And now they were diverted by their suite, Dwarfs, dancing girls, black eunuchs, and a poet, Which made their new establishment complete; The last was of great fame, and liked to show it; His verses rarely wanted their due feet-- And for his theme--he seldom sung below it, He being paid to satirise or flatter, As the Psalm says, "inditing a good matter." LXXIX. He praised the present, and abused the past, Reversing the good custom of old days, An Eastern anti-jacobin at last He turned, preferring pudding to _no_ praise-- For some few years his lot had been o'ercast By his seeming independent in his lays, But now he sung the Sultan and the Pacha-- With truth like Southey, and with verse[191] like Crashaw.[ct] LXXX. He was a man who had seen many changes, And always changed as true as any needle; His Polar Star being one which rather ranges, And not the fixed--he knew the way to wheedle: So vile he 'scaped the doom which oft avenges; And being fluent (save indeed when fee'd ill), He lied with such a fervour of intention-- There was no doubt he earned his laureate pension. LXXXI. But _he_ had genius,--when a turncoat has it, The _Vates irritabilis_[192] takes care That without notice few full moons shall pass it; Even good men like to make the public stare:-- But to my subject--let me see--what was it?-- Oh!--the third canto--and the pretty pair-- Their loves, and feasts, and house, and dress, and mode Of living in their insular abode. LXXXII. Their poet, a sad trimmer, but, no less,[cu] In company a very pleasant fellow, Had been the favourite of full many a mess Of men, and made them speeches when half mellow;[cv] And though his meaning they could rarely guess, Yet still they deigned to hiccup or to bellow The glorious meed of popular applause, Of which the first ne'er knows the second cause.[cw] LXXXIII. But now being lifted into high society, And having picked up several odds and ends Of free thoughts in his travels for variety, He deemed, being in a lone isle, among friends, That, without any danger of a riot, he Might for long lying make himself amends; And, singing as he sung in his warm youth, Agree to a short armistice with Truth. LXXXIV. He had travelled 'mongst the Arabs, Turks, and Franks, And knew the self-loves of the different nations; And having lived with people of all ranks, Had something ready upon most occasions-- Which got him a few presents and some thanks. He varied with some skill his adulations; To "do at Rome as Romans do,"[193] a piece Of conduct was which _he_ observed in Greece. LXXXV.