ARGUMENT.
The Subject:—Poverty and Cunning described:—When united, a jarring Couple.—Mutual Reproof.—The Wife consoled by a Dream.—Birth of a Daughter.—Description and Prediction of Envy:—How to be rendered ineffectual, explained in a Vision.—Simulation foretells the future Success and Triumphs of Flattery.—Her Power over various Characters and different Minds;—over certain Classes of Men;—over Envy himself.—Her successful Art of softening the Evils of Life;—of changing Characters;—of meliorating Prospects, and affixing Value to Possessions, Pictures, &c.—Conclusion.
THE
BIRTH OF FLATTERY.
Omnia habeo, nec quicquam habeo;
Quidquid dicunt, laudo; id rursum si negant, laudo id quoque:
Negat quis, nego; ait, aio:
Postremò imperavi egomet mihi
Omnia assentari.
Terent, in Eunuch.
It has been held in antient Rules,
That Flattery is the Food of Fools;
Yet now and then your Men of Wit
Will condescend to taste a Bit.
Swift.
Muse of my Spencer, who so well could sing,
The Passions all, their Bearings and their Ties;
Who could in View those shadowy Beings bring,
And with bold Hand, remove each dark Disguise,
Wherein Love, Hatred, Scorn, or Anger lies:
Guide him to Fairy Land, who now intends
That Way his Flight; assist him as he flies,
To mark those Passions, Virtue’s Foes and Friends,
By whom when led she droops, when leading she ascends.
Yes! they appear, I see the Fairy-Train!
And who that modest Nymph of meek Address?
Not Vanity, though lov’d by all the Vain;
Not Hope, though promising to all, Success;
Nor Mirth, nor Joy, though Foe to all Distress;
Thee, sprightly Siren, from this Train I choose,
Thy Birth relate, thy soothing Arts confess,
’Tis not in thy mild Nature to refuse,
When Poets ask thine Aid, so oft their Meed and Muse.