Of wit or arms, while both contend
To win her grace whom all commend.
There let Hymen oft appear,

In faffron robe, with taper clear,

And pomp, and feast, and revelry,
With mask and antique pageantry,
Such fights as youthful poets dream
On fummer eves by haunted ftream.
Then to the well-trod ftage anon,
If Johnson's learned fock be on,
Or sweetest Shakespear, Fancy's child,
Warble his native wood-notes wild,

And ever against eating cares

Lap me in foft Lydian airs,

Married to immortal verfe,

Such as the meeting foul may pierce
In notes, with many a winding bout
Of linked fweetnefs long drawn out
With wanton heed, and giddy cunning,
The melting voice thro' mazes running;
Untwisting all the chains that tye
The hidden foul of harmony:

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That

Marti aut Minervæ, quorum uterque nititur
Nymphæ probari, quæ probatur omnibus:
Hymenæus illic fæpe prætendat facem
Clarisfimam, croceumque velamen trahat,
Spectac'la, mimi, pompa, commiffatio,
Veterumque ritu nocte fint convivia,
Talefque vifus, quos vident in fomniis
Juvenes poetæ, dum celebris rivuli
Securi ad oram vefpere æftivo jacent.
Tunc ad theatra demigrem frequentia
Johnsone, fi tu, docte foccum proferas ;
Sive* Ille mufæ filius fundat fonos,
Quam dulcè, quam felicitèr temerarios !
Curæque carmen femper antidotos modis
Mentem relaxet involutam Lydiis;

Oh! fim perenni emancipatus carmini,

Quod tentet ufque ad intimum cor emicans,
Aurefque gratis detinens ambagibus

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Adeo ut quiete expergefactus aureâ

Toros relinquat ipfe Thrax amaranthinos,
Medioque tales captet Elyfio fonos,
Quales avaram fuadeant Proferpinam
Nullâ obligatam lege fponfam reddere.
His fi redundes gaudiis, prudentis eft,
Lætitia, tecum velle vitam degere.

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