Page:The Scourge - Volume 6.djvu/7



What I arm'd for virtue when I point the pen, Brand the bold front of shameless guilty men, Lash the proud gamester in his gilded car, Bare the mean heart that lurks beneath a star; Can there be wanting to defend her cause, Lights of the church, or guardians of the laws; Could pension'd Boileau lash in honest strain, Follies and vices, e'en in Lewis' reign, Could Laureat Dryden pimp and friar engage, And neither Charles nor James be in a rage, And I not strip the gilding of a knave, Unplac'd, unpension'd, no man's tool or slave! I will, or perish in the generous cause, HEAR THIS, AND TREMBLE, YE WHO 'SCAPE THE LAWS.