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Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; 200
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a Fault, and hesitate dislike;
Alike reserv'd to blame, or to commend,
A tim'rous Foe, and a suspicious Friend,
Dreading ev'n Fools, by Flatterers besieg'd, 205
And so obliging that he ne'er oblig'd;
Like Cato, give his little Senate laws,
And sit attentive to his own Applause;
While Wits and Templars ev'ry sentence raise,
And wonder with a foolish face of praise. 210
Who but must laugh, if such a Man there be?
Who would not weep, if Atticus were he!
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; 200
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a Fault, and hesitate dislike;
Alike reserv'd to blame, or to commend,
A tim'rous Foe, and a suspicious Friend,
Dreading ev'n Fools, by Flatterers besieg'd, 205
And so obliging that he ne'er oblig'd;
Like Cato, give his little Senate laws,
And sit attentive to his own Applause;
While Wits and Templars ev'ry sentence raise,
And wonder with a foolish face of praise. 210
Who but must laugh, if such a Man there be?
Who would not weep, if Atticus were he!
What tho' my Name stood rubric on the Walls?
Or plaister'd Posts, with claps in capitals?
Or smoaking forth, a hundred Hawkers load, 215
On Wings of Winds came flying all abroad?
I sought no homage from the Race that write;
I kept, like Asian Monarchs, from their Sight.
Poems I heeded (now be-rym'd so long)
No more than thou, great George! a Birth-day Song.
Or plaister'd Posts, with claps in capitals?
Or smoaking forth, a hundred Hawkers load, 215
On Wings of Winds came flying all abroad?
I sought no homage from the Race that write;
I kept, like Asian Monarchs, from their Sight.
Poems I heeded (now be-rym'd so long)
No more than thou, great George! a Birth-day Song.
I ne'er
