Page:Poetical Works of John Oldham.djvu/172

162 Or bring ill music in to grate the ear, Because 'tis what the entertained might spare: 'Tis the same case with those that deal in wit, Whose main design and end should be delight; They must by this same sentence stand, or fall, Be highly excellent, or not at all. In all things else, save only poetry, Men show some signs of common modesty. You'll hardly find a fencer so unwise, Who at Bear-garden e'er will fight a prize, Not having learnt before; nor at a wake One, that wants skill and strength, the girdle take, Or be so vain the ponderous weight to sling, For fear they should be hissed out of the ring. Yet every coxcomb will pretend to verse, And write in spite of nature and his stars; All sorts of subjects challenge at this time The liberty and property of rhyme. The sot of honour, fond of being great By something else than title and estate, As if a patent gave him claim to sense, Or 'twere entailed with an inheritance, Believes a cast of footboys, and a set Of Flanders must advance him to a wit. But you who have the judgment to descry Where you excel, which way your talents lie,