Page:The Rosciad - Churchill (1761, 2nd edition).djvu/19

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THE ROSCIAD.
15
In purpose fix'd, and to herself a rule,Public Contempt shall wait the Public Fool.
A–st–n would always glisten in French silks, 325A–km–n would Norris be, and P–ck–r Wilks.For who, like A–km–n can with humour please?Who can, like P–ck–r, charm with sprightly ease?Higher than all the rest, see Br–ns–y strut:A mighty Gulliver in Lilliput! 330Ludicrous Nature! which at once could shewA man so very High, so very Low.
If I forget thee, Bl–k–s, or if I sayOught hurtful, may I never see thee play.Let critics, with a supercilious air, 335Decry thy various merit, and declare,Frenchman is still at top;———but scorn that rageWhich, in attacking thee, attacks the age.French follies, universally embrac'd,At once provoke our mirth, and form our taste. 340
Long from a nation, ever hardly us'd,At random censur'd, wantonly abus'd,Have Britons drawn their sport; with partial viewForm'd gen'ral notions from the rascal few;

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