The Conference.[1] Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ KKLLMMNNOOPPQQRSTTUU VVWWPPXXYYJJHHZZA2A2 TTB2C2D2D2E2E2MMF2F2 G2G2H2H2G2G2I2I2J2J2 K2K2MML2L2M2M2SSG2G2 G2G2N2N2E2E2O2DP2P2G 2G2M2M2Q2Q2TTG2G2G2G 2G2G2O2O2G2G2NNR2R2S 2S2FFG2G2DDG2G2T2T2B 2C2FFU2U2MMV2V2PPW2W 2X2X2Y2Z2G2G2A3A3G2G 2G2G2XXG2G2G2G2B3B3P PC3C3G2G2B3B3G2G2D3D 3G2G2JJE3E3AAF3G3LLG 2G2H3H3WWS2S2I3I3I2I 2G2G2J3J3G2G2MMG2G2M 2M2DDG2G2K3K3L3L3F3F 3MMB3B3M3M3A3A3G2G2N 3N3O3O3G2G2E3E3G2G2E 2E2S2S2P3P3XXG2G2LLG 2G2Q3Q3G2G2G2G2GGB3B 3G2G2G2G2K3K3FFR3R3G 2G2G2G2JK3S3S3G2G2A3 A3GGG2G2K3K3Q2Q2XXS2 S2T3T3G2G2U3K3 G2G2K3K3V3V3HHW3W3R3 B2 R3G2G2I3LG2G2G2G2X3X 3G2G2Y3Y3I3I3G2G2DDE 2E2G2G2Z3Z3A4A4G2G2G 2G2AAB2B2G2G2G2G2K3U 3HHG2G2G2G2G2G2L2L2Y 3Y3K3K3E2E2S2S2G2G2B 4DYYM2M2| Grace said in form which sceptics must agree | A |
| When they are told that grace was said by me | A |
| The servants gone to break the scurvy jest | B |
| On the proud landlord and his threadbare guest | B |
| 'The King' gone round my lady too withdrawn | C |
| My lord in usual taste began to yawn | C |
| And lolling backward in his elbow chair | D |
| With an insipid kind of stupid stare | D |
| Picking his teeth twirling his seals about | E |
| Churchill you have a poem coming out | E |
| You've my best wishes but I really fear | F |
| Your Muse in general is too severe | F |
| Her spirit seems her interest to oppose | G |
| And where she makes one friend makes twenty foes | G |
| C Your lordship's fears are just I feel their force | H |
| But only feel it as a thing of course | H |
| The man whose hardy spirit shall engage | I |
| To lash the vices of a guilty age | I |
| At his first setting forward ought to know | J |
| That every rogue he meets must be his foe | J |
| That the rude breath of satire will provoke | K |
| Many who feel and more who fear the stroke | K |
| But shall the partial rage of selfish men | L |
| From stubborn Justice wrench the righteous pen | L |
| Or shall I not my settled course pursue | M |
| Because my foes are foes to Virtue too | M |
| L What is this boasted Virtue taught in schools | N |
| And idly drawn from antiquated rules | N |
| What is her use Point out one wholesome end | O |
| Will she hurt foes or can she make a friend | O |
| When from long fasts fierce appetites arise | P |
| Can this same Virtue stifle Nature's cries | P |
| Can she the pittance of a meal afford | Q |
| Or bid thee welcome to one great man's board | Q |
| When northern winds the rough December arm | R |
| With frost and snow can Virtue keep thee warm | S |
| Canst thou dismiss the hard unfeeling dun | T |
| Barely by saying thou art Virtue's son | T |
| Or by base blundering statesmen sent to jail | U |
| Will Mansfield take this Virtue for thy bail | U |
| Believe it not the name is in disgrace | V |
| Virtue and Temple now are out of place | V |
| Quit then this meteor whose delusive ray | W |
| Prom wealth and honour leads thee far astray | W |
| True virtue means let Reason use her eyes | P |
| Nothing with fools and interest with the wise | P |
| Wouldst thou be great her patronage disclaim | X |
| Nor madly triumph in so mean a name | X |
| Let nobler wreaths thy happy brows adorn | Y |
| And leave to Virtue poverty and scorn | Y |
| Let Prudence be thy guide who doth not know | J |
| How seldom Prudence can with Virtue go | J |
| To be successful try thy utmost force | H |
| And Virtue follows as a thing of course | H |
| Hirco who knows not Hirco stains the bed | Z |
| Of that kind master who first gave him bread | Z |
| Scatters the seeds of discord through the land | A2 |
| Breaks every public every private band | A2 |
| Beholds with joy a trusting friend undone | T |
| Betrays a brother and would cheat a son | T |
| What mortal in his senses can endure | B2 |
| The name of Hirco for the wretch is poor | C2 |
| Let him hang drown starve on a dunghill rot | D2 |
| By all detested live and die forgot | D2 |
| Let him a poor return in every breath | E2 |
| Feel all Death's pains yet be whole years in death | E2 |
| Is now the general cry we all pursue | M |
| Let Fortune change and Prudence changes too | M |
| Supple and pliant a new system feels | F2 |
| Throws up her cap and spaniels at his heels | F2 |
| Long live great Hirco cries by interest taught | G2 |
| And let his foes though I prove one be nought | G2 |
| C Peace to such men if such men can have peace | H2 |
| Let their possessions let their state increase | H2 |
| Let their base services in courts strike root | G2 |
| And in the season bring forth golden fruit | G2 |
| I envy not let those who have the will | I2 |
| And with so little spirit so much skill | I2 |
| With such vile instruments their fortunes carve | J2 |
| Rogues may grow fat an honest man dares starve | J2 |
| L These stale conceits thrown off let us advance | K2 |
| For once to real life and quit romance | K2 |
| Starve pretty talking but I fain would view | M |
| That man that honest man would do it too | M |
| Hence to yon mountain which outbraves the sky | L2 |
| And dart from pole to pole thy strengthen'd eye | L2 |
| Through all that space you shall not view one man | M2 |
| Not one who dares to act on such a plan | M2 |
| Cowards in calms will say what in a storm | S |
| The brave will tremble at and not perform | S |
| Thine be the proof and spite of all you've said | G2 |
| You'd give your honour for a crust of bread | G2 |
| C What proof might do what hunger might effect | G2 |
| What famish'd Nature looking with neglect | G2 |
| On all she once held dear what fear at strife | N2 |
| With fainting virtue for the means of life | N2 |
| Might make this coward flesh in love with breath | E2 |
| Shuddering at pain and shrinking back from death | E2 |
| In treason to my soul descend to boar | O2 |
| Trusting to fate I neither know nor care | D |
| Once at this hour those wounds afresh I feel | P2 |
| Which nor prosperity nor time can heal | P2 |
| Those wounds which Fate severely hath decreed | G2 |
| Mention'd or thought of must for ever bleed | G2 |
| Those wounds which humbled all that pride of man | M2 |
| Which brings such mighty aid to Virtue's plan | M2 |
| Once awed by Fortune's most oppressive frown | Q2 |
| By legal rapine to the earth bow'd clown | Q2 |
| My credit at last gasp my state undone | T |
| Trembling to meet the shock I could not shun | T |
| Virtue gave ground and blank despair prevail'd | G2 |
| Sinking beneath the storm my spirits fail'd | G2 |
| Like Peter's faith till one a friend indeed | G2 |
| May all distress find such in time of need | G2 |
| One kind good man in act in word in thought | G2 |
| By Virtue guided and by Wisdom taught | G2 |
| Image of Him whom Christians should adore | O2 |
| Stretch'd forth his hand and brought me safe to shore | O2 |
| Since by good fortune into notice raised | G2 |
| And for some little merit largely praised | G2 |
| Indulged in swerving from prudential rules | N |
| Hated by rogues and not beloved by fools | N |
| Placed above want shall abject thirst of wealth | R2 |
| So fiercely war 'gainst my soul's dearest health | R2 |
| That as a boon I should base shackles crave | S2 |
| And born to freedom make myself a slave | S2 |
| That I should in the train of those appear | F |
| Whom Honour cannot love nor Manhood fear | F |
| That I no longer skulk from street to street | G2 |
| Afraid lest duns assail and bailiffs meet | G2 |
| That I from place to place this carcase bear | D |
| Walk forth at large and wander free as air | D |
| That I no longer dread the awkward friend | G2 |
| Whose very obligations must offend | G2 |
| Nor all too froward with impatience burn | T2 |
| At suffering favours which I can't return | T2 |
| That from dependence and from pride secure | B2 |
| I am not placed so high to scorn the poor | C2 |
| Nor yet so low that I my lord should fear | F |
| Or hesitate to give him sneer for sneer | F |
| That whilst sage Prudence my pursuits confirms | U2 |
| I can enjoy the world on equal terms | U2 |
| That kind to others to myself most true | M |
| Feeling no want I comfort those who do | M |
| And with the will have power to aid distress | V2 |
| These and what other blessings I possess | V2 |
| From the indulgence of the public rise | P |
| All private patronage my soul defies | P |
| By candour more inclined to save than damn | W2 |
| A generous Public made me what I am | W2 |
| All that I have they gave just Memory bears | X2 |
| The grateful stamp and what I am is theirs | X2 |
| L To feign a red hot zeal for Freedom's cause | Y2 |
| To mouth aloud for liberties and laws | Z2 |
| For public good to bellow all abroad | G2 |
| Serves well the purposes of private fraud | G2 |
| Prudence by public good intends her own | A3 |
| If you mean otherwise you stand alone | A3 |
| What do we mean by country and by court | G2 |
| What is it to oppose what to support | G2 |
| Mere words of course and what is more absurd | G2 |
| Than to pay homage to an empty word | G2 |
| Majors and minors differ but in name | X |
| Patriots and ministers are much the same | X |
| The only difference after all their rout | G2 |
| Is that the one is in the other out | G2 |
| Explore the dark recesses of the mind | G2 |
| In the soul's honest volume read mankind | G2 |
| And own in wise and simple great and small | B3 |
| The same grand leading principle in all | B3 |
| Whate'er we talk of wisdom to the wise | P |
| Of goodness to the good of public ties | P |
| Which to our country link of private bands | C3 |
| Which claim most dear attention at our hands | C3 |
| For parent and for child for wife and friend | G2 |
| Our first great mover and our last great end | G2 |
| Is one and by whatever name we call | B3 |
| The ruling tyrant Self is all in all | B3 |
| This which unwilling Faction shall admit | G2 |
| Guided in different ways a Bute and Pitt | G2 |
| Made tyrants break made kings observe the law | D3 |
| And gave the world a Stuart and Nassau | D3 |
| Hath Nature strange and wild conceit of pride | G2 |
| Distinguished thee from all her sons beside | G2 |
| Doth virtue in thy bosom brighter glow | J |
| Or from a spring more pure doth action flow | J |
| Is not thy soul bound with those very chains | E3 |
| Which shackle us or is that Self which reigns | E3 |
| O'er kings and beggars which in all we see | A |
| Most strong and sovereign only weak in thee | A |
| Fond man believe it not experience tells | F3 |
| 'Tis not thy virtue but thy pride rebels | G3 |
| Think and for once lay by thy lawless pen | L |
| Think and confess thyself like other men | L |
| Think but one hour and to thy conscience led | G2 |
| By Reason's hand bow down and hang thy head | G2 |
| Think on thy private life recall thy youth | H3 |
| View thyself now and own with strictest truth | H3 |
| That Self hath drawn thee from fair Virtue's way | W |
| Farther than Folly would have dared to stray | W |
| And that the talents liberal Nature gave | S2 |
| To make thee free have made thee more a slave | S2 |
| Quit then in prudence quit that idle train | I3 |
| Of toys which have so long abused thy brain | I3 |
| And captive led thy powers with boundless will | I2 |
| Let Self maintain her state and empire still | I2 |
| But let her with more worthy objects caught | G2 |
| Strain all the faculties and force of thought | G2 |
| To things of higher daring let her range | J3 |
| Through better pastures and learn how to change | J3 |
| Let her no longer to weak Faction tied | G2 |
| Wisely revolt and join our stronger side | G2 |
| C Ah what my lord hath private life to do | M |
| With things of public nature Why to view | M |
| Would you thus cruelly those scenes unfold | G2 |
| Which without pain and horror to behold | G2 |
| Must speak me something more or less than man | M2 |
| Which friends may pardon but I never can | M2 |
| Look back a thought which borders on despair | D |
| Which human nature must yet cannot bear | D |
| 'Tis not the babbling of a busy world | G2 |
| Where praise and censure are at random hurl'd | G2 |
| Which can the meanest of my thoughts control | K3 |
| Or shake one settled purpose of my soul | K3 |
| Free and at large might their wild curses roam | L3 |
| If all if all alas were well at home | L3 |
| No 'tis the tale which angry Conscience tells | F3 |
| When she with more than tragic horror swells | F3 |
| Each circumstance of guilt when stern but true | M |
| She brings bad actions forth into review | M |
| And like the dread handwriting on the wall | B3 |
| Bids late Remorse awake at Reason's call | B3 |
| Arm'd at all points bids scorpion Vengeance pass | M3 |
| And to the mind holds up Reflection's glass | M3 |
| The mind which starting heaves the heartfelt groan | A3 |
| And hates that form she knows to be her own | A3 |
| Enough of this let private sorrows rest | G2 |
| As to the public I dare stand the test | G2 |
| Dare proudly boast I feel no wish above | N3 |
| The good of England and my country's love | N3 |
| Stranger to party rage by Reason's voice | O3 |
| Unerring guide directed in my choice | O3 |
| Not all the tyrant powers of earth combined | G2 |
| No nor of hell shall make me change my mind | G2 |
| What herd with men my honest soul disdains | E3 |
| Men who with servile zeal are forging chains | E3 |
| For Freedom's neck and lend a helping hand | G2 |
| To spread destruction o'er my native land | G2 |
| What shall I not e'en to my latest breath | E2 |
| In the full face of danger and of death | E2 |
| Exert that little strength which Nature gave | S2 |
| And boldly stem or perish in the wave | S2 |
| L When I look backward for some fifty years | P3 |
| And see protesting patriots turn'd to peers | P3 |
| Hear men most loose for decency declaim | X |
| And talk of character without a name | X |
| See infidels assert the cause of God | G2 |
| And meek divines wield Persecution's rod | G2 |
| See men transferred to brutes and brutes to men | L |
| See Whitehead take a place Ralph change his pen | L |
| I mock the zeal and deem the men in sport | G2 |
| Who rail at ministers and curse a court | G2 |
| Thee haughty as thou art and proud in rhyme | Q3 |
| Shall some preferment offer'd at a time | Q3 |
| When Virtue sleeps some sacrifice to Pride | G2 |
| Or some fair victim move to change thy side | G2 |
| Thee shall these eyes behold to health restored | G2 |
| Using as Prudence bids bold Satire's sword | G2 |
| Galling thy present friends and praising those | G |
| Whom now thy frenzy holds thy greatest foes | G |
| C May I can worse disgrace on manhood fall | B3 |
| Be born a Whitehead and baptized a Paul | B3 |
| May I though to his service deeply tied | G2 |
| By sacred oaths and now by will allied | G2 |
| With false feign'd zeal an injured God defend | G2 |
| And use his name for some base private end | G2 |
| May I that thought bids double horrors roll | K3 |
| O'er my sick spirits and unmans my soul | K3 |
| Ruin the virtue which I held most dear | F |
| And still must hold may I through abject fear | F |
| Betray my friend may to succeeding times | R3 |
| Engraved on plates of adamant my crimes | R3 |
| Stand blazing forth whilst mark'd with envious blot | G2 |
| Each little act of virtue is forgot | G2 |
| Of all those evils which to stamp men cursed | G2 |
| Hell keeps in store for vengeance may the worst | G2 |
| Light on my head and in my day of woe | J |
| To make the cup of bitterness o'erflow | K3 |
| May I be scorn'd by every man of worth | S3 |
| Wander like Cain a vagabond on earth | S3 |
| Bearing about a hell in my own mind | G2 |
| Or be to Scotland for my life confined | G2 |
| If I am one among the many known | A3 |
| Whom Shelburne fled and Calcraft blush'd to own | A3 |
| L Do you reflect what men you make your foes | G |
| C I do and that's the reason I oppose | G |
| Friends I have made whom Envy must commend | G2 |
| But not one foe whom I would wish a friend | G2 |
| What if ten thousand Butes and Hollands bawl | K3 |
| One Wilkes had made a large amends for all | K3 |
| 'Tis not the title whether handed down | Q2 |
| From age to age or flowing from the crown | Q2 |
| In copious streams on recent men who came | X |
| From stems unknown and sires without a name | X |
| Tis not the star which our great Edward gave | S2 |
| To mark the virtuous and reward the brave | S2 |
| Blazing without whilst a base heart within | T3 |
| Is rotten to the core with filth and sin | T3 |
| 'Tis not the tinsel grandeur taught to wait | G2 |
| At Custom's call to mark a fool of state | G2 |
| From fools of lesser note that soul can awe | U3 |
| Whose pride is reason whose defence is law | K3 |
| - | |
| L Suppose a thing scarce possible in art | G2 |
| Were it thy cue to play a common part | G2 |
| Suppose thy writings so well fenced in law | K3 |
| That Norton cannot find nor make a flaw | K3 |
| Hast thou not heard that 'mongst our ancient tribes | V3 |
| By party warp'd or lull'd asleep by bribes | V3 |
| Or trembling at the ruffian hand of Force | H |
| Law hath suspended stood or changed its course | H |
| Art thou assured that for destruction ripe | W3 |
| Thou may'st not smart beneath the self same gripe | W3 |
| What sanction hast thou frantic in thy rhymes | R3 |
| Thy life thy freedom to secure | B2 |
| - | |
| G The Times | R3 |
| 'Tis not on law a system great and good | G2 |
| By wisdom penn'd and bought by noblest blood | G2 |
| My faith relies by wicked men and vain | I3 |
| Law once abused may be abused again | L |
| No on our great Lawgiver I depend | G2 |
| Who knows and guides her to her proper end | G2 |
| Whose royalty of nature blazes out | G2 |
| So fierce 'twere sin to entertain a doubt | G2 |
| Did tyrant Stuarts now the law dispense | X3 |
| Bless'd be the hour and hand which sent them hence | X3 |
| For something or for nothing for a word | G2 |
| Or thought I might be doom'd to death unheard | G2 |
| Life we might all resign to lawless power | Y3 |
| Nor think it worth the purchase of an hour | Y3 |
| But Envy ne'er shall fix so foul a stain | I3 |
| On the fair annals of a Brunswick's reign | I3 |
| If slave to party to revenge or pride | G2 |
| If by frail human error drawn aside | G2 |
| I break the law strict rigour let her wear | D |
| 'Tis hers to punish and 'tis mine to bear | D |
| Nor by the voice of Justice doom'd to death | E2 |
| Would I ask mercy with my latest breath | E2 |
| But anxious only for my country's good | G2 |
| In which my king's of course is understood | G2 |
| Form'd on a plan with some few patriot friends | Z3 |
| Whilst by just means I aim at noblest ends | Z3 |
| My spirits cannot sink though from the tomb | A4 |
| Stern Jeffries should be placed in Mansfield's room | A4 |
| Though he should bring his base designs to aid | G2 |
| Some black attorney for his purpose made | G2 |
| And shove whilst Decency and Law retreat | G2 |
| The modest Norton from his maiden seat | G2 |
| Though both in ill confederates should agree | A |
| In damned league to torture law and me | A |
| Whilst George is king I cannot fear endure | B2 |
| Not to be guilty is to be secure | B2 |
| But when in after times be far removed | G2 |
| That day our monarch glorious and beloved | G2 |
| Sleeps with his fathers should imperious Fate | G2 |
| In vengeance with fresh Stuarts curse our state | G2 |
| Should they o'erleaping every fence of law | K3 |
| Butcher the brave to keep tame fools in awe | U3 |
| Should they by brutal and oppressive force | H |
| Divert sweet Justice from her even course | H |
| Should they of every other means bereft | G2 |
| Make my right hand a witness 'gainst my left | G2 |
| Should they abroad by inquisitions taught | G2 |
| Search out my soul and damn me for a thought | G2 |
| Still would I keep my course still speak still write | G2 |
| Till Death had plunged me in the shades of night | G2 |
| Thou God of truth thou great all searching eye | L2 |
| To whom our thoughts our spirits open lie | L2 |
| Grant me thy strength and in that needful hour | Y3 |
| Should it e'er come when Law submits to Power | Y3 |
| With firm resolve my steady bosom steel | K3 |
| Bravely to suffer though I deeply feel | K3 |
| Let me as hitherto still draw my breath | E2 |
| In love with life but not in fear of death | E2 |
| And if Oppression brings me to the grave | S2 |
| And marks me dead she ne'er shall mark a slave | S2 |
| Let no unworthy marks of grief be heard | G2 |
| No wild laments not one unseemly word | G2 |
| Let sober triumphs wait upon my bier | B4 |
| I won't forgive that friend who drops one tear | D |
| Whether he's ravish'd in life's early morn | Y |
| Or in old age drops like an ear of corn | Y |
| Full ripe he falls on Nature's noblest plan | M2 |
| Who lives to Reason and who dies a Man | M2 |
Charles Churchill
(1)
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