[9] The Jesuit Ruæus begins the argument of Virgil's second Eclogue with the following explicit declaration, Amabat Virgilius puerum.

The gay Petronius, sophists, wits and bards,
Of old, bestow'd on youth their soft regards;
In modish dalliance pass'd their harmless time
Ev'n modish now in soft Italia's clime.
Could lightenings ever issue from above
To blast poor men for such a crime as love;
When the lewd daughters of incestuous Lot
Were both with child by their own father got?
Poor goody Lot indeed might be in fault,
And justly turn'd to monumental salt:
The matrimonial emblem of a wife:
Needs must be salt a dish to keep for life!
A fable Sodom's fate: in Heav'n above
All is made up of harmony and love;
That such its vengeance I believe not, I;
Historians err and Hebrew Jews will lie.
Sing then, my Muse, a more engaging strain
To lure my Nyky back to Drury-lane.
Tell him the fancied danger all is o'er;
Home he may come and love as heretofore.
IMITATIONS.
Formosum pastor Corydon ardebat Alexin.
—— Deos didici securum agere ævum
Nec si quid miri faciat natura, deos id
Tristes ex alto cœli demittere tecto.
—— —— Credat Judæus Apella,
Non ego. ——
Ducite ab urbe domum mea carmina ducite Daphnim.

In vain the vulgar shall for vengeance call,
Or move the justices at Hickes's-hall;
In vain grand juries shall be urg'd by law
In his indictment not to leave a flaw.
Ev'n at the bar should Nyky stand arraign'd,
No verdict 'gainst him should be there obtain'd;
Nay, by the laws and customs of the land,
Tho' trembling Nyky should convicted stand,
The candid jury shall be mov'd t'acquit
A gentleman, an author, and a wit:
For liberal minds with candour ever see
The milder failings of humanity!
Smooth-spoken Mansfield,[10] with his vacant face,
In softening accents first shall ope his case;
Which to defend, the want of Merlin's cunning
Shall be supplied by that of Grimbald Dunning.[11]
E'en at th' Old-Bailey they for Nyk shall plead;
Where would they not, if they were largely fee'd?
Were Nyky summon'd to the bar below,
Well-fee'd these faithful barristers would go;
NOTES.

[10] Not the Judge of that name; but the barrister, who, is by no means a judge—— of any thing.

[11] See King Arthur, lately revived at Drury-lane Theatre, and attend the pleadings in our courts of law and equity at Westminster, Guildhall, and Lincoln's-inn.