A time like this, a busy, bustling time, Suits ill with Writers, very ill with Rhyme; Unheard we sing when Party-rage runs strong, And mightier Madness checks the flowing Song: Or should we force the peaceful Muse to wield Her feeble Arms amid the furious Field; Where Party-Pens a wordy War maintain, Poor is her Anger and her Friendship vain; And oft the Foes who feel her Sting, combine, Till serious Vengeance pays an idle Line; For Party-Poets are like Wasps, who dart Death to themselves and to their Foes but Smart. Hard then our Fate: if general Themes we choose, Neglect awaits the Song, and chills the Muse; Or should we sing the Subject of the Day, To-morrow’s Wonder puffs our Praise away. More blest the Bards of that Poetic Time, When all found Readers who could find a Rhyme; Green grew the Bays on every teeming Head, And _Cibber_ was enthron’d and _Settle_ read. Sing, drooping Muse, the Cause of thy Decline; Why reign no more the once-triumphant Nine? Alas! new Charms the wavering Many gain, And rival Sheets the Reader’s Eye detain; A daily Swarm, that banish every Muse, Come flying forth, and Mortals call them NEWS: For these, unread the noblest Volumes lie; For these, in Sheets unsoil’d the Muses die; Unbought, unblest, the virgin Copies wait, In vain for Fame, and sink, unseen, to fate. Since, then, the Town forsakes us for our Foes, The smoothest Numbers for the harshest Prose; Let us, with generous scorn, the Taste deride, And sing our Rivals with a Rival’s Pride. Ye gentle Poets, who so oft complain That foul Neglect is all your Labours gain; That Pity only checks your growing Spite To erring Man and prompts you still to write; That your choice Works on humble Stalls are laid, Or vainly grace the Windows of the Trade; Be ye my Friends, if Friendship e’er can warm Those rival Bosoms whom the Muses charm: Think of the common Cause, wherein we go, Like gallant Greeks against the Trojan foe; Nor let one peevish Chief his Leader blame, Till crown’d with Conquest we regain our Fame; And let us join our Forces to subdue This bold assuming but successful Crew.