re,
Promis'd a ripe and plenteous crop to bear
Of golden Virtues. But his care was vain:
With these were mingled the accursed bane
Of noble deeds, fell instruments of Vice,
The treacherous Cards and desolating Dice,
Which forc'd the noble Gamester, for support,
To claim the mercies of a pitying Court.

The flatter'd Queen beheld, with laughing eye,
The Offerings of her faithful Votary;
And, in return, she gave a Scroll, which bore
On its smooth face the _trusty_ name of H----,
And other monied Wights, who boast to reign
O'er L----'s flow'ry lawns and proud domain:
Which when he saw, for WINE he call'd aloud,
And stagger'd onward through the yielding Croud.

But, as I look'd, methought, beneath the gate,
Counting her dropping tears, REPENTANCE sat:
And as the giddy Votaries return'd,
They caught her sorrows, and their follies mourn'd.

Bold M---- offer'd up his patriot zeal,
And flaming Harangues for BRITANNIA'S weal;
And _Oaths_[d] by which he swore to stem the tide
Of Courtly Sway and Ministerial Pride;
Which thro' the ecchoing Isle were frequent heard,
When he a _Northern Candidate appear'd_.
But FOLLY gave him, with satiric look,
A _Dispensation_ from the Oaths he took;
Suspicious that, the patriot frenzy o'er,
These pious _Swearings_ had been _broke before_.

Smiles that ne'er pleas'd, and words as light as air,
Which scarce could claim regard from FOLLY'S ear;
O'er-weening arts, which, tho' in smiles array'd,
By base-born fears have ever been betray'd;
A few fair deeds, whose merit has been lost
In _selfish_ ends, or _Pharisaic_ boast;
Soft, gentle Phrases, and meek, smiling Lies,
Which could not veil his bare hypocrisies;
Dull hours of _Courtship_ with the _unwilling_ Fair,
Who wonder'd _rosy Love was never there_;
Curses pour'd forth upon the nuptial hour,
Which sadly _fail'd him of the expected Dower_[e];
All these and more the splendid Shrine display'd,
By B----'s trembling hand with caution laid.

Now FOLLY frown'd, _who had not frown'd before_;
And, as I thought, in her right hand she bore
A Parchment Scroll, which strait she downward threw,
For the pale, timorous Lordling to review.
A Will it seem'd;--and soon, with weeping eye,
He told aloud _th' omitted Legacy_[f].

_Then_ FOLLY _titte