My hate, untravelled, fondly turned to thee. Ah! let me cease! in vain my bosom burns, From Corydon unkind Alexis turns: [58] 620 Thy rhymes are vain; thy Jeffrey then forego, Nor woo that anger which he will not show. What then?--Edina starves some lanker son, To write an article thou canst not shun; Some less fastidious Scotchman shall be found, As bold in Billingsgate, though less renowned. As if at table some discordant dish, [59] Should shock our optics, such as frogs for fish; As oil in lieu of butter men decry, And poppies please not in a modern pie; [lxxxiii] 630 If all such mixtures then be half a crime, We must have Excellence to relish rhyme. Mere roast and boiled no Epicure invites; Thus Poetry disgusts, or else delights. Who shoot not flying rarely touch a gun: Will he who swims not to the river run? And men unpractised in exchanging knocks Must go to Jackson [60] ere they dare to box. Whate'er the weapon, cudgel, fist, or foil, None reach expertness without years of toil; 640 But fifty dunces can, with perfect ease, Tag twenty thousand couplets, when they please. Why not?--shall I, thus qualified to sit For rotten boroughs, never show my wit? Shall I, whose fathers with the "Quorum" sate, [lxxxiv] And lived in freedom on a fair estate; Who left me heir, with stables, kennels, packs, [lxxxv] To 'all' their income, and to--'twice' its tax; Whose form and pedigree have scarce a fault, Shall I, I say, suppress my Attic Salt? 650 Thus think "the Mob of Gentlemen;" but you, Besides all this, must have some Genius too. Be this your sober judgment, and a rule, And print not piping hot from Southey's school, Who (ere another Thalaba appears), I trust, will spare us for at least nine years. And hark'ye, Southey! [61] pray--but don't be vexed-- Burn all your last three works--and half the next. But why this vain advice? once published, books Can never be recalled--from pastry-cooks! [lxxxvi] 660 Though "Madoc," with "Pucelle," [62] instead of Punk, May travel back to Quito--on a trunk! [63] Orpheus, we learn from Ovid and Lempriere, Led all wild beasts but Women by the ear; And had he fiddled at the present hour, We'd seen the Lions waltzing in the Tower; [64] And old Amphion, such were minstrels then, Had built St. Paul's without the aid of Wren. Verse too was Justice, and the Bards of Greece Did more than constables to keep the peace; 670 Abolished cuckoldom with much applause, Called county meetings, and enforced the laws, Cut down crown influence with reforming scythes, And served the Church--without demanding tithes; And hence, throughout all Hellas and the East, Each Poet was a Prophet and a Priest, Whose old-established Board of Joint Controls [65] Included kingdoms in the cure of souls.