'Tis true, 20 Emilius takes a five-fold Fee,
Tho' fome plead better, with more Law than he:
But then he keeps his Coach, fix Flanders Mares
Draw him in State, whenever he appears:
He fhews his Statue too, where plac'd on high,
The Ginnet underneath him feems to fly;
While with a lifted Spear, in Armour bright,
His aiming Figure meditates a Fight.
With Arts like these, rich Matko, when he speaks,
Attacks all Fees, and little Lawyers breaks.
Tongillus, very poor, has yet an Itch
Of gaining Wealth, by feigning to be rich;
Bathes often, and in State, and proudly vain,
Sweeps thro' the Streets with a long dirty Train:
From thence, with Lackeys running by his Side,
High on the Backs of brawny Slaves will ride,
In a long Litter, thro' the Market-place;
And with a Nod the diftant Rabble
grace:
Clad in a Gown, that glows with Tyrian Dye.
Surveys rich Moveables with curious Eye,
Beats down the Price, and threatens ftill to buy.
Nor can I wonder at fuch Tricks as thefe:
The purple Garments raife the Lawyer's Fees,
And fell him dearer to the Tool that buys;
High Pomp and State are useful Properties.
The Luxury of Rome will know no End;
For ftill the lefs we have, the more we spend.
Truft Eloquence to fhew our Parts and Breeding!
Not 21 Tully now cou'd get ten Groats by pleading;
Unless the Diamond glitter'd on his Hand:
Wealth's all the Rhet'rick Clients understand:
Without large Equipage, and loud Expence,
The Prince of Orators would fcarce fpeak Senfe.
20 Emilius. A rich Lawyer. I the greatest Orator that ever [ 21 Marcus Tullius Cicero, Rome bred.
Paulus 22, who with Magnificence did plead,
Grew rich, while tatter'd Gallus begg'd his Bread.
Who to poor Bafilus his Caufe would trust,
Tho' ne'er fo full of Pity, ne'er so just?
His Clients, unregarded, claim their due;
For Eloquence in Rags was never true.
Go, Wretch, thy Pleadings into 23 Africk fend;
Or France, where Merit never needs a Friend.
But oh, what Stock of Patience wants the Fool,
Who wastes his Time and Breath in teaching School!
To hear the Speeches of declaiming Boys,
Depofing Tyrants with eternal Noife!
Sitting or ftanding, ftill confin'd to roar
In the fame Verfe, the fame Rules o'er and o'er:
What Kind the Speech, what Colours, how to purge
Objections, ftate the Cafe, and Reasons urge.
All would learn thefe; but at the Quarter-day,
Few Parents will the Pedant's Labour pay.
Pay, Sir! For what? The Scholar knows no more
At fix Months End, than what he knew before:
Taught, or untaught, the Dunce is ftill the fame,
Yet ftill the wretched Mafter bears the blame.
Once ev'ry Week poor Hannibal is maul'd;
The Theme is giv'n, and strait the Council's call'd,
Whether he fhould to Rome directly go,
To reap the Fruit of the dire 24 Overthrow;
Or into Quarters put his harrafs'd Men
'Till Spring returns, and take the Field agen.
The murder'd Mafter cries, Would Parents hear
But half that Stuff which I am bound to bear,
For that Revenge I'll quit the whole Arrear,
22 Paulus was a rich Lawyer, Bafilus and Gallus were very poor.
23 France and Affrica were then famous for great Law yers, and fat Fees.
The fame Complaints most other Pedants make;
Plead real Causes, and the feign'd forsake:
25 Medea's Poifon, Jafon's Perjury,
And 25 Philomela's Rape, are all laid by;
Th' accufing 27 Stepdame and the Son accus'd:
But if my friendly Counsel might be us'd,
Let not the Learn'd this Courfe, or t'other, try,
But, leaving both, profefs plain Poverty;
And fhew his 28 Tally for the Dole of Bread,
With which the Parish Poor are daily fed:
Ev'n that exceeds the Price of all thy Pains.
Now look into the Mufick-Mafter's Gains,
Where noble Youth at vaft Expence is taught;
But Eloquence not valu'd at a Groat.
On fumptuous Baths the Rich their Wealth bestow,
Or fome expensive airy Portico;
Where fafe from Showers they may be born in State,
And free from Tempests, for fair Weather wait:
Or rather not expect the clearing Sun,
Thro' Thick and Thin their Equipage must run:.
Or staying, 'tis not for the Servants fake,
But that their Mules no Prejudice may take.
At the Walk's End, behold, how rais'd on high,
A Banquet-house falutes the fouthern Sky;
25 A notable Sorcerefs, Daughter of Æetes King of Colchos, and Wife to Jafon, who left her afterwards, and married another.
26 Daughter of Pandion King of Athens, was raviff'd by Tereus King of Thrace, who cut out her Tongue that the might not difclofe the Secret.
27 Phadra Wife of Thefeus, who fell in Love with her
Son-in-Law Hippolitus, and because she could not obtain her Ends of him, accus'd him to his Father that he would have forc'd her.
28 In any Dole, made by the Emperor, or one of the City Magistrates, the poor Citizens had each a Tally given them; which they fhewed firft, and then received their Proportion.
Where, from afar, the Winter-Sun displays
The milder Influence of his weaken'd Rays.
The Cook, and Sewer, each his Talent tries;.
In various Figures Scenes of Dishes rife:
Besides, a Master-Cook, with greafie Fist,
Dives in luxurious Sauces to the Wrist.
Amidft this wasteful Riot, there accrues
But poor ten Shillings for 29 Quintilian's Dues;
For, to breed up the Son to common Sense,
Is evermore the Parents leaft Expence.
From whence then comes Quintilian's vast Estate?
Because he was the darling Son of Fate';
And Luck, in fcorn of Merit, made him great.
Urge not th'Example of one fingle Man,
As rare as a white Crow, or fable Swan.
Quintilian's Fate was to be counted Wife,
Rich, Noble, Fair, and in the State to rife:
Good Fortune grac'd his Action, and his Tongues
His Colds became him, and when hoarfe he fung.
O, there's ftrange difference, what Planets fhed
Their Influence on the new-born Infant's Head!
'Tis Fate that flings the Dice; and as she flings,
Of Kings makes Pedants, and of Pedants Kings.
What made 3° Ventidius rife, and 31 Tullus great,
But their kind Stars, and hidden Pow'r of Fate?
Few Pedagogues but curfe the barren Chair;
Like 32 Him who hang'd himself for meer Defpair
29 Quintilian, a Famous Man both in Rhetorick and Oratory, who taught School in the Times of Galba, Domitian, and Trajan, and receiv'd his Salary out of the Emperor's Treasury.
30 Ventidius Baffus was a Lieutenant to Marċ Antony;
and the firft who beat the Par thians in three Battels.
31 Here is meant Tullus. Servilius, one of the Roman Kings.
32 Thrafymachus, a Rhetorician of Carthage, who hanged himself by reason of his Poverty.
And Poverty; 33 or Him, whom Caius fent
For liberty of Speech to Banishment,
Ev'n Socrates in Rags at Athens taught,
And wanted to 34 defray the deadly: Draught.
In Peace, ye Shades of our Great Grandfires reft,
No heavy Earth your facred Bones molest:
Eternal Spring, and rifing Flow'rs adorn
The Relicks of each venerable Urn,
Who pious Rev'rence to their Tutors paid,
As Parents honour'd, and as Gods obey'd.
Achilles 35, grown in Stature, fear'd the Rod,
And ftood corrected at the Centaur's Nod;
His tender Years in Learning did employ,
And promis'd all the Hero in the Boy.
The Scene's much alter'd in the Modern School,
The Boys of Rufus call their Master Fool;
A juft 35 Revenge on him, who durft defame
The Merit of immortal Tully's Name.
But ask, what Fruit 37 Palemon's Pains have earn'd,
Or who has paid the Price of what he Learn'd;
Tho' Grammar Profits less than Rhetorick are,
Yet ev❜n in those his Ufher claims a Share;
Befides, the Servants Wages must be paid:
Thus of a little, ftill a lefs is made:
33 Secundus Carinus; who was banish'd from Rome, by the Emperor Caligula, for declaiming against Tyrants.
34 When Socrates was condemn'd to die by Poison, he wanted Money to pay for the Juice of Hemlock which he was to drink; and defir'd one of his Friends to lay it down for him, and fatisfie the Fees
of the Executioner.
35 The Son of Peleus and Thetis, who had Chiron the Centaur for his Tutor.
36 Rufus call'd Tully an Allobroge; as if his Latine were barbarous and not truly Roman.
27 A poor Grammarian, but of great Efteem.
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