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TO A FRIEND,
WHO HAD BEEN MUCH ABUSED IN MANY DIFFERENT LIBELS.
THE greatest monarch may be stabb'd by night,
And fortune help the murderer in his flight;
The vilest ruffian may commit a rape,
Yet safe from injur'd innocence escape;
And Calumny, by working under ground,
Can, unreveng'd, the greatest merit wound.
What's to be done? Shall Wit and Learning choose
To live obscure, and have no fame to lose?
By Censure frighted out of Honour's road,
Nor dare to use the gifts by Heaven bestow'd?
Or fearless enter in through Virtue's gate,
And buy distinction at the dearest rate?
EPIGRAM.
GREAT folks are of a finer mould;
Lord! how politely they can scold!
While a coarse English tongue will itch,
For whore and rogue; and dog and bitch.
