Sordidus ac dives, populi contemnere voces
Si solitus: populus me sibilat: at mihi plaudo
Ipse domi, simul ac nummos contemplor in arcâ.
While I, so tremblingly alive all o'er,
Still bleed and agonize at every pore;
At ev'ry hiss am harrow'd up with fear,
And burst with choler at a critic's sneer.
Rack'd by the gout and stone, and struck with age,
Prudence and Ease advise to quit the stage;
But Fame still prompts, and Pride can feel no pain;
And Avarice bids me sell my soul for gain.
Bring NYKY back, O Muse! by verse divine,
The Trojan-Greeks were once transformed to swine.
By verse divine B----TTI 'scap'd the rope:
Now love is known, what may not lovers hope!
Ev'n as with _Griffins_[33] stallions late have join'd
With blood-hounds goats may litter, as in kind;