Classic Poem

It always has been thought discreet
To know the company you meet;
And sure there may be secret danger
In talking much before a stranger.
" Agreed: What then? " Then drink your ale:
I'll pledge you, and repeat my tale.

No matter where the scene is fixt:
The persons were but oddly mixt;
When sober Damon thus began
(And Damon is a clever man),
" I now grow old; but still, from youth,
Have held for Modesty and Truth;
The men, who by these sea-marks steer,
In life's great voyage never err:
Upon this point I dare defy
The world; I pause for a reply. "

" Sir, either is a good assistant, "
Said one who sat a little distant:
" Truth decks our speeches and our books;
And Modesty adorns our looks:
But farther progress we must take-;
Not only born to look and speak:
The man must act. The Stagyrite
Says thus, and says extremely right:
Strict justice is the sovereign guide,
That o'er our actions should preside:
This Queen of Virtues is confest
To regulate and bind the rest.
Thrice happy if you once can find
Her equal balance poise your mind:
All different graces soon will enter,
Like lines concurrent to their centre. "

'Twas thus, in short, these two went on,
With YEA and NAY , and PRO and CON ,
Through many points divinely dark,
And Waterland assaulting Clarke;
Till, in theology half lost,
Damon took up the Evening Post;
Confounded Spain, compos'd the North,
And deep in politics held forth.

" Methinks we're in the like condition,
As at the Treaty of Partition:
That stroke, for all King William's care,
Begat another tedious war.
Matthew, who knew the whole intrigue,
Ne'er much approv'd that mystic league:
In the vile Utrecht Treaty too,
Poor man! he found enough to do.
Sometimes to me he did apply;
But Down-right Dunstable was I,
And told him where they were mistaken,
And counsell'd him to save his bacon:
But (pass his politics and prose)
I never herded with his foes;
Nay, in his verses, as a friend,
I still found something to commend.
Sir, I excus'd his Nut-brown Maid ,
Whate'er severer critics said:
Too far, I own, the girl was tried:
The women all were on my side.
For Alma I return'd him thanks;
I lik'd her with her little pranks:
Indeed, poor Solomon in rhyme
Was much too grave to be sublime. "

Pindar and Damon scorn transition,
So on he ran a new division;
Till, out of breath, he turn'd to spit;
(Chance often helps us more than wit.)
T'other that lucky moment took,
Just nick'd the time, broke in, and spoke.

" Of all the gifts the gods afford
(If we may take old Tully's word)
The greatest is a friend; whose love
Knows how to praise, and when reprove:
From such a treasure never part,
But hang the jewel on your heart:
And, pray, sir (it delights me), tell;
You know this Author mighty well? "
" Know him! d'ye question it? Odds-fish!
Sir, does a beggar know his dish?
I lov'd him; as Itold you, I
Advis'd him — " Here a stander-by
Twitch'd Damon gently by the cloak,
And thus unwilling silence broke;
" Damon, 'tis time we should retire:
The man you talk with is Mat. Prior. "

Patron thro' life, and from thy birth my friend,
D ORSET ! to thee this Fable let me send:
With Damon's lightness weigh thy solid worth:
The foil is known to set the diamond forth:
Let the feign'd tale this real moral give,
How many Damons, how few Dorsets, live!