| The good man now the subject weigh'd, Then call'd in Vellum to his aid, And did, with anxious wish commend The office to his long-known friend, To set afloat enquiry due If what Maria told were true; Nor did he think of pains or cost To find the stray-sheep that was lost. "To you," he said, "I give the task, The greatest favour I can ask, To trace, if 'tis in any power, The Foundling from that favor'd hour When Doctor Syntax first receiv'd The child and all its wants reliev'd; And you, at once, call'd in to share The wishes of his guardian care. Believe me that my high-wrought feeling, Which you must see there's no concealing," (For the tear glisten'd in his eye, And his breast spoke the long-drawn sigh) "Disdains at once all sordid sense Which hesitates at recompence: O what would I refuse to give Should he be blest with worth and live! | |
| Indulge my whims—nor let me know Or what you've done or what you do, Till you can answer—Yea or No. | } |
| Till your grave voice attests my claim To bear a parent's tender name: Nor let the claimant here be shown, Till he is prov'd to be my own." |
Vellum began by exercising
His well-known zeal in advertising;
Nay, did, from Kent, to the Land's-End,
Quæ Genus and his birth extend,
And as the King's Bench Walks had been
Of his first days the curious scene,
Within those environs were spread
The grand Placards which he had read;
And did a forc'd attention call