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| SILENCE! coeval with Eternity, | |
| Thou wert ere Nature’s self began to be, | |
| ’T was one vast nothing all, and all slept fast in thee. | |
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| Thine was the sway ere Heav’n was form’d, or earth, | |
| Ere fruitful thought conceiv’d Creation’s birth, | 5 |
| Or midwife word gave aid, and spoke the infant forth. | |
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| Then various elements against thee join’d, | |
| In one more various animal combin’d, | |
| And framed the clam’rous race of busy humankind. | |
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| The tongue mov’d gently first, and speech was low, | 10 |
| Till wrangling Science taught its noise and show, | |
| And wicked Wit arose, thy most abusive foe. | |
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| But rebel Wit deserts thee oft in vain; | |
| Lost in the maze of words he turns again, | |
| And seeks a surer state, and courts thy gentle reign. | 15 |
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| Afflicted Sense thou kindly dost set free, | |
| Oppress’d with argumental tyranny, | |
| And routed Reason finds a safe retreat in thee. | |
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| With thee in private modest Dulness lies, | |
| And in thy bosom lurks in thought’s disguise; | 20 |
| Thou varnisher of fools, and cheat of all the wise! | |
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| Yet thy indulgence is by both confest; | |
| Folly by thee lies sleeping in the breast, | |
| And ’t is in thee at last that Wisdom seeks for rest. | |
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| Silence, the knave’s repute, the whore’s good name, | 25 |
| The only honour of the wishing dame; | |
| The very want of tongue makes thee a kind of Fame. | |
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| But couldst thou seize some tongues that now are free, | |
| How Church and State should be obliged to thee! | |
| At Senate and at Bar how welcome wouldst thou be! | 30 |
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| Yet speech, ev’n there, submissively withdraws | |
| From rights of subjects, and the poor man’s cause; | |
| Then pompous Silence reigns, and stills the noisy Laws. | |
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| Past services of friends, good deeds of foes, | |
| What fav’rites gain, and what the nation owes, | 35 |
| Fly the forgetful world, and in thy arms repose. | |
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| The country wit, religion of the town, | |
| The courtier’s learning, policy o’ th’ gown, | |
| Are best by thee express’d, and shine in thee alone. | |
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| The parson’s cant, the lawyer’s sophistry, | 40 |
| Lord’s quibble, critic’s jest, all end in thee; | |
| All rest in peace at last, and sleep eternally. | |
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