PRAYER OF A HEATHEN.
GREAT Jove! this one petition grant;
(Thou knowest best what mortals want?)
Ask'd or unask'd, what's good supply;
What's evil-to my pray'rs deny!
ON SWIFT'S ENDOWING AN HOSPITAL FOR LUNATICS.
"GREAT wits to madness nearly are ally'd❞— This makes the Dean for kindred thus provide.
OFFENSIVE OSTENTATION.
GRIPE asks to pot-luck, and displays a grand treat: 'Tis to choak us with envy, not tempt us to eat.
HAD Bromio only liv'd two summers more,
(Dying before he reach'd his second floor)
He then had been so happy to behold
His seat quite built-and his last manor sold.
CAIN AND SCOTLAND.
HAD Cain been Scot, God would have chang'd his doom:
Not forc'd to wander, but confin'd at home.
A LEARNED DEVICE OVER THE GREAT GATE AT BLENHEIM-A HUGE LION TEARING A LION IN PIECES.
HAD Marlb'rough's troops in Gaul no better fought :
Than Van, to grace his fame, in marble wrought,
No more in arms, than he in emblems, skill'd,
The Cock had drove the Lion from the field.
ON SELF-CONCEIT.
HAIL! charming power of self-opinion!
For none are slaves in thy dominion:
Secure in thee, the mind's at ease;
The vain have only one to please.
HAL says he's poor, in hopes you'll say he's not, But take his word for't: Hul's not worth a groat.
ON A CERTAIN WRITER.
HALF of your book is to an index grown:
You give your book contents, your reader none.
SUPREME HAPPINESS.
HAPPY the youth who can but see
Thy beauty's form; yet happier he
Who hangs enamour'd on thy song,
And drinks the music of thy tongue:
Almost a god is he who sips
The balmy nectar of thy lips;
But oh! to whom you all resign,
Is quite immortal and divine.
THE FEMALE TANTALUS.
HARD fate, alas! poor Sylvia cry'd,
And nature's call so urging!
With lovers constantly supply'd,
Yet doom'd to die a virgin!
Thus Tantalus, if tales are truth,
Had apples, plump and mellow,
Still bobbing ever at his mouth,
But de'il a bit to swallow.
HARDLY the Gods have dealt with man,
However short the life they gave;
For many a woe has mark'd the span,
And cold's the comfort of the grave.
When ask'd what lot for man was best,
Silenus sagely made reply:
Not to be born, was the most blest;
The next was, soon as born to die.
THE KEEN SPORTSMAN.
HARK forward cries the Squire; his hounds
Dash o'er his neighbour Crabtree's grounds,
Who call'd aloud (although too late,)
I wish your honour would but do
To other folks as you're done by,
Let them not run through my estate.
My friend, replies the laughing Squire,
I'm doing just what you desire;
To all the country 'tis well known
I don't mind running through my own.
THE IRRESOLUTE.
FROM THE GREEK.
HASTE, Dorcas, to my Celia haste;
No more the precious moments waste:
But, gently, Dorcas-prithee stay-
I have yet a thousand things to say.
Go not with half your message-run,
Fly; fly, good Dorcas,-I have done.
I am all confusion-pray take care;
And pour each word into her ear-
Drop not a syllable-my mind
Is alter'd, Dorcas-stay behind;
Go not alone, you stupid elf,
Stop, I'll go with you now myself.
HE call'd thee vicious, did he? lying elf!
Thou art not vicious, thou art vice itself.
HE for whose birth seven states could zealous strive,
Why did he wander round from door to door?
Rever'd when dead, neglected when alive-
With all his Genius-still the bard was poor.
ON A SPOUTING POETASTER.
FROM THE GREEK.
HE is Apollo's genuine priest,
Who richly does his audience feast;
Who, after a prolix recital,
Offers no dinner in requital;
Oh! may his patron rightly know him,
And give, in lieu of cash, a poem.
HE rises at noon, and he washes his head,
Eats his dinner at six, and at nine goes to bed!
FAULT OF PEEPING.
HE saw a goddess naked! charmning sight!
All her maids too-for she did not alone lie:
She turn'd him to a brute-not (take me right)
Only for peeping-but-for peeping only.
ON HEARING THAT A PERSON'S POCKET
HAD BEEN PICKED OF HIS WATCH.
HE that a watch would carry, this must do,
Pocket his watch, and watch his pocket too.
HE who a gold-finch strives to make his wife,
Makes her, perhaps, a wag-tail all her life.
MARRIAGE IN AGE.
HE who in age, betrothes a youthful bride,
May like the fool, with justice be decreed,
Who buys a splendid library, through pride,
To lend his books for wiser heads to read.
WRITTEN ON LORD DORSET'S POEMS. HE whose accomplish'd hand this volume writ, Possess'd in full perfection genuine Wit; In which this property is always found, "Tis doubly arm'd both to defend and wound.
USELESS KNOWLEDGE.
HE'S like a lusty soil, whose moisture feeds,
If not a world of corn, a world of weeds.
THE WISE VIRGIN.
HELP me, nature; help me art;
Why should I deny my heart:
If a lover will pursue,
Like the wisest let me do;
I will fit him, if he's true;
If he's false, I'll fit him too.
HENCE, restless care and low design!
Hence, foreign compliments and wine;
Let gen'rous Britons, brave and free,
Still boast their punch and honesty.
Life is a bumper, fill'd by fate,
And we the guests who share the treat,
Where strong, insipid, sharp and sweet,
Each other duly temp'ring meet.
Awhile with joy the scene is crown'd,
Awhile the catch and toast go round;
And when the full carouse is o'er,
Death puffs the lights, and shuts the door
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