In former days, the Saints were fimple, mild, Retir'd from men they liv'd, and undefil'd, Their path, was fteady-are not our's the fame? Yes-fteady in the path which leads to fame.
Unnumber'd glories fhine around the Bench,
Where fleep the Bishops, fearless of the French:
Ten thousand fylphs and gnomes around them stay,
And-wanton, in their wigs and caffocks play;
The guards of those who sweet Religion guard
Against her countless foes, who prefs fo hard
Upon her life; fuch are the noble band;
Such men, Church-Militant, the times demand.
In Egypt once, 'tis faid in holy writ,
A croud of locufts came; and there, (to wit),
Destroy'd fome corn which flourish'd on the foil,
Till'd by the Peafantry with little toil:
Some fruits too, which around fpontaneous grew,
And when they'd done the mischief, off they flew.
Think not from this, I ever meant to fay
Our Holy Paftors do the self-fame way;
Forbid the thought, as heav'n doth know my heart,
I do not think they take the one tenth part;
And fure for all their labours, pious cares,
Preaching, teaching, goffiping, and prayers,
Chrift'ning and burying, making pafs-ports out,
Which clear the way on high beyond a doubt;
'Tis little for their pains, small recompence,
For gospel ammunition, common fenfe.
Hiftorians hold, that in domestic scenes,
To know a hero are the only means,
Where all his actions uncontroul'd appear
Phlegmatic, paffionate, mild, or severe.
(To be concluded in our next.)
Printed for and fold by DANIEL ISAAC EATON, Printer and Bookfeller to the Supreme Majefty of the People, at the Cock and SWINE, No. 74, Newgate ftreet.
SATIRE ON MODERN CLERGYMÉN.
A Reverend Father then, let us attend
To his own table, where his brows unbend;
And dimpling fmiles play on his rofy cheek;
But hark! attend his gracious accents meek.
"Father of heaven," he cries, "thy bleffing give
Upon our food; be with us while we live ;
"Of thy good things still add unto our store :
"Grant this, O Lord, and I fhall ask no more.'
With active skill, his Benediction o're,
He plies his deadly weapons, ftain'd with gore,
Cutting, hafhing, flashing, stabbing, swallowing,
In gravies, foups, and fauces, nobly wallowing;
Like Mars, the God of battles, fearless flies,
Where ftand the thickest ranks of apple-pies;
With arm uplifted!-patience heav'nly muse!
Paint not the horrid scene which now ensues ;
Say not the parfon, drunk with dealing death
On all his foes, ne'er ftops to take his breath;
In truth, fay rather, all things off the board,
Peace and her bleffings are again restor❜d.
Say not, with wines the war he next renews,
And drinks rich purple draughts until he fpews;
With vengeance fir'd against Britania's foes,
He empty bottles round the chamber throws;
Say not he finks, at length, beneath the table,
To fight, or keep his feat no longer ablė,
That would be scandal, and a sland'rous thing,
Unworthy him to act, or thee to fing.
In days of yore, Apollo ftrung the lyre,
Attendant mufes fann'd the facred fire;
Gods and their actions fung the ancient nine
And thus barbarian nations did refine;
The fons of heav'n my feeble rhimes inspire;
Bow down, ye earth-born children, and admire.
When guilt and woe appear on ev'ry hand,
Our men of God proclaim through all the land
A day of fafting, and humiliation,
To clear the confcience of a finful nation.
In order meet are all the Bishops feen,
Cloath'd in fack-cloth, may be ;-fad of mien ;.
With heavy clouds upon each darken'd brow;
Sighing and fobbing, 'till fome angels bow
Their cares to end; Pray is not this the cafe?
Strange! what odd notions fome men have of grace
And fafting-work!-The Bishops meanly bend,
To afk a favour, think you, of a friend.
No, Sir, with manly minds, and fronts fevere,
They scorn to feek a bleffing with a tear:
Tears are for guilty fouls, with vice dismay'd;
Not for my Lords in virtue's garb array'd;
For crowns and coronets alone they pray,
Which in the other world they give away,
Plenty to all their friends on earth, to focs
Sweeping deftruction fills the fwelling dose.
These are our guardians of the heav'nly gates;
These are the mighty minifters of fates :
These make a phalanx, perfect in its kind;
Thefe form the manners, and direct the mind.
True to themselves, and to each other true,
The path of life with purer joys they strew.
Once, when barbarian tribes through ancient Rome
Bent their rude steps, where rofe the facred dome
Inclos'd the Senate, there in awful state,
And purple clad, the confcript fathers fat;
The vandals trembling, fearful view'd the band,
The Gods! the Gods! they cry'd, prote& this land.
So dæmons, devils, all the crews of hell
Before our fons of heav'n in anguish fell';
In deepest night, and gloomy darkness bound,
On earth no longer fhall their hoft be found.
Praise to the glorious Priests of modern days!
To all the Holy Brotherhood fing praise.
Who fays, with Parfons, livings can prevail?
Who fays, they're tickled with a tithe-pig's tail?
Who dares affert their charity's confin'd,
And with unequal eyes they view mankind?
Or being dazzled with the world of glory,
They e'er neglect to use the world before ye?
Far be the thought from me to fay fuch things,
In other notes my mufe fublimely fings.
High as Olympus could my numbers foar,
My voice much louder than the thunders roar,
On eagle's wings I'd take my rapid way,
In purer regions greet the fource of day;
There loud proclaim the virtues of the Priests;
Lift'ning, the world below, both men and beafts,
My wond'rous pow'r should own with one accord,
And shouting, praise the Helpers of the Lord.
ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC.
WERE 'political evils as unavoidable as phyfical ones, it
would juftify the indolence and defpóndency, with which we are too apt to endure their preffure. Were the lofs of public liberty, the decline and fervitude of nations as much beyond the reach of human exertion to prevent as the great causes of natural calamities, it would not be furprizing, that men thould derive their greatest confolation from infenfibility, and tamely fubmit to what it was not granted them to avoid.-But, happily for the fpecies, most of the moral circumstances, upon which its happiness depends, are placed fo much within its power, that it may in general be faid to be the only author of its good or evil fortune. Do we fee a particular community advancing to power and glory, do we fee it shadowing the ocean with its fleets, extending its commerce, and giving law to the furrounding nations, we shall not be deceived in concluding, that it retains an internal principle of vigour, which has hitherto preserved its government from grofs corruption, and kept it true to the original ends of its inftitution. Do we on the contrary fee that fuccefs deferts its arms, that commerce languishes, that its military ardour evaporates in feeble and fruitless efforts, that the tide of opulence is at an ebb, that its confequence, as well as the opinion of its force, diminishes with its neighbours, we may fafely pronounce that there is fome internal defect, of which thefe calamities are only the indication. In fuch a country vain will be the attempt to reftore its drooping fortune, by any means which fall short of a radical reformation. In vain may fleets be fitted out, in vain may armies be raised, in vain may generals be recalled, or minifters difplaced; thefe changes may accelerate, or retard, but can never prevent approaching ruin. While the spirit and manners of the Roman commonwealth remained entire, neither the invafion of Pyrrhus, the victories of Hannibal, nor the bloody irruptions of the Gauls, were capable of fhaking it on
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