[Page 111]

News from St. James's.

1 A courtier, summon'd hence of late,
2 Was call'd to Minos' Judgment Seat.
3 The Cretan Sage began the Charge,
4 Recounted all his Crimes at large;
5 His Insincerity, and Pride,
6 His Hundred evil Arts beside;
7 Arts, thinly veil'd with Virtue's Guise,
8 The modern Statesmens Scheme to rise.
9 He, cringing, owns his Guilt, with Shame;
10 Yet from himself would shift the Blame;
11 Insists, that since the World began,
12 Kings seldom rais'd the virtuous Man:
13 (Some Instances must be allow'd,
14 Tho' almost lost in such a Croud)
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15 That Courts were other Things of late,
16 Than when he rul'd the Cretan State:
17 That those who breathe in them, will find,
18 The tainted Air corrupts the Mind.
19 Courtier, the Judge reply'd, beware
20 Theander has resided there;
21 The third of an accomplish'd Race,
22 Who fill'd successively one Place:
23 Yet see the Stream of Virtue run,
24 Untainted down from Sire to Son:
25 Humane their Hearts, enlarg'd, refin'd,
26 With ev'ry Gift to bless their Kind;
27 In Friendship's noblest Zeal sincere;
28 In Honour amiably severe;
29 Steady to Faith, and Truth, and Right;
30 With open Honesty, polite;
31 With no Disguise in Speech, or Spirit,
32 But Modesty, the Mask of Merit.
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33 True, Minos yet you must agree,
34 These Instances conclude for me.
35 They uncorrupt have brearh'd that Air;
36 But how have they succeeded there?

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): News from St. James's.
Author: Mary Barber
Themes: virtue; vice; high society; court, the
Genres: fable
References: DMI 11547

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Barber, Mary, ca. 1690-1757. Poems on Several Occasions [poems only]. London: Printed for C. Rivington, at the Bible and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1734, pp. 111-113. xlviii,283,[7]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T42622; DMI 519; Foxon p. 45) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 3644].)

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Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Mary Barber