[Footnote 1: 'Thales:' supposed to refer to Savage, who intended to retire to Wales about this time, and who accomplished his purpose soon after.]
[Footnote 2: 'Eliza:' Queen Elizabeth.]
[Footnote 3: 'Pirates:' the piracies of the Spaniards were openly defended in Parliament.]
[Footnote 4: 'Gazetteer:' the then ministerial paper.]
[Footnote 5: 'Unclaimed by Spain:' Spain was said then to be claiming some of our American provinces.]
[Footnote 6: 'The king:' the nation was discontented at the visits made by the king to Hanover.]
* * * * *
THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES.
IN IMITATION OF THE TENTH SATIRE OF JUVENAL.
Let Observation, with extensive view,
Survey mankind from China to Peru;
Remark each anxious toil, each eager strife,
And watch the busy scenes of crowded life;
Then say how hope and fear, desire and hate,
O'erspread with snares the clouded maze of fate,
Where wavering man, betray'd by venturous pride,
To tread the dreary paths without a guide,
As treacherous phantoms in the mist delude,
Shuns fancied ills, or chases airy good; 10
How rarely Reason guides the stubborn choice,
Rules the bold hand, or prompts the suppliant voice;
How nations sink, by darling schemes oppress'd,
When Vengeance listens to the fool's request;
Fate wings with every wish the afflictive dart,
Each gift of Nature, and each grace of Art,
With fatal heat impetuous courage glows,
With fatal sweetness elocution flows,
Impeachment stops the speaker's powerful breath,
And restless fire precipitates on death! 20