Page:Poems upon Several Occasions.djvu/103

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Poems upon several Occasions.
91
Upon a Hearing in the House of Lords
of a Cause between her Grace the
Dutchess of
Grafton and the Lord
Chief Justice
.

THE Princes sate. Beauty and Law contend:
The Queen of Love will her own Cause defend.
Secure she looks, as certain none can see
Such Beauty plead, and not her Captive be.
What need of Words with such commanding Eyes!
Must I then speak? O Heav'ns! the Charmer cries;
O barbarous Clime, where Beauty borrows Aid
From Eloquence, to charm, or to persuade!
Will Discord never leave with envious Care
To raise Debate? but Discord governs here:
To Juno, Pallas, Wisdom, Fame, and Power,
Long since preferr'd, what Tryal needs there more?
Confest to Sight, three Goddesses descend
On Ida's Hill, and for a Prize contend,
Nobly they bid, and lavishly pursue
A Gift, that only cou'd be Beauty's Due:
Honours and Wealth the generous Judge denies,
And gives the Triumph to the brightest Eyes.
Such Precedents are numberless: we draw
Our Right from Custom: Custom is a Law,

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