But, as I look'd, methought, beneath the gate,
Counting her dropping tears, Repentance sat:
And as the giddy Votaries return'd,
They caught her sorrows, and their follies mourn'd.
Bold M—— offer'd up his patriot zeal,
And flaming Harangues for Britannia's weal;
And Oaths[d] by which he swore to stem the tide
Of Courtly Sway and Ministerial Pride;
Which thro' the ecchoing Isle were frequent heard,
When he a Northern Candidate appear'd.
But Folly gave him, with satiric look,
A Dispensation from the Oaths he took;
Suspicious that, the patriot frenzy o'er,
These pious Swearings had been broke before.
Smiles that ne'er pleas'd, and words as light as air,
Which scarce could claim regard from Folly's ear;
O'er-weening arts, which, tho' in smiles array'd,
By base-born fears have ever been betray'd;
A few fair deeds, whose merit has been lost
In selfish ends, or Pharisaic boast;
Soft, gentle Phrases, and meek, smiling Lies,
Which could not veil his bare hypocrisies;
Dull hours of Courtship with the unwilling Fair,
Who wonder'd rosy Love was never there;
Curses pour'd forth upon the nuptial hour,
Which sadly fail'd him of the expected Dower[e];
All these and more the splendid Shrine display'd,
By B——'s trembling hand with caution laid.
Now Folly frown'd, who had not frown'd before;
And, as I thought, in her right hand she bore
A Parchment Scroll, which strait she downward threw,
For the pale, timorous Lordling to review.
A Will it seem'd;—and soon, with weeping eye,
He told aloud th' omitted Legacy[f].
Then Folly titter'd[g], and the joyful Croud
Burst forth in laughing shouts so shrill and loud,
The affrighted vision fled in haste away,
And my glad eyes beheld the chearful day.
FINIS.
This Day was published,
Price Two Shillings and Sixpence,
A NEW EDITION,
WITH LARGE ADDITIONS,
OF THE
DIABOLIAD.