Written in Montaigne's Essays

DICTATE, O mighty Judge, what Thou hast seen
Of Cities, and of Courts, of Books, and Men ;
And deign to let Thy Servant hold the Pen.

Thro' Ages thus I may presume to live ;
And from the Transcript of Thy Prose receive,
What my own short-liv'd Verse can never give.

Thus shall fair Britain with a gracious Smile
Accept the Work ; and the instructed Isle,
For more than Treaties made, shall bless my Toil.

Nor longer hence the Gallic Style preferr'd.
Wisdom in English Idiom shall be heard ;
While Talbot tells the World, where Montaigne err'd.