ADDRESSED TO THE GENTLEMEN REFLECTED ON IN THE ROSCIAD, <br />A POEM, BY THE AUTHOR <br /> <br />Worried with debts and past all hopes of bail, <br />His pen he prostitutes t' avoid a gaol. <br />ROSCOM. <br /> <br /> <br />LET not the 'hungry' Bavius' angry stroke <br />Awake resentment, or your rage provoke; <br />But pitying his distress, let virtue shine, <br />And giving each your bounty, 'let him dine'; <br />For thus retain'd, as learned counsel can, <br />Each case, however bad, he'll new japan; <br />And by a quick transition, plainly show <br />'Twas no defect of yours, but 'pocket low', <br />That caused his 'putrid kennel' to o'erflow.<br /><br />Oliver Goldsmith<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/an-epigram/
