; In thy blest days shall not a rebel be, But patriots all and well-approved of thee. "Such powers are thine, that man by thee shall wrest The gainful secret from the cautious breast; Nor then, with all his care, the good retain, But yield to thee the secret and the gain. In vain shall much experience guard the heart Against the charm of thy prevailing art; Admitted once, so soothing is thy strain,