venal, when he was a commander in Ægypt: it is certainly his, tho I think it not finished. And if it be well obferved, you will find he intended an invective against a ftanding army.

HAT vaft prerogatives, my Gallus, are

WH

Accruing to the mighty man of war!

For, if into a lucky camp I light,

Tho raw in arms, and yet afraid to fight,
Befriend me, my good ftars, and all goes right:
One happy hour is to a soldier better,
Than mother Juno's recommending letter,
Or Venus, when to Mars fhe would prefer
My fuit, and own the kindness done to her.

See what our common privileges are:
As, firft, no faucy citizen fhall dare
To ftrike a foldier, nor when ftruck, refent
The wrong, for fear of farther punishment:
Not tho his teeth are beaten out, his eyes
Hang by a string, in bumps his forehead rife,
Shall he prefume to mention his disgrace,
Or beg amends for his demolish'd face.
A booted judge shall fit to try his cause,
Not by the ftatute, but by martial laws;
Which old Camillus order'd, to confine

The brawls of foldiers to the trench and line:

A wife provifion; and from thence 'tis clear,
That officers a foldier's cause should hear:
And taking cognizance of wrongs receiv'd,
An honeft man may hope to be reliev'd..
So far 'tis well: but with a gen'ral cry,
The regiment will rife in mutiny,

The freedom of their fellow-rogue demand,
And, if refus'd, will threaten to difband.
Withdraw thy action, and depart in peace ;
The remedy is worse than the disease:
This cause is worthy him, who in the hall
Would for his fee, and for his client, bawl:
But wouldst thou, friend, who haft two legs alone,
(Which, heav'n be prais'd, thou yet mayst call thy

own)

Wouldst thou to run the gantlet these expose
To a whole company of hob-nail'd shoes?
Sure the good-breeding of wife citizens

Should teach 'em more good-nature to their shins.
Befides whom canft thou think so much thy friend,

Who dares appear thy business to defend ?
Dry up thy tears and pocket up th' abuse,
Nor put thy friend to make a bad excuse:
The judge cries out, Your evidence produce.
Will he, who faw the foldier's mutton-fift,
And faw thee maul'd, appear within the lift,

}

To witness truth? When I fee one fo brave,

The dead, think I, are rifen from the

grave;

And with their long spade beards, and matted

hair,

Our honeft ancestors are come to take the air.

Against a clown, with more security,

A witness may be brought to fwear a lye,
Than, tho his evidence be full and fair,
To vouch a truth against a man of war.
More benefits remain, and claim'd as rights,
Which are a standing army's perquifites.
If any rogue vexatious fuits advance
Againft me for my known inheritance,

Enter by violence my fruitful grounds,

Or take the facred land-mark from my bounds, Those bounds, which with poffeffion and with pray'r,

And offer'd cakes, have been my annual care:
Or if my debtors do not keep their day,
Deny their hands, and then refufe to pay;
I must with patience all the terms attend,
Among the common caufes that depend,
Till mine is call'd; and that long look'd-for day
Is ftill encumber'd with fome new delay:
Perhaps the cloth of ftate is only spread,
Some of the quorum may be fick a-bed;

That judge is hot, and doffs his gown, while this
O'er night was bowfy, and goes out to pifs:
So many rubs appear, the time is gone
For hearing, and the tedious fuit goes on:
But buff and belt-men never know these cares,
No time, nor trick of law, their action bars:
Their cause they to an eafier iffue put:
They will be heard, or they lug out, and cut.
Another branch of their revenue ftill
Remains, beyond their boundless right to kill,
Their father yet alive, impow'r'd to make a will.
For, what their prowess gain'd, the law declares
Is to themselves alone, and to their heirs:
No fhare of that goes back to the begetter,
But if the fon fights well, and plunders better,
Like ftout Coranus, his old fhaking fire
Does a remembrance in his will defire:
Inquifitive of fights, and longs in vain
To find him in the number of the slain :
But ftill he lives, and rifing by the war,
Enjoys his gains, and has enough to fpare:
For 'tis a noble general's prudent part

To cherish valour, and reward defert:

Let him be daub'd with lace, live high, and whore;
Sometimes be loufy, but be never poor.