Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-11-13
ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE

| The piou. patriot Of the Emerald strand;
| The first delivered, for stolen bride
Who sold to Albion's king his native land.
But-countrymen Of mine, let wo betide
| The mar who thinks Of ought but what's in
hand.
What shall tell you. happen'd you must know.
Beyond the seas, six hundred years ago.
: lis strange how often readers will indulge
Their wits mystic meaning to discover;
Secrets ne'er dreamt Of by the bard divulgr,
And where he shoots duck will find plo-
yer.
Satiric shafts from every line promulge.
Detect tyrant. when he draws a lover;
Nay. so intent has hidden thoughts to see.
Cry. ifhe paints scroundel ''rhat means me-"
IT Ia human nature. IL old Roman days,
When that sweet Mantuan minstrel tuned his
Tyre;
Sung how Eneas from the Trojan blaze
On his broad shoulders bore away his sire;
Yet scruped not. with viest arts To RAISE
In Tyrian Dido's veins, unhalow'd fire;
Debauc he'd her, left her, 'whelm'd with scorn
and shame.
By self. combustion to redeem her fame.
The Roman delivers straight began to pry
Into the courter minstrel's full intent:
Toys fall, Rome, rise, they ken'd with half
an eye,
Was but tue outward mask of what he meant:
His patron prince with oil of fools to ply,
They soon discovered was the poets bent:
The good IEneas was wisp OF straw;
Augustus Caesar was the man they saw.
And so for sixteen hundred years and more
Ii. f,,V - hnr
Till Father Hardonin versed in classic lore,
To find another clue about INN cast:
And. wont in legendary lies TO pore,
He delv'd, and dev'd, aud delv'd AMI found
at last,
That Virgil's Encid was a monkish tale,
In verse, our Saviours passion to unveil.
Poor Sallgn0c! how hard fate was thine;
Thy pupil, heir apparent to a throne,
Thou drew'st the moral gem from IIomer's mine,
And mad'st the Grecian MUSES. all thy own,
To teach him wisdom with voice diviae;
This was thy noble purpose, this alone:
But when thou paintedst court and courtesan,
They said twas LouIs and his Montespan.
! Against oil this enter my protest:
ID rmot Mac Morrogh shows IN. hero's lace;
Nor will l, or in earnest or in jest
Permit another To usufp MS place;
| And give mt leave 10 say that know best
| Nv own intentions in the lines trace;
| Let no man therefore draw aside the screen,
| And say u is any other that mean
The Pope's interference in this iniquitous bust
ness. calls forth an apt apustrophe ID Religion.
Divine Religion! bliss Of man below!
| Thou link "f union, between ear'h and skies;
Nurse of our virtue, solace OF our NO;
| Lore of the learned, wisdom of the wise,
Thou from whose fountain, str ans perennial
| flow,
| Ofprayer sincere. and praise and PEN nee rise
Oh! how csnst thou behold such deeds OF shame,
Such crimes accurst, committed IN thy manner
! The lines on Justice, are a fit compano" piece
for those on Religion.
| . And If there be Ruler Of the skies,
Justice, eternal Justice i. HIS law
And whatsoever Of Justice earth denies.
Angelic hands in heaven shall mend the uaw'
Rise. then. on Hopes seraphic plnlons rlse!--
From worlds beyond the grave thy comfort
draw:
And deem the wrongs that virtue here sustains
Proofs that on high God Of justice reisns
! For the SELECTION of hero not honest, the
writer thus apo,ogises.
Among the critics it has been o. yore,
A question whether. when he forms his Pian'
| An eoic poet must, 10 saw no more,
Take for his hero right man,
But for nv part hold the rule bore;
'Twere well TO make him honest 1t you can;
Into another question it must tall;
| Where such o hero can be found at-all.
Heroes are much the same $50 Pope avers.)
From Macedonia's mailman to the S"ede.
But this again. another question st'rs;
IL after ages have improved the breed >
And to my memory only Gne occurs
Adapted todisturb the poets creed.
Will any mortal ask who 10 that one!
Name him. Az! hold taper 10 the Sun!
IT'S said, the exception only proves the rule
All other heroes from the days OF Pope.
Co,npounds have been Of mAdman, knave and
fool, @
And thus NAV be de6n'd without trope.
All ssrvile followers Of the self same school;