Yet bore I all the _Praise_ and _Puff_ away. } _Beasts_ graze the _Plain_, the _Fishes_ skim the _Sea_, _Cars_ are for _Peers_, _Streets_ for _Mechanics_ free; Thy Empire, Goddess, still hath been my Care, My _Life_'s a _Puff_, my _Deeds_, like _Words_, are _Air_. He spake, to grasp the Prize his Fingers stretch, As feeble Reeds spent Swimmers strive to catch; But finds himself pusht instantly away, And by young PTOLOMY is kept at Bay. Give him the Prize, O Goddess, if thou durst, A _Wretch_ beneath his lowest Puppets curst. The Claim he makes is owing to my Parts; I taught him _Management_, and all its Arts, From my great Sire alone deriv'd, to me He gave it yet a living Legacy: In what theatric Region are unknown Our _Puffs_ in ev'ry Bill, in ev'ry Paper shown? And where his short ones fail'd, I, better skill'd, The groaning Page with long Epistles fill'd: If Falsehood claims it, end the vain Dispute; 'Tis mine, avaunt, ye _Puffers_, and be mute; All _Grubstreet_ tells----At this CONUNDRUM rose, And thus--Fond Youth, no more thy Gifts expose; Tho' the Foundation of this Art is Lies, Yet TRUTH is sometimes proper for Disguise: He who is always false, is ne'er believ'd, Who's always _honest_, is sometimes _deceiv'd_; The Prize we'll yield, prove it upon Record, That _he_ or _you_ e'er spoke but one _true Word_. Dismist--The Fantoms hover round the Place, And shew their Crimes in Mirrors to their Face? Each on the other gazing, ghastly stood, And wou'd have _blush'd_, or hid them, _if they cou'd_. Then thus the Goddess--"Cease all further Strife, "COLLEY, thy Hand! I'm thine alone for Life; "Thine be the Prize, an Emblem of thy _Wit_, "Which tho' not so, yet some will take for it: "But 'tis not long, ev'n me thou must forsake; "My last, my best, Advice then friendly take, "Dear Scriblers, all Adventurers in _Wit_, "Who scorn the Field of fell Debate to quit, "Howe'er he lash ye, still the War pursue, "Your _Ignorance_ brings all his _Wit_ to View; "The Insects hov'ring in the breezy Air "Shew th' approaching vernal Season near; "The _Maggot_ that in Sun-beams basking lies, "Tho' the _Heat_ scorch him, by that _Heat_ he flies." She spake, and then, unseen, unheard retir'd, Born in a Breath, she with a Sigh expir'd. _FINIS._ (_Just Publish'd, Price 6d._) The Political Padlock, and the English Key. A Fable. Translated from the _Italian_ of Father M----r _S----ini_, who is now under Confinement for the same in _Naples_, by Order of Don _Carlos_. With Explanatory Notes. _I grant all_ Courses _are in vain, Unless we can_ get in _again: The only Way that's left us now, But all the Difficulty's_ How? THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VERBAL and PRACTICAL VIRTUE. _Dicendi Virtus, nisi ei, qui dicit, ea, de quibus dicit, percepta sint, extare non potest._ CIC. WITH A Prefatory Epistle from Mr. _C--b--r_ to Mr. _P._