Page:Trivia (John Gay) to which is added London (Samuel Johnson) (1809).djvu/82

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Aghast you start, and scarce with aching sight
Sustain th’ approaching fire’s tremendous light;
Swift from pursuing horrors take your way,
And leave your little all to flames a prey;
Then through the world a wretched vagrant roam—
For where can starving merit find a home?
In vain your mournful narrative disclose,
While all neglect, and most insult your woes,
Should Heaven’s just bolts, Orgilio’s wealth confound,
And spread his flaming palace on the ground,
Swift o’er the land the dismal rumour flies,
And public mournings pacify the skies:
The laureate tribe in servile verse relate,
How virtue wars with persecuting fate;
With well-feigned gratitude the pensioned band
Refund the plunder of the beggar'd land.
See! while he builds, the gaudy vassals come,
And crowd with sudden wealth the rising dome;
The price of boroughs and of souls restore,
And raise his treasures higher than before:
Now blessed with all the baubles of the great,
The polish'd marble, and the shining plate,